Cal Poly Opens Practice for 2025-26 Season Monday
9/21/2025 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Returning seven letterwinners from last year’s squad that reached the Big West Championship semifinals and welcoming eight newcomers, the Cal Poly men’s basketball program officially opens practice for the 2025-26 season Monday morning.
Under the direction of second-year head coach Mike DeGeorge, Cal Poly enjoys 42 days of preparation ahead of the program’s Monday, Nov. 3 season opener at USC. In between, the Mustangs host Division II Cal State East Bay for a Friday, Oct. 24 exhibition.
One of just five Division I programs not to lose a player to the transfer portal during the offseason, Cal Poly’s returning unit is led by sophomore guards Peter Bandelj, Cayden Ward and Guzman Vasilic and senior forward Aaron Price, Jr. – a quartet that brings back nearly 30 points per game and 100 three-pointers from last season.
Bandelj, who started 15 of 35 matchups last year, is the program’s leading returning scorer after averaging 10.4 points per game and recording 20 double-digit efforts. Ward made 23 appearances last spring after being activated in December from a redshirt standing and finished with 7.4 points per night. Vasilic (5.2 points per game) and Price, Jr. (4.7) contributed a further 61 total appearances last season.
Also back in the lineup for Cal Poly is senior guard Luka Tarlac and junior guard Kieran Elliott. Junior forward Eric Brown and junior guard Jackson Mosley (redshirt last year) round out Cal Poly’s returning group.
Featuring one of the nation’s most diverse lineups, Cal Poly’s 2025-26 squad represents nine different countries – the second highest total in Division I.
The roster also ranks as the only one in Division I encompassing all six continents/regions. Aside from Bandelj (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Vasilic (Montevideo, Uruguay) and Tarlac (Belgrade, Serbia), Cal Poly’s eight-player incoming class comprises 6-10 guard Jess Esso Essis (Le Mans, France), 6-9 forward Ali Assran (Cairo, Egypt), 6-8 guard Hamad Mousa (Doha, Qatar) – a transfer from Dayton – and 6-7 forward Austin Goode (Brampton, Ontario).
DeGeorge’s first signing class from November 2024 included 6-6 forward Troy Plumtree (Wellington, New Zealand), 6-6 guard Braden Freeman (Moline, Ill.) and 6-4 guard Jason Scott (Houston, Texas) while fellow 6-4 guard Jake Davis (Walnut Creek, Calif.) joined the program in April as a transfer from two-year West Valley College.
See what a day in the life is like in SLO for sophomore Cayden Ward during summer training...?????????#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/LNE2HLCUrl
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) August 24, 2025
