MOUSA\u2019S MOMENT: A double-digit scorer in all 13 appearances, sophomore guard Hamad Mousa \u2013 who finished with 26 total points in 20 games at Dayton last season \u2013 leads the Big West and ranks 25th among NCAA Division I players at 20.6 points per game. Also 69th nationally with a 40.7 (35-for-86) percent three-point mark and eighth in the Big West with an 85.0 (85-for-100) percent free throw figure, Mousa scored a career high 33 points against Idaho (Dec. 21) after finishing with 31 against UC Riverside (Dec. 6) and 27 in the program\u2019s Big West-opening victory at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4). Since Dec. 4, Mousa is averaging 24.2 points per five matchups. One of just two players from Qatar in Division I this season, Mousa also leads Cal Poly at 5.