UC Irvine
Mustangs Visit Big West Leader UC Irvine Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+
1/17/2025 1:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Cal Poly Men's Basketball
Upcoming Games
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Playing three of its next four games away from Mott Athletics Center, the Cal Poly men’s basketball program seeks its first Big West win of the season at conference leader UC Irvine Saturday, Jan. 18. Tip time on ESPN+ is 7 p.m. for Cal Poly (6-13, 0-7), which also looks to snap a six-game overall slide extended with a 65-54 home setback to UC Davis on Thursday. Third among Big West programs with 79.6 points per game, Cal Poly – under first-year head coach Mike DeGeorge – is averaging 16.2 more points per game than at the same stage last season. The Mustangs have scored 90-plus points in a game five times already this year after hitting the mark just twice during the previous four years combined. Fueling the scoring surge is Cal Poly’s three-point prowess as the Mustangs rank fifth nationally with 32.1 three-pointers attempted per game and 12th with 10.8 three-pointers made per game. Additionally, 11 different Mustangs have scored in double digits this season – the fourth highest total of any Division I program. UC Irvine (16-2, 6-0), meanwhile, maintained its lead atop the Big West standings Thursday with an 82-62 home victory against Cal State Fullerton. Winning its Big West matchups by an average of 14.5 points per game, UC Irvine concedes just 63.7 points per night – the second lowest total of any conference program.
CAL POLY VERSUS UC IRVINE: The Anteaters – with a 98-89 overtime win at Cal Poly (Jan. 2) – furthered both their all-time (45-23) and Division I (42-20) series advantages versus Cal Poly. The Mustangs attempt to end a five-game slide against UC Irvine Saturday with Cal Poly last delivering a series win at home on March 3, 2022 (65-54).
KOONCE REMAINS CAL POLY’S OFFENSIVE CATALYST: A double-digit scorer in all but three games – two of which were nine-point outings – graduate guard Owen Koonce, following a career high 32-point effort at San Jose State (Dec. 14) and 30-point night in Cal Poly’s Nov. 30 victory at Stanford, enters Saturday’s matchup at UC Irvine leading the Mustangs and ranked second among Big West players with an 88.9 (56-for-63) percent free throw mark, fourth with a 42.1 (40-for-95) percent three-point mark and sixth with 17.7 points per game and a 53.8 (120-for-223) percent field goal figure. The Dec. 2 Big West Player of the Week selection, Koonce – averaging 19.4 points per Cal Poly’s last nine games – also tops the Mustangs with 5.3 rebounds per outing. One of only two Mustangs to start all 19 games, Koonce has also scored 23 points against UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 11), 21 versus Denver (Dec. 17), 20 at Omaha (Dec. 21) and UC San Diego (Jan. 9), 19 at Eastern Washington (Nov. 17) and UC Davis (Dec. 5) and 18 in his Mustang debut at San Francisco (Nov. 5).
THREE THREE'S IN A ROW FOR ISAAC ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/aMaXS5FV4h
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) January 17, 2025
JESSUP EMERGES AS ONE OF NATION’S TOP THREE-POINT THREATS: Having reached double-digit scoring figures in all but five outings, senior guard Isaac Jessup enters Saturday’s contest at UC Irvine ranked 33rd among NCAA Division I players with 3.1 three-pointers per game, 68th with a 40.7 (46-for-113) percent three-point mark and 85th with 46 three-pointers. Having already knocked down five three-pointers in a game three times, Jessup’s 21-point effort at Stanford (Nov. 30) was a total one shy of his career scoring high. Jessup also scored 20 points at California in just his second Division I appearance and enjoyed 17-point efforts at Arizona State (Nov. 20) and versus Grambling State (Nov. 26).
THE GRADUATE: Five years after establishing his initial collegiate scoring high while a freshman at Fresno State, guard Jarred Hyder has twice smashed the mark during his graduate season with a 29-point effort against Denver (Dec. 17) arriving after a 27-point performance at Arizona State (Nov. 20). Hyder, who matched a Cal Poly single game program record with eight three-pointers versus Denver after hitting seven at Arizona State, ranks 55th among NCAA Division I players with 2.9 three-pointers per game and 58th with 49 total threes. Twelfth among Big West performers with 13.5 points per game, Hyder has also scored 22 points at Omaha (Dec. 21) and 19 against both San Francisco (Nov. 5) and Menlo College (Nov. 10) among 11 double-digit performances. A starter in all 42 appearances as a Mustang dating to last season and second among Big West players at 33.6 minutes per game, Hyder – with a career best seven assists three times this year – is now sixth among conference players with 3.4 assists per game.
RINIKER’S PERCENTAGE POINTS: A year after shooting 63.8 percent for Division II Colorado Mesa, graduate guard Mac Riniker ranks ninth among Big West players with a 51.0 (74-for-145) percent mark. One of two Mustangs to start all 19 games alongside Owen Koonce, Riniker also ranks second in the lineup with 5.1 rebounds per game and fourth with 10.0 points per night after notching a Cal Poly-best 18 points against UC Davis (Jan. 16) and 15 at Eastern Washington (Nov. 17) and Saint Mary’s (Nov. 23) among 10 double-digit scoring outings.
BANDELJ ON THE RISE: A career high 18-point effort against UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 11) marked freshman Peter Bandelj’s eighth double-digit scoring game of the season with the Slovenia native now fifth in Cal Poly’s lineup at 9.1 points per game. Eighth among Big West players with an 82.7 (62-for-75) percent free throw mark, Bandelj leads Cal Poly in reserve scoring with 73.8 percent of 172 total points occurring in non-starting appearances.
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.
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) … Cal Poly’s Nov. 26 home victory against Grambling State marked the program’s first all-time matchup with the Tigers … Cal Poly’s Dec. 5 Big West opener at UC Davis marked the earliest conference start date in program history … Jarred Hyder’s eight three-pointers against Denver (Dec. 17) tied a single-game program record previously accomplished by three Mustangs and most recently by guard Dawin Whiten against UC Irvine (Feb. 10, 2007) … Cal Poly’s 95-94 overtime home win against Denver marked the program’s first all-time victory against the Pioneers.
