Mustangs try to rebound from a pair of stinkers

Cal Poly will don their road black uniforms as they try to stem a two game conference losing streak. By Owen Main

Cal Poly men’s basketball has hit a rut. They haven’t scored 60 points for three consecutive games. They can’t seem to get great shots late in games, performance of role players has been inconsistent and senior sharpshooter, Kyle Odister, has been out for three consecutive games with a foot injury. Lucky for them, it’s still January.

After losing consecutive games to the bottom two teams in the Big West Conference, the Mustangs’ hot 3-0 start in conference play is but a distant memory. Without Odister over the past three games, Cal Poly has failed to reach 60 points, showing just how delicate the Mustangs’ offensive balance really is.

Even without Odister or Reese Morgan, coach Joe Callero is still trying to find a rotation that works, playing 10 players in any given game — nine of whom got 10 minutes or more against UC Davis. Nothing seems to be working as teams are forcing the shooting-depleted Mustangs to attack a variety of zone defenses. Odister and Morgan are their zone killers, and with both of them hurt, Cal Poly has to find other ways to score points get wins.

Fouls

I didn’t really see this one coming, but Cal Poly’s foul differential has been really bad all season. For each of the past four games, during which time they are 1-3, the Mustangs’ opponent has shot more free throws. The foul differentials have been as follows: 17-13 at home vs. UC Davis, 19-14 at UC Riverside,  15-9 at Fullerton, and 16-14 at home vs. Long Beach State. It’s not really even that close though. It seems as though the Mustangs are consistently not even in the bonus during the final 5-8 minutes of the second half, allowing teams to play more aggressive defense without the threat of sending the Mustangs to the line.

On the season, Cal Poly has shot 112 fewer free throws than their opponents and made five less per game on average. In conference play, that number is slightly less pronounced, but still not in the Mustangs’ favor.

Callero has said that the aggressor gets the benefit of the whistle and has talked about his team needing to the be the aggressor. For a moment at the beginning of both the Riverside and Davis games, it looked like David Nwaba and company were going to set the tone for that. Nwaba drove to the basket enough to draw seven free throw attempts in the first 6:38 at Riverside. As a team, Cal Poly got to the line eight times in less than nine minutes to start the UC Davis game. The Mustangs would shoot a total of six and three free throws respectively during the final 30-plus minutes of those two games.

If they are to succeed, especially without Odister, Cal Poly must be more aggressive offensively, and not just in the first ten minutes. Teams are playing zone defenses against them, making second-half adjustments, and doing a good job scouting Callero’s bunch. Cal Poly needs to find themselves more easy shots and either convert layups or figure out how to draw more fouls. I’m not sure whether they even shot a single layup in the second half before a pair of Joel Awich dunks late. It sure didn’t seem like it.

Maturity

If any group is mature enough to weather a streak of bad losses, it’s a Callero squad. Chris Eversley and David Nwaba both sent out tweets on Friday morning indicating the beauty of waking up the next morning and having another shot to get better.

It’s a more mature approach then I, and probably most fans, can even fathom. It’s also, with certainty, the approach I’d want a team I was rooting for to have. If they don’t find a way to score between 65 and 75 points against Irvine on Saturday and play a much better game than any of the past three to four, I’ll be surprised.

Black-out

Cal Poly Athletics is efforting. The “Black-out” concept is a good one, especially for the televised game on Saturday. Had Cal Poly won even one of the past two games, they’d be in first place. Instead, they’re in fourth place. If Cal Poly students don’t come out for a Saturday night basketball game on TV with a gimmick like a black-out and a team that has a chance to be in first place with a win, then we’ll have to call them out. In the mean time, I’m predicting something close to a sell-out and an atmosphere not unlike the Long Beach State game.

Remember, the game starts at 8:00 and will be televised on ESPN-U