San Luis Obispo, Calif., is a scenic coastal town with a mostly mellow vibe where big city folk sometimes go to relax.
But that’s not the setting the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball expects when it visits the Mott Athletics Center at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for Thursday’s crucial Big West Conference game.
Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. Hawai’i time, and the game will be available via livestream on ESPN+ and broadcast on radio via ESPN 1420AM.
The Warriors are 13-9 overall and 5-6 in league play coming off its most convincing victory of the season, an 82-57 home rout of Cal State Fullerton last Saturday. The Mustangs are 8-15, 2-9 after an 80-62 road loss at UC Riverside the same night.
UH defeated Cal Poly, 68-55, at home on Jan. 4, but the Mustangs have since snapped a long conference losing streak and won two straight games — over Long Beach State, 78-69, and at Cal State Bakersfield, 90-81 — before losing at Riverside.
“It’s always been one of the tougher trips for everybody, but you live for the challenge,” Warriors coach Eran Ganot said. “Cal Poly is playing well, they’ve won two of the last three. We knew that was coming for them. They weren’t far off early, and they had big wins in nonconference, they beat a good Stanford team at their place. And they had close losses, UC Irvine is 20-3, and that was an overtime game. And Santa Barbara is a good team, and they had a buzzer beater to win that game.”
The Mustangs try to run a fast-paced offense with some shots going up just 10 or even seven seconds into the possession.
“They still have those ingredients of a team that presents different challenges,” Ganot said. “I think they were first in the country in (offensive) pace last time we played them, and they’re still in the Top 5, I think third right now. I think recently even more they spread teams out to another level. At times they are playing big at the ‘5’ or at times playing smaller at the ‘5,’ and that has presented challenges for everybody.
“You see their scoring has come back up a little bit. I think we did a good job on them, but it’s a humbling experience. We knew we had to, and we know we’re going to have to again, because they can get hot. And when they spread you out, people always think about the 3’s, and I think they are sixth in the country in overall attempts. That also leads to long rebounds.”
Big West Conference Standings
UC Irvine 10-1
UC San Diego 8-2
UC Riverside 8-3
Cal State Northridge 7-4
UC Davis 6-5
UC Santa Barbara 6-5
HAWAI’I 5-6
Cal State Bakersfield 4-7
Long Beach State 3-8
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 2-9
Cal State Fullerton 1-10