Cal Poly Closes Road Trip at Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State

Thursday, February 3

Fullerton, CA

7 p.m.

Cal State Fullerton

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Closes Road Trip at Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State

2/1/2022 12:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

COMPLETE WEEKLY RELEASE

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly men's basketball program completes a four-game road trip when visiting the Big West Conference's two second-place programs: Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. and Long Beach State on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. With Cal Poly (1-5, 5-13) sitting four games back of both Cal State Fullerton (12-6, 5-1) and Long Beach State (10-9, 5-1) in the Big West standings, the Titans and 49ers trail conference leader Hawai'i (11-5, 6-0) by just a single matchup. Cal Poly enters play Thursday evening having dropped three of its last four games while Cal State Fullerton won its opening five Big West matchups before falling at UC Riverside (Jan. 29). Conversely, Long Beach State dropped its Big West opener to Hawai'i before constructing its current five-game win streak. Long Beach State hosts CSU Bakersfield on Thursday before welcoming 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 Cal State Fullerton and Saturday's matchup at Long Beach State HERE … streaming video through ESPN+ and live stats will also be available via GoPoly.com HERE.

CAL POLY VERSUS CAL STATE FULLERTON: After handing the Titans an 87-82 defeat in the 2021 Big West Tournament opening round, Cal Poly has won two of the last three matchups with Cal State Fullerton. The Mustangs, however, look to snap a four-game slide inside Titan Gym with Cal Poly's last road victory an 83-75 triumph on Jan. 23, 2016. Cal Poly leads the all-time series (39-34), but Cal State Fullerton leads the Division I series (26-24).

CAL POLY VERSUS LONG BEACH STATE: The 49ers swept last year's season series to extend their winning streak versus Cal Poly to three straight decisions while prevailing in seven of the last eight meetings. The 49ers have also won 11 of the last 12 matchups inside Walter Pyramid and lead both the all-time (54-33) and Division I (35-17) series.

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 12 double-digit scoring outings, including a career best 23-point effort against Nicholls State (Nov. 22), a 21-point outing versus UC Davis (Jan. 15) and 19-point nights versus Sacramento State (Nov. 15) and at UC San Diego (Jan. 27) – ranks ninth among Big West players with 13.3 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 second among Big West players with a 51.6 (97-for-188) percent field goal mark. With 31 career double-digit scoring games, Koroma is averaging 10.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 50.8 (254-for-500) percent through 66 collegiate outings. On 50 career blocks following a five-block performance versus UC Davis, Koroma ranks 10th in program history – just seven shy of senior forward Tuukka Jaakkola (57).

TAYLOR PRODUCES AT BOTH ENDS: An offseason transfer from James Madison by way of Wyoming, junior guard Trevon Taylor produced his seventh double-digit scoring game as a Mustang with 13 points at UC Irvine (Jan. 29) and ranks second in the lineup with 8.8 points per night and a 48.5 (49-for-101) percent field goal mark. Taylor, who scored a career best 27 points at Portland (Dec. 13) and added 17 at UC San Diego (Jan. 27), remains one of only three Mustangs with a double-double thus far after scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against Sacramento State (Nov. 15). With seven rebounds at UC Irvine (Jan. 29), Taylor maintains the program's lead with 5.5 boards per night. Having also grabbed nine rebounds versus Nicholls State (Nov. 22) and California Baptist (Dec. 2), Taylor has started 16 of 18 matchups.

PIERCE'S DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS: One of only two Mustangs to start all 18 games alongside forward Alimamy Koroma, sophomore point guard Camren Pierce ranks second among Big West players with 69 total assists and third with 3.8 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 six double-digit scoring games this season and ranks third in Cal Poly's lineup with 8.2 points per evening. Cal Poly's leading free throw shooter and ranked fourth among Big West players at 81.4 (48-for-59) percent, Pierce enters Thursday's matchup at Cal State Fullerton having converted 20 of his previous 21 opportunities.

LOOKING AHEAD: Cal Poly plays five of its final eight regular season games inside Mott Athletics Center, returning home to host CSUN (Thursday, Feb. 10) and UC Santa Barbara (Saturday, Feb. 12). Both games tip at 7 p.m. for Cal Poly, which fell at CSUN (68-55) in its postponed Jan. 8 Big West opener after a scheduled Jan. 6 matchup at UC Santa Barbara had been cancelled.

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) … Cal Poly's 59-55 win at UC San Diego (Jan. 27) marked the program's first meeting with the Tritons as a Big West opponent, first matchup against UCSD since Nov. 18, 2005 and first visit to UCSD since Jan. 11, 1977.