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

A three game road trip to Texas was never so complicated.

After playing the first two games of a three-game Texas road trip to end their pre-conference schedule, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team took a five-day break around the Christmas holiday. Players, coaches, and team personnel left from San Antonio last week and disbursed to Seattle, Minnesota, other parts of Texas, and all over California, among other places.

Their return became a nightmare of delays and cancellations caused by a strong storm in Texas that brought tornadoes to the northern part of the state. According to this article, about half of Sunday’s flights were delayed, averaging an hour or two. Many Cal Poly folks wished their flights were delayed by only a few hours.

Josh Martin (front right) and Trevor John (front left), along with coaches and teammates were on this plane for the better part of five hours without leaving San Antonio. Gross. Photo courtesy of Josh Martin

After being delayed on a flight from San Luis Obispo to Phoenix, only about half of a group of coaches and staff were able to sprint to the connecting flight on Sunday morning. Others, including play-by-play broadcaster Tom Barket and some coaches who gate-checked bags, were not that lucky and were delayed in Phoenix for most of the day after missing the connection.

“Mitch Reaves made it and they closed the door behind him,” said Associate Head Coach Paul Fortier. “We were 30 seconds behind him, but they had closed the door.”

Some who made the connection probably wished they hadn’t. A group of players and coaches on the flight from Phoenix to Houston circled Houston for some time before diverting to San Antonio. After sitting on the tarmac for three hours there, they were allowed off the plane for 20 minutes before boarding again, only to wait for a few more hours. That group arrived at Houston around 8:30 or 9:00 on Sunday night and was able to check into their hotel. Josh Martin, who spent the holiday in Phoenix, was one player who made the San Antonio stop.

“I feel weird I feel like I’m rested but as soon as I step on the court, my body’s going to be deflated and not ready to go,” the 6′ 8″ Martin said before Monday’s practice. “I tried to do some stretching last night, but I was definitely sore.”

The three who didn’t make the flight out of Phoenix — Joe Callero, Paul Fortier, and Barket — tried in vain to get on at least two flights before they finally caught one late in the evening and arrived at about 12:30, some six hours after the scheduled Sunday evening practice at Rice. Only seven players made it to the session.

“Being 6’9″, it wasn’t as bad as having to sit on an airplane for that long,” said Fortier, who caught some NFL action on the televisions in the airport with Callero and Barket throughout the day.

Joel Awich, a 6’7″ senior from Minnesota, had a two-hour delay, but his direct flight from Minneapolis was able to land safely and he made it to the scheduled practice along with seniors David Nwaba and Reese Morgan, among others. For his part, Awich seemed pretty focused on the job ahead.

“We just watched film on them,” said Awich on Monday afternoon before practice. “They looked really good. Like every other game, a team we can beat, but we just have to be serious, get our heads in the game early, shake off all this flight stuff, get back to where we are as a team, and handle our business tomorrow.”

All three Texas-based players ended up sleeping in their own beds on Sunday night. After Taylor Sutlive’s flight from San Antonio to Houston was canceled Sunday night, he hitched a ride with his family, picking up Hank Hollingsworth in Austin on the way to Houston, where he arrived around the middle of the day on Monday.

Sutlive, who mostly followed the Texas Longhorns growing up just north of San Antonio, also talked about shaking off the rust.

“It could affect the team mentally,” said Sutlive of the delays. “But A&M’s a good team regardless. We missed a practice yesterday. A lot of it’s concentration and focus. We have practice tonight and we’ll be ready to go. The atmosphere in [Reed Arena] is great and obviously we’ve got to come ready to play.”

The two players who got the worst of the travel issues were Seattle-based Luke Meikle and Zach Gordon. On the same flight, the two had a similar diversion as the group that went to San Antonio, only ZG and Luke (6’8″ and 6’9″ tall respectively) were diverted to Lake Charles, Louisiana and  sat on the Tarmac for up to 7 hours without getting off the plane and without food. By the time they let them deplane in Lake Charles, the only place they could get food was McDonalds. After finding a hotel in Louisiana late on Sunday night, Meikle and Gordon finally made it to Houston on Monday morning and joined the team in College Station around the middle of the day.

Fortier said that the Mustangs had a lot to do on Monday in preparation for Tuesday’s game.

