---

Cal Poly will travel to Stockton to play Pacific on Saturday, Feb. 6. The Mustangs are coming off a 83-63 loss to the UC Davis Aggies on Thursday and will look to rebound against the conference leading Tigers. Pacific lost 61-48 to UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, but still retain a half game lead over the Gauchos with a 7-2 conference mark. The Mustangs are 5-4 and involved in a three-way tie for third in conference with a 5-4 record and are tied with Cal state Fullerton and UC Davis. Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge are a game back at 4-5. Game time with Pacific is set for 7 pm. All Cal Poly men’s basketball games are carried live on ESPN 1280 including the pregame-show, beginning 20 minutes prior to tip. Tom Barket will call the play by play. Games can also be heard on the internet at www.espnradio1280.com. Home and all conference games can be viewed on www.bigwest.org/tv.

What’s coming up: Following the trip North, Cal Poly will return home to host Long Beach State on Thursday, Feb. 11. Cal Poly will then hit the road for a game at UC Riverside on Saturday, Feb. 13. The will host CS Fullerton on Saturday. LBSU is currently 4-5 in conference play, a game behind the Mustangs while UCR is 2-8, in ninth place.

2010 ESPN BracketBuster: Cal Poly will be traveling to Hawai’i for the 2010 ESPN BracketBuster game on Feb. 20. Game time has yet to be determined. Hawai’i enters the week with a 9-13 overall record and are 2-7 in Western Athletic Conference games. Hawai’i will host Fresno State (Feb. 6) and travel to Louisiana Tech (Feb. 13) and New Mexico State (Feb. 15) before hosting Cal Poly. The Mustangs and Hawai’i have played two common opponents this year. Hawai’i played at UC Irvine on Dec. 2 and lost 80-70. The second game was a match up in the Diamond Head Classic when they hosted Saint Mary’s College. SMC won the game 84-75. The Mustangs lost to SMC 92-67 on Nov. 23. Cal Poly defeated UC Irvine 95-81 on Jan. 4.

TV Games: The Mustangs will have a pair of games televised on FSN Prime Ticket this season. The Mustangs’ game at Cal State Northridge on Feb. 17 will tip at 7:30 pm while a second game, this one in Mott Gym, is scheduled for Feb. 24 against Cal State Fullerton, also at 7:30 pm.

A Quick Look at the Teams:
                                               CP      PAC
Record:                                8-13      14-7
BWC                                      5-4       7-2
Points PPG                          68.2      64.7
Rebounds PG                      34.9      34.0
Shooting %                          42.6      43.9
3-Point %                             33.7      34.4
FT %                                   70.4       64.9
Steals PG                              5.5        5.4
Assists                                  11.0      12.6
Blocks PG                              2.3        2.8
Turnovers                            14.6       11.0

Pacific : The Tigers enter the game with a 7-2 conference record (14-7 overall) after falling 61-48 to UCSB on Thursday. In the game Allen Huddleston came of bench to lead the team in scoring with 10 points and was the lone player in double figures. Pacific shot 29.4 percent from the floor and hit just six of 27 from long range. UCSB handed the Tigers their first loss in conference this year. Pacific picked up two wins this past week defeating UC Irvine 61-50 and UC Riverside 72-57. Sam Willard is the lone Tiger scoring in double figures with 10.0 points per game. Terrell Smith adds 9.7 while Demetrece Young chips in with 8.8. Willard is also the team’s top rebounder with 7.9 boards per game. Head coach Bob Thomason is in his 22nd year at the helm of the Tigers

Projected Pacific Starters:
No. Pos. Name                                PPG      RPG
1      f     Michael Nunnally               8.6        4.5
34    f     Sam Willard                     10.0        7.9
42    f     Joe Ford                            7.4         5.6
00   g     Demetrece Young             8.8         1.4
15   g    Terrell Smith                      9.7         3.9

Some History with the Tigers : Pacific holds a 30-10 advantage in the all-time series including a 73-63 win over the Mustangs on Jan. 5. Cal Poly has won three of the last six with two of the wins coming in Stockton. Last year Cal Poly picked up a 76-60 win at Pacific but lost 66-58 in Mott Gym.

Callero Begins First Season At Cal Poly: Joe Callero became the fourth head coach at Cal Poly since the school made the transition to Division I in 1994. He enters his inaugural season in San Luis Obispo attempting to rebuild a program which finished last in the Big West in 2008-09 and did not qualify for the conference tournament. Callero comes to Cal Poly from Seattle University, where he oversaw the beginning of the Redhawks’ transition period to the Division I level. He led the Redhawks to a 21-8 record in 2008-09. In eight seasons at Seattle, Callero compiled a 117-105 record.

