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

After grinding out a 58-53 win against UC Davis on Thursday night, Cal Poly men’s basketball rallied from a 14 point deficit with 11 minutes to play, but fell in overtime to CSUN 75-71. After splitting the two home games last weekend, the Mustangs are now 10-16 overall and 4-9 in Big West Conference play.

Reese Morgan has been heating up lately. By Owen Main

Morgan heating-up

It’s nice to see Reese Morgan playing well. The fifth-year senior guard has scored in double-digits in each of Cal Poly’s last six games and is averaging 18 points per game over his last four. When he can spot-up and get more open shots, Morgan can be as deadly a shooter as anybody, but it’s been hard for him without a ton of other creators on the floor. Jaylen Shead’s increased minutes (see below) have provided a nice back court compliment for Reese.

Shead seeing more time

Freshman point guard Jaylen Shead is getting more minutes, and they seem to be paying off. Shead is athletic and strong enough to keep opposition guards in front of him and also rebounds very well for a point guard. Over the weekend, Shead averaged 6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. He has shown he can make free throws in the clutch and given Joe Callero no reason to take him out. He’s played 25-plus minutes in each of the past seven games and played 30-plus minutes in each of the past three.

Jaylen Shead has had an increased presence on the floor over the past few games. By Owen Main

Awards Banquet

Cal Poly will hold their awards banquet a little earlier than normal this year. On Friday night, the team and public will gather at the PAC to name their award winners and to honor retiring play-by-play announcer Tom Barket. Barket has been with Cal Poly for about a decade, calling football, basketball, and baseball for over half that time. Tom has always been great to this website, contributing on the podcast at least 3-4 times, and I know I’ll miss him around Cal Poly sports.

Mott Mania

Cal Poly’s final contest of the season at Mott Athletics Center will be Saturday night when they face Cal State Fullerton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00pm.

The Mustangs are 5-6 at home so far this season (10-16 overall) and will try to clinch a .500 home record with a victory against the Titans.

So you’re telling me there’s a chance?!

With Saturday’s loss, Cal Poly will have a losing record in the Big West for the third consecutive season, but not all hope is lost. Two years ago, the Mustangs finished conference play 6-10 and was a seven seed in the conference tournament when they won four games in a row and made it to the NCAA Tournament’s second round. It’s not something fans, coaches, or players can count on, but I guess it’s nice to know that it can be done.

Women win a pair

Cal Poly women’s basketball had a successful road weekend, beating Cal State Fullerton and CSUN on the road. Their conference record now stands at 6-7 as they fight for a higher seed in next month’s Big West Tournament.

Photos from the UC Davis game by Owen Main. Click here to see all photos.

David Nwaba was held mostly in-check on Saturday. This dunk was fun though. By Owen Main

In another close game against Hawai’i, Cal Poly lost a tight game 59-56 in front of 2,876 fans at Mott Athletics Center.

Reese Morgan, who had been sidelined with an injury in the previous game, came off the bench to play 30 minutes and lead the team with 16 points. Ridge Shipley added 12 points and Joel Awich notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The game was really weird. Cal Poly seemed like they were playing really poorly, but took the lead mid-way through the half. The Mustangs didn’t make a two-point field goal for over 18 minutes to start the game, but still managed to have the lead at halftime.

As a team, Cal Poly only shot 4-30 from two-point range in the loss. Their 2-point shooting numbers are actually really interesting, as are their defensive numbers, which remain strong. Hawai’i was able to force 15 Mustang turnovers in the game.

Cal Poly has the weekend off before continuing their home stand against Cal State Northridge on Thursday and Long Beach State on Saturday.

Photos by Owen Main

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.

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

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Reese Morgan led Cal Poly with 13 points in their opener. By Owen Main

In their first game since they lost to top-seeded Wichita State in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team shot poorly and faded in the second half, losing to Nevada 65-49 on Saturday afternoon in Reno.

The Mustangs held the halftime lead, but Nevada shot 50 percent from the field in the second half, when the Mustangs countered by making just a quarter of their shots, including 2-13 from three-point range. Overall, the Mustangs were just 4-22 from behind the arc and shot just 31 percent for the game.

Reese Morgan led Cal Poly with 13 points and also pulled down seven rebounds. David Nwaba, who has been hampered by an injured wrist, scored 11 points.

