Alan Williams, the Big West Conference MVP, is at the heart of the UCSB attack. By Owen Main

Conference basketball tournaments are tricky. A team has just finished a grueling conference schedule and played every other team twice already. After 30-plus games, these are the ones that matter most.

For two-seed UCSB and seven-seed Cal Poly, the game also happens to be at noon. On a week-day. Not exactly prime time.

To have a chance to get to the prime-time game Saturday night though, one of these Blue-Green rivals will have to find a way to play their best in the opening game of the conference tournament.

Last Saturday, in front of a senior-night sellout crowd at Mott Athletics Center, UCSB and Big West Conference MVP Alan Williams were dominant. Big Al scored 23 points, got a ton of rebounds, and blocked five shots.

Cal Poly shot less than 25 percent from two-point range and had another long first-half scoring drought.

On Thursday afternoon, they’ll have to play better and more consistently to beat the favored Gauchos. They’ve beaten this team in a hostile environment once this year, but doing it a second time will be really difficult. Here’s what has to happen for them to win.

Sophomore, David Nwaba, must produce consistently within the offense if Cal Poly wants to upset the Gauchos. By Owen Main

Offense rhythm and flow

Cal Poly has to establish some kind of offensive rhythm. They’ve played a full season now, against all kinds of defenses. For players, at this point in the season, to say things like, “we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were running into each other,” when talking about playing offense is surprising to hear in March. It’s what was happening, but it’s still surprising.

On Thursday afternoon, Cal Poly will have to have some rhythm and flow to their offense. Multiple players will need to be getting baskets and scoring in their “normal” ways for this team to have a chance. Kyle Odister will need to make some outside shots. David Nwaba will have to score in a variety of ways, including from the free-throw line. Chris Eversley will have to be his usual resourceful self, picking his spots and shooting as well as he did at the beginning of the season. Guys will have to be patient and trusting when the Mustangs have the ball.

Stopping Big Al

Williams is the Big West Conference MVP. He’s a huge presence inside and won’t be completely stopped. His low-post touches, however, do need to be limited and Cal Poly needs to decide who they want to shoot the three-pointer if they double-team him.

In the first game, Joel Awich made a few great plays early in the game to deny Williams the post-entry pass. On Saturday, Cal Poly’s forwards had no such luck and Williams not only got his points, but opened-up open shots for others. Containing Williams means not only keeping him under 20 points or so, but keeping him from impacting other guys’ open shots, too.

Scoring from someone else?

In the game Cal Poly won early in the conference schedule, Anthony Silvestri came off the bench to make five three-pointers and score 17 points. To put that game in perspective, Silvestri has only scored 70 points this season — an average of 2.8 points per game. It doesn’t need to be Silvestri, but someone might have to play out of their mind on Thursday for this team to move on. It could be Eversley or Odister or Nwaba playing more consistently than ever and putting together a complete game. It could also be Jamal Johnson or Brian Bennett or someone else getting some real offensive aggression and scoring. One way or another, most of the team will go cold for a spell, and it might be up to one or two players to make a few shots to get them out of it.

UCSB is a deserving two-seed. Cal Poly aside, the Gauchos are one of three or four teams I could really see winning this tournament. In his fifth season, Joe Callero has never been to the Big West Tournament final. This year, getting back to the semifinals would seem like a big deal.

The Mustangs started off the season 3-0. This is the fun time of the year, when fans can say to each other, “all you have to do is just win three games.”

Photos by Owen Main

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Cal Poly’s 72-64 win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night was only the third win they’ve had at the Thunderdome in Division One. It was their first victory since 2007 and it gave Cal Poly a 2-0 start in Big West play with the two wins coming against the teams with the best records in the conference prior to the start of the season. Like most Blue-Green rivalry games, it was a night filled with memorable moments.

Anthony Silvestri made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points to help Cal Poly to their first win at the Thunderdome in seven years. By Owen Main

In the first half, Cal Poly’s bench started to create separation. With Anthony Silvestri, Taylor Sutlive, and Maliik Love on the floor, the Mustangs went on an 18-8 run, scoring on six straight three-pointers by bench players — four by Silvestri and two by Sutlive.

“We were struggling offensively out there, ” said Silvestri. “When we came in, me and Taylor hit a couple shots. Maliik was driving, getting to the basket, drawing fouls, so I think it really had a big spark for us because then the starters came back in and kept it going.”

The 18 points accounted for all of the Mustangs’ points over a 7:36 span and helped Cal Poly build an eight-point first-half lead.

“Let’s cut down to the chase,” said Cal poly head coach Joe Callero. “In basketball, everything looks good when you make shots. When you get subs who come in and who score 24 of our 28 first half points, Anthony Silvestri is just on fire, but also a little firepower from Taylor Sutlive… . All of a sudden you have a team that stretches the floor a little more. I thought Maliik Love was critical in our zone offense. He had the top-down drive which created the suction in and they had to honor that and that got Anthony some of his shots.”

