They’re still alive – barely.
The Cal Poly men’s basketball team needs a lot to happen in order to make the Big West Conference Tournament next month.
“Mathematically we’re still in it,” Cal Poly head coach Kevin Bromley said. “(Winning the games we have left) is all you can do.”
The Mustangs trail UC Santa Barbara by two and a half games for the final tournament slot with three games to play. The Gauchos hold the tiebreaker by virtue of two wins against Cal Poly earlier this season.
So the Gauchos would have to lose out while the Mustangs would have to win out.
There is an even trickier situation involving sixth-place UC Riverside dropping their final games, including a season finale at Cal Poly that would allow a tiebreaker scenario. The teams would have split two meetings, which would mean the team with the better record against the top finisher in the conference would go to the tournament.
Both scenarios seem like a statistic improbability, but Bromley said that despite the tough season, the team would battle to the end.
“They’re a pretty high-character group,” he said. “Coming off some of the devastating losses we’ve had, they’ve come back very well.”
The Mustangs (7-17, 3-10) have suffered a slew of close losses this season, including seven losses by five points or less.
In Cal Poly’s last game, a 66-62 win over South Dakota State, the Mustangs were able to use some of that close-game experience to their advantage in pulling out a win over the Jackrabbits.
“We were down five in the second half and our guys showed a lot of moxie and character in coming back,” Bromley said.
The Mustangs will try to put some of their new late-game knowledge to use when they host Cal State Bakersfield (7-20) tonight at 7 p.m. in Mott Gym. The Roadrunners beat Cal Poly by two points earlier this season.
While the Cal State Bakersfield game is non-conference, Bromley said it will help the Mustangs prepare for their final Big West Conference games, particularly UC Riverside.
“Bakersfield is a lot like Riverside,” he said. “They’re big, they’re physical and they’re strong. They keep their games very close.”
Cal Poly sophomore guard Shawn Lewis continued his recent run of strong play in the win over South Dakota State, scoring 21 points and grabbing four rebounds.
“Shawn’s playing good basketball right now,” Bromley said. “He’s aggressive off the dribble, and he’s aggressive running the floor.”
As Lewis’ play has improved, Bromley has noticed his confidence has grown as well.
“Shawn is ego driven, and I don’t mean egotistical,” Bromley explained. “Ego driven is a good thing.”
Bromley admitted, however, that Lewis’ youthful enthusiasm isn’t always a positive.
“I tried to teach him some hard lessons during the last game,” Bromley recalled. “I had to sit him down for a bit after two contested 3-pointers.”
Getting younger players like Lewis, freshman forward David Hanson and freshman guard Justin Brown more minutes is something that Bromley will look at if the team is officially eliminated from postseason contention.
“I do think I need to keep developing young players,” he said.
While the team no longer controls its own destiny, Bromley said that they will play to win regardless of what the teams ahead of them do.
“(Our seniors) Titus and John and Chaz deserve to win their last home games and to win out,” he said.