Cal Poly Opens Four-Game Road Trip Thursday at UC San Diego

Thursday, January 27

La Jolla, CA

7 p.m.

UC San Diego

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Opens Four-Game Road Trip Thursday at UC San Diego

1/26/2022 12:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

COMPLETE WEEKLY PREVIEW

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly men's basketball team opens on a four-game road trip and faces UC San Diego for the first time as a Big West Conference opponent when visiting the Tritons on Thursday, Jan. 27. Tip time from RIMAC Arena is 7 p.m. for Cal Poly (4-12, 1-4), which continues road action with a Saturday, Jan. 29 matchup at UC Irvine. Cal Poly enters Thursday's game at UC San Diego in ninth place in the Big West standings, but the Mustangs trail joint third-place UC Riverside (10-5, 3-1) and Long Beach State (8-9, 3-1) by just two-and-a-half games. Thursday's result at UC San Diego (8-10) will not count toward the Big West standings with the Tritons still in the Division I reclassifying process. After prevailing in its first two Big West games, UC San Diego has dropped five straight matchups. UC Irvine (6-7, 1-3), which saw three of its opening four Big West games cancelled, defeated UC Riverside (Jan. 8) before dropping its last three games. The Anteaters host CSU Bakersfield on Thursday before facing Cal Poly.

FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: Chris Sylvester provides play-by-play for ESPN 1280 (San Luis Obispo County) and GoPoly.com of Thursday's game at UC San Diego and Saturday's matchup at UC Irvine HERE … streaming video through ESPN+ and live stats will also be available via GoPoly.com HERE.

CAL POLY VERSUS UC SAN DIEGO: Visiting UC San Diego for the first time since Jan. 11, 1977 and facing the Tritons for the first time as a Big West opponent, Cal Poly takes a 7-1 all-time series lead into Thursday's matchup. The two programs last met on Nov. 18, 2005, with Cal Poly delivering a 71-67 home victory against the then-Division II Tritons.

CAL POLY VERSUS UC IRVINE: The Anteaters have won nine successive decisions against Cal Poly and 15 of the past 16 matchups, last eliminating the Mustangs from the 2021 Big West Tournament with a 58-51 quarterfinal victory. Cal Poly's last victory against UC Irvine was a 79-66 road win (Jan. 26, 2017). UC Irvine leads both the all-time (39-22) and Division I series (36-19).

KOROMA CONTINUES SCORING WAYS: One of Cal Poly's top two scorers for a second straight season, junior forward Alimamy Koroma – fueled by a team leading 11 double-digit scoring outings, including a career best 23-point effort against Nicholls State (Nov. 22) and a 21-point outing versus UC Davis (Jan. 15) – ranks ninth among Big West players with 13.4 points per game. Koroma, who secured his second career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds against Hawai'i (Jan. 22), also leads Cal Poly and ranks third among Big West players with a 51.5 (86-for-167) percent field goal mark. With 30 career double-digit scoring games, Koroma is averaging 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 50.7 (243-for-479) percent through 64 collegiate outings. On 48 career blocks following a five-block performance versus UC Davis, Koroma needs just one more to match former Mustang and current Houston Rockets guard David Nwaba (2013-16) for 10th place in program history.

COLVIN CLIMBS THE SCORING CHART: With six double-digit scoring games – including a 24-point performance at CSUN (Jan. 8) – sophomore forward Kyle Colvin ranks second in Cal Poly's lineup with 8.8 points per game. Colvin's 28-point, 10-rebound outing versus Idaho (Nov. 24) marked his first career double-double and the highest scoring game by a Mustang this season. Colvin also scored 18 points at Santa Clara (Nov. 19). Having grabbed seven-plus rebounds four times this season, Colvin – who redshirted last year – is also Cal Poly's third leading rebounder at 4.6 boards per game. Through 42 collegiate games, Colvin is averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per night.

PIERCE'S DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS: One of only two Mustangs to start all 16 games alongside forward Alimamy Koroma, sophomore point guard Camren Pierce leads all Big West players with 64 total assists and ranks third with 4.0 per game. Having twice distributed a career best eight assists at San Diego (Dec. 5) and versus UC Davis (Jan. 15) and seven against Hawai'i (Jan. 22), Pierce has produced six-plus assists five times this season. Offensively, Pierce – who scored a career best 16 points versus Hawai'i and 15 at California Baptist (Dec. 2) and against UC Davis – owns five double-digit scoring games this season and ranks third in Cal Poly's lineup with 8.2 points per evening.

TAYLOR ON THE BOARDS: An offseason transfer from James Madison by way of Wyoming, junior guard Trevon Taylor surpassed his previous collegiate scoring best as a 27-point performance at Portland (Dec. 13) remains the second highest offensive output by a Mustang this season. One of only three Mustangs with a double-double thus far after scoring a Cal Poly best 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against Sacramento State (Nov. 15), Taylor maintains the program's rebounding lead with 5.3 boards per night. Having also grabbed nine rebounds versus Nicholls State (Nov. 22) and California Baptist (Dec. 2), Taylor – owner of five double-digit scoring games – has started 14 of 16 matchups while ranking fourth in the lineup with 7.9 points per game.

LOOKING AHEAD: Cal Poly opens February and completes its four-game road swing at Big West co-leader Cal State Fullerton (Thursday, Feb. 3) and Long Beach State (Saturday, Feb. 5). After seeing last year's regular season series against Cal State Fullerton cancelled, Cal Poly topped the Titans in the opening round of the 2021 Big West Tournament, 87-82. Long Beach State, meanwhile, swept last year's series from Cal Poly and has won five straight matchups against the Mustangs inside the Walter Pyramid.

ETC.: Since transitioning to the Division I level prior to the 1994-95 season, Cal Poly improved to 44-1 against non-Division I programs with an 86-53 home win against NAIA Westcliff (Nov. 9) … a 75-72 overtime loss versus Nicholls State (Nov. 22) marked Cal Poly's first all-time meeting against the Colonels … sophomore forward Kyle Colvin was name to SoCal Challenge All-Tournament Team (Nov. 24) after averaging 19.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as Cal Poly finished third … Cal Poly captured third place at the inaugural SoCal Challenge (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) with a 67-63 victory versus Idaho (Nov. 24) … Cal Poly's 61-58 victory at Portland State marked the program's first road win since a 71-45 triumph at UC Riverside on Jan. 31, 2019 … Cal Poly's nine-game road trip (Nov. 19-Jan. 8) was the program's lengthiest since playing 12 successive games away from home during the 1970-71 season (Dec. 12-Jan. 22). Cal Poly also played nine straight road games to open the 1968-69 season … Cal Poly's 22-day gap between games from Dec. 17 to Jan. 8 was the fifth lengthiest stretch of any Division I program this year … Cal Poly's 59-day gap between a Nov. 15 matchup versus Sacramento State and a Jan. 13 contest against UC Riverside was – by 17 days more than Manhattan – the lengthiest stretch between home games of any Division I program this season … Cal Poly's 57-46 home loss versus UC Riverside marked the program's 800th Division I game (1994-95-) … Cal Poly snapped a nine-game series slide against UC Davis with an 82-74 home victory (Jan. 15).