San Luis Obispo, CA—Fresh off of its biggest win of the year, the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team hits the road this week for games at Cal Poly on Thursday, January 28 and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, January 30. Both games tip at 7 pm PT, and the game against the Titans is being broadcast on ESPN3.
The Highlanders came back from a 13-point first-half deficit Saturday to upend Long Beach State, 74-72, behind a season-high 26 points from Taylor Johns (
box score/
recap). The senior forward scored 18 of the team's 26 points after intermission, as UC Riverside improved to 11-11 overall, and 2-4 in the Big West.
Jaylen Bland connected on five three-pointers in the win, and is now second in the nation in made threes oer game at 3.77 per contest. He now has 178 made three pointers in his career—16 away from breaking Maurice Pullum's all-time record of 193 set from 1987-89—and 83 for the season—18 away from breaking Pullum's single-season mark of 100 set in 1988-89.
As a team, the Highlanders made nine of 19 shots from beyond the arc against the 49ers, and now rank third in the Big West, and 71st in the nation, in three-point field goal percentage at 37.0 percent. The team's perimeter defense, which allowed non-conference opponents to connect on 33.5 percent from long distance, is allowing the Big West opponents to make 47.5 percent from three-point land.
Cal Poly is 8-10 overall on the season, including 2-3 in Big West play, and has won two of its last three conference games—a 96-92 double overtime victory over Long Beach State, and an 83-75 win at Cal State Fullerton.
This is not your father's Mustangs ... or perhaps not your older brother's. During Joe Callero's six plus-year tenure as the head coach at Cal Poly, the Mustangs became known for their tenacious D, ranking as one of the top 40 scoring defenses in the nation in four of the last five years, and leading the Big West in fewest points allowed per game for each of the last five seasons.
That is not the case in 2015-16 as the Mustangs calling card this season is its offense. Callero's crew is second in the Big West in points per game (76.7) and second in three-point field goal percentage (37.2). In conference games only, Cal Poly leads the league in scoring at 79.8 points per game.
Defensively, the Mustangs allow the most points in the Big West at 76.8, while allowing the second highest opponent field goal percentage (45.1), and the third highest three-point field goal percentage (36.4).
Cal Poly's offense is as balanced as they come, led by David Nwaba's 11.7 points per game. Two other Mustangs—Reese Morgan (10.6) and Joel Awich (10.2)—also average in double figures, while Brian Bennet and Luke Meikle average 9.1 points each. Taylor Sutlive contributes 8.2 points per game to the Mustangs' offense, and leads the Big West from long range connecting on 46.9 percent of his three-pointers.
The Highlanders are 45-47 all-time against Cal Poly (
view results), and won the last meeting between the clubs in a defensive slugfest, 48-44, on February 21, 2015 (
box score/
recap). Over the teams' last dozen meetings, only once did one of them score 70 or more points—a 70-66 overtime Highlanders win on March 10, 2011 (
box score/
recap), and in six of those games, neither team scored more than 60 points.
Cal State Fullerton is 8-10 heading into the week, and 1-4 in Big West competition. The Titans lone conference win came against the Highlanders back on January 7. Since then, they have dropped four straight. Fullerton travels to UC Davis on Wednesday, January 27 before returning home to host UC Riverside.
The Titans make just 41.5 percent of their field goal attempts, which is the lowest figure in the league. However, they connect on 35.6 percent of their three-pointers, which ranks in the middle of the pack, and they get to the free throw line more than any other Big West team making 70.7 percent of their shots from the charity stripe.
Tré Coggins leads three players scoring in double figures, with a league-best 17.6 points per game. Khalil Ahmad averages 14.4 points per game, while Malcolm Brooks chips in with 13.1.
The Highlanders are 20-28 all-time against the Titans (
view results), and had a three-game winning streak snapped in their last meeting back on January 7 of this year (
box score/
recap). UC Riverside led by as many as 20 points that night, but Coggins scored 20 second-half points, and Fullerton went to the free throw line 28 times in the second, making 20 to secure the victory.
