I’ve been following Cal Poly hoops pretty closely for about six or seven years, but about four years ago, things went up a level. That was the year I started going to pretty much all the games at Mott Athletics Center. It was also Brian Bennett’s and Joel Awich’s freshman season.

Along with David Nwaba and Reese Morgan, Awich and Bennett played their final game in a Cal Poly jersey last Thursday in the first round of the Big West Tournament. Since I’ve watched so many of their games at home, away, in the Big West and NCAA Tournament, etc…, I thought I’d share a lasting memory I have of each of the seniors.

Joel Awich’s athleticism and versatility were always worth the price of admission. By Owen Main

Joel Awich

My best Joel memories are both from games against UCSB. My first is how well he played defensively against UCSB’s Alan Williams on a number of occasions, especially in the 2014 Big West Tournament’s first round. It was kind of sneaky, but instead of going at Al with big bulky guys, Joe Callero tried to use Awich’s length and athleticism as a change of pace on defense.

The other big move was late in a UCSB game at home when Awich took one dribble from 17 feet out and jammed it on two Gauchos. Joel always had that in him, and it was one of the things that always kept Cal Poly games exciting.

Joel ended his career as Cal Poly’s third-leading shot-blocker all-time.

Brian Bennett had four steady seasons in San Luis Obispo and was always fun to chop it up with. By Owen Main

Brian Bennett

In just his fourth game as a Cal Poly Mustang, Brian Bennett’s team beat a ranked UCLA team in Pauley Pavilion. The Mustangs were down by double-digits, but it was Bennett’s steady inside play that kept them even as close as they were. The freshman played the second-most minutes for Cal Poly that night, scoring 16 points, pulling down four rebounds, and dishing three assists.

I have two specific memories of Brian from this game.

1 – The Dunk.

It was I think the only time I saw Brian jam it in a game in his whole career. It was some kind of busted back and forth fast break. He made the shot, and he’ll probably deny it, but I remember he got close to missing it.

2 – The postgame

As the team’s second-leading scorer in the game, Bennett was one of the two players the media interviewed post-game. I Bennett’s exuberant comments after the game. It was something like “This is why I came to Cal Poly.”

Talking to a freshman and seeing the look on his face after his team beat UCLA was something I’ll definitely not forget. I always thought he looked like Ivan Drago when he first came. By the time he left, Brian was second all-time in appearances at Cal Poly and one of only 10 Mustangs with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.

The “Threenicorn” got through his entire senior season without a major injury. His shooting was a reason it always seemed Cal Poly had a comeback left in them. By Owen Main

Reese Morgan

Reese was a Parade All-American whose college career was marred by injuries.

After hurting himself his first season, it seemed like Morgan was turning a little bit of a corner in his redshirt freshman year (2012-13). In a double overtime game at UCSB as a freshman, Morgan dropped 26 points, including 7-11 from the three point line.

If you didn’t know that he actually aggravated a prior knee injury during that game, you’d have thought it was a harbinger of things to come. I never saw Reese as that dominant of a player again at Cal Poly. When I think of that night at the Thunderdome when Joe Callero and Bob Williams shouted each other down, I have super mixed feelings. I’m thankful I got to see Reese dominate that game and at the same time super sad that his physical limitations robbed us of what maybe could have been.

The second Reese memory for me is Cal Poly’s only-ever NCAA Tournament victory, when they beat Texas Southern in Dayton. That season was technically Morgan’s sophomore season. He only played nine games that year. His knees were still healing. Joe Callero was trying to take it easy on him.

In front of Reggie Miller and God himself, Morgan came off the bench for just ten minutes that game, but knocked down three three-pointers and contributed to one of the most meaningful wins in Cal Poly history.

After the game, I asked Chris Giovanetti, Cal Poly’s Sports Information Director for basketball, if I could talk to Reese. He said he’d do his best. I caught up to Reese for 3 minutes in the hallway as Cal Poly went to get back and catch a flight for St. Louis. His comments were great.

About a half-hour later, my phone rang. It was Reese calling me because Chris told him to. He knew he’d talked to me but 1) he wanted to make sure, cuz that’s the kind of nice kid he seems like he is and 2) props to Givo for getting me the guy I asked for amidst all that was happening.

The wonderful, joyous, pandemonium and rolling chaos that embroiled that team and that eight-day stretch is something I’ll always cherish being in the middle of, for the small part of it that I was.

