SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Nov. 15: Northern Iowa Panthers (0-0) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (0-0)

Jody Hedde, 2nd Assistant Coach (scouting)

I’m glad we’re beginning the season at home. The Panthers’ PG Nick Nelson is a senior and is very experienced as is senior PF Teppo Jarvilehto who averaged about 8 ppg and 8 rpg last season. SG Sylvester Faulconer averaged nearly 13 ppg in his freshman season last year. Northern Iowa has seemed to have alternating up and down seasons. If the pattern persists, this will be a good year for them. While we’re starting the same guys we did last season, we have a bunch of new guys who have shown in practice that they should provide outstanding depth. So let’s see how things go:

Good start. We force the Panthers to take a bad shot. Ivelitsch rebounds and Small hits a 3. Then the Pathers get called for travelling. Collier makes a put-back. Northern Iowa throws the ball away. After a couple nice offensive rebounds, Preston hits a short jumper on which he was fouled and converts the free throw to make it 8-0 after 2-1/2 minutes of play. At the middle of the first half we’re up 22-12 and getting scoring from both our starters and subs, although our 3 point shots aren’t going down. Coach Aura is working the entire bench into the fray. We stretch our lead to 17 with 3 minutes to go but then go into a scoring drought and finish the half ahead by a 37-24 score. Estell Luton topped our scoring with 10 points. We outshot the Panthers 48% to 36%.

Northern Iowa’s SF Tom Thomas scores their first 11 points of the 2nd half as they trim our lead to 42-35. With the Panthers defense stiffening, we’re having a tough time making shots and our lead drops to just a single point with 8 minutes remaining. The game is tied at 57-all with 6 minutes to go. But our defense clamps down at that point allowing us to pull away to gain a 73-62 victory. Good to get a win under our belts, but unimpressive due to how we let them back into the game in the 2nd half. We need to improve since our next game is on the road against a stronger team. Coach Aura said some of the fault was his since he played our entire bench extensively to see how they would do and therefore cut the playing time for our starters.

11 of our players scored with PF/C Estell Luton hitting all but one of his shots to score 13 points and SG Nikolos Ivelitsch finishing with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. I was impressed with Luton and also SG Damien Harris who hit all 3 of his shots (including 2 from outside the arc) to finish with 8 points, 3 rebounds, and a block in 11 minutes of floor time.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 18: Cal Poly Mustangs (1-0) @ Houston Cougars (1-1)

Scotty Lee, PG

This is the road trip from hell. First there was something wrong with our plane that they had to fix and so we had to sit around the airport and left really late. Then the weather enroute to Houston was abominable. Most of the way we were getting tossed and bumped around. I’ll admit I was pretty darned worried. We got to hotel and to bed really late. My mattress was hard as a rock so I slept poorly and got up this morning with my body aching. If the rest of the team is as tired as I am, we’re in trouble. I’m hoping to play better than in our first game. While I scored 6 points, they were all on free throws. I missed all 5 of my FG attempts. I take pride in my shooting so that really sucked. The Cougars beat #13 ranked Creighton by 35 points and then lost to lowly North Carolina A&T by 7 points…strange.

We trailed by a small margin throughout much of the first half and finished the first 20 minutes behind 41-39. I played 8 minutes at SG and PG, missing my first shot but then hitting my next 3 FG’s plus knocking down 3 FT’s. My 9 points matched Trey Small’s output to top our scoring. Guess I wasn’t as tired as I thought. Coach Fed got on us in the locker room about letting Houston hit 60% of their shots.

Missed shots and turnovers kept us from scoring for 3-1/2 minutes to start the 2nd half as we fell behind by 7 points. We continued our cold shooting and never got closer than 5 points before losing 79-68.

Estell Luton scored 16 points, Trey Small had 13 points, Nikolos Ivelitsch had 11 points and 3 steals, and I finished with 9 points and 3 assists.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Conference Weekly Review

In the first week of the season, UC Santa Barbara rolled off 2 wins, getting a big road win over Alabama by a score of 78-63 and then hosting and beating Duquesne 80-55. All other Big West teams lost at least one game in their first week of play. But UC Irvine, which had 2 away games, nearly came away with 2 wins…edging Troy 64-62 and the nearly winning against Providence before falling 65-60.

