SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

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The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

This was another short week for some of the Big West teams who played just a single game. But UC Irvine, following 3 straight weeks of win one and lose one, again played two and this time the Anteaters won both of them, including a road win against Rice. UC Riverside edged above .500 at 4-3 by whomping Alcorn State and with their final 2 pre-conference games at home should enter conference play with a positive record. And let’s not forget Cal Poly which edged out Utah in an exciting overtime game and now stands with UC Santa Barbara with the Big West’s best winning percentage at .667. UC San Diego had the entire week to practice since they had no games this week…let’s hope it pays off with 2 wins this coming week for the Tritons. Hawaii underwent two more losses and is now 0-7, but 6 of those games have been on the road. Another winless team is Long Beach State (now 0-6), but similarly to Hawaii, all but one of those losses has been on the road.

David Barrett of Cal State Bakersfield scored 54 points and had 12 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 2 blocks in the Roadrunners two games this week and was named the Player of the Week for the Big West Conference. Cal State Bakersfield players garnered both awards this week as Will Morris was named the Freshman Player of the Week after scoring 20 points, pulling down 11 boards, dishing out 10 assists, and getting 4 steals and 2 blocks. It’s unfortunate that the Roadrunners piled up 2 losses even with those players’ strong performances.

While there have been a number of injuries for most every team that have impaired players from 2-14 days, this week Larry Ross, the starting PG for Hawaii, sustained a broken finger. That makes it even more difficult for the Rainbow Warriors to turn their winless season around since he’s likely to miss the team’s games for 2 months.

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Dec. 13: Cal Poly Mustangs (4-2) @ #12 ranked Texas A&M Aggies (8-0)

Jody Hedde, 2nd Assistant Coach (scouting)

We’re definitely big underdogs. Texas A&M has been ranked in the Top 25 and gotten into the NCAA Tourney 3 of the past 4 years including getting to the Sweet 16 one of those seasons. The Aggies are averaging 78.8 ppg while giving up just 53.8 ppg thus far this season. That’s the 2nd fewest points given up by any Division 1 team. And the Aggies rate high in offense, assists, rebounds, blocks, FG percentage, and FT percentage also. The team’s loaded with many talented players so they have plenty of weapons. But I still think we have a chance, particularly if our bench can be as productive as it’s been thus far. We need to come out playing and shooting well, though, since Texas A&M likes to put teams on their heels early and get the Aggies’ fans intimidating the opposition. If you come out flat against Texas A&M, you can quickly find yourself in a deep hole that’s mighty difficult to get out of.

We got off to a good start, going up 9-3. But then we had trouble scoring and the refs relentlessly were calling fouls on us. Texas A&M pulled ahead 14-12 with 13 minutes to go in the half. The lead shifted back and forth from there on with the Aggies, by scoring 8 more points at the foul line, ahead 42-41 at halftime. We shot well (50%) and out-rebounded the Aggies (+5), but Ivelitsch had 3 fouls and 3 more of our starters had 2 apiece.

We were turnover prone early in the 2nd half and the Aggies went on a 10-3 run. The refs continued to tag us with fouls and just 3 minutes into the 2nd half Chambers and Collier joined Iveltisch on the bench with 3 fouls each. A combination of turnovers, fouls and difficulty knocking down our shots put us behind by 19. We made a run to cut the lead to 11 but ran out of time and ended up losing 80-67. The Aggies scored 14 more points than us on free throws.

SF Trey Small scored 24 plus had 5 rebounds and C Calvis Barnes had 7 points and 10 boards.

Unfortunately, the loss brought out yet another personnel problem with C Calvis Barnes spouting off about not starting. I would have kicked his butt, but Coach Aura is a little easier going. He got Barnes to express his opinion that he should be starting and that he felt we would have won if he’then told him we’ve been happy about how he’s been adapting to our style of play and producing. We’ve therefore been increasing his minutes. But Coach Aura told him that spreading his displeasure around the locker room to his teammates (who can do nothing to get him to start, even if they want to) is not the way to go about it…that he needs to continue to show the coaches how well he can play…and if he feels he needs to express his opinion about playing time and starting, that he needs to talk to us.

