Long Beach State
Cal Poly Looks to Clinch Big West Championship Spot Thursday versus Long Beach State
2/25/2026 11:40:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Four regular season matchups remain for the Cal Poly men’s basketball team with the Mustangs requiring just one victory to secure their spot in the 2026 Big West Championship as the program hosts Long Beach State on Thursday, Feb. 26 before visiting UC San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tip time is 7 p.m. each evening for Cal Poly (12-16, 8-8), which clinches a place in the March 11-14 Big West Championship – and eliminates Long Beach State (8-20, 4-12) from postseason contention – with a Thursday win. Sitting eighth in the Big West standings, Cal Poly – winners of five of its last seven – resides just three games out of first place, a spot currently shared by Hawai’i, CSUN and UC Irvine at 11-5. One more conference victory provides Cal Poly its highest Big West win total since finishing 12-6 during the 2012-13 season. Featuring the nation’s 27th-ranked scorer in sophomore guard Hamad Mousa (20.2), Cal Poly ranks third among conference programs at 81.5 points per game having scored 90-plus points seven times this season. Long Beach State enters Thursday’s matchup having dropped nine straight following a 4-3 conference start. Defending Big West champion UC San Diego (19-9, 9-7), meanwhile, is just one game ahead of Cal Poly in the strandings. The Toreros host last place Cal State Bakersfield Thursday before welcoming Cal Poly.
CAL POLY VERSUS LONG BEACH STATE: After Cal Poly swept last year’s season series, Long Beach State captured this year’s opener, 74-66 (Jan. 3). The Mustangs seek back-to-back home wins versus Long Beach State for the first time since the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Long Beach State leads both the all-time (60-36) and Division I (41-20) series dating to the first matchup between the two programs on Dec. 19, 1950.
CAL POLY VERSUS UC SAN DIEGO: The Mustangs broke a five-game slide against the Toreros with a 67-65 New Year’s Day home win. Cal Poly leads the all-time (10-6) series with the Division I series drawn, 5-5.
LONG-RANGE GAME: Cal Poly has once more emerged as one of the nation’s top three-point shooting threats with the Mustangs ranked sixth among 361 NCAA Division I programs with 32.2 attempts per game, 15th with 10.9 three-pointers per game and 16th with 304 total three pointers. The Mustangs have knocked down multiple three-pointers in 17 of 28 matchups, topping out with 18 – three shy of the program single game record – during a 94-91 victory at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4) and 17 against CSUN (Feb. 5). Individually, guard Hamad Mousa ranks 81st nationally with a 37.3 percent three-point mark and 84th with 72 total three-pointers.
GAME ON THE LINE: Shooting 85.7 (120-for-140) percent from the free throw line during the last seven games – including a program record 20-for-20 performance at Cal State Bakersfield (Jan. 29) – Cal Poly now ranks 18th nationally with a 77.7 percent mark this season (the program single season record is 78.3). Individually, Hamad Mousa ranks third among Big West players with an 87.4 (159-for-182) percent free throw mark while Peter Bandelj is fifth at 86.2 (100-for-116) percent.
MOUSA’S MOMENT: A double-digit scorer in 27 of 28 appearances, sophomore guard Hamad Mousa – who finished with 26 total points in 20 games at Dayton last season – continues to lead the Big West and ranks 27th among NCAA Division I players at 20.2 points per game. He’s also 16th nationally with 159 total free throws and 84th with 72 total three-pointers. Mousa’s latest highlight scoring endeavor was a 33-point night against CSUN (Feb. 5). His career best performance was a 34-point effort at CSUN (Jan. 8) while also recording 33 against Idaho (Dec. 21), 31 versus UC Riverside (Dec. 6) and reaching 20-plus points 11 times. Mousa’s 545 total points this year rank as the eighth highest total in program single season. With 55 more points, he’ll record just the second 600-point season in program history. One of just two players from Qatar in Division I this season, Mousa also ranks third among Big West players with an 87.4 (159-for-182) percent free throw mark and eighth with 6.1 rebounds per game.
WARD’S SUPERIOR SOPHOMORE EFFORT: Behind 21 double-digit scoring games, sophomore guard Cayden Ward enters Thursday’s matchup versus Long Beach State third in the lineup and 12th among Big West players at 14.1 points per game. Earning Big West Player of the Week praise following a career high 28-point effort at Utah (Nov. 20), Ward – who averaged 7.4 points per game as a freshman – also owns a 25-point night against Montana State (Dec. 16). His most recent standout performance was a 19-point evening to help key Cal Poly Feb. 19 victory at Hawai’i. On the boards, Ward is second in Cal Poly’s lineup and ninth in the Big West at 5.9 rebounds per game.
BANDELJ UPS THE SCORING PACE: Cal Poly’s leading returning scorer from last season, sophomore guard Peter Bandelj enters Thursday’s game versus Long Beach State third in the lineup at 13.9 points per game. Highlighted by a career high 37-point performance that included a program record nine three-pointers at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4), Bandelj is a double-digit scorer in all but seven appearances. Fifth among Big West players with an 86.2 (100-for-116) percent free throw mark, Bandelj – through 62 collegiate appearances – is averaging 11.9 career 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.
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 … 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 … Cal Poly’s Nov. 25 matchup with Southeast Missouri marked the first all-time matchup between the two programs … the Mustangs improved to 51-1 against non-Division I opposition with an 87-81 home victory against Division III Redlands on Nov. 29 (Cal Poly transitioned to the Division I level prior to the 1994-95 season) … Peter Bandelj’s nine three-pointers at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4) set a new program record, surpassing the previous mark of eight by four different Mustangs and last accomplished by graduate guard Jarred Hyder (Dec. 17, 2024) … Cal Poly’s 95.5 (21-for-22) percent free throw performance at UCLA (21-for-22) marked the fourth highest single game figure in program history and the highest total with one miss … a 20-for-20 free throw effort at Cal State Bakersfield (Jan. 29) established a new program record for most conversions without a miss, besting a 17-for-17 performance at UC Irvine on March 3, 2022.
