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.”

Chris Eversley and the Mustangs will, once again, live to play another day. By Owen Main

This post will be so much longer sometime tomorrow. Because of the work obligations of the author, all I can do is bullet point a few prescient items from tonight:

1) Cal Poly shot the lights out. Their best shooting game of the year. By Far. Not even close. Reese Morgan being able to provide a shooting spark is a huge deal.

2) Chris Eversley continues to show why he’s great. I’m not sure he got one play “called” for him all night and still he managed to score 19 points and grab nine huge boards.

3) Everyone in SLO should be freaking-out right about now. Seriously people. If Cal Poly is on during the day on Friday and you’re not taking the day off, you’re doing yourself and everyone you know a disservice.

4) I can say I was here. There’s a first time for everything, but there’s only one first-time. Lots of Cal Poly faithful descended on Dayton tonight.
5) Chris Eversley was asked in the post-game press conference whether Wichita State has something to worry about. As a one seed, they probably don’t, but, I suppose (like everyone in SLO should right about now) that anything’s possible.

Where will you be for Friday’s game?

Photos by Owen Main

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Joel Awich throws one down. by Owen Main

Cal Poly took a 44-32 lead into halftime in Dayton.

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