Northern Arizona
Mustangs Open Thanksgiving Week against NAU, SEMO in Flagstaff
11/22/2025 1:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Four days after dealing Utah a 92-85 defeat, the Cal Poly men’s basketball program completes a six-game road trip – it’s lengthiest in four years – at Northern Arizona (Monday, Nov. 24) and versus Southeast Missouri (Tuesday, Nov. 25). Tip time for both matchups at Northern Arizona’s Rolle Activity Center is 5 p.m. PT for Cal Poly (3-3), which snapped a two-game slide by handing Utah its first setback of the season. The Mustangs, who sank 14 three-pointers against Utah, enter Monday’s matchup with Northern Arizona ranked 14th among 361 Division I programs with 65 total three-pointers. Northern Arizona (2-2) resumes action after stretching its home winning streak to nine straight following a 108-79 victory against Embry-Riddle (Nov. 18). Southeast Missouri (1-4), the defending Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion, faces Cal Poly after being idle for a week following a 99-70 loss at Iowa (Nov. 18).
CAL POLY VERSUS NORTHERN ARIZONA: Facing the Lumberjacks for the first time since a 59-56 BracketBuster home loss on Feb. 19, 2011, Cal Poly trails in both the all-time (7-5) and Division I (6-3) series. Cal Poly’s last series victory was an 82-60 home win on Dec. 19, 2006.
CAL POLY VERSUS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND THE OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE: The Mustangs have never previously faced SEMO. Cal Poly’s last matchup with an Ohio Valley program was a Nov. 28, 2019 loss to Tennessee State at the Las Vegas Invitational.
How we feeling Mustang Nation??
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) November 21, 2025
Exciting W for our boys tonight against Utah!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/7hNwKx901p
LONG-RANGE GAME: Cal Poly has once more emerged as one of the nation’s top three-point shooting sides with the Mustangs ranked 14th among 361 among NCAA Division I programs with 65 total three-pointers, 39th at 10.8 per game and 40th with 30.3 attempts per game. Individually, sophomore guard Hamad Mousa ranks fourth among Big West shooters with 31 three-pointers and a 48.4 percent mark.
MOUSA’S MOMENT: A double-digit scorer in all five appearances, sophomore guard Hamad Mousa – who finished with 26 total points in 20 games at Dayton last season – leads the Big West at 19.4 points per game. Scoring a collegiate best 26 points at Utah (Nov. 20) after a 23-point performance versus Pacific Lutheran (Nov. 5), Mousa – one of just two players from Qatar in Division I this season – also ranks second in the lineup with 6.0 rebounds per game.
WARD’S SUPERIOR SOPHOMORE EFFORT: The only Mustang to start all six games this year, sophomore guard Cayden Ward – behind five double-digit scoring efforts – enters Monday’s matchup with Northern Arizona second in the lineup and ninth among Big West scorers at 16.7 points per game. Ward, whose career high 28-point effort at Utah (Nov. 20) marked the highest scoring game by a Mustang this season, also leads Cal Poly with a 50.7 (35-for-69) percent field goal mark. Activated from a potential redshirt season last winter a month into the campaign, Ward – who averaged 7.4 points per game as a freshman – also scored 26 points against Pacific Lutheran (Nov. 5).
BANDELJ UPS THE SCORING PACE: Cal Poly’s leading returning scorer from last season, sophomore guard Peter Bandelj enters Monday’s game with Northern Arizona third in the lineup with 14.8 points per game following a season best 21-point effort at Montana (Nov. 14) and 11-point night at Utah (Nov. 20). A double-digit scorer in all five appearances, Bandelj also sits second in the lineup with a 44.6 (25-for-56) percent field goal mark. Through 40 collegiate appearances, Bandelj is averaging 11.0 points per game.
UNITED NATIONS: Cal Poly’s 2025-26 roster features players from nine different countries – a figure eclipsed by only UT Martin (13). Cal Poly, however, is the only Division I program this year with a roster that canvasses all six habitable continents/regions.
CLOSED PORTAL DOORS: Alongside Duke, Tennessee, American and Boston University, Cal Poly was just one of just five Division I programs not to lose a player to the transfer portal during the offseason.
MUSTANGS LOOK TO BUILD OFF OF HISTORIC 2024-25 SEASON: In addition to reaching the Big West Championship semifinals for the first time in 11 years last spring during head coach Mike DeGeorge’s first season, the 2024-25 Mustangs:
- Recorded the most overall wins (16) and Big West wins (eight) since the 2012-13 season;
- Finished third among 355 Division I programs in three-pointers made (11.5) and attempted (31.8) per game, 19th with 82.1 points per game and 30th in effective field goal percentage (55.4);
- Averaged 18.4 more points per game than the 2023-24 season – the most significant turnaround in the nation and;
- Enjoyed a 12-win improvement from previous season marking the fourth most dramatic reversal among Division I programs.
SANDERS DEBUT MAKES NBA MUSTANGS TWO: Cal Poly saw a second Mustang alum make his NBA debut on Oct. 22 when guard Kobe Sanders (2020-24) – drafted 50th overall by the New York Knicks in June before being traded to the Clippers – appeared for Los Angeles. Cal Poly’s first and only NBA Draft selection since 1978, Sanders joined guard David Nwaba (2013-16) – who appeared for the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago, Cleveland, Brooklyn and Houston between 2017 and 2022 – as the only former Mustangs to play in the NBA.
ETC.: The Mustangs are in their 32nd Division I season and 82nd as a four-year program … Cal Poly’s Nov. 3 season opener at USC marked the earliest start date in program history … the Mustangs improved to 50-1 against non-Division I opposition with a 101-79 home victory against Division III Pacific Lutheran on Nov. 5 (Cal Poly transitioned to the Division I level prior to the 1994-95 season) … Cal Poly’s 92-85 victory at Utah (Nov. 20) marked the program’s first and only win against a current Big 12 program since defeating Arizona State on Dec. 2, 1949.
Image courtesy of Evan Lee
