Grambling State
Mustangs Host Grambling State Tuesday, Visit Stanford Saturday
11/25/2024 4:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Cal Poly Men's Basketball
Upcoming Games
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Following its lengthiest scheduled road trip of the season, the Cal Poly men’s basketball program returns home to Mott Athletics Center to host first-time opponent Grambling State on Tuesday, Nov. 26. The Mustangs then visit Stanford on Saturday, Nov. 30. Tip time on ESPN+ both evenings is 7 p.m. for Cal Poly (3-4), which looks to snap a two-game slide following road setbacks at Arizona State (Nov. 20) and Saint Mary’s (Nov. 23). Ranked third among Big West programs with 80.3 points per game, Cal Poly – under first-year head coach Mike DeGeorge – is averaging 15.0 more points per game than at the same stage last season. Fueling the scoring surge is Cal Poly’s three-point prowess as the Mustangs rank 23rd among 355 NCAA Division I programs with 30.0 three-pointers attempted per game and 36th with 10.3 three-pointers made per game. Grambling State (1-4), which captured last year’s Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles to advance to its first NCAA Division I Tournament where the Tigers defeated Montana State in the First Four, concludes a West Coast road trip Tuesday following an 80-69 loss at USC (Nov. 24). Stanford (6-0), meanwhile, hosts Grand Canyon Tuesday before welcoming Cal Poly.
CAL POLY VERSUS GRAMBLING STATE AND THE SWAC: Tuesday’s matchup marks Cal Poly’s first all-time meeting with Grambling State. Cal Poly’s last game against a SWAC opponent occurred Dec. 8, 2018 with the Mustangs edging Bethune-Cookman in overtime at home, 80-78. Among SWAC opponents, Cal Poly has previously split a pair of matchups against Southern (1997-98, 1998-99) and defeated Mississippi Valley State (Nov. 26, 2011). Most notably, Cal Poly topped Texas Southern in the 2014 NCAA Tournament First Four, 81-69 (March 19, 2014).
CAL POLY VERSUS STANFORD AND THE ACC: The Mustangs attempt to snap an eight-game slide against Stanford, dating to a 79-61 Cal Poly road victory on Nov. 27, 1976. The Cardinal prevailed in the last matchup between the two sides on Nov. 18, 2022, 80-43. Dating to the first meeting on Nov. 30, 1951, Stanford leads the all-time series, 9-1. Prior to facing California in the second game of this season, Cal Poly’s matchup with an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent was a Dec. 30, 2000 setback at North Carolina State.
HYDER TAKES OVER THE SCORING LEAD: It took more than five years to better his career scoring high, but a 27-point performance at Arizona State (Nov. 20) that included seven three-pointers allowed graduate guard Jarred Hyder a new collegiate best – and the top spot in Cal Poly’s lineup at 14.4 points per game. Hyder, whose previous scoring best was a 26-point effort while at freshman at Fresno State early in the 2019-20 season, has also scored 19 points this season against both San Francisco (Nov. 5) and Menlo College (Nov. 10). A starter in all 32 appearances as a Mustang dating to last season, Hyder also leads Cal Poly and ranks third among Big West players at 32.9 minutes per game.
Mustangs back home Tuesday to host defending SWAC champ and 2024 NCAA Tournament qualifier Grambling State before visiting Stanford on Saturday.
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) November 25, 2024
Both games at 7 p.m.
Both on ESPN+.#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/5AybQU8BiG
KOONCE, JESSUP TRANSFER SCORING PROWESS: With graduate guard Owen Koonce (13.6 points per game) a double-digit scorer in all but two games – and those two were nine-point outings – and senior guard Isaac Jessup (12.7) a double-digit scorer in five of six outings, the backcourt duo enter Tuesday’s matchup with Grambling State sitting second and third on the Mustang scoring chart. Comprising two of head coach Mike DeGeorge’s four transfers from Division II Colorado Mesa, Jessup is fifth among Big West players with a 43.2 (19-for-44) percent three-point mark while Koonce is shooting 51.4 (36-for-70) percent from the floor. Koonce has already posted a pair of 19-point efforts while Jessup’s 20-point evening at California (Nov. 7) marks the second highest scoring effort by a Mustang this season.
RINIKER’S PERCENTAGE POINTS: A year after shooting 63.8 percent for Division II Colorado Mesa, graduate guard Mac Riniker (above) ranks 10th among Big West players with a 53.6 (30-for-56) percent mark. One of three Mustangs to start all seven games alongside Jarred Hyder and Owen Koonce, Riniker is second in the lineup with 4.6 rebounds per game and fourth with 10.7 points per night after notching a Cal Poly-best 15 at Eastern Washington (Nov. 17) and matching the total at Saint Mary’s (Nov. 23).
DEGEORGE TAKES THE MUSTANG REINS: Named Cal Poly’s sixth head coach at the Division I level on March 26, Mike DeGeorge arrived in San Luis Obispo from Division II Colorado Mesa after directing the Mavericks to 141 wins in six seasons, three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances – including Sweet 16 trips in 2022 and 2024. Bringing more than two decades of head coaching experience to Cal Poly, DeGeorge’s squads at Colorado Mesa were known for their offensive prowess. During the 2023-24 season, Colorado Mesa led Division II in effective field goal percentage (.596), finished third in three-pointers per game (11.4) and 15th in points per game (11.4). Both of DeGeorge’s assistant coaches from Colorado Mesa – Kyle Bossier and BJ Andrews – joined Cal Poly in the offseason, as well as four transfers from Colorado Mesa.
LOOKING AHEAD: Opening conference play on the earliest date in program history by 15 days, the Mustangs begin their 29th year of Big West action at UC Davis on Thursday, Dec. 5 before the Mustangs host CSUN on Saturday, Dec. 7 (Cal Poly’s Big West schedule then resumes on Thursday, Jan. 2). Cal Poly’s previous earliest opening date to any conference schedule came on Dec. 20, 2001.
ETC.: Cal Poly is in its 31st Division I season and 81st as a four-year program … Cal Poly’s Nov. 5 matchup at San Francisco marked the earliest opening date to a season in program history … Cal Poly’s 93.3 (14-for-15) percent free throw mark at San Francisco (Nov. 5) marked the fourth highest single game figure in program history … since transitioning to the Division I level prior to the 1994-95 season, Cal Poly is 49-1 against non-Division I programs following a 99-66 home victory against Division II Menlo College (Nov. 10) … Cal Poly’s 99-66 home win against Menlo College (Nov. 10) marked head coach Mike DeGeorge’s first victory in charge of Cal Poly while the program’s 75-71 win versus Seattle (Nov. 14) was the first against a Division I opponent … Jarred Hyder’s seven three-pointers at Arizona State (Nov. 20) were one shy of the program single game record recorded three previous times and most recently by Dawin Whiten (Feb. 10, 2007).
Image courtesy of Thomas Fernandez (Arizona State Athletics)