David Nwaba’s ability to impact a game with his tenacity at both ends of the floor was a reason to go to Mott Athletics Center. He could give you a generational highlight play any time he touched the ball. By Owen Main

David Nwaba

The first time I saw David Nwaba dunk in a game, I had to think hard. Is this a kind of athlete every Division I team has?

The answer, clearly, was no.

Dave was the kind of player a photographer drools over. Actually, I’ll partially blame him for the escalation of my photography gear during his time at Cal Poly.

One game at Fresno State I traveled to, I got two amazing dunk photos of David within the first eight minutes of the game. They were not photos I could do any better and Cal Poly was getting blown out, so I kind of just stopped that night. That’s the kind of photographic opportunity Mr. Nwaba provided.

When Cal Poly hung with Arizona for a while and Oregon for a bit, early Nwaba dunks were exclamation points that not even the Pac 12 Network could stifle.

I’ll always remember David as being the most soft-spoken college athlete I think I’ve ever interviewed off the court, but was one of the most fierce on the court.

After that game in Fresno, Nwaba was the guy I wanted to talk to. I don’t really remember what he said. I do remember how quiet and determined his answers were. With a player as explosive and determined as Nwaba, Cal Poly fans could always imagine a scenario where the Mustangs could go on a run at any time.

******************

I said this on Twitter, but I literally never had a bad interaction with any of the four seniors this year. David always had a smile. Reese kept a positive attitude in press conference-after-press conference this year. Joel was quiet, but once you got him talking, he was a pretty insightful guy

And Brian. Well, Brian I interacted with the most. In the offseason, he worked security for other kinds of games. At baseball games, shooting the action from the top of the dugout, I got to talk Chicago sports, school, and other non-basketball things. Who better than a guy who looked like a real-life Ivan Drago to try to keep the student section at Cal Poly-UCSB soccer games in line. He wasn’t working it this year and things went haywire. Coincidence? You tell me.

I’m sure they all wish they could have won more games this year, but this group of seniors is cemented in the record books as part of the first Cal Poly team to go to the NCAA Tournament. Congratulations on great careers guys, and on whatever comes next.

An oddity happened in the second half of the close game between Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton last Thursday night. With Cal State Fullerton up by five points with 1:07 to play in the game, Joel Awich was fouled going up for a dunk. The official make a fisted chop signal, that seemed to signal the basket counting. As Awich slammed the ball home, a Fullerton player’s hand/fist came from under the hoop and popped the ball out of the basket. Here’s a photo of the play I took:

By Owen Main

OK, so the ball was completely through the hoop part of the hoop. You can see the Fullerton player’s arm about to hit the ball back out.

After conferring, the officials decided that nobody saw the ball go through the hoop, nobody saw the ball punched out of the hoop, and to top it off, basket interference isn’t reviewable. That’s right, officials cannot apparently even look to see whether the ball went through the hoop, or at least that’s what Joe Callero said he was told.

It brings up a few questions. One is whether there is a need for a specific rule change/modification to allow officials to look explicitly at whether a hand has come up through the cylinder or check to see if the ball went all the way through the hoop, interference or not. I’m not sure how else to think about this one, except a savvy play by Tre Coggins — an all-conference type player — who pulled one over on all three officials. I used to hate when guys like Kevin Garnett would goal tend on shots well after a foul was called. Maybe that type of play is actually a savvy thing to do. At what point is the ball technically through the hoop?

Taking a potential three-point play off the board in favor of two free throws was obviously a big deal in a game that turned out to have a one-point margin.

Close game struggles

Cal Poly has struggled in close games this year. They’ve had eight conference games that have finished with a margin of four points or less. In those games they are 1-7.

Titans get HOT

Cal State Fullerton sported two really tough big men and three guys who can flat-out shoot. Tre Coggins, Malcom Brooks, and Khalil Ahmad combined to go 8-14 from behind the arc and score 49 points. In the second half, the Titans shot 6-7 from three point range. The Titans also became another team to shoot at least 50 percent from the field against Cal Poly (54.7%).

Senior night notes

For Joel Awich, Reese Morgan, Brian Bennett, and David Nwaba, Thursday was their last game at Mott Athletics Center. Nearly 2,500 fans showed up, despite Cal Poly’s record and place in the standings.

All four of this year’s seniors played significant roles on Cal Poly’s first-ever NCAA Tournament team. Awich and Morgan — both of whom have been in the program for five years, have been around for most of Joe Callero’s 100-plus wins at Cal Poly and will be missed.

Morgan led the quartet with 22 points, including 6-12 from three-point range, and all of the seniors scored at least nine points.

