A lot can happen in the span of a week.
The Cal Poly men’s basketball team entered last week with a head full of steam. They had just gotten off to their best start in the Big West in school history. Dominating wins against UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge translated to a 5-2 record.
But, in a battle for second place in conference against UC Santa Barbara, the Mustangs fell short by 23 points. With their eyes set on revenge, they traveled back home to square off against a team that had three wins on the season — Cal Sate Bakersfield. The Mustangs could not complete the deed as a second-half rally fell short, and fell to 8-12 on the season and 5-3 in the Big West.
“I really feel like this was the most challenging week we have had (this season),” head coach Joe Callero said at Monday’s press conference.
The Mustangs lost more than just some ground in the standings last week; they got a little banged up in the midst of suffering back-to-back losses. They’re running on a bit of a flat tire.
“We have a lot of sickness; we have a lot of hurt ankles and hurt wrists and hurt ribs and hurt hips,” Callero said.
Battered and bruised, the Mustangs will travel north to square up against in-state rival UC Davis (8-12, 4-4) tonight.
“Unfortunately we are going into probably … the thickest part of the storm,” Callero said. “The point that we are trying to get through to our team is the opponents don’t really care about our physical status, or mental status.”
The ensuing stretch of games will test Cal Poly’s endurance. Five of its next six games will be away and that means of the next 18 days, 11 of the them are on the road — a place that hasn’t been kind to the Mustangs. They are 3-9 away from home.
To start the season, Cal Poly embarked on a five-game road trip. It spanned a total of 15 days, full of hotels and hostile crowds. When the Mustangs headed home they had five consecutive losses with no wins.
Tonight offers up the challenge of the revenge-seeking Aggies, a team the Mustangs only beat by three points the first time around. In that win at Mott Gym, senior guard Lorenzo Keeler led the team with 22 points. Sophomore forward David Hanson added 16 from the bench and senior forward Ryan Darling recorded a double-double. The Aggies did hold a nine-point lead in the second half as the game was close throughout.
“They’re sitting right behind us with that redemption game in their eyes,” Callero said.
In their previous match-up, the Mustangs shot more than 50 percent from the field. Against Santa Barbara and Bakersfield, the Mustangs shot an average of 33 percent from the field.
“That is more of a concern to me than what happened last week. What we’ve got to be able to do is kind of regenerate some energy and regenerate some consistent offense,” Callero said. “If you look at the good victories we’ve had on the road, at Irvine and at Long Beach State, we shot a high percentage offensively, and that really energizes the team defensively.”
The next two games can prove to be make or break for the Mustangs. In a difficult conference stretch, Cal Poly cannot afford to lose ground.
“(Hopefully) we get up there to the Bay Area with (the) Davis and Pacific teams and see if we can’t sneak a victory out of there,” Callero said.
– Alex Kacik, Brian De Los Santos and Zach Lantz contributed to this article.