“It was the first time the guys were able to present our scouting report to them,” said Fortier. “We did that this afternoon once ZG and Luke got in, so were were able to go over some things from our last game as well. We still want to learn from things we can learn from. Then we got to really get a good sweat. Our guys’ intensity level was good. I think from the few days off, guys came back with their batteries charged.”

MT @TomBarket: Full practice, Reed Arena in College Station. CP plays 2nd game ever vs SEC. Tomorrow 5PT v Texas A&M pic.twitter.com/szT7x0mvJw

— Big West MBB (@BigWestMBB) December 29, 2015

Fortier sees a big test ahead of the Mustangs on Tuesday night in College Station.

“They’re a big, talented team, and they have a number of seniors,” said Fortier of the Aggies. “When you see top-25 teams [in today’s college basketball], you see younger players, but they have a number of seniors in their starting five. They are an older experienced team that play well together and a couple of freshmen who play together as well.”

Finally reunited, Cal Poly will tip-off against #19/20 Texas A&M at 5:00pm. You can find the game on the SEC Network or listen to Tom Barket here.

Thankfully a full practice in College Station tonight w/ the entire team. Game Tue. vs. #14 Texas A&M will require our best effort in years!

— Joe Callero (@CoachCallero) December 29, 2015

Cal Poly went two for two in Colorado. In the regional round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, the Mustangs beat Austin Peay and UMBC in consecutive days to win the four-team regional.

We are champs!! Picked up two big wins in two days!! Great job fellas!! #mustangway

A photo posted by Cal Poly Men's Basketball (@calpolymbb) on Nov 22, 2015 at 1:54pm PST

A for Awich

Joel Awich led the Mustangs in both games, averaging 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds over the two games en route to the earning the weekend’s MVP. Awich has always been hyper-athletic and has had the touch to shoot from the outside. This weekend, Awich went 7-11 from behind the 3-point line.

Awich is now leading the Mustangs in scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.8 points and 6 rebounds per contest. If the Mustangs can get this kind of consistent scoring from both David Nwaba (13.4 ppg so far this season) and Awich, Cal Poly could have two scorers around 15 points per game in the first time in I don’t even remember how long.

Shooter’s touch

Cal Poly is putting up shots this year. When they have open 3-pointers, they are taking them. Here is a twitter conversation I had with former Mustang News editor Brian de los Santos toward the middle of the UCLA game last Sunday:

I respect Brian’s opinions on sports, but I think I had a point. So far this year, Cal Poly is shooting 38 percent from behind the arc while attempting almost 25 per game. Compare that to last season, when the Mustangs shot just 31 percent and only attempted 18.3 shots from long range per game. Not only is Cal Poly more efficient, but they use this more-efficient part of their offensive game more often. Last year, Cal Poly made 5.6 three-pointers per game. So far this year, they are making almost 10 per game.

It’s not like it’s a fluke, either. The Mustangs have shooters. Reese Morgan and Taylor Sutlive are super high-percentage shooters. Jaylen Shead has been good in limited games so far. Ridge Shipley can get as hot as anyone, and big-men Joel Awich and Luke Meikle are good enough to make other big men play them outside.

70 is a magic number?

Last year, Cal Poly scored 70 just seven times all season. They won six of those games, which also represented nearly half of their wins all season This year, they have scored 70-plus in each of their first five games, during which they are 3-2. It’s a small sample size, and I don’t know how or whether it will impact a season once Big West play starts, but I do know that Joe Callero’s teams have always been able to dictate pace.

This year they said they were going to play faster, and they absolutely are. The faster pace is a real thing you guys.

Upcoming schedule

Cal Poly’s big non-conference homestand is coming up next week. On Saturday night (11/28), they host the University of Antelope Valley, followed by IPFW on Thursday (12/3) and Fresno State the next Saturday (12/5). After these three games, the Mustangs will hit the road for the rest of 2015 before kicking-off the Big West home season January 14th against UCSB.

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.

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 

Joel Awich and Jamal Johnson enjoy the final minutes of Cal Poly’s victory on Thursday night.

Cal Poly beat Cal State Northridge on Thursday night to match their best start in Big West Conference History. Here are some photos from Thursday night’s game.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

It’s been a part of the Cal Poly narrative for the past few months. Sometimes, you just have to make shots. The Cal Poly men’s basketball team did just that, opening up an 18-point first-half lead en-route to a 77-65 victory over Hawai’i in Mott Athletics Center on Thursday night.