Big West Tournament looms

Cal Poly’s record fell to (10-17, 4-10) with the loss. It also clinched Cal Poly’s first losing record at home (5-7) under Joe Callero.

Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton are the two bottom teams in the Big West Conference and Cal Poly would only be a 7-seed as things stand because CSUN is ineligible for the conference tournament. That would, if standings don’t change, match Cal Poly up with UC Irvine in the first round. The Mustangs still have to face the Anteaters in Irvine next week before finishing their road schedule at UCSB.

Two years ago, Cal Poly won the Big West from the seven seed, but it’s definitely something they would have liked to avoid, especially with the relative success they’ve had against Long Beach State, a possible third-seed this season.

To move up to the six seed, the Mustangs would need to win their remaining games and have Davis to lose all three games or get into some sort of tiebreaker with UC Riverside. Both UC Davis an UC Riverside are a game and a half ahead of the Mustangs in the standings.

In the end, it means that UC Irvine is the likely first-round matchup. Cal Poly goes to the Bren Events Center in Irvine to play an 8:30 game on Thursday night on ESPN3. The final regular season game in the Big West will be Saturday afternoon at the Thunderdome at UCSB.

Photos by Owen Main

Cal Poly shot over 40 percent from the field for the first time in five conference games. By Owen Main

Joel Awich had a career-high in points (17) and blocks (4) and three Mustangs scored at least 15 points as Cal Poly beat Cal State Fullerton 66-55 in a Big West game Thursday night.

Juniors David Nwaba and Brian Bennett scored 18 and 15 points respectively in the Cal Poly win. Nwaba led the team with seven rebounds.

Cal Poly, who had lost three consecutive games in conference, was able to hold a second-half lead by shooting over 50 percent (22-40) from inside the three-point line.

Gotta get in it to win it

Perhaps this is a negative thing to write so early in the season, but the Fullerton game meant a lot for Cal Poly for a number of reasons. Yes, they snapped a three-game losing streak, but if the Mustangs want to stay clear of the Big West cellar (remember, only eight of the nine teams make the tournament), they must get wins against teams in the bottom half of the conference.

With the win on Thursday night, Joe Callero’s squad put themselves a game and a half clear of the last-place Titans in the Big West standings. Currently, fourth through eighth place is separated by a half game in the table.

The performance (A)wich we’ve all been waiting for

Joel Awich has the tools. At 6′ 7″, Awich glides through the air and is able to guard any front-court player.

Those tools were on display on Thursday as the junior was aggressive with his shot, taking a career-high 16 and making half of them. When he plays with confidence, Awich’s inside-out play can be a great compliment to David Nwaba’s outside-in, attacking mentality.

There can only be one

I can never get past UCR without a Highlander reference. Sorry.

The Highlanders come to town on Saturday night with an equal 2-3 record in conference play. Led by Trevor Johns, UC Riverside usually plays Cal Poly very tough.

Game time Saturday is 7:00 pm.

Photos by Owen Main. To view on on iPhone or iPad, click here.

Reese Morgan, who scored 17 points on Monday against San Francisco, is Cal Poly’s second-leading scorer. By Owen Main

Last night, Cal Poly men’s basketball got out to a 14-point lead in the second half, lost that lead, and fought-back to beat San Francisco in The City, 78-71.

David Nwaba scored 19 points and Reese Morgan added 17 for Cal Poly, whose record moved to 4-4 on the season.

Scoring in bunches

Cal Poly’s had an outlier offensive night for them, scoring in the high-70’s and turning the ball over 14 times, compared to only 6 assists. Usually, that would be a recipe for disaster for a Joe Callero team, but the Mustangs found ways to get to the free throw line and give themselves extra opportunities on offense.

Nwaba in particular has shows increased ability to put pressure on defenses for whole games instead of just in spurts. Morgan, who was a Parade All-American in high school, might never have the first step he had before his most recent knee surgery. That said, he seems to be moving well-enough on the court to be quite effective.

Windex-men

Cal Poly’s real decisive statistical advantage came in rebounding. The Mustangs out-rebounded the Dons 41-30, and had a double-digit advantage for most of the game.

After losing their top rebounder in Chris Eversley after last season, Cal Poly is using a team approach to secure missed shots on both ends of the court. No Mustang reached double-digits in rebounds, but all 10 guys who played grabbed at least one and seven out of the ten managed three or more.

The development of Brian Bennett

Brian Bennett has been one of Cal Poly’s steadiest players. As a freshman, he led Cal Poly in scoring when they upset UCLA. He had a double-double in his first collegiate game at TCU. His mid-range jumper is one of the most reliable for a post player in the Big West.