Coach Aura told us coaches that Barnes likes to win and the loss likely was eating at him and he vented. He said that Barnes has been playing much better as the season has progressed, so starting is a definite possibility at some point soon. Barnes scored just 4 points and had 6 rebounds in our first 3 games but has averaged nearly 11 ppg and 5.5 rpg in our last 4 games.

We have 5 interior players, all of whom are pretty darned good and all of whom want to play a lot and/or start. So it’s a delicate balancing act to try to keep everyone happy.

Barnes isn’t the smoothest communicator and doesn’t worry much about making friends. So far his relationship with the team and the coaches has been pretty good, but I’m concerned that he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t mend fences well and things may very well go south.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

Another week and we have a new leader amongst the Big West teams. UC Irvine won their 4th straight game and improved their record to 6-3 but now has a week-and-a-half off before staring conference play. 3 other teams have winning records: UC Santa Barbara (6-4); Cal Poly (4-3); and UC San Diego (4-3) with UC Riverside exactly at .500 (4-4). All 6 other teams have lost more games than they’ve won with Hawaii still winless (now 0-8).

Mike Morris of Cal State Northridge was the conference Player of the Year and part of the All-Conference 1st Team (and the conference’s top scorer with 22.5 ppg) as a sophomore last year. He’d started slowly this season, though, averaging 11.2 ppg in his first 6 games. But last week he scored 37 points against Texas Southern and 60 points in the Matadors two games. He also had 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals. For that effort the Big West correctly named him their Player of the Week. The Freshman Player of the Week was Cal State Bakersfield’s Will Morris for the 2nd consecutive week. This week he scored 29 points and had 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and a block in two games.

A major injury occurred when Cal State Fullerton’s Travis Jackson tore his Achilles and will be out the remainder of the season. He’d led the Titans in scoring with 15 ppg in their 7 games this season before his injury in the first minute of their 8th game. That doesn’t bode well for the Titans who have just 2 wins in those 8 games this year.

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Dec. 20: Cal Poly Mustangs (4-3) @ #9 ranked Virginia Commonwealth Rams (11-0)

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

I tried to talk Coach Aura out of taking on such a challenging pre-conference schedule, but he was adamant about testing his players against strong teams so that if they get to the NCAA Tournament they will be ready for that level of competion. Like him, I felt we had a good chance to do very well in the Big West, but would have preferred we take on weaker pre-conference opponents to try to enter Big West play with an unblemished record and a chance of getting ranked.

So now, after taking on strong teams throughout this pre-conference schedule, the Mustangs go up against a ranked opponent for the 2nd straight game and later this week will take on tough teams in the JAG Holiday Invitational Tournament. Like Texas A&M, the Rams have been great defensively (59.0 ppg, 12th best in Division 1) and offensively (75.5 ppg, 79th best), getting steals (9.9 spg, 16th best), and on the boards (38.5 rpg, 11th best). Virginia Commonwealth has gotten into a post-season tournament each of the past 11 years and made it to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tourney 4 seasons ago. The team’s top scorer, PG Jeramy Brown (17.3 ppg) tore his ACL and is out for the rest of the season, but freshman PF DeMarcus Gaskins is averaging 14.8 ppg and 10.2 rpg. Two other players, SG Brandon Holmes and SF Cordell Woodley, are scoring in double figures and C Duane Carey is averaging 9.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg. The team was ranked in the Top 25 before the season began and has steadily worked their way up to now be in the Top 10. The team is coming into this game fresh off winning the championship of the Caribbean Challenge Tournament.

Our team had to not only battle a talented Rams team but also rabid and vocal fans. We trailed by a small amount for most of the half and let Virginia Commonwealth pull away to a 34-27 halftime advantage.

We kept cutting the lead to a point or two only to have the Rams hit some baskets to open a 7-10 point lead. But with 7:45 remaining Nikolos Ivelitsch hit a pair of free throws that tied the game at 51-51. Then on our next possession Ivelitsch knocked down a 3 to give us a 54-51 lead. Our defense held and with 6 minutes to go Estell Luton got inside and scored to put us ahead by 5. But with their fans urging them on, the Rams came back to tie the game with 2-1/2 minutes left and then hit a 3 with 1-1/2 minutes on the clock. Danny Preston popped in a 3 to tie the game. We gained control with 29 seconds to play. Coach Aura appeared to want the team to play for last shot, but with 16 seconds to go, the ball came into Dekker Chambers in the paint and he slammed down a dunk. Virginia Commonwealth called a time out and Coach Aura put his best defenders onto the court. The Rams got the ball into the forecourt with 10 seconds remaining, worked the ball inside but couldn’t get a clear shot and whipped it outside beyond the arc with 2 seconds left. Their 3-point attempt was blocked by Calvis Barnes to protect our 64-62 lead and give us a great road victory over a previously undefeated Top 10 team. Excellent defense in the 2nd half dropped the Rams shooting down to 37% (and only 27% from 3 point distance).