Chris Eversley had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and zero turnovers. By Owen Main

“It felt like and intense environment.” said Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero. “It felt like fans were coming to see a big-time men’s college basketball Division 1 game. And we delivered with athleticism, toughness, competitiveness, skill level. I was so proud of our guys because we’ve gone through a lot by the daunting preseason schedule we had but we’ve learned a lot and that’s why I’m proud of what we’re doing.”

Cal Poly shot 51.6 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game from the field.

“The number one indicator that the NCAA has found for the last ten years to indicate most success is field goal percentage,” said Callero. “We shot 50 percent tonight. Losses that we’ve had on the road, we’ve been lower.”

Senior guard Kyle Odister got the hot shooting started, knocking down a pair of triples within the first three minutes of the game. A Chris Eversley dunk and layup extended the Cal Poly lead to 12-2 just 3:42 into the game. Fellow senior Jamal Johnson also got into the scoring act early and often, scoring a career high 15 points on 4-7 shooting from the field and 5-5 from the free-throw line. Johnson was 2-4 from 3-point range. Prior to the game, Johnson had scored only 5.1 points per game this season. His scoring on Thursday was much more dynamic and included drives to the basket and shots that the Hawai’i defense seemed to be forcing the Mustangs to settle for.

“There were just times in the preseason where we just took bad shots as a team. Personally I did as well… . If we want to win, we have to improve our percentages and improve our shot selection because if we get in the paint and kick out and share with people, we can play with anybody in the country” said Eversley

Eversely tied for the team and game-high in points with 17. Sophomore David Nwaba also notched 17, including an electrifying tip-jam midway through the second half. The dunk and ensuing turnover by the Rainbow Warriors seemed to squash any chance Hawai’i had to come back in Mott Athletics Center.

“There’s nothing like playing at home,” said Eversley. “We’ve been longing for this. We’re on the road, staying at different hotels, sleeping in different beds. We knew once everybody got back in their bed, in their routines with school starting, just mentally it’s a big stability thing. The fans were great tonight, the band was great tonight and we fed off that.”

Nwaba agreed.

“It’s a great atmosphere. I love the crowd here in SLO,” said Nwaba.

Along with a pair of gravity-defying dunks, Nwaba also knocked down a few 17-foot jumpers, something he hasn’t done for much of the year.

“Confidence is key,” said Nwaba. “I’ve been building-up confidence and getting more shots up in the gym. Teams are doing a great job of scouting so I know I need to extend my game just a little bit so [I’m] getting in the gym and getting my shots up.”

With an 8-12 shooting performance, Nwaba ranks 12th in the nation and first in the Big West Conference, shooting 61.3 percent from the field. Nwaba, a sophomore transfer from Santa Monica College, also is second on the team averaging 11.9 points per game.

For Cal Poly, it was their fifth straight win over Hawai’i, 15th consecutive victory at home in the Big West Conference. The team hadn’t played a home game since they hosted Cal State Dominguez Hills on December 14th.

One day contract

Callero often refers to “one-day contracts” each of his players are metaphorically on. For the Big West opener, that meant that Joel Awich and Chris Eversley were the starting forwards. With neither standing over 6’7″, the lineup seemed to present a mismatch down low, where Hawai’i started Christian Standhardinger (6’8″) and Isaac Fotu (6’8″). But the Mustangs came out and outrebounded Hawai’i 12-6 to start the game and never looked back. Brian Bennett played just 17 minutes for the second game in a row and has now come off the bench for two straight games for the first time in his career. In his freshman campaign last season, Bennett started all 32 games. So far this year, he’s started 11 of the team’s first 14 games.

Paying full price

Cal Poly opens their Big West schedule this week by playing the team with the best preseason record (Hawai’i) and the team that is probably the best team in the conference right now, Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos got the opening night bye (there are nine teams in the conference) this week and will open conference play at the Thunderdome. Tip-off on Saturday is at 4:00 pm.

Next week, the Mustangs come back home to face Reggie Theus’ Cal State Northridge Matadors on Thursday and defending regular season conference champion Long Beach State on Saturday. both games are scheduled for 7:00pm.