Keeler Clicks: Lorenzo Keeler connected in the game with UC Davis, scoring 30 of the team’s 63 points. For Keeler it was his second game of the season scoring 30 or more points and his eighth game scoring 20 or more.. For the season Keeler is averaging 15.5 points per game.

The Keeler Count: Senior Lorenzo Keeler is on track to pass 1,000 points in his career at Cal Poly... Keeler currently has scored 982 points in his Cal Poly career. Keeler came to the Mustangs as a sophomore transfer from Mt. San Jacinto College. Keeler entered the year with 656 points and has scored 326 this year.

The Sixth Man... : Sophomore David Hanson has become the spark off the bench averaging 9.0 points and 4.4 rebounds a game, except Hanson started his third game of the season on Thursday at UC Davis and responded with nine points and five rebounds.. He averages 23.4 minutes a game and hits 44 percent of his shots from the floor.. Hanson has scored in double figures in eight games and six of the last nine. He has come off the bench in 18 of the 21 games.

Double-Doubles: Cal Poly had two players chalk up doulbe-doubles in the loss to Cal State Bakersfield this past Saturday... Will Taylor tied his career-highs in both points and rebounds with 12 and 12... David Hanson scored 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.. For Taylor it was his second career doulbe-double at Cal Poly.. he recorded his first against the same team (CSUB) on Dec. 31.... For Hanson it was his first ...

Since Conference play began... : Senior Lorenzo Keeler leads the BWC in scoring in conference games with 19.1 points per game, sophomore David Hanson is 12th with 12.8... Field goal percentage: Hanson is 10th, hitting 47.6 percent. Shawn Lewis is 6th in assists with 3.3 and leads the conference in three-point percentage with 60 percent...

What’s in a Half: Senior Lorenzo Keeler was 0-for-two from the floor and one of two from the line in the first half against UC Santa Barbara. In the second half he came alive and finished with 20 points, hitting five of 10 from the floor and seven of 10 from the line... In the second half he hit five of eight from the floor and three of five long range.... In that same game UCSB’s James Nunnally scored 17 points in the first half and only three in the second half...

Where Have you Been.....: Sophomore walk-on Jordan Lewis is sixth on the team in scoring with 6.7 points and adds 3.0 rebounds... he has started every game with the exception of the opener against USF and the Long Beach State game. In the LBSU game, Lewis came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points and grab a career-high nine rebounds... . Lewis is averaging 24.3 minutes a game.... Where was he last year.,.,, he saw action in seven games, averaging 4.6 min and averaged 0.7 points.....

Missing in Action: Sophomore Will Donahue missed the Cal State Bakersfield game and the first three Big West games and remains waiting clearance to play due to academic issues...

What Cal Poly is Missing.... without Donahue:

What Donahue Does Best... : Sophomore transfer Will Donahue makes it look simple... the 6-8 post player recorded his fifth double-double of the season when he scored a season-high 19 points and recorded a season-high 13 rebound in the game with Montana State. Donahue has also tallied double-doulbles against South Dakota State (13 pts. 10 reb.), Seattle (13 pts. 11 reb.), UALR (13 pts. 10 reb.) and Stanford (10 pts. 12 reb.).

And Eight in Double Figures: Not only does he do it at both ends of the court ... He also puts up the points... Donahue has scored in double figures in eight of the 10 games this season with his season-high coming against Montana State with 19 points. He added 17 against Pepperdine, three games of 13 (South Dakota State, Seattle and UALR).. His first double figure game of 10 points came against Stanford in the second game of the season.

What a Darling....: Senior Ryan Darling had a dream come true against UC Davis... the walk-on and former team manager who earned a spot as a junior on the roster.... Recorded a double-double in the game with the Aggies... Darling scored 10 points in 23 minutes of play when he made five of seven shots from the floor... He made it a double-double when he corralled 12 rebounds... For the season Darling is averaging 1.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 11.9 minute of play... In BWC games he checks in with 2.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16.3 minutes.

16 and 19: Those are the numbers Cal Poly had to overcome to pick up two wins this season... The Mustangs came from 16 back against Seattle and 19 back against Pepperdine...