Brian Bennett seems to be rounding into form again in his junior season. By Owen Main

But the junior has had a hard time sustaining excellence. After averaging 9.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a freshman, his stats regressed in his sophomore season (6.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, while playing about 5 fewer minutes per game).

This year, he seems to have regained some of whatever he had as a freshman. Just as importantly, he’s hitting the glass at a career-high clip, leading the team with a 6.5 rebounds per game average. The center from Illinois is one of three Mustangs averaging in double-digits (Nwaba 14.4 ppg, Morgan 11.6 ppg, Bennett 11.4 ppg). His 14 points and 8 rebounds on Monday were integral in Cal Poly’s win. A consistent inside presence on both ends of the court from Bennett will help to open up the game for everyone else on the floor.

Northeastern looms

Northeastern is Cal Poly’s next opponent. They’ll face off in Santa Clara as part of the Cable Car Classic on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm. The Huskies are 6-2 on the season, having beat the likes of Florida State, Manhattan, Western Michigan, and Navy.

Northeastern hasn’t had a game in over 10 days and, aside from Florida State, hasn’t played a lot of big-name programs. This game will be another of those games where the possible outcome could vary really widely.

The Mustangs will take a quick trip to Seattle and be back in Santa Clara to face the Broncos next week to finish out the Cable Car Classic.

Battle in Seattle

Every year, Gonzaga travels from the eastern part of the state to play in Seattle for a game. This year, the opponent will be Cal Poly. The Mustangs will face a top-10 opponent for the second straight year (they lost to Arizona in their opener last year), and they’ll do it in Joe Callero’s home town.

The game is Saturday night at 7:00 pm at Key Arena in Seattle. Gonzaga is the best team Cal Poly is scheduled to play this season.

Brian Bennett led Cal Poly with 15 points and 8 rebounds. By Owen Main

In their final home game before the start of the Big West Conference Season in January, Cal Poly went on a 17-0 first-half run and 9-0 run to start the second half to put the game out of reach, beating Menlo College 72-35 at Mott Athletics Center.

Brian Bennett led Cal Poly with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Joel Awich scored a career-high 13 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Reese Morgan scored 11 points off the bench for Cal Poly, who has now won their three home games and lost their three road games this season.

Skyler Sexton led the Oaks with 11 points on 3-6 shooting from behind the arc.

Cal Poly had an early 30-point lead in the second half and was able to empty their bench and play everyone who was available. All ten players who played for the Mustangs scored in the game.

The Mustangs only shot 39 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range, but out-rebounded Menlo 51-26 in the game.

History converges

Cal Poly’s first victory as a Division I program came in 1994-95 against Menlo College. Their 250th as a D-I program came Saturday night, also against Menlo College. To make it even more tidy, eight of the nine players and an assistant coach who finished the ’94-’95 season for Cal Poly were honored at halftime of Saturday’s game.

The Mustangs are now 6-0 all-time against Menlo and 32-1 all-time against non-Division I opponents.

Nwaba gets a rest

Junior forward and leading scorer, David Nwaba sat for Cal Poly after suffering a concussion in practice this week. Nwaba is averaging 13.4 points through the teams first five games.

A shade of gray

Cal Poly broke out another alternate uniform color on Saturday, showing off their new all-gray jerseys. The gray contrasts nicely with the green lettering and it’s possible that the gray also helps my camera to focus better on players as they move.

The gray uniforms mean that Cal Poly now has four options — white, green, black, and gray.

Joel Awich scored a career-high 13 points. By Owen Main

Awich gets it going

Joel Awich, who has now started all six games for Cal Poly this year, came in averaging just 5.2 points per game. On Saturday, he scored a career-high 13 points. If Cal Poly is going to be competitive in the Big West this season, Awich will have to continue to be a bigger factor on offense.

Alumni Weekend

On their alumni weekend, the men’s basketball program honored the first ever Division I team from 1994-95. That inaugural team had twin 13-game losing streaks and their only win of the season was a closely-contested contest against the same Menlo College who the Mustangs beat again on Saturday.

On Friday night, the team hosted a dinner honoring the 1994-95 team. Players 20 years removed from the first Division I season reflected on the difficulties of the season and the bonds that playing together at Cal Poly formed.

A podcast with Dave Dinee, the point guard on that team and unofficial spokesperson, is scheduled to be released later this week.

After the game, Callero reflected on what it meant to have the team from 20 years ago on campus this weekend.