PG Danny Preston scored 13 points, SF Trey Small had 10 points and 8 rebounds, SG Nikolos Ivelitsch scored 10, C Dekker Chambers had 9 points and 9 boards, and PF Estell Luton finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds.

On the negative side, Dekker Chambers took a fall that resulted in an injury to his calf which will likely limit him for a week.

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Dec. 23: #1 seed Creighton Blue Jays (5-5) vs #8 seed Cal Poly Mustangs (5-3)
JAG Holiday Invitational Tournament (Round 1)

Bryan King, 1st Assistant Coach

Most everyone expects us to lose our opening game in this tourney, but I’m optimistic. I think Creighton is overrated. They’ve played a pretty tough schedule but haven’t been consistent. Their inside tandem of C Joey Tart (14.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg) and PF Brian Page (13.3 ppg and 7.3 rpg) is likely to be tough to control. We have 5 good interior players though, but Dekker Chamber’s calf injury will limit his playing time. We are starting Calvis Barnes in his place. Our team is still riding a “high” after their win over Virginia Commonwealth and I hope that helps them in this tournament, which is loaded with some very good teams.

Barnes hit his first two shots but his 4 points are all we get in the first 3-1/2 minutes and trail 11-4. After trailing by 9, we finally slow their scoring and after Estell Luton hits a baseline jumper to give us our first lead at 18-17. It takes us 4 minutes to get our next basket, but Creighton only hits one shot in that period of time also. The Blue Jays D caused us headaches but our D was pretty good also. The half ended with Creighton on top 30-28. Calvis Barnes kept us in the game by scoring 12 points.

We edged ahead 3 minutes into the 2nd half, then fell behind by 7, but when Nikolos Ivelitsch began hitting his shots, we caught up and went ahead 42-41 with 13 minutes to go. We continued to go through scoring droughts but our D kept us in the game and with 3:47 on the clock the game was tied 51-51. We fell apart thereafter with a series of turnovers that let Creighton pull out a 61-55 win. A tough loss in a game we had a good chance of winning. But instead we’re out of the tournament.

SG Nikolos Ivelitsch scored 16 points (14 of those in the 2nd half), C Calvis Barnes had 14 points and 7 boards, and Estell Luton scored 10 and pulled down 6 rebounds. Unlike normal our bench was scoreless except for Luton’s 10 points.

[Note: Creighton went on to win the championship of this tournament.]

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

Preconference play concluded and showed just how weak the Big West Conference is. Only 3 of the 11 teams got through with better than .500 records: UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and Cal Poly. And the conference as a whole had a stinky 37-64 record. Not surprisingly the media’s season preview all these sub .500 teams to finish in the Big West standings behind the 3 teams that thus far have better than .500 records.

This week there were very few wins by any of the Big West teams and the only impressive win was Cal Poly’s 64-62 victory over highly ranked Virginia Commonwealth.

Mike Morris of Cal State Northridge picked up his 2nd consecutive Play of the Week award by scoring 21 plus having 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks in the Matadors only game of the week. Cal State Bakersfield’s Will Morris scored his 3rd straight Freshman Player of the Week award…in the Roadrunners sole game this week, he had 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

Going into conference play, individual player leaders are:

PPG: Mike Forrest, Cal St Northridge (16.4 ppg) and Michael Dahle, UC Irvine (16.0 ppg).
RPG: Sean Neely, UC Riverside (10.1 rpg) and Earl Blizzard, Hawaii (8.0 rpg).
APG: Jayson Miller, UC Davis (5.8 apg), Speedy Ray, Long Beach St. (5.7 apg), and Nathan Rivera, UC Santa Barbara (5.7 apg).

