Weekly Note (PDF)
San Luis Obispo, Calif. — The game every Mustang player, coach and fan gets excited about every year, the blue-green rivalry game with UC Santa Barbara. That rivalry will be updated on Thursday when UCSB comes to the Mott Athletics Center.
Tip times between Mustangs (5-13, 2-8 BW) and Gauchos (14-5, 7-2 BW) are set at 6pm. Cal Poly will then hit the road to face his champion Big West Hawaii at his 9 o’clock on Saturday. Afternoon PT.
Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+. A link to it and live stats to follow can be found on the schedule page.
Thursday’s game against UCSB is Cal Poly’s “Play for Kay Game,” and all fans will dress in pink in honor of legendary women’s basketball coach Kay Yo and her battle with all forms of cancer. It is recommended to wear
The Mustangs are looking to snap a four-game losing skid when facing both UCSB and Hawaii for the second time this season. They would avenge both Gaucho and Rainbow Wahine for their first close defeat. On January 7, 65-59, Cal Poly lost en route to his UCSB. They also lost at home to Hawaii on December 31, when he lost 50–47.
The Mustangs were eliminated in two road games last week. After closing a 12-point first quarter deficit, they fell 57-54 to Long Beach State in the end. Then they lost to Fullerton, California one Saturday, where he lost 69-61.
graduation home has been playing his best basketball of the season lately. Against Long Beach State, she scored her team-high 18 points before following suit with her 19-point performance against the Titans on Saturday. She has scored 18 or more points in three of her last four games, during which time she has reached her line on nearly eight free throws per game. In her games in the conference, Toure leads the Mustangs in scoring with her 10.3 points per game.
Another bright spot at Cal Poly these days is a sophomore security guard Sydney Borlandposted a season-high 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in Cal Poly’s first double-double of the season against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday. In her play in the conference this year, she leads the Mustangs with her 6.6 rebounds per game, and in five of her last six games she has recorded at least six rebounds. I’m here.
The Mustangs have already seen a lot of improvement this year under first-year head coach Chanel Stiers. In non-conference games, Cal Poly has his three wins, matching last season’s winning streak. Since then, they’ve amassed two more wins during conference play, topping last season’s overall win count and already matching last year’s two wins. They are doing this despite several injuries to key players this year.
Defense has become the Mustang’s calling card this season. In all of Cal Poly’s five wins to date, the Mustangs have held opponents to 53 points or less of him.
sophomore guard Annika Shah She continues to lead the team in scoring with 10.4 points per game and leads the team in assists per game with 2.7. He is the second shortest player in Division I to record. Oklahoma’s 5’2 he’s shorter than anyone with a block only Nevaeh Tot.
Following Saturday’s game against Rainbow Wahine, the Mustangs will host UC Irvine, who are currently leading the Big West at 8-1, on Thursday, February 9 at 6pm.
Scouting UCSB: A three-game winning streak, six out of seven in a row, Gauchos sits third in the Big West standings. They are the Big West’s top scoring team with his 68.4 points per game. They are also the leading rebounding team in the conference with 37.8 per game and the leaders with 15 assists per game. Personally, UCSB has two of his top 10 players in the Big West. Guard Alexis Tucker (13.0 points average) and forward Ira Lane (12.8 points average). Lane also leads the Big West with 8.9 rebounds per game and his goal percentage on the field, while his shooting percentage is 55.2%.
Scout Hawaii: The last year’s Big West champion has won two of his last three games and is currently fifth in the Big West standings. In his first matchup against Rainbow in San Luis Obispo earlier this season, Hawaii won his 50-47 victory, and the Mustangs shot from the field at 28.6% of his overall streak for the season. It was my worst opponent. Big West Freshman of the Year Lilly Wahinekapu leads the way with his 10.9 points scored, while his fellow guard Deja Phillips averages 10.8 points. As a team, Hawaii ranks him third in the conference with the fewest points awarded, giving up 60.6 points per game.
Shah leads the scoring: sophomore guard Annika Shah lead the Mustangs in scoring this season, with 10.4 points per game. That’s more than six points more than the freshman average last season, and a bigger leap than anyone on the team. She has scored in double figures seven times, including two of 20 or more, and she leads the team in scoring in seven of her previous 16 games.
Return Mustang: Despite losing two starters from last year, Cal Poly regained a lot from last year’s team. Two of the team’s top three scorers returned this year.
senior guard Maddie Willett Last year, he was second on the team with an 8.9 scoring average and led the team in 3-percentage and 3-point percentage.
senior forward Julia Nyellakna He is also back after starting 11 games last season, averaging 8.3 ppg in 24 of 25 games.
In addition to those two, five players who made at least 22 appearances last season are back this season.
New Stang: Cal Poly added seven rookies, four freshmen and three Division I transfers to its team this year.Transferred 3 times as a graduate student Nikola Kovackova,graduate student homeJunior Taylor Wu.
Kovacikova came to California Polipoli after playing for both Penn and Georgetown. In her last season at the University of Pennsylvania, she appeared in her 19 games and made eight starts. Out of court, she won Penn’s Norman J. Goldring Award and George H. Frazier Award. She spent her first two seasons of her college years in Georgetown. As her sophomore in the 2019-20 season, she appeared in her 27 games, started 12, and was her third-most scorer for the Hoyas, averaging 7.9 points per game.
Toure came to Cal Poly after three years at Butler. She played her freshman season before missing the next two seasons due to injury and the COVID pandemic.As her freshman year in 2019-20, she was named to her Big East All-Freshman team. it was done. That season, she appeared in her 27 games, started 20 of them, and ranked second on the team in scoring 9.1 points per game, while from the field she shot 46 percent and scored 20 per game. Achieved 6.1 rebounds. She also leads the Big Her East and ranks 45th in the NCAA with her 2.33 steals per game.
Wu spent the past three seasons at California Baptist University, appearing in 70 games. She made her mark as a freshman in 2019-20, where she averaged 6.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg, and 1.7 apg in 18.4 minutes per game.
