Mustangs Close Road Trip Saturday at Big West Leader Long Beach State

Saturday, February 5

Long Beach, CA

4 p.m.

Long Beach State

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Close Road Trip Saturday at Big West Leader Long Beach State

2/4/2022 12:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

COMPLETE GAME PREVIEW

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly men's basketball program completes a four-game road trip when visiting one of the three teams sharing first place atop the Big West Conference standings – Long Beach State – on Saturday, Feb. 5. Tip time from Walter Pyramid is 4 p.m. for Cal Poly (5-14, 1-6), which slipped into a ninth-place tie in the Big West standings alongside CSUN (5-15, 1-6) following a 61-50 setback at Cal State Fullerton Thursday evening. Long Beach State (11-9, 6-1), meanwhile, has won seven straight after dropping its Big West opener to Hawai'i. Following Hawai'i's Thursday loss at UC Riverside, LBSU now shares first place in the Big West with the Rainbow Warriors (11-6, 6-1) and Cal State Fullerton (13-6, 6-1). Long Beach State leads the Big West with 73.7 points per game while also conceding a conference high 74.2 per night.

FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: Chris Sylvester provides play-by-play for ESPN 1280 (San Luis Obispo County) and GoPoly.com of 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 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 12th among Big West players with 13.0 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 51.3 (100-for-195) percent field goal mark. With 31 career double-digit scoring games, Koroma is averaging 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 50.7 (257-for-507) percent through 67 collegiate outings and 40 starts. On 52 career blocks following a five-block performance versus UC Davis, Koroma ranks 10th in program history – just five 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 (above) 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 8.8 points per night and a 47.3 (53-for-112) 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 eight rebounds at Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 3), Taylor maintains the program's lead with 5.7 boards per night. Having also grabbed nine rebounds versus Nicholls State (Nov. 22) and California Baptist (Dec. 2), Taylor has started 17 of 19 matchups.

PIERCE'S DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS: The only Mustang to start all 19 games this season, sophomore point guard Camren Pierce ranks second among Big West players with 71 total assists and third with 3.7 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 seven double-digit scoring games this season and ranks third in Cal Poly's lineup with 8.3 points per evening. Cal Poly's leading free throw shooter and ranked fourth among Big West players at 82.5 (48-for-59) percent, Pierce enters Saturday's matchup at Long Beach State having converted 24 of his previous 25 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.