Line up...: 20 games into the season, head coach Joe Callero has used seven different line-ups... with Kyle Odister earning the start at point guard with 16 starts, Jordan Lewis has been called 19 times, Lorenzo Keeler 21, Shawn Lewis 19 and Will Donahue 10. Others earning starts include Justin Brown (4), David Hanson (3), Will Taylor (12) and Ryan Darling (1) ...

Rebounding: The Mustangs have outrebounded opponents 733-679....34.9 to 32.3... due in large part to Will Donahue who averages 8.8 rebounds per game.... but the Mustangs have five players averaging better then three per game... two coming off the bench...

Good to be back Home...: Home is where I want to be... After opening the season with five-straight road games the Mustangs returned to Mott Gym and picked up their first win of the season 85-74 over Seattle and defeated Pepperdine 83-77. This season Cal Poly is 5-3 at home. Over the years Cal Poly has enjoyed a home court advantage... winning 445 games while losing only 212 since Mott was built in 1960....

Keeler Named BWC Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 10 : A scoring explosion and an accurate touch netted Cal Poly’s Lorenzo Keeler Big West Men’s Basketball Player of the Week honors for the week ending Jan. 10. Keeler shot 60.0% (24 of 40) from the field, 45.5% (10 of 22) from three-point range and 90.9% (20 of 22) at the charity stripe as the Mustangs went 2-1 for the week, sandwiching wins against UC Irvine and UC Davis around a loss to Pacific. The 6-2 guard pumped in a career-high 38 points in a 95-81 road win in Cal Poly’s Big West opener versus UCI on Monday. He made a career-high 12 field goals in 18 attempts, including six three-pointers, to help the Mustangs to a season-high in points. He added four rebounds and three assists. Keeler posted a team-high 18 points in a 73-63 loss at home to Pacific on Friday. After successfully converting all eight of his free throw attempts in the UCI game, he knocked down all six of his foul shots versus the Tigers as well. Keeler finished up the week with a team-high 22-point performance in a 72-69 win over the Aggies on Sunday. It was his fifth 20-point effort of the season. His streak of 27 consecutive made free throws ended when he missed his first attempt late in the second half versus UCD. Keeler, who made 7 of 12 shots in the game, helped the Mustangs record their first home conference win since Feb. 28, 2008. This is Keeler’s second career Big West Player of the Week honor.

Basketball Signs Two: Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero announced that Jamal Johnson and Maliik Love have signed national letters of intent to enroll and participate in the sport of men’s basketball at Cal Poly.

Johnson, a 6-0 point guard from Madison High School in San Antonio, TX, has led his team to 132-19 record over the last four years. Two years ago Madison was ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation by ESPN and advanced to the Texas 5-A final four and finished with a 34-2 record. Johnson has been ranked by ESPN as the No. 62 point guard in the nation and averaged 10 points, 5.2 assists, four rebounds as a junior. Described by his high school coach, John Valenzuela, as one of the most unselfish players, he shot 42 percent from long range. As a sophomore Johnson was tabbed as a Blue Chip recruit when he was named tournament MVP of the prestigious 64 team McDonald’s Invitational held in Pasadena, TX. The 170-pound guard played AAU with S.A. Rohawks and averaged 17 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists per game. He is the seventh player from Madison HS to play Division I basketball in the past four years.

Love comes to Cal Poly from The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, CA. The 6-4 combo guard was named player of the year for the Coastal South League when the team posted a 25-5 record and won the CIF-San Diego Section Division IV title. . Love averaged 20.8 points per game to go along with 9.9 rebounds. The all-around player added 3.7 assists and 3.1 steals per game. As a sophomore the 195 pound guard averaged 16.2 points and 2.8 rebounds a game for a team that went 21-9 for head coach Tom Tarantino. The 200-pound guard has been tabbed as one of three players to watch as possible county player of the year.