Women’s team wins a thriller

Taryn Garza’s putback as time expired helped the women take the Rainbow Wahine of Hawai’i into overtime in Honolulu on Wednesday night. Jonae Ervin scored a career-high 37 points as the defending Big West champions won their conference opener. The Mustang women made it back from Honolulu on Thursday in time to see the end of the men’s game at MAC. The Mustangs also face UCSB on Saturday. Their game is at MAC at 4:00 pm.

Photos by Owen Main

  [See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

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

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Cal Poly likes playing at Mott. A lot.

After losing three straight Big West Conference games (all on the road), Cal Poly managed home victories over Hawai’i and Cal State Northridge. The weekend home sweep put the Mustangs alone in 3rd place in the Big West behind Long Beach State and Pacific.

The friendly confines of Mott Athletic Center – Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero’s team has really established a home court advantage. After winning their first four home conference games this season, the Mustangs have now won nine consecutive Big West home games.

Chris Eversley averaged 24.5 points and 12 rebounds as Cal Poly swept the weekend against Hawai’i and Cal State Northridge. By David Livingston

Chris Eversley is REALLY good – Eversley was really good once again this weekend. The junior from Illinois dropped 19 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the Mustangs’ 88-59 drubbing of Hawai’i on Thursday and followed it up with a career-high 30 points and 14 rebounds in the Mustangs’ victory over Cal State Northridge. It was the first time a Cal Poly player has scored 30 points since Lorenzo Keeler scored 30 at UC Davis on Feb. 4, 2010 (#Givo). Eversley averaged 24.5 points and 11 rebounds per game over the weekend and is averaging 16.5 points and 8 rebounds per game in Big West play.

“Other guys” continue to emerge – Reese Morgan continues to impress. On Thursday night vs. Hawai’i, Morgan scored 16 points, scoring in double-digits for the third time in Big West play. Morgan’s improvement cannot be overstated. Without his contribution during the first seven games of conference play, it’s safe to say that Cal Poly would not have had the winning record they did. Dylan Royer had a very good pre-conference season, averaging in double digits in scoring, but he hasn’t shot or scored the same way in conference play. Morgan’s play and especially his scoring have offset Royer’s slow conference start.

On Saturday, Morgan went cold too. He and Royer combined to shoot 0-10 from the field (each 0-4 from three-point range). Enter Joel Awich and Drake U’u. Awich, a redshirt freshman who didn’t see the court during Cal Poly’s first four conference games, impressed with aggressive offensive moves. His eight points and three rebounds helped to offset the lack of production from two of Cal Poly’s sharpshooters and his defensive length helped to counteract a very athletic Matador team. Senior Drake U’u has emerged too, starting at point guard for the past two games. U’u averaged 11 points, 3 rebounds and 5.5 assists over the weekend. If Awich and U’u can maintain consistent and solid contributions, then cold shooting nights become less of an issue for the three-point shooters on the team. Despite scoring zero points on Saturday night, Morgan is averaging 11 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in Big West play. Not bad for a freshman who had a really slow start.

Cal State Northridge is really athletic, but it takes more than athleticism to win games consistently in the Big West. By David Livingston

The Big West is coming better into focus – There are only a few givens this year in the Big West conference. Long Beach is very good. Pacific is going to be formidable. Beyond that, any of the other 8 teams could be between the third and eighth seed in the tournament. The bottom line about halfway into conference play is that any team who is not Long Beach State or Pacific will have to go through at least one and probably both of those teams to have a shot at the Big West Tournament championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

While Long Beach State and Pacific have emerged early, there are other teams like UC Irvine, Hawai’i, Cal State Fullerton, and UC Davis all sit within a game of the third place Mustangs.

Brian Bennett continues to stabilize the inside – Freshman center Brian Bennett continues to be an equalizer for teams with very good post players. Bennett is averaging double-figure scoring on the season (10.6 ppg in Big West play) and improved his rebounding numbers over the weekend as well, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game over the past two games. In the UCSB game, Cal Poly seemed most in-control with Bennett matching-up inside against the Gauchos’ Alan Williams. While Williams was getting some points, Bennett gave Cal Poly an inside presence on both ends. Cal Poly plays three freshmen at the “5” position, but Bennett is clearly the most polished and continues to play beyond his years.

Photos by David Livingston

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