Cal Poly is without both Zach Gordon and Taylor Sutlive for the season. Both were expected to get significant minutes for head coach Joe Callero this season. On Saturday, they were also without Ridge Shipley, who was unavailable. Shipley should be back for Tuesday’s game.

Cal Poly, who gave up a big lead and lost to Nevada in the home opener last season, kicks-off their home schedule against San Francisco State on Tuesday before hosting Delaware on Friday. The games represent two of just three pre-conference home games on the Cal Poly schedule this year.

Sophomore Reese Morgan made three 3-pointers in ten minutes on Wednesday night. Photo By Owen Main

Reese Morgan was the future of Cal Poly basketball. Maybe he still is.

As a high-school senior, the 6 foot 2 guard at Peninsula High School in San Pedro, CA was highly touted, scoring almost 2,500 points in his prep career and earning fourth-team Parade All American status.

Then, in the preseason of his freshman year, Morgan suffered a setback, injuring his left knee. Last season, as a redshirt freshman, he literally and figuratively regained his footing. On the road against UC Santa Barbara, Morgan was fearless, scoring 26 points, including seven three-pointers. Promise was starting to become reality. But one of his best attributes — his physical play, seemed to wear on him.

After the UCSB game last season, Morgan just didn’t seem the same. He ended-up playing in all 32 of the Mustangs’ contests, but the knee still nagged at him. He would need yet another procedure — his fourth knee surgery.

His comeback in the middle of Big West Conference play during the 2013-14 season looked a lot like the preseason of his redshirt freshman year. His balance looked wonky and his comfort level with the transformer-like knee brace did not seem strong.

In the Big West Tournament he didn’t score at all, but on Wednesday night, he made three out of four from behind the arc, giving Cal Poly the floor spacing they needed for consistent penetration. So, how does that knee feel now?

“Physically, as far as that part, not 100 percent,” said Morgan. “I’m eight and a half months out of my fourth knee surgery so the process is slow. Tonight I felt actually really good, though, but coach doesn’t want to over-do it or anything so trying to keep my minutes limited to when I can help and how I can kind of be a spark without putting me at risk of anything.”

After playing just five total minutes in two of the three conference tournament games, Morgan’s First Four hot streak might have been all the more surprising.

“As far as coming out and playing well… it’s a big game. First time we’ve ever been to the tournament, probably the most people I’ve ever played in front of so I was obviously excited and I was just happy to see those shots go down,” said Morgan after the game.

Not at 100 percent, a medical redshirt might have been an option for Morgan, but he didn’t want to miss an opportunity to play this season and be in a similar situation to graduating women’s basketball junior Ariana Elegado, who will only return to the team next season if she attends a graduate program at Cal Poly.

“I redshirted my freshman year and I didn’t necessarily want to take a second redshirt because then I’d have to find a different program to go into as far as school and that wasn’t really going to work out for me,” said Morgan. “So I decided that, hey, I might as well come back if I can, if my knee’s healthy and if the doctors let me and see if I can give some sort of a spark. We’ve kind of been shooting for middle February all year. I got some minutes in that time and trying to find my way back in a groove. It’s definitely not easy to be out that long and come back but it felt good tonight.”

Cal Poly sophomore David Nwaba is probably the biggest beneficiary of having Morgan and sharpshooter Kyle Odister back in the lineup. At one point this season, both of Cal Poly’s best shooters were out with injuries and teams really packed the lane against the slashing Nwaba.

“It’s good having Reese back, being another shooter on the floor and just spacing out and just playing his role,” said Nwaba, who scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds against Texas Southern. “He’s battled through injuries all year, so it’s great.”

Morgan made his season debut at Long Beach State on February 15th. While he did score 10 points in a game against UC Davis at the end of February, Morgan played in just seven games and scored just 13 points all season before Wednesday night, when he scored his nine points in just 10 minutes on the court. In their First Four game, Cal Poly scored a season-high 81 points and shot 56 percent from the field — both season-highs.

“I think we’re just flowing better,” said Morgan. “We’ve come out with a lot more intensity. When we get stops we kind of feed off that. Obviously we could have done a little better on the defensive side tonight which we’ll work on… but I think that we’ve just been aggressive and flowing and just sharing the ball and shots are falling. When shots fall and your team is doing that it’s a great combination.”

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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