Cal Poly Visits UC Riverside Saturday at 5 p.m.

Saturday, February 19

Riverside, CA

5 P.M.

UC Riverside

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Visits UC Riverside Saturday at 5 p.m.

2/18/2022 2:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

COMPLETE GAME PREVIEW

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Following the cancellation of Thursday's trip to UC Davis, Cal Poly plays its penultimate road game of the regular season when visiting UC Riverside on Saturday, Feb. 19. Tip time from the SRC Arena is 5 p.m. for Cal Poly (5-17, 1-9), which plays its 400th game as a Big West Conference member and looks to snap a five-game when facing UC Riverside (13-9, 6-4). Sharing ninth place in the Big West standings alongside CSU Bakersfield (6-14, 1-9), Cal Poly dropped its Jan. 13 season series opener to UC Riverside at home, 57-46. UC Riverside enters Saturday's matchup in fifth place in the Big West standings following a 79-69 home victory against CSU Bakersfield on Thursday.

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

CAL POLY VERSUS UC RIVERSIDE: The third most frequent opponent in Cal Poly's history, UC Riverside's current five-game series winning streak against the Mustangs matches its lengthiest in 105 all-time matchups. Cal Poly's last victory against UC Riverside was a 71-45 road decision on Jan. 31, 2019. UC Riverside leads the all-time series (54-51) while Cal Poly leads the Division I series (28-19).

FIVE FOR FIGHTING: With seven Mustangs currently averaging at least 22.0 minutes per game, Cal Poly has used 12 different starting lineups this season. Cal Poly has not used the same starting lineup more than three times.

SCHEDULING HOLES: Thursday's scheduled game at UC Davis marked the fifth contest Cal Poly has had cancelled this season due to COVID protocols. Previously, the Mustangs saw their final non-conference game at No. 4 UCLA (Dec. 22) halted before the opening three scheduled Big West games were cancelled.

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 15 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 13.3 points per game. Having shot 50 percent or higher 14 times this year, Koroma also ranks second among Big West players with a 50.6 (117-for-231) percent field goal mark. Second in Cal Poly's lineup with 5.4 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 34 career double-digit scoring games, Koroma is averaging 10.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 50.5 (269-for-532) percent through 70 collegiate outings and 43 starts. On 58 career blocks following a five-block performance versus UC Davis, Koroma enters Saturday's game tied for ninth place in program history alongside senior forward Tuukka Jaakkola.

TAYLOR PRODUCES AT BOTH ENDS: An offseason transfer from James Madison by way of Wyoming, junior guard Trevon Taylor produced his ninth double-digit scoring game as a Mustang with 15 points versus UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 12) and ranks second in the lineup with a 46.8 (59-for-126) percent field goal mark and third with 8.6 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 nine rebounds against UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 12), Taylor maintains the program's lead at 5.7 boards per night. Having also grabbed nine rebounds versus Nicholls State (Nov. 22) and California Baptist (Dec. 2), Taylor has started 20 of 22 matchups.

PIERCE'S DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS: Now third in Cal Poly's lineup with 8.5 points per game, sophomore point guard Camren Pierce leads all Big West players with 84 total assists and ranks second 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 10 double-digit scoring games this season. Cal Poly's leading free throw shooter and ranked third among Big West players at 83.8 (62-for-74) percent, Pierce enters Saturday's matchup at UC Riverside having converted 34 of his previous 36 opportunities.

STEVENSON CLIMBS THE SCORING CHART: Averaging 12.0 points per Cal Poly's last six games, sophomore forward Brantly Stevenson's 17-point effort versus CSUN (Feb. 10) matched a career scoring high. Fifth in Cal Poly's lineup with 7.6 points per game and with seven double-digit scoring outings this season, Stevenson has started 14 of 22 games.

LOOKING AHEAD: Cal Poly plays three of its final four regular season games at home inside Mott Athletics Center, beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 22 versus CSU Bakersfield. Tip time is 7 p.m. for Cal Poly, which hosts CSU Bakersfield as a Big West opponent for the first time. The Mustangs also look to snap a seven-game slide against the Roadrunners after CSU Bakersfield prevailed in this season's series opener at home, 73-60 (Jan. 18).

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.