UC San Diego
Cal Poly Faces UC San Diego Wednesday in Big West Championship Opening Round
3/10/2026 11:13:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Cal Poly Men's Basketball
Upcoming Matchups
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Winners of five of its final seven matchups to close the regular season, the eighth-seeded Cal Poly men’s basketball program faces No. 5 and defending champion UC San Diego in the Big West Championship opening round on Wednesday, March 11. Tip time from Lee’s Family Forum (Henderson, Nev.) is 6 p.m. on ESPN+ for Cal Poly (14-18, 10-10), which clinched its postseason spot with three games remaining and enters the tournament as the first No. 8 seed in the history of the Big West Championship with a double-digit conference win total. Featuring the nation’s 26th-ranked scorer in sophomore guard Hamad Mousa (20.4), Cal Poly remains second among Big West programs at 82.5 points per game having scored 90-plus points nine times this season. UC San Diego (22-10, 12-8), meanwhile, won six of its final seven to complete the regular season and concedes the second fewest points per game (70.0) among Big West programs.
LOOKING AHEAD AT THE BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP: Wednesday’s opening-round winner advances to face fourth-seeded CSUN in Thursday’s 6 p.m. quarterfinal matchup with No. 1 UC Irvine – having earned back-to-back byes as the regular season champion – waiting in Friday’s semifinal. The 2026 Big West Championship game is Saturday, March 14 at 7 p.m.
MEDIA ADVISORY, WE ARE CAL POLY: When referring to any Cal Poly athletics program, please use only “Cal Poly” to denote the school. Please refrain from using names such as “Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo,” “Cal Poly-SLO,” “CPSU,” “Cal Poly State” and “Polytechnic State University.” Cal Poly is a separate institution from Division IIs Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly Humboldt.
CAL POLY VERSUS UC SAN DIEGO: Cal Poly broke a five-game slide against UC San Diego with a 67-65 New Year’s Day home win before the Tritons prevailed in La Jolla on Feb. 28 (80-64). Cal Poly leads the all-time (10-7) series while UC San Diego tops the Division I (6-5) series. The two sides have never previously faced each other at the Big West Championship.
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— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) March 9, 2026
Our first matchup is this WEDNESDAY vs. UCSD. Go Mustangs??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/InszZFhwZb
CAL POLY’S HISTORICAL PARITY: Finishing the regular season with a 1-1 mark against every Big West opponent except Cal State Bakersfield (2-0) and CSUN (0-2), Cal Poly is the first No. 8 seed in Big West Championship history with double-digit conference victories and at least a .500 conference winning percentage. Despite improving its Big West win total by two games from the 2024-25 season, Cal Poly fell one seed lower for the 2026 championship.
CAL POLY AT THE BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP: Cal Poly is 14-19 in 20 previous Big West Championship appearances and, aside from capturing the 2014 title, the Mustangs advanced to the championship game in 2003 and 2007. Cal Poly has reached the semifinals in seven of 20 appearances (2003, 2006-07, 2012-14, 2025). Cal Poly’s four semifinal losses occurred in 2006, when the fourth-seeded Mustangs fell versus No. 1 Pacific (68-57); 2012, when fourth-seeded Cal Poly dropped a 64-52 decision against No. 2 UC Santa Barbara; 2013, when a last-second Pacific shot eliminated third-seeded Cal Poly, 55-53, and 2025, when the Mustangs fell to second-seeded UC Irvine, 96-78 (despite leading at halftime). Overall, Cal Poly is 10-10 during its first tournament game, 3-4 in semifinal matchups and 1-2 in championship games.
NO BETTER TIME THAN THE PRESENT: The lowest seed to have ever won the Big West Championship was … Cal Poly, which, seeded seventh in 2014, knocked out No. 2 UC Santa Barbara, No. 1 UC Irvine and No. 5 CSUN to capture the title.
BIG WEST SEEDING: Wednesday’s Big West Championship opening-round matchup marks the 17th consecutive postseason conference game where Cal Poly will play as a lower seed. The seventh-seeded Mustangs reached the 2025 semifinals by eliminating two higher seeded opponents. Cal Poly was the No. 10 seed for 2021, 2022 and 2023 tournaments and lost quarterfinal matchups as a lower seed from 2015-2018. Cal Poly won as a lower seed during all three games of its 2014 title run and was eliminated as a lower seed by Pacific in the 2013 semifinals. Cal Poly last played as a higher seed in 2013, eliminating sixth-seeded UC Davis in the quarterfinals, 64-41.