Last Time out (Mustangs vs. UC Davis, 2/4/10) DAVIS, Calif. – Senior Lorenzo Keeler scored 30 points, but it would not be enough as the Cal Poly men’s basketball team lost 83-63 in a Big West Conference game on the road at UC Davis on Thursday. Keeler made seven of 14 shots from the floor while the Mustangs fell to 8-13 overall and 5-4 in conference play. Dominic Calegari led four UC Davis players scoring in double figures with a team-high 20 points as the Aggies improved to 9-13 and into a tie with the Mustangs with a 5-4 conference record. Keeler’s points came when he converted five of eight from long range and was 11-for-11 from the line. David Hanson, making his third start of the season, added nine points when he made three of seven from the floor. Jordan Lewis chipped in with seven. The other players joining Calegari in double figure scoring for the Aggies were Joe Harden with 19 points, Todd Lowenthal with 11 and Mark Payne with 10. Calegari’s points came when he converted eight of 10 from the floor including two of four long range. UC Davis hit 50 percent of its shots from the floor and made five of 16 from long range while Cal Poly shot 37 percent from the floor and made seven of 20 from down town. Cal Poly outrebounded the Aggies 33-30 with Will Taylor grabbing a team-high eight and Hanson adding five. The Mustangs turned the ball over 19 times while UCD committed only eight. UC Davis opened the game and jumped to a 7-0 lead when Calegari hit a three pointer at 17:35. The Mustangs got on the board when Shawn Lewis converted on a layup at 16:34. Cal Poly cut the lead to two (9-7) when Shawn Lewis made a three at 14:34, but UCD would respond with an 8-2 run caped on a pair of free throws by Julian Welch. UCD expanded the lead to 11 (26-15) with 5:33 left in the half when Harden made a jumper. The Aggies would maintain the 11 point lead going into the break with the score at 35-24. A minute and a half into the second half (18:30) UCD’s Ryan Sypkens hit a three pointer to extend the Aggie lead to 42-24. After a Cal Poly timeout, Keeler would respond with the Mustangs first bucket of the second half with 18:09 left in the game. He would add a three at 16:44 left in the game, cutting the lead to 44-30. Keeler cut the lead to 13 (46-33) when he connected on a three with 14:03 left in the game and backed it up with another three, his 21st point of the game, with 13:24 left in the game, cutting the lead to 10 (46-36) and forcing a UCD timeout. UCD responded with a quick 5-0 run to open a 15 point lead when Malik split the zone and made a layup from the right side (11:58). The Aggies continued the run and made it a 20-7 run (66-40) when Payne had a slam dunk and forcing a Cal Poly timeout with 7:20 left in the game. The run was snapped at 22-7 when Keeler converted a pair of free throws with 6:39 left in the game. Jordan Lewis converted a traditional three point play with 4:39 left in the game to cut the Aggie lead to 21 (72-51). He then cut the lead to 19 (72-53) on a pair of free throws with 3:50 left in the game. Jordan Lewis converted a layup off a Keeler pass, cutting the lead to 15 (72-57) with 3:05 remaining in the game. But the Mustangs would get no closer in the remainder of the game.

Last Time Against the Tigers: (Jan. 8, 2010) , – SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Junior guard Demetrece Young scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half to ignite Pacific to a 73-63 victory over Cal Poly in a Big West Conference men’s basketball game Friday night before 2,471 in Mott Gym. Mustang junior guard Shawn Lewis hit a three-pointer 24 seconds into the second half for a 40-35 Cal Poly lead, but Pacific went on a 15-2 run to turn the game around. The Mustangs closed the gap to one point on two occasions, the last at 55-54 with 6:49 remaining on another three-pointer by Lewis, but the Tigers went on another run, outscoring Cal Poly 12-2 over the next three-and-a-half minutes to pull away for good. Junior forward Sam Willard capped the game-deciding run with a layup with 3:19 to play. With the win, Pacific improved to 2-0 in Big West play and 9-5 overall. Cal Poly, playing its home conference opener following a 95-81 win at UC Irvine last Monday night, fell to 1-1 and 4-9. Junior guard Terrell Smith scored 15 points for Pacific while senior forward Joe Ford and Willard each tallied 10 points. Cal Poly was led by senior guard Lorenzo Keeler with 18 points and Lewis with 17 along with five assists. Sophomore forward David Hanson came off the bench to contribute a career-high 15 points. Pacific made 46.8 percent of its floor shots, including 10 of 18 from beyond the arc, while Cal Poly connected on 42.3 percent, eight of 21 from three-point range. Pacific outrebounded Cal Poly 34-28, led by Ford with 11 and Willard with eight. Hanson’s six boards led the Mustangs. Each team had just three turnovers in the first half and Pacific finished with 10 for the game, two more than Cal Poly. Pacific scored the first five points of the game and led for much of the first half until Lewis hit the first of his four three-pointers. tying the game at 30-30 with 3:21 to play. Hanson’s trey with 31 seconds left in the opening half gave Cal Poly a 37-35 advantage at the break. Each team made 22 field goals in the game, but Pacific made 19 of 27 free throws while Cal Poly connected on 11 of 16 charity shots.