Top Team Stats:

PPG: UC Santa Barbara—73.8 ppg, Cal Poly—70.3 ppg, Long Beach St.—69.1 ppg
FG%: UC Santa Barbara—51.6%
3P%: UC Santa Barbara—39.0%
FT%: Cal Poly—77.8%
APG: UC Davis—19.0 apg
RPG: UC Irvine—36.3 rpg
Opp PPG: UC Riverside—57.4 ppg

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Coach Fred Aura

We took on some tough opponents in pre-conference play. We played good sometimes and took our lumps at times as our 5-4 record would indicate. But hopefully it has prepared us for Big West play and going up against good opponents if we make it into a post-season tournament. Our NET Ranking is 21st best.

We averaged 70.3 ppg while giving up 69.4 ppg.

Our scoring (ppg) was spread across most of our roster: Nikolos Ivelitsch—11.7; Trey Small—10.8; Scotty Lee—8.3; Estell Luton—7.3; Calvis Barnes—7.1; Dekker Chambers—6.1; Danny Preston—5.8; Victor Collier—5.7; Edouard La Touche—3.1; Rodney Boykin—1.6; Eddie Erskin—1.4; Damien Harris—1.3; Ed Tenys—1.0

Rebounding leaders (rpg): Dekker Chambers—6.7; Trey Small—5.0; Calvis Barnes—4.7; Victor Collier—4.6; Nikolos Ivelitsch—3.2; Estell Luton—3.1

Assist leaders (asg): Danny Preston—3.0; Trey Small—2.0; Edouard La Touche—1.9; Nikolos Ivelitsch—1.8; Scotty Lee—1.7

Overall our team had low shooting percentages. All our guards shot poorly. The only two players on our team that hit a good percentage of their shots were Trey Small and Estell Luton…well also Damien Harris (but he didn’t get much playing time so didn’t take a lot of shots). We really need to improve on screening, getting clear for shots, and shot selection.

The scheduling for conference play is a bit unusual since it has us playing 3 games this coming week with one night in between each of them.

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Dec. 26: Cal Poly Mustangs (5-4, 0-0) @ Cal State Northridge Matadors (2-7, 0-0)

Mustang News

MUSTANGS GORE MATADORS

The game got off to a blistering start with each team scoring 11 points in the first 2-1/2 minutes. The Matadors took a 7 point lead but were reeled back in by the Mustangs and the score was pretty even throughout the middle 10 minutes of the half. Then Cal Poly ran off 15 unanswered points late in the half and finished the half ahead 45-36.

While the Mustangs had held Cal State Northridge’s high-scoring SG Mike Forrest in check in the first half, his shooting warmed up in the 2nd half. But Cal Poly’s players were also scoring so held onto a lead throughout the half. The game ended with the Mustangs in charge by a final score of 77-66.

Mike Forrest led all scorers with 19 points, but Cal Poly spread their scoring among 10 players. Leading the way was PG Danny Preston with 13 points followed by C Calvis Barnes with 11 points and 8 rebounds, SG Nikolos Ivelitsch and SG/PG Scotty Lee with 10 points apiece, and SF Trey Small who had 9 points and 8 rebounds.

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Dec. 28: UC Irvine Anteaters (6-4, 0-1) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (6-4, 1-0)

Al Miller, father-in-law of Coach Fred Aura

It’s good to see Omari, my grandson, on the bench with his father. I think they will make a good coaching duo. Although the Anteaters lost their opening conference game, they are one of the top teams in the conference so this should be a good game.

It was pretty even-steven for the first 12 or 13 minutes with both teams holding the lead at several times. But then the Mustangs scored 13 unanswered points to go ahead 32-20 with 5 minutes remaining in the half. I think that was due to Fred running players in and out of the game to keep fresh legs on the court while the UCI coach let his players tire. Calvis Barnes looked real strong. UCI was having problems figuring out how to handle him. The refs were taking it out on the Mustangs though and letting the Anteaters get away with murder. When the half ended, Cal Poly was up 44-33. Trey Small had scored 13 and Calvis Barnes 11 for the Mustangs. Cal Poly had held PF Michael Dahle, the Anteaters best scorer to just 2 points.