C Corey Heideman of UC Davis was named the Big West Player of the Week. He scored 40 points and had 13 rebounds in the Aggies two games. UC San Diego’s Doylan Augustine was the Big West Freshman Player of the Week. In his first collegiate game he came in off the bench to score 6 points in 10 minutes of play. That earned him a start in the Tritons next game and he responded by scoring 24 points and pulling down 8 boards.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 22: Marshall Thundering Herd (0-1) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (1-1)

Arthimus Walker, Head Coach at Marshall

We bowed out of the Coaches Classic Tourney in the first round last week, losing to Brigham Young 69-59 when we let their starting guard Ronnie Brown put 31 points up against us. I told the team we don’t want to let another guy take us out of the game tonight. We also got destroyed on the boards (-17) against Brigham Young. We worked hard all week in practice to avoid a repeat of that. Cal Poly is a tough opponent since tey have their entire starting lineup back from the past season. We lean heavily on 3 juniors who’ve been together their entire collegiate career: SF Jean-Baptiste has averaged in double figures both of his previous seasons here and continues to improve as a scorer and rebounder and all-around player; PG Courtney Bakken has averaged just a sliver under 10 ppg both seasons with us and really upped his play-making abilities as a sophomore; and C Mike Smith, a solid inside performer for us who I believe will really up his scoring and rebounding production this season. This year we added yet another junior…JC transfer SG Jimmy Nahra who has a sweet shot from outside. He’s not starting for us yet, but I expect him to break out for us at some point soon. The inability for an opponent to focus on any one of our players keeps their defense honest. We’re accustomed to getting into one of the 4 post-season tournaments and need wins to do it again, so it’s time to begin to put some W’s into our record.

The Star Spangled Banner has concluded and the teams are awaiting the tip-off. I like our chances.

We’re making the Mustangs work hard to try to get a clear shot. They’ve been forced to shoot from outside the arc on all 6 of their first possessions. Ivelitsch sunk 2 of his 5 attempts, unfortunately. So we trail 6-2. But our scouting report says they aren’t that good a 3-point shooting team, so let’s keep them firing away from long distance. Time for us to begin hitting our shots though.

Don’t know yet if it’s great D or just poor shooting by both teams, but both teams are hitting well under 20% of their shots and it’s 7-5 after 7 minutes of play.

My starters limited Cal Poly’s inside game, but my bench let the Mustangs’ inside scoring ignite. We’re now down 20-13 and C Dekker Chambers has 7 of Cal Poly’s points.

Both teams have figured out how to put the ball in the hoop. We’re hanging with them, but still trail 34-30. SG Marcue Strickland leading our scoring with 11 points.

Halftime and we’re within a single point at 34-33. Both teams shooting improved but we’re still getting outshot 44% to 37%, but we’ve hit 4 of 8 of our 3’s while Cal Poly is 2 of 11.

Yes! With 12 minutes remaining we finally get our first lead of the game at 47-46. Our D has been good in the 2nd half.

Damn..that lead was short lived. Ivelitsch hit a 3 on Cal Poly’s next possession and the Mustangs just scored 8 unanswered points.

Their lead then grows to 11. We cut into it a little, but it isn’t to be. We have to foul late in the game and Cal Poly wins 77-65.

Three of our guys scored in double figures: Pinon had 14, Strickland scored 12, and Smith put in 11 points. But again we let a SG victimize us…this time it was Cal Poly’s Nikolos Ivelitsch torching us for 26 points. The Mustangs C Dekker Chambers had 11 points and 7 boards and PF Victor Collier scored 10 and he grabbed 7 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 25: Cal Poly Mustangs (2-1) @ Indiana Hoosiers (2-0)

Omari Aura, 3rd Assistant Coach (player development/practice)

Indiana has walked over two teams thus far. Both weren’t big challenges for the Hoosiers and were at home. They have some talented players so we’re going to have to play very well to win this game. In fact their lowest rated player is the guy leading their scoring so far this season…PG David Heston (18.5 ppg).

SF Trey Small gets us off to a good start as he scores 8 of our first 11 points to put us up by 4 after 5 minutes of play. Indiana’s SG Travis Wilson gets 12 points early and my dad decides to go strictly to m-2-m and double team him. With both teams shooting well, the lead shifts back and forth continually through the first 15 minutes. But then some poor shooting and loose ball control plus the crowd urging the Hoosiers on produces an 11-0 run by Indiana. We finally begin scoring again, but still trail 47-37 at the end of the half. We definitely have some work to do in the 2nd half. In the locker room Dad gets on the team about turnovers and defense.

We’re attempting to comeback and our D looks pretty good, but with their fans rooting them on, the Hoosiers continue to hit a high percentage of their shots. Dad benches Nikolos Ivelitsch since he’s having a terrible shooting night. Trailing by 17 with 7 minutes to go, we’d trimmed their lead to just 5 points with a minute to go. But we could get no closer and lost 87-79. We hit 50% of our shots, but the Hoosiers dropped in 58% of theirs.