“They persevered through a 1-26 season and we honor them for that,” said Callero. “People say, ‘How do you honor a team that went 1-26?’ Well, who better to honor? They finished the season. They started off with 15 [players], they finished it with nine, and that perseverance reminds me a lot of our team last year, who I don’t think many people had much faith in… . That team in ’94-’95 had to persevere through and through and through. They’re all still close together these days, they keep in touch, and I think for them to talk to our guys about that commitment to each other that commitment to your school, that commitment to your coaching staff and keep working, regardless of what’s happening, I think there’s some similarities to what we believe in… . Until it’s over, we’re fighting all the way to the end.”

Photos by Owen Main

Joel Awich throws down a dunk in the second half. By Owen Main

On Tuesday night, playing in Mott Athletics Center for the first time since their NCAA Tournament run a season ago, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team beat Division II San Francisco State 65-44. A trio of juniors scored in double figures for the Mustangs. Brian Bennett and David Nwaba had matching lines of 13 points and seven rebounds each. Joel Awich  dropped-in ten points and grabbed finve rebounds. Reese Morgan came off the bench to play 19 minutes, scoring nine points and grabbing seven rebounds.

The Gators from San Francisco State had their shots in the first half, as offense started slowly for both teams. The score was just 4-0 in Cal Poly’s favor nearly six minutes into the game. Once the teams got going, the Mustangs went on a run and extended the lead to 32-20 at halftime.

The lead was cut down to eight points as SFSU made a run in the middle of the second half, but Cal Poly clamped their defense down and gave up only four points in the final 11:02 to win the game by 21 points.

Gators had opportunities

The Gators, who ran a Princeton-style offense, had their opportunities early. While Cal Poly kept them out of the paint, open three-pointers didn’t fall. Eventually, the Mustangs found their legs and built-up a lead that the Gators had a hard time chipping into.

Derrick Brown led all scorers with 15 points on 5-9 three-point shooting. Brown’s three-pointer in the second half brought San Francisco State to within eight points for the final time.

The health of former Parade High School All American, Reese Morgan, will make a huge impact on the success of this Cal Poly team. By Owen Main

Turn up

When San Francisco State cut Cal Poly’s 17-point second-half lead to eight points, there was a lot of energy from the visitors in purple. It seemed to fuel Cal Poly as well. Team defense turned up a notch, the ball started to really move on offense, and the Mustangs quickly put the game away.

That level of play will keep them competitive all season, but they have to maintain it for whole games. Last year, Chris Eversley and Jamal Johnson didn’t allow other players to lose that focus for long. It remains to be seen who will grab that vocal leadership role this season on the court. There are a lot of upperclassmen on this roster who are pretty soft-spoken.

I’d bet on senior Maliik Love and junior Reese Morgan to grow into being more vocal leaders on this squad over the course of the season.

Student health

Cal Poly’s been dealing with a litany of injuries. With Zach Gordon and Taylor Sutlive out for the season, the Mustangs were already thin. So when David Nwaba rolled his ankle against Nevada on Saturday, coach Joe Callero had to be beside himself.

Callero described the ankle as being softball-sized during the game in Reno. Nwaba worked hard to get the swelling down in the two days between games and didn’t look any worse for the wear on Tuesday night, throwing-down a big alley-oop to cap the first half.

Who’s at the point?

Cal Poly started point guards Ridge Shipley and Maliik Love on Tuesday. Love and Shipley both have significant experience at point guard, and whether Love has to play more at shooting guard will be something to keep track of over the course of the preseason. Love has size and strength advantages over most other point guards and Joe Callero loves an advantage like that. But Love isn’t a prototypical shooting guard and Shipley has some work to do to extend his efficiency over the course of the additional minutes he’s sure to receive this year.

San Francisco State pressed for much of the game, forcing 11 Mustang turnovers despite both guards being on the floor at the same time for a lot of the game.

Bennett on the boards

There is no question that Brian Bennett has great touch from 10-15 feet. His offensive game has always been confident and smooth, but his rebounding numbers over his first two seasons are interesting to look at. Bennett averaged 4.6 rebounds per game as a freshman and just 3.1 per game last season.

Without Chris Eversley around, Bennett may have to be more active in not just engaging the other team’s biggest player, but also ending up with the ball. So far, his numbers reflect that as he is averaging 6.5 rebounds in the two games so far. Whether Cal Poly can maintain their rebounding edge against good teams all season will be a good indicator of how they do. When you don’t score a ton of points — and Cal Poly doesn’t — finishing defensive possessions becomes really important.