Bright lights, big city ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/HCwxhPfTiY
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) March 10, 2026
OFFENSE IN FOCUS: Closing the regular season with its highest single game regulation point total in 26 years and reaching 100 points four times and 90 on nine occasions, Cal Poly ranks second among Big West programs and 51st nationally at 82.5 points per night – the second highest single season average in program history.
LONG-RANGE GAME: Cal Poly has once more emerged as one of the nation’s top three-point shooting threats with the Mustangs ranked fourth among 361 NCAA Division I programs with 32.8 attempts per game, 10th with 11.0 three-pointers per game and 11th with 352 total three pointers. The Mustangs have knocked down multiple three-pointers in 21 of 32 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 67th nationally with 84 total three-pointers and 71st with a 38.2 percent three-point mark.
GAME ON THE LINE: Shooting a program record 78.6 percent from the free throw line, Cal Poly enters the Big West Championship leading the conference and ranked eighth nationally. Cal Poly’s 555 total free throws mark the second highest single season figure in program history. Highlighted by a program record 20-for-20 performance at Cal State Bakersfield (Jan. 29), Cal Poly has shot 80 percent from the line 15 times this year. Individually, Hamad Mousa ranks fourth among Big West players and 51st nationally with an 87.5 (175-for-200) percent free throw mark and requires just four more conversions to set a new single season record. Peter Bandelj, meanwhile, is fifth in the Big West at 86.5 (109-for-126) percent.
MOUSA’S MOMENT: A double-digit scorer in 30 of 31 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 now ranks 26th among NCAA Division I players at 20.4 points per game. He’s also 20th nationally with 175 total free throws, 53rd with 200 free throw attempts and 67th with 84 total three-pointers. Mousa’s latest highlight scoring endeavor was a 29-point night against Long Beach State (Feb. 26). His career best performance was a 34-point effort at CSUN (Jan. 8) while also recording 33 against Idaho (Dec. 21) and CSUN (Feb. 5), 31 versus UC Riverside (Dec. 6) and reaching 20-plus points 13 times. One of just two players from Qatar in Division I this season, Mousa also ranks fourth among Big West players with an 87.5 (175-for-200) percent free throw mark and eighth with 6.3 rebounds per game.
MOUSA MAKING HISTORY: Enjoying one of the most impressive offensive efforts in program history, Hamad Mousa became just the second Mustang – and first since Stuart Thomas during the 1990-91 campaign (658) – to surpass 600 points in one season after scoring 15 at UC Irvine (March 5). Mousa now requires just 28 points to overtake Thomas’s single season record. Mousa also ranks second in single season history with 175 free throws – three behind the program record of 178 by Thomas (1990-91) – fourth with 84 three-pointers, fifth with 220 three-point attempts, eighth with an 87.6 percent free throw mark and 11th with 186 field goals.
WARD’S SUPERIOR SOPHOMORE EFFORT: Behind 25 double-digit scoring games, sophomore guard Cayden Ward enters Wednesday’s matchup versus UC San Diego second in the lineup and 10th among Big West players at 14.6 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 – matched that performance with 28 points against Long Beach State (Feb. 26). He also owns a 25-point night against Montana State (Dec. 16). He closed the regular season with back-to-back 16-point performances after recording a third career double-double – 12 and 10 – at UC San Diego (Feb. 28). On the boards, Ward co-leads Cal Poly and ranks eighth in the Big West at 6.3 rebounds per game.
BANDELJ UPS THE SCORING PACE: Cal Poly’s leading returning scorer from last season, sophomore guard Peter Bandelj enters the Big West Championship third in the lineup at 13.2 points per game and fifth among Big West performers with a 86.5 (109-for-126) percent free throw mark. 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 10 appearances. Bandelj also remains Cal Poly’s top distributors, ranking seventh in the Big West at 3.4 assists per game. Through 66 collegiate appearances – is averaging 11.7 career points per game and ranks 10th in program history with an 83.2 (228-for-274) percent free throw mark.
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.
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 … Cal Poly’s 108-point performance in the March 7 regular season finale against Cal State Bakersfield marked the program’s highest regulation point total since defeating Cal State Fullerton at home on Feb. 12, 2000, 108-79 … Cal Poly’s 62-point first half against Cal State Bakersfield marked its highest output of the season … Cal Poly’s 10 Big West wins marked its highest total since finishing 12-6 during the 2012-13 season.
