Stanford overpowers Mustangs

Chris Eversley scored a season-high 25 points on Sunday but it wasn’t enough as Cal Poly lost to Stanford. By Owen Main

Sometimes, the game of basketball comes down to the making open shots. In its penultimate non-conference game this season, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team looked sharper than in recent games, but failed to make open shots or effectively defend the paint in a 79-62 loss to Stanford at Maples Pavillion.

The Mustangs opened the game by getting, and mostly missing, open field goal attempts. Good defense kept them in the game throughout the first eight minutes, but bad shooting caught-up with them against the longer Cardinal.

“What we have a difficult time [with] is scoring on a consistent basis against that length and that’s what really was a breakdown,” said Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero. “Two areas we were most disappointed with is the ability to score when you have those golden opportunities. You have a dive to the basket, a shot off the backboard, you’ve got to be able to finish those and get a percentage that should be up around 45 percent instead of 35 percent.”

The Mustangs didn’t shoot a free throw in the first half and shot just 9-35 from the field (25.7 percent), including just 2-10 from three-point range. By the middle of the first half, Stanford was attacking the paint and scoring against Cal Poly’s post players, much to the coach’s chagrin.

Sophomore David Nwaba continues to be more and more consistently active for Cal Poly. By Owen Main

“We would defend the post a little bit and then we would allow angles to the hoop and then we would defend the post but we wouldn’t take a left shoulder comeback move,” said Callero. So out of the biggest areas we have to improve upon are that consistency with scoring and a consistency on the post defensive side of the ball.”

Nine players on Stanford’s roster stand at 6’9″ or taller and their starting shooting guard, Anthony Brown, stands at 6’6″.

“It definitely helps us get a feel for how it’s going to be rebounding-wise,” said sophomore forward Joel Awich. “Teams like that, they can block shots and jump over us, so we’re going to have to be more physical to get more rebounds… . We need to establish a presence down low. I think that’s very important because usually a team that dominates in the paint wins more games.

Awich scored a career-high 11 points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds before fouling out of the game, which Callero deemed as a positive sign of Awich being more assertive.

“Coach has been talking about just going out there and playing aggressive, but he has confidence in me that I can make more shots, so I just got to have that confidence in myself and just employ it into the game,” said Awich. “Honestly, I just wanted to go out there and be more aggressive.”

Two years ago, Chris Eversley provided an offensive spark with strong athletic energy off the bench in his sophomore year. This season, Awich may be a candidate to follow in his teammate’s footsteps. If Cal Poly finds success in conference play, it could be because of contributions from players like Awich.

“I think that we’re really searching for a different combination of guys who can give us something off the bench, and Joel has been probably the guy who’s been able to find the best opportunity to give us a little spark there,” said Callero. “He blocks a shot, drives, gets a tip-in. It’s his maturity level and desire to say, ‘Hey, I can play with anybody.’ I think he knows that he can do this and I think he’s getting more excited about that and I think he’s falling in love with the game.”

For his part, Eversley scored 25 points — his best output this season.

“In order to win this game or even have a chance, we had to make shots,” said Eversley. “I felt as though we had a lot of good looks, we just had to knock them down. In time those will fall. We’re on the road [against] a Pac-12 team, packed house, so I’m not really trippin’. I know that as we go into conference guys will start getting in the gym because we have time off from school so those shots will fall. I have confidence in all my teammates.”

With the loss, the Mustangs’ record falls to 4-8 on the season, with just two wins against Division 1 opponents (Santa Clara and North Dakota) and losses to three Pac-12 schools, Pitt, Nevada, Loyola Marymount, Fresno State, and Pacific.

“We need to do a better job of giving resistance down low. We’re just getting killed down low,” said Awich.

Can practice make perfect?

Callero talked at length early in the year about practice intensity and how it needed to improve. When preparing for an extremely long team like Stanford, Arizona, or UC Irvine, there is another challenge practice poses. Trying to figure out how to be comfortable playing against a team that is substantially bigger.

“We can’t simulate enough in practice what you see in the game,” said Callero. “You sit close to the game, you see a different game… . You talk about how Brown is a 6’7″ two-guard. It takes an adjustment. It takes anywhere from five to fifteen minutes for guys to adjust to that speed and quickness. Now, it’s kind of like OK, now you’ve dug a hole. You’ve got to be able to score to keep that that hole from being dug. But that’s why we keep playing, eventually it becomes the norm. I don’t think we’re intimidated by the environment anymore, I think we’re just getting used to the speed, quickness, and length against high-major talent. It’s flat-out just better players. Better length, better athletic ability, better teams right now, which is why we’re doing it.”

Final tune-up

Cal Poly has one last chance to pick-up their fifth win of the season and first road victory before conference play begins January 9. That opportunity comes January 4th in Newark, Delaware against the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.

“We want to go back and get one of our big goals, which is beat one of these teams on the road in the preseason, which is going to Delaware who just played Ohio State to a very difficult game. They’re a very good team and a conference favorite,” said Callero.

Photos by Owen Main