Mustangs Close Home Stand Saturday versus UC Santa Barbara

Saturday, February 12

San Luis Obispo, CA

7 p.m.

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Close Home Stand Saturday versus UC Santa Barbara

2/11/2022 1:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

<a href="/documents/2022/2/11//UC_Santa_Barbara_2_11.pdf?id=8111">COMPLETE GAME PREVIEW</a> SAN LUIS OBISPO – Playing four of its final seven regular season games at home inside Mott Athletics Center, the Cal Poly men's basketball program closes a two-game home stand when facing UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 12. Tip time is 7 p.m. for Cal Poly, which looks to snap a four-game slide following an 83-78, double-overtime home defeat to CSUN on Thursday evening. Despite entering Saturday's action 10th in the Big West standings, Cal Poly (5-16, 1-8) trails seventh place UC Santa Barbara (10-9, 2-4) by just two-and-a-half games. UC Santa Barbara, which handed ninth-place CSU Bakersfield (6-12, 1-7) a 74-62 defeat on Thursday, leads all Big West programs with 73.8 points per game and a 49.0 percent field goal mark. FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: Chris Sylvester provides streaming play-by-play for ESPN+ while Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer handles audio play-by-play for ESPN 1280 (San Luis Obispo County) and GoPoly.com of Saturday's game against UC Santa Barbara <a href="https://gopoly.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule">HERE</a> … live stats will also be available via GoPoly.com <a href="http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=368190">HERE</a>. CAL POLY VERSUS UC SANTA BARBARA: The most frequent opponent in Cal Poly's history, UC Santa Barbara has won eight straight matchups versus the Mustangs and 15 of the last 16. Cal Poly seeks its first victory against UC Santa Barbara since an 80-79 win on Jan. 4, 2018. The Gauchos lead both the all-time (78-35) and Division I (44-14) 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 14 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), a 20-point performance versus CSUN (Feb. 10) and 19-point nights versus Sacramento State (Nov. 15) and at UC San Diego (Jan. 27) – ranks 11th among Big West players with 13.4 points per game. Having shot 50 percent or higher 14 times this year, Koroma also ranks second among Big West players with a 50.9 (112-for-220) percent field goal mark. Second in Cal Poly's lineup with 5.3 rebounds per game, Koroma's third career double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds at Long Beach State (Feb. 5) matched a career best for boards. With 33 career double-digit scoring games, Koroma is averaging 10.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 50.6 (269-for-532) percent through 69 collegiate outings and 42 starts. On 57 career blocks following a five-block performance versus UC Davis, Koroma ranks 10th in program history – just one shy of senior forward Tuukka Jaakkola (58). TAYLOR PRODUCES AT BOTH ENDS: An offseason transfer from James Madison by way of Wyoming, junior guard Trevon Taylor produced his eighth double-digit scoring game as a Mustang with 10 points at Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 3) and ranks second in the lineup with a 46.2 (55-for-119) percent field goal mark and third with 8.3 points per night. 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 a career best 10 rebounds against Sacramento State (Nov. 15). With eight rebounds at Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 3), Taylor maintains the program's lead at 5.6 boards per night. Having also grabbed nine rebounds versus Nicholls State (Nov. 22) and California Baptist (Dec. 2), Taylor has started 19 of 21 matchups. PIERCE'S DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS: Now second in Cal Poly's lineup with 8.5 points per game, sophomore point guard Camren Pierce leads all Big West players with 79 total assists and ranks 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 nine double-digit scoring games this season. Cal Poly's leading free throw shooter and ranked third among Big West players at 82.9 (58-for-70) percent, Pierce enters Saturday's matchup versus UC Santa Barbara having converted 30 of his previous 32 opportunities. STEVENSON CLIMBS THE SCORING CHART: Averaging 12.0 points per Cal Poly's last five games, sophomore forward Brantly Stevenson's 17-point effort versus CSUN (Feb. 10) matched a career scoring high. Now fifth in Cal Poly's lineup with 7.3 points per game and with six double-digit scoring outings this season, Stevenson has started 13 of 21 games. LOOKING AHEAD: Cal Poly embarks on its penultimate road trip of the regular season, visiting UC Davis on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. and UC Riverside on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. Cal Poly's opening Big West victory came against UC Davis on Jan. 15 (82-74). Having dropped eight straight visits to UC Davis, Cal Poly seeks its first road victory versus the Aggies since Jan. 28, 2012. The Mustangs dropped their season series opener to UC Riverside on Jan. 13 (57-46) and look to end a five-game overall slide versus the Highlanders. 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 … Cal Poly's 83-78 double-overtime home loss to CSUN marked the program's lengthiest game since a four-overtime setback at Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 15, 2020.