Mustangs Back Home to Host CSUN, UC Santa Barbara

Thursday, February 10

San Luis Obispo, CA

7 p.m.

CSUN

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Back Home to Host CSUN, UC Santa Barbara

2/9/2022 11:36:00 AM | Men's Basketball

COMPLETE WEEKLY PREVIEW

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly men's basketball program plays five of its final eight regular season games at home inside Mott Athletics Center, first hosting CSUN (Thursday, Feb. 10) and UC Santa Barbara (Saturday, Feb. 12). Both games tip at 7 p.m. for Cal Poly (5-15, 1-7), which looks to snap a three-game slide when facing CSUN (5-16, 1-7). The Mustangs and Matadors enter play Thursday tied for ninth in the Big West standings with both programs trailing seventh place UC Santa Barbara (9-9, 1-4) by just one-and-a-half games. After defeating Cal Poly on Jan. 8 (68-55), CSUN – which ranks second among Big West programs with 70.6 points conceded per game – has dropped eight successive matchups. UC Santa Barbara, which visits CSU Bakersfield on Thursday before facing Cal Poly, leads all Big West programs with 73.8 points per game and a 48.5 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 Thursday's matchup with CSUN and Saturday's game against UC Santa Barbara HERE … live stats will also be available via GoPoly.com HERE.

CAL POLY VERSUS CSUN: A Thursday victory from Cal Poly would provide the Mustangs a split with CSUN for a third straight season after the Matadors captured this year's opener at home, 68-55 (Jan. 8). Cal Poly leads the all-time series (57-52) while CSUN tops the Division I series (26-22).

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 13 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 13.1 points per game. Having shot 50 percent or higher 14 times this year, Koroma also ranks second among Big West players with a 51.5 (105-for-204) percent field goal mark. Second in Cal Poly's lineup with 5.2 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 32 career double-digit scoring games, Koroma is averaging 10.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 50.8 (262-for-516) percent through 68 collegiate outings and 41 starts. On 54 career blocks following a five-block performance versus UC Davis, Koroma ranks 10th in program history – just four 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 8.4 points per night and a 46.1 (53-for-115) 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 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 18 of 20 matchups.

PIERCE'S DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS: Now second in Cal Poly's lineup with 8.4 points per game, sophomore point guard Camren Pierce leads all Big West players with 75 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 eight double-digit scoring games this season. Cal Poly's leading free throw shooter and ranked fourth among Big West players at 82.4 (56-for-68) percent, Pierce enters Saturday's matchup at Long Beach State having converted 28 of his previous 30 opportunities.

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.