Tournament match-up

We all know Cal Poly was an NCAA Tournament team a season ago, but so was their next opponent, Delaware. The Blue Hens blew-out Cal Poly last year in the Diamond State, and the Mustangs are looking for some redemption in that regard at home on Friday night.

This game will be the first time Cal Poly has hosted a match-up of NCAA Tournament teams from the previous year and it’s the only pre-conference home game Cal Poly has against Division I competition this season. With local high school football teams like Arroyo Grande in the CIF playoffs, I will be looking to see how close to packed Mott gets on Friday night at 7pm.

Photos by Owen Main

To view on an iPhone or iPad, click here 

Chris Eversley (33) grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in the win over Santa Clara on Saturday. By Owen Main

Jamal Johnson was smiling. Players on the bench were halfway out on the floor high-fiving teammates.  There was 11:33 left in their eighth game, but Joe Callero’s basketball team was up by 12 points and really looked like it might be finally finding its stride, en route to a 64-53 victory over visiting Santa Clara, a team that beat Cal Poly in Santa Clara last season.

After averaging 24 three-point attempts per game over their last two games, both losses, Cal Poly made a concerted effort to get the ball in the paint and play more aggressively on offense. David Nwaba slashed to the basket all game long, leading the Mustangs with 21 points on 8-16 from the floor.

“We just, for three days, talked about how we’ve got to become a much more aggressive team with getting the ball in the paint,” said Callero. “To start the game off, we just ran the same play over and over and over trying to get inside touches… . It didn’t necessarily make us score a lot, but it made us more aggressive. And I think that aggressiveness carries over to the defensive end and it certainly carries over to the rebounding. The fact that we outrebounded them 42-31 was probably the stat that kept us with a 10-point lead.”

The sophomore wing led the team in field goal percentage coming in and had the most points and shots of his career.

“We’ve got to have a guy like David getting the ball more times. He was leading us in field goal shooting percentage, over 60 percent, so that guy should get the ball more often.”

Getting Nwaba and others going to the basket was a big emphasis against a Santa Clara team that didn’t really start a true center.

“To start the game off, we just ran the same play over and over and over trying to get inside touches,” said Callero. “It didn’t necessarily make us score a lot, but it made us more aggressive. And I think that aggressiveness carries over to the defensive end and it certainly carries over to the rebounding.”

Cal Poly out-rebounded Santa Clara 42-31, including 15-9 on the offensive glass. Preseason All-Big West Conference selection, Chris Eversley, pulled down 15 rebounds, matching a career high he set in a double-overtime game at UCSB last season.

“I’ve always come into the game with the mentality of come out and be aggressive,” said Eversley, who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game so far this season.

Nwaba pulled down six rebounds of his own, including four on the offensive end.

“Rebounding leads to possession, so we’ve got to make sure that we crashed the boards a little harder,” said Nwaba.

Cal Poly is now 3-5 on the season.

Practice getting better

Both Eversley and Callero pointed to better practices recently as a big reason for the improved play.

“David had been having great first halves, but probably not in game shape to sustain and play 25 minutes of hard basketball. He was running out of gas,” said Callero.

“[Nwaba] kind of was just an average practice player. I said, ‘When you want to be a great player, you’ll be a great practice player.’ That will create a habit of being aggressive all game long.”

Nwaba stayed aggressive in this game, scoring his 21 points in just 20 minutes. After Santa Clara cut the lead to seven, Nwaba’s dunk with just under four minutes left brought the crowd to its feet. Cal Poly would never lead by less than nine for the remainder of the game.

Brian Bennett chipped in with 8 points and 5 rebounds in the win and Maliik Love led the team with four assists in 22 minutes off the bench. Love, Johnson, and freshman Ridge Shipley all figured to play a role at point guard. As Nwaba’s substitute in this game, though, Love had the same imperative as Nwaba: be aggressive and get the ball into the paint.

“One of the things we did tonight that I thought was most important was we got 11 guys on the floor,” said Eversley. “Coach has switched off the practice style we have… it’s definitely a testament to that. Guys are running harder at practice, getting in shape, because we are realizing we’re going to be playing a deep rotation and everybody has to come in and contribute for us to be successful.”

Nwaba pointed to the productive play of the reserves as a key to the Mustangs 18-6 run over the final 9:00 of the first half.

“We did a good job being aggressive all the way through,” said Nwaba. “The bench was productive for sure. The starters came in well-rested and we capitalized.”

