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]