Cal Poly’s men’s basketball team is set to host Hawai’i on Thursday, January 14 at 7 p.m. in the Mott Athletics Center. The Mustangs (7-11, 3-3) are currently tied for fourth place in the Big West standings with CSUN and Cal State Fullerton after defeating UC Davis 84-78 on January 10. Hawai’i (12-3, 4-1) holds second place in the conference following a close 67-66 win over UC Irvine.
Cal Poly ranks second among Big West teams in scoring, averaging 81.4 points per game, and has made 198 three-pointers this season, which is fourth among all NCAA Division I programs. In contrast, Hawai’i allows just 63.4 points per game, ranking tenth nationally for fewest points allowed.
The Mustangs ended a nine-game losing streak against Hawai’i last February with a home victory and aim for consecutive wins over the Rainbow Warriors for the first time since the early 2010s. However, Hawai’i leads the all-time series between the teams.
Cal Poly’s long-range shooting has been a key factor this season. The team is ranked twelfth nationally in three-point attempts per game and fifteenth in three-pointers made per game. Guard Hamad Mousa is ranked twenty-seventh nationally with fifty-three three-pointers and holds a shooting percentage of forty point eight percent from beyond the arc. Sophomore Peter Bandelj is third among Big West players and forty-first nationally with a forty-one point nine percent mark from three-point range.
Sophomore guard Hamad Mousa has scored in double digits in every appearance this season and leads the Big West while ranking tenth nationally at twenty-one point eight points per game. He recently recorded a career-high thirty-four points at CSUN and has also posted high-scoring games against Idaho and UC Riverside. Mousa averages twenty-six point eight points per game in conference play—over six points higher than any other player—and also contributes as one of only two Division I players from Qatar this year.
Cayden Ward, another sophomore guard, enters Thursday’s matchup as Cal Poly’s second-leading scorer with fifteen point three points per game and earned conference honors after scoring twenty-eight against Utah earlier this season.
Peter Bandelj rounds out Cal Poly’s top scorers at fifteen points per game following a career-best thirty-seven-point performance at Cal State Fullerton. He holds the program record for most three-pointers made in a single game with nine.
The Mustangs’ roster includes players from nine countries across all six habitable continents—a distinction matched by no other Division I program this year except UT Martin, which features thirteen different nationalities.
Cal Poly was one of only five Division I schools not to lose any players to the transfer portal during the offseason, joining Duke, Tennessee, American University, and Boston University.
Former Mustang Kobe Sanders became just the second Cal Poly alumnus to play in an NBA game when he debuted for the Los Angeles Clippers on October 22 after being drafted by New York before being traded. He joins David Nwaba as former Mustangs who have played professionally in the NBA.
Other notable achievements include Cal Poly’s earliest-ever season opener on November 3 against USC and their first win over a current Big 12 opponent since 1949 when they defeated Utah on November 20. The team improved its record against non-Division I opponents to fifty-one wins and one loss following their victory over Redlands on November 29. Additionally, Bandelj set a new program record for three-pointers made in a single game earlier this season.
Cal Poly is competing in its thirty-second season at the Division I level and eighty-second as a four-year program.