1985-86 team honored

The 1985-86 basketball team was honored at halftime of the game. Here are a few pictures of the team members who were recognized. They included Sean Chambers, who I remember from coming to games at Cal Poly and camps at Cuesta and also ESPN Radio 1280’s Mike Chellson.

Here’s a video that Cal Poly video coordinator Jeremy Jauregui put together on the team from that year. I think it’s really cool to see old highlights and Mott Gym pre-rennovation.

Leonard hurt

Freshman Markel Leonard was in street clothes for this game, sitting out with a stress fracture in his foot. His only playing time coming in the game against Bethesda, it’s unclear when he will be available again, though it’s likely to be 6-8 weeks or more.

Other thoughts

With only two Division 1 home games in the preseason, it was imperative for Cal Poly to get this win for many reasons. The Nevada game was hugely disappointing. If they had lost to Santa Clara, the buzz around the team going into conference play would definitely have been muted. Instead, the team played well and showed it can be a winner against a solid opponent.

As light as their home schedule might be in the preseason, it’s ridiculously tough on the road. Having already played at Arizona, Oregon, and Fresno State, the Mustangs will be on the road at Pitt, Stanford, Delaware, and Loyola Marymount between now and the start of 2014. It’s safe to say that by conference play, they will be road tested.

It also seems that this team is really putting an emphasis on a lot of guys playing in non-conference games and it seems players are bought into the concept. It will be interesting to see if that stays the same or if Callero shortens his bench some as conference season approaches.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Joe Callero’s swing looks pretty good, but yours truly squeaked out the best score on the day. By Owen Main

I hatched the idea in the upstairs interview/conference room at Mott Athletics Center last season. It was probably still called Mott Gym back then, but I digress.

Cal Poly had just lost a game at home… perhaps to Fresno State. Head coach Joe Callero used a golf analogy to describe leaving a bad game or “hole” behind you and going on to the next one.

A Mustang Daily writer asked him how much he played golf. And the idea for the following podcast was born.

I had to wait until Callero’s “personal maintenance” time of the year — when he schedules all his doctor appointments, dentist appointments, etc… . He started the day talking about the possibility of another knee surgery. As school starts this month, though, so does the grind of a basketball coach’s schedule.

Callero said he only plays a dozen rounds a year — all in the offseason — and he was kind enough to grace the podcast with one of those rounds.

So here’s the premise. Eighteen holes. Eighteen questions.

Two retired gentlemen joined us in our foursome. One talked about being a UCLA alumni before the fist tee shot. Instead of teeing up his ball, he’d teed one up for the Cal Poly head coach, who didn’t waste any time pulling a golf ball out of his bag with the score from Cal Poly’s win at UCLA last season imprinted on it.

He told the guy the story, gave him the ball as a souvenir, and we were off.

I didn’t really know what to expect Friday night. As a player, coach, or family member, I’ve been to probably 20 high school end-of-year awards ceremonies, but I didn’t know what to expect for an end of year banquet for a Division 1 basketball program. Cal Poly’s event at the Performing Arts Center was a fun one. Here are some of the things I learned and some things I was reminded of.

Dylan Royer, Drake U’u, and Chris O’Brien shared the Cal Poly captain’s award. by Owen Main

Seniors mean a lot

Sometimes in the middle of the season, fans might look at a player and wonder why someone is in the game over someone else. Often, it comes down to intangibles, and it was clear that this year’s seniors have earned a ton of respect from head coach Joe Callero.

“The maturity of three seniors was the absolute key to the season,” said Callero.

The personality of a team at this level can be shaped by the leaders on the team and it’s clear that, along with Chris Eversley, the personality of the past year’s team was driven by the three seniors — Dylan Royer, Chris O’Brien, and Drake U’u. Look for Eversley, Jamal Johnson, and Kyle Odister to quickly establish themselves as dominant personalities on next year’s roster.

And the winners are…

Chris Eversley took home the team’s Most Valuable Player Award. In other news, the sky is blue, Avila Beach is warm, and SLO is a great place to live.

Dylan Royer won the Mr. Hustle award, Drake U’u took home the Academic Excellence and Media Darling Awards. Chris O’Brien won the Inspiration Award, lamenting “I really am an old man, and I feel like it.”

All three seniors split the Captain’s Award and junior point guard Jamal Johnson netted the Coach’s Award.

Men’s college basketball news can be broken on a Friday night in June

About two hours before the awards ceremony, head coach Joe Callero tweeted that Reese Morgan would undergo surgery on the 24th of this month and miss the entire 2013-14 season. Morgan redshirted in 2011-12 with an injury of the same knee, but came on to have a strong freshman campaign last year, starting in at least 10 games down the stretch. Morgan’s best game of the year came in his first start, when he scored 26 points at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara. With the loss of Morgan and Dylan Royer, look for senior Kyle Odister to be Cal Poly’s main three-point threat next season.