C Calvis Barnes led our scoring with 17 points. SF Trey Small played very well finishing with 15 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks. C Dekker Chambers had 11 points and 9 rebounds and PG/SG Scottie Lee scored 11 points plus had 5 assists. Indiana’s SG Travis Wilson was zero’d in tonight, hitting 9 of 12 shots including 2 of 3 of his 3-pointers and all 7 of his FT’s to finish with 27 points and he also had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Even though we lost I was very pleased to see Calvis Barnes break out for us tonight. Scottie Lee had yet another productive night coming in off the bench. Our reserves scored 46 of our 79 points, but 3 of our starters (Preston, Ivelitsch, and Collier) combined for just 7 points and 3 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Omari Aura, 3rd Assistant Coach

After the game, Eddie Erskin was mouthing off about how he should be starting and wasn’t being treated fairly. Dad took him aside and read him the riot act, although I don’t know all the details. Eddie started for Northern Illinois as a freshman and coming in off the bench has been tough for him. But while he’s done ok on the boards and handling the ball, he has not yet produced offensively for us.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Conference Weekly Review

UC Riverside scored 2 wins (beating Siena 73-48 and travelling to whip St. Josephs 67-58) in the 2nd week of the season to improve their record to 3-1. First week’s undefeated team, UC Santa Barbara edged both Michigan and #20 ranked Notre Dame in the Poseidon’s Challenge Tournament before losing in the championship game by 4 points to #7 ranked Oklahoma. The Gauchos then returned home and lost to Saint Louis so their season record is now 4-2. Cal State Bakersfield had 2 solid home wins over Sacred Heart and Evansville and now is 2-1 this season. Three teams (Hawaii, UC Davis, and Long Beach State) are still winless this season.

Bernard Mendez of UC Riverside was the Big West Player of the Week and UC San Diego’s Doylan Augustine picked up his 2nd straight Freshman Player of the Week award. Mendez had 31 points, 24 rebounds, 3 steals and 7 blocks in the Highlanders two games this week. Augustine scored 21 points and pulled down 17 boards in his two games this week for the Tritons.

The top scorer in the Big West is Corey Heideman who is averaging 17.0 ppg for UC Davis. UC Riverside’s Sean Neely is averaging 11.5 rpg and UC Santa Barbara’s Nathan Rivera is averaging 6.3 apg.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 29: Saint Louis Billikens (4-0) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (2-2)

Benny Tamago, local realtor (fan)

The Billikens not only have won all their games this season, but every game has been on the road. Saint Louis has wins over Bucknell, South Alabama, Virginia Tech, and UC Santa Barbara. So even though this is a home game for us, the Mustangs are up against a talented team that are road-warriors. The Billikens are strong defensively, giving up just 57.0 ppg (9th best in Division 1). The Mustangs have a tough pre-conference schedule, so winning at home is very important.

I’m surprised to see Coach Aura starting Luton instead of Collier at PF tonight. Collier hasn’t been scoring as well as he did last season and Luton has come in and put points on the board, but still this is a big change.

Chambers scored 7 of the Mustangs first 11 points…and Cal Poly is ahead by 7. Scotty Lee replaced Ivelitsch (who had tossed up far too many clunkers) and hit a basket and converted the resulting foul shot to put the Mustangs ahead 20-10 with 9:34 left in the half. Some great defense by Cal Poly forced Saint Louis to make 13 turnovers and kept them from getting good shots, thus limiting their shooting to just 30% in the half. That resulted in a 31-17 halftime advantage for the Mustangs.

The Billikens scored the first 6 points of the 2nd half to reduce the lead to 8 points. But, deploying a devastating defense, the Mustangs rebuilt a solid double-digit lead and held onto it the rest of the way. Final score: Cal Poly—63, Saint Louis—44.

With the entire bench playing extensively, the only Mustangs to score in double figures were Dekker Chambers scoring 12 points (and recording a double-double by pulling down 10 rebounds) and Scotty Lee hitting for 10 points. Cal Poly’s bench scored 39 points compared to 10 by the Billikens’ bench. Eddie Erskin scored 9 points and had 4 boards and Victor Collier had 8 points and 6 boards.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Conference Weekly Review

Several of the Big West teams played just one game this week. But UC San Diego came away with wins over Pennsylvania and Morgan State. UC Santa Barbara beat New Hampshire at home and then had yet another tough opponent on the road…#1 ranked Duke. The Gauchos lost but the game had 18 lead changes and 14 ties before the Blue Devils rallied in the final 6 minutes to win 82-70. Five of the eleven teams in the conference continued their unimpressive play with Hawaii and Long Beach State still winless and UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State Northridge each sporting 1-5 records. Just three teams have better than .500 records: UC Santa Barbara at 5-3, and Cal Poly and UC San Diego with 3-2 records.