The tempo picked up in the 2nd half. Both teams were scoring with Dekker Chambers carrying the load for Cal Poly. The Mustangs held onto a solid lead but then got sloppy with the ball and made a bunch of turnovers. UCI closed to within 3 points with 5 minutes to go. Fouls continue to pile up on the Mustangs helping the Anteaters to cut the lead to 71-69 with 3 minutes left and then tie it on their next possession. Danny Preston sunk a 3 making it 74-71. But UCI hit a FG to cut the lead to a single point. Barnes powered his way to the basket for a monstrous dunk but that was followed by yet another basket by the plucky Anteaters. Preston connected on a nice jumper making it 78-75 with 34 seconds on the clock. Another foul put UCI on the line again with 16 seconds left, but they missed both shots. Instead of fouling the Anteaters tried to steal and Preston put a dagger in their back by hitting a 3. Cal Poly escaped with a hard-fought 81-75 win.

Top scorers for Cal Poly were: PF Calvis Barnes-17 (plus 4 assists); SF Trey Small-15 (plus 4 rebounds); C Dekker Chambers-14 (plus 14 rebounds and 3 assists); SF Danny Preston-13 (plus 4 assists); and SG Nikolos Ivelitsch-8 (plus 3 rebounds and 4 assists).

Fred told me after the game that he almost replaced Preston since he hadn’t shot well the entire game. But he wasn’t surprised that Preston won the game for them at the end by scoring 8 points in the final 2 minutes. Although he’s not been shooting or scoring well this season thus far, he has the ability to carry the team when needed.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 30: Cal State Fullerton Titans (3-8, 1-1) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (7-4, 2-0)

Carlos and Maria Martinez, local residents (random comments)

Maria: There’s not many fans here tonight. But it’s the middle of the holiday season so a lot of people are travelling or otherwise busy and the Cal Poly students are on vacation.
Carlos: Barnes is starting again. He’s been playing well lately so he’s earned it.
Carlos: The Titans top scorer tore his Achilles and is out for the season. The Mustangs should have a big win tonight. I sure hope they don’t get overconfident and blow this game.
Maria: 5 minutes and each team has only been able to hit one FG. Sheez! Fortunate the refs are putting guys on the foul line so at least there’s SOME scoring.
Carlos: I think Coach Aura is ticked off…he’s running in subs to see if anyone can make a basket. This is looking like it’s really going to be an ugly game…the Mustangs are playing DOWN to the competition.
Maria: Finally the Mustangs are hitting some shots. I thought we were going to have to ask for our money back. But those baskets plus all the free throws have us up 26-14.
Carlos: Hey! Now both teams are lighting up the boards with points.
Maria: That late scoring surge by both teams made the halftime score at least look decent. Cal Poly’s on top 44-29.
Carlos: Yeah, Danny Preston and Estell Luton both hit 4 of 5 shots from the field and have scored 9 points apiece.
Maria: Do you think the way Preston shot at the end of the last game gave him confidence and he’s now begun to hit his shots?
Carlos: The 2nd half is about to start. The Titans are a pretty weak team. I’d like to see our guys work the ball in down low and get some easy buckets this half. Chambers and Collins didn’t make a single FG in the first half, but Luton and Barnes did pretty well. It looks like Coach Aura agrees since both those guys are on the floor to start the half. Scotty Lee is starting in place of Ivelitsch as well. I guess Aura is giving recognition to the guys who seemed to know how to get the ball in the hoop.
Maria: Yahoo, the Mustangs are rolling now…up 54-33 and not even 3 minutes have been played in the 2nd half.
Carlos: Looks like being benched for the first 6 minutes of the half affected Chambers positively…three quick buckets when he finally got onto the court.
Maria: Yes, same for Ivelitsch. He gets to come in and immediately sinks a 3.
Maria: Maybe not the best played ball game, but still a nice win for Cal Poly…82-60.
Carlos: Right…11 of the 12 Mustangs who played scored and 5 in double figures: Calvis Barnes—13 points, 5 boards, and 3 assists; Danny Preston—12 points and 4 assists; Nikolos Ivelitsch—12 points and 5 rebounds; Estell Luton—12 points and 6 rebounds; Scotty Lee—10 points…and after scoring no points in the first half, Dekker Chambers finished with 8 points, 4 boards, and 2 blocks. A 37-26 advantage on the boards also.