Ryan Darling, Shawn Lewis, and other former Mustangs were on-hand at the 2013 Awards Banquet. By Owen Main

The Cal Poly basketball family continues to grow

Joe Callero and basketball alum Alex Lambertson have worked over the past year to develop a Cal Poly basketball alumni network, and that network was represented with several recent graduates from the Cal Poly basketball family. Among others who attended Friday night’s awards ceremony were Shawn Lewis, Will Taylor, Ryan Darling, and Jordan Lewis. For someone who is a Cal Poly basketball fan, it’s fun to see players past and present interacting and to get a chance to talk and catch-up with all of them. Taylor, for example, recently returned from a stint playing basketball professionally in Germany.

Cal Poly has a Media Darling Award

And it went to Drake U’u. Take a few minutes and watch. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. (props to Chris Giovannetti)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAo32kaDmZY

The UCLA win was nice…

But the team has other milestones it’s hit during the past few years. They’ve won at USC and UCLA, finished with back-to-back 18-win seasons, become a team Big West opponents implicitly respect, and raised the bar for future Mustangs teams. The change is one of culture and, while not all Cal Poly fans agree with everything that happens all the time, it’s hard to argue that the culture around the basketball team at Cal Poly has changed from five years ago, when the team finished 7-21 and expectations seemed almost impossible to have.

The event overall was really fun

I wasn’t sure how much fun I would have, but if you followed the basketball team at all this year, there were lots of inside jokes, fond memories, and other fun things. The location was pretty great too — inside a side hall of the Performing Arts Center I had never seen before. For the $5 admission, I think it was totally worth it.

The Future

The awards ceremony got me thinking about the future of the program. Questions about who will improve the most from last year to next stand-out. The unknown can be the most exciting or terrifying thing in the life of a college basketball coach or fan. How will David Nwaba fit-in and is he really the physical specimen they’ll need him to be with Morgan out and O’Brien graduated? Can any of the three freshmen next season (Markel Leonard, Ridge Shipley, and Taylor Sutlive) break through and make significant contributions? How will Kyle Odister move into a role where his shooting and energy are needed night-in and night-out? Will Jamal Johnson’s efficiency continue to improve? Can Chris Eversley take a next-step to being a candidate for Big West Player of the Year?

I could go on and on. the point is, the future is a fun thing to play with, as anticipation builds toward next year.

Next year’s schedule is ambitious

The non-conference schedule for Cal Poly includes games at Arizona, Pitt, Stanford, Delaware, and Fresno State and a home game against Nevada, among others. To build a reputation and get teams to schedule home-and-home series, you have to play good teams on the road, and Callero has once again put several BCS schools on the schedule.

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It was one of the grossest halves you’ll ever see. In classic Cal Poly fashion, the Mustangs led 20-19 at halftime, keeping Davis out of their rhythm.

Drake U’u, Mustache and all, sparked Cal Poly’s second-half run. By Will Parris

But Cal Poly didn’t have much of a rhythm either, and here’s the important part. The Mustangs’ all-Big West first team selection, forward Chris Eversley, looked uncomfortable. Just as Cal Poly worked to take Corey Hawkins out of the game, UC Davis did a great job on Eversley. Off-balance drives and bricked jump shots from both Hawkins and Eversley led to only four total points between the two of them. Someone else was going to have to step up.

Cal Poly’s point guards filled the bill. Drake U’u came out firing in the second half, scoring four quick points and setting the tempo for what ended up being a Cal Poly blowout victory. U’u finished the game with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, while only committing one turnover. Not to be out-done, back-up point guard Jamal Johnson provided a spark also in the second half. Johnson kept-up U’u’s aggressiveness netting 7 points, 4 assists, and zero turnovers. It was the kind of leadership that head coach Joe Callero demands from his point guards.

Eversley never really got himself into a rhythm and other Mustangs stepped-up too. Zach Gordon came off the bench to score 4 points and grab 3 rebounds. Reese Morgan had a 4-point play. Brian Bennett was his usual solid self, scoring 8 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.

The important thing for Joe Callero’s team is that they move-on to play tomorrow. On a day when their top scorer and rebounder only managed to shoot 3-11 from the field for 7 points and 6 rebounds, Cal Poly will feel fortunate to be moving on.

Photos by Will Parris

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