The conference Player of the Week was Michael Dahle of UC Irvine who scored 45 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, dished out 3 assists, and had 4 blocks and a steal in his team’s two games this week. The Freshman Player of the Week was for the 3rd straight week Doylan Augustine of UC San Diego. In his two games this week Doylan had 22 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 6: Cal Poly Mustangs (3-2) @ Utah Utes (4-2)

San Luis Obispo Tribune

CAL POLY AND UTAH BATTLE DOWN TO THE WIRE

The Cal Poly basketball team travelled to Salt Lake City to take on the Pac-12’s Utah Utes and their star PG Matt Carey (18.3 ppg) last night. During the initial 10 minutes of the first half the lead shifted back and forth 10 times. But then led by Nikolos Ivelitsch’s 12 points and a solid rebounding advantage, the Mustangs drew away to take a 37-28 lead to the locker room. Carey and SG Travis Rieck combined to score 23 of the Utes 27 points in the first half.

The Utes began creeping up on Cal Poly in the 2nd half and with 11:17 to play the game was tied at 47-47. The Mustangs scrappily regained the lead only to have Utah move ahead 55-54 after Coach Aura was tagged with a technical foul. The teams then battled through a series of lead changes. With 2 minutes to go Calvis Barnes sank two free throws to put Cal Poly on top 69-65. Utah came right back to score 4 quick points and tie it with 1:23 on the clock. Nikolos Ivetisch then dropped in a pair of free throws. Dekker Chambers blocked a shot by Utah, but the Mustangs missed a field goal attempt and Utah took a time out with 46 seconds left. Utah worked the ball around and got it inside but missed an 8 footer. The Utes then had to foul and Scotty Lee cleanly put the ball through the hoop twice to put the Mustangs ahead by 4 with 28 seconds remaining. Utah’s Eugene Ball got off a 3 that settled through the silks to cut the lead to a single point. Utah fouled on the inbounds pass and Scotty Lee hit two more free throws with 14 ticks on the clock. Matt Carey drilled a 3 for Utah with 8 seconds to go. Coach Aura called a time out to set up a final play, but the shot was blocked sending the game to overtime with the score tied at 75-75.

Cal Poly drew first block in the OT when Scotty Lee was fouled and hit both shots. Lee followed up by scoring 4 more points before Utah put their first points of the OT by hitting a 3. Utah followed up with a field goal that cut the Mustangs lead to 81-80 with just under 2 minutes to play. Calvis Barnes missed a shot but grabbed the rebound and slammed down a dunk to give Cal Poly a 3 point cushion with 47 seconds on the clock. Utah made a bucket in the paint and fouled immediately. Danny Preston drilled both foul shots to move the lead back to 3 with 29 seconds left to play. Utah worked the ball around the perimeter trying to get an open shot but had to put up a contested 3 point shot that was off the mark. Cal Poly’s Nikolos Ivelitsch grabbed the rebound and upcourted the ball to Scotty Lee who was fouled with 6 seconds showing on the clock. Lee continued his perfection at the line by making both shots. Utah heaved in a 3 but it was too little too late. Cal Poly had won an overtime thriller on the road by a score of 87-85.

Topping the scoring for Cal Poly was SG Nikolos Ivelitsch with 21 points and he also had 7 rebounds. SG/PG Scotty Lee tossed in 16 points. C Calvis Barnes had 14 points, 6 boards, and 3 assists. SF Trey Small scored 13 plus pulled down 8 rebounds. PF Victor Collier had 11 points and 9 rebounds.

“That was a real battle. Our guys never gave in and they did what was necessary to eke out a victory against a power conference team. Scotty Lee continues to demonstrate his offensive prowess. He’s done a helluva good job giving us a shot in the arm when he comes in off the bench in every game this season. He’s now averaging 10 ppg while playing about 15 mpg. He’s like a foul magnet…drawing foul after foul and he’s knocked down 100% of his free throws. In 6 games he’s nearly scored as many points at the line as he did starting all the games last season for East Carolina. Calvis Barnes had his 2nd consecutive excellent game inside for us.”