As time wound down on Cal Poly’s 79-73 “upset” of UC Irvine, Anteaters head coach Russell Turner could be heard barking at his team’s bench.
“They out-worked us, out-played us, out-wanted us.”
For the second half, that was definitely true. The Mustangs (10-16, 6-8 Big West) ripped off run after run to cut the Anteater (16-9, 9-4 Big West) lead down.
But in the first half, it was UC Irvine that was out-playing and out-working Cal Poly.
Irvine started the half out strong, with Kyle Evans grabbing a pair of quick baskets for the Anteaters.
Cal Poly did what they have done consistently all season long and shot their way back into the game. Four quick threes gave the Mustangs the lead midway through the period.
Strong Irvine defense and some shotmaking from Derin Sarin down the stretch gave the Anteaters a commanding 42-29 lead at half.
“We had some honest confrontations with our guys,” head coach Mike DeGeorge said. “When it got hard there to score in that last portion of the first half we really kind of lost our way.”
The Mustangs galloped out of the halftime break with pace, but still struggled to find their outside shot. Most of their work getting themselves back in the game was done inside the paint.
Sophomore guard Cayden Ward swung the momentum with a fastbreak-and-one slam to cut an Irvine lead to just two points.
“Any time I get near the rim I’m looking to dunk it,” Ward said. “I feel like I’m one of the most athletic people in the conference.”
Guzman Vasilic also came alive in the second half, knocking down threes and igniting the Mustang attack from deep. The sophomore guard finished the night with a career high 18 points.
With the nation’s best shot blocker Kyle Evans guarding freshman forward Austin Goode, Goode found the shooting touch by knocking down crucial threes on the pick and pop, punishing Evans and UC Irvine for sitting too deep in the paint.
Once Cal Poly took over, they didn’t look back. Irvine threatened and hung with Cal Poly down the stretch, but rarely held a lead. The Anteaters pulled in front for the last time with 10:30 left in the game and the Mustangs took it from there.
Irvine’s last push to reclaim the lead was snuffed out by back to back threes by Goode and sophomore guard Peter Bandelj, as Cal Poly got the win in front of the Mott faithful.
For a team that has struggled all year to keep opposing teams off the scoreboard, holding a potent UC Irvine squad to just 73 points is a step in the right direction for this team.
“I feel like that shows we can do it,” Vasilic said. “If we stick to our plan and we play the right way on defense we can sustain it for 40 minutes.”
Despite picking up his 500th point this season, Hamad Mousa, the Mustangs’ leading scorer this season, had a down game. He failed to score double digits for the first time this year, collecting just five points.
Both he and the Mustangs have a day to regroup, before matching up against Blue-Green rivals UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Mott Gym. When these teams faced off last month, the Gauchos routed Cal Poly 107-67 in the Thunderdome.