UCSB’s “Big” Al Williams single-handedly kept his team in the game, responding with bucket after bucket. With a lead hovering between seven and twelve points for most of the second half, though, Cal Poly seemed content to single-cover Williams and match the Gauchos’ scoring with points of their own.”

“We knew he was going to get his,” said Eversley of Williams. :If we keep everybody else under control and let him get his, we’ll be all right at the end of the day, so our game plan worked tonight.”

It didn’t matter who was guarding him or how many Mustangs were around him either. On one shot he made, Williams was surrounded by three Mustangs and still managed to score.

“He could be the best one-on-one post player on the West coast,” said Callero of Williams. “Number one, he’s got great hands, number two he’s got great feet, and then you put those together he’s got a big, strong, wide body that you can’t get around. We work with our guys over and over and say, ‘well why don’t they just get around there and front him or deny him?’ Sometimes you just can’t get get around him. He’s 260 pounds and wide with great feet and hands… . He’s a beast and I think he could be the most dominating single post player on the West coast.”

After making four three-pointers in the first half, Silvestri had one blocked. At the beginning of the second half, he changed it up, choosing the pump fake, taking a dribble inside the arc, and knocking down a 17-footer that sent the Cal Poly bench into a frenzy.

“I’ve gotten shots blocked before, so it wasn’t really that big of a deal,” said Silvestri. “I just thought in the second half I was ready for it. In the second half, I knew they were going to come flying out. I got a little pump fake and I’ve been working on the pump fake, so I was ready for it.”

The Thunderdome is a tough road environment. Here, a fan stands under the basket stantion while a Cal Poly player shoots free throws. By Owen Main

Cal Poly’s lead was cut to three points with 4:01 left to play on a Williams shot. That’s when Cal Poly senior forward Chris Eversley went to work. Eversley made a 17-foot jumper and a three-pointer on back to back possessions to extend the Mustang lead back to eight points.

“I remember guys in this situation, like Orlando Johnson did the same thing to me two years ago, so it’s just stepping up and being able to make those plays when my team needs them. Luckily they both went in and kind of helped seal the game for us,” said Eversley

Eversley, who had never won at the Thunderdome, posted “Last chance” on social media prior to the game. He and fellow seniors Jamal Johnson and Kyle Odister made the most of their final road game in the Blue-Green Rivalry.

#FreeAnt

Silvestri’s story is a really fun one. He tried out as a walk-on during his freshman year, but was cut. During his sophomore year, he was at the Rec Center on campus lifting weights when he was approached by Drake U’u.

“I went to just go actually lift in the Rec Center and Drake U’u was playing with a bunch of football players, I think one of them was Asa Jackson, and I was wearing running shoes,” said Silvestri. “I was like ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll play a game,’ and went out and basically almost beat their really good team. I had ten points and we play to eleven. I had all ten, and Drake told me to go to some open gyms. I just did well at open gyms.”

U’u, who is a rookie with the Australian National Basketball League’s Perth Wildcats (and recently scored a career-high 13 points), backed up Silvestri’s story.

“I just remember playing against this red head and thinking, wow he can really shoot the ball and has good size,’ said U’u. “It was like I was witnessing a real life Brian Scalabrine at the Rec’. So, I invited him to our open gym with the team. Everyone thought I was crazy for inviting this kid. Specifically, I remember Jamal telling me, ‘Drizz you gotta tell this kid chess club is in the next building over.’ I assured him he was with me and could play, and he didn’t disappoint. I remember him coming in and hitting 3’s like David Hanson 2.0. Finally I told coach he had to come check this kid out, and he loved him. He was a nice kid and became my best friend the following year. Pretty cool story.”

As a sophomore last season, the 6’7″ forward made a positive impression on Callero, who also coached Scalabrine at USC. Prior to this season, Callero announced that Silvestri would be a scholarship player for his senior year, following the path of Dylan Royer, who earned a scholarship for his senior season last year. On Saturday in Santa Barbara, he showed why.

Big West Sharpshooters

During the non-conference schedule, Cal Poly averaged only 65 points per game and scored in the 70’s in just five of 13 games. In two conference games, they’ve scored 77 and 72 points respectively. Over their two games last week, the Mustangs shot 47.7 percent from the field including 51.3 percent from 3-point range.

Tough week-two ahead

Cal Poly’s week-two conference schedule is just about as daunting as its opening week, though both games this week are at home. On Thursday, the Mustangs host Cal State Northridge. The Matadors, who sport the top two active career scorers in the conference, are off to a hot start under first-year head coach Reggie Theus. On Saturday, Cal Poly hosts defending regular season champs Long Beach State. The 49ers activated UCLA transfer Tyler Lamb six games ago and Lamb leads the team with 18.8 points per game.

“We’ve played two great teams so far and it’s only going to get harder next week with Northridge and Long Beach,” said Eversley. “Practice has been good, the mental focus has been excellent so we’re just going to look to build on this.”

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]