Cal Poly Men’s Basketball is still searching for its first career Blue-Green rivalry victory under head coach Mike DeGeorge as the Mustangs fell Thursday to UC Santa Barbara.
Cal Poly’s closest brush with the lead came early when the game was tied 2-2, but once UC Santa Barbara started scoring, Cal Poly never regained their footing. Perimeter shooting plagued the Mustangs (7-13, 3-5 Big West) as they went 7-26 from the three-point line against the Gauchos (12-7, 5-3 Big West) in the 107-67 loss.
Efficiency killed the Cal Poly offense during the first half, with the team shooting a 40% field goal percentage. Comparatively, UC Santa Barbara had all the momentum as they shot 82% from the field and 10-13 from beyond the arc.
Sophomore Hamad Mousa proved to be a bright spot for the Mustangs in the first, going 2-2 from the three-point line. While junior guard Jake Davis went 3-11, he tallied up a third of Cal Poly’s points. He led the team with 11 points, two rebounds, and one assist to start the first half.
The Mustang defense was no match for the Gauchos as they showcased their near-perfect first half shooting, only missing 6 total shots as a team. UC Santa Barbara also dominated around the rim as they topped Cal Poly’s six total rebounds with 15 of their own.
Finding themselves in a 26-point deficit to start the second half, the Mustangs were reliant on their same starting five to work themselves back into the match.
After Davis and Mousa went quiet to start the second half, DeGeorge enacted a hockey style substitution by doing a five-in-five-out rotation for all the Mustangs on the court, with the goal of finding a much needed spark on offense.
Coming off the bench, senior Aaron Price Jr. continued his run of strong play for the Mustangs. In his 12 minutes on the court, he went 2-3 from three-point range to score eight points in the second half.
Freshman forward Austin Goode and junior guard Kieran Elliot both bettered their stats in the second half as well, scoring seven points apiece.
As a team, Cal Poly’s second half was much needed improvement compared to their first, bettering their field goal and three-point percentages. Unfortunately, it was not enough to hold off the onslaught from UC Santa Barbara as their bench’s 40 points during the half led them to their 17th straight victory against the Mustangs.
Two Cal Poly stars with noticeably quiet nights were sophomore guards Peter Bandelj and Cayden Ward. The pair both scored six points, each with one personal foul and two turnovers recorded on the night.
Bandelj and Ward had both been top scorers in their last three matches with the Mustangs, hitting double digits in every match since their loss to Long Beach State early in January. Bandelj, Ward, and Mousa, the team’s top three preseason performers, remain key players to watch on the scoresheet as conference play continues.
With playing time somewhat evenly divided between 10 players over the game, Cal Poly is still searching for the right group to lead their team through the remainder of this conference season.
As the No. 8 seed in the Big West conference, Cal Poly has a chance to climb up the standings on Saturday, Jan 24 at 4 p.m. The Mustangs can snap their two-match losing streak as they take on ninth place Cal State Fullerton at home in Mott Athletic Center.