After falling to San Jose State in overtime on Saturday, Cal Poly Men’s Basketball continues their stretch of non-conference matches as they return home for a game against the Denver Pioneers on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. at Mott Athletics Center.
In the only meeting between the two teams last year, the Pioneers (6-7) defeated Cal Poly 97-76 at home.
The Mustangs (5-7, 0-2 Big West) will look to end a three-game losing skid after falling in their first two conference matches.
Injury Woes
Cal Poly’s upset victory over Stanford on Nov. 30 took all the Mustangs had, as senior guard Isaac Jessup and graduate guard Jarred Hyder suffered injuries that kept them out of the team’s first two conference games.
Both have averaged double digits in points per game, sitting at second and third in scoring, respectively, for the Mustangs.
Without the two, Cal Poly has looked out of sync.
After limiting their turnovers in the previous two games, the Mustangs had 33 against UC Davis and shot 26% from the field in the first half against CSUN without Jessup and Hyder.
Hyder returned against San Jose State on Saturday, scoring 18 points, 15 of which came in the second half, to help Cal Poly overcome a 13-point deficit.
In that game, graduate swingman and the Mustangs’ leading scorer, Owen Koonce, went off for a career-high 32 points. Freshman guard Peter Bandelj also set a new career-high of 16 points.
With the return of Hyder, the continued scoring prowess of Koonce and great performances by players like Bandelj, the Mustangs hope to get back on track.
A look at Denver
The Pioneers started their season 3-6 but have heated up recently, winning three of their last four games.
Led by Nicholas Shogbonyo, Denver won three straight games before falling to Cal State Fullerton on Sunday.
Over that three-game stretch, Shogbonyo had performances of 19 points against Portland State and 24 against Colorado Springs. The guard’s slashing ability creates pressure at the rim, and he can get hot from three if allowed to.
The team also has threats from outside, such as DeAndre Craig and Isaiah Addo-Ankra, who are shooting over 40% from beyond the arc.
To shut down the Pioneers’ offense, the Mustangs must limit Denver’s three-point shooting and prevent Shogbonyo from getting to the basket.
