Brennan AngelNo one can quite figure it out.
For some reason, the UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team has a better record on the road (9-2) than at home (6-5) this season. That could come into play when the Gauchos visit Cal Poly in a Big West Conference rivalry game at 7 tonight in Mott Gym.
“As crazy as it may sound, they’re a better road team than they are (a) home team right now,” Cal Poly head coach Kevin Bromley said Saturday after his team’s 89-80 home win over UC Irvine.
UCSB (15-7, 6-3 Big West) will be looking to avenge a 71-61 home loss to Cal Poly (12-10, 4-5) on Jan. 20. The game marked the Mustangs’ first win in the Thunderdome since 1998 and only their second there since 1959.
“They’re going to come out harder than they did when we were down there,” said Cal Poly junior guard Dawin Whiten, who was named Big West Co-Player of the Week along with Long Beach State’s Aaron Nixon on Monday. “We have to really be ready for that because they’re going to want payback. We went down there and beat them on their home court. That’s not going to sit well with them.”
Whiten tied a school-record with eight 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 31 points Saturday despite playing with a left ankle that he said at the time was “about 75, 80 percent” healthy.
“When Dawin’s making shots like that it frees up ‘Stock’ and Tyler (McGinn),” Bromley said Monday at a weekly athletics department press conference. “I thought we played extremely well. We controlled the basketball game.”
Senior forwards Derek Stockalper and McGinn were free enough Saturday to score 15 and 11 points, respectively, contributing to the Mustangs’ highest-scoring effort since a 99-91 home loss to second-place Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 28.
Stockalper said last Saturday that Wednesday’s game and Saturday’s 4 p.m. ESPNU Bracket Buster contest against visiting Portland State could both serve as momentum builders in preparation for the March 7 to 10 Big West tourney in Anaheim.
“UCSB is a big game, big rivalry,” said Stockalper, who leads Cal Poly in points (13.1) and rebounds (6.9) per game. “Got them down there, it’s going to be a tough game. We just have to come out running in both those games, take care of Santa Barbara first.”
Whiten shot 9 of 13 from the floor Saturday, dramatically breaking out of a slump in which he had shot only .355 from the field in his first 20 games this season.
“Me and coach Bromley were talking and we both agreed that I needed to get my feet set and shoulders squared,” Whiten said. “I was rushing a lot of shots earlier in the year. Now that I’m getting my feet set, my shots are starting to fall.”
In addition to the shots falling, Bromley was especially pleased with his team’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 21-7 Saturday. Sophomore point guard Trae Clark led the way with eight dimes.
Cal Poly’s offense was so impressive, in fact, that Bromley said Monday that UCSB head coach Bob Williams had told him earlier this week that the Mustangs’ offense is the third-best in conference, behind only Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton.
Much of the improved play has to do with the emergence of 6-foot-7, 220-pound junior post player Matt Hanson. After stints at Vermont (2003-04) and St. Cloud State (2004-05) and a redshirt season at Cal Poly (2005-06), Hanson appears to have found a niche.
He came up with a career-high 19 points and six rebounds against Long Beach State last Thursday, then started in place of injured sophomore center Titus Shelton (ankle sprain) to contribute nine points and six boards against UC Irvine on Saturday.
Shelton played Saturday for the first time in four games. He had four points, three rebounds and one blocked shot in 18 minutes.
“I probably need to find a way to play those guys together,” Bromley said of Hanson and Shelton.
The Mustangs’ depth underneath the basket is not limited to those two. Also contributing in the paint have been high-flying 6-8 junior Dreshawn Vance (6.6 points, 5.0 rebounds per game), 6-7 senior Joe Henry (.563 field-goal percentage) and 6-8 senior John Manley (started Thursday).
Aside from free-throw shooting (.611 on the season), one thing Bromley said his team still must work on is playing with a lead.
Cal Poly blew a 14-point advantage against Long Beach State and saw its 14-point lead against UC Irvine dwindle late before closing strong.
“When you’re up by 10, 11, 12, you don’t have to try to win by 30 every time,” Bromley said. “Some of that is playing smarter with the lead. Not too many teams can get up by 14 on Long Beach.”
UCSB, meanwhile, will be trying to get back in the win column after having its four-game victory streak snapped in a wild 68-67 home loss to Long Beach State on Saturday.
The Gauchos are led by junior guard Alex Harris (19.8 ppg), junior forward Chris Devine (15.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and senior guard Cecil Brown (9.4 ppg).
Bromley said Whiten will start on Harris, McGinn on Brown and players will switch frequently on Devine.
As for Cal Poly, which has won six of its last eight games overall and is 8-2 at home, momentum is building.
“I believe, like my teammates believe,” Hanson said Monday, “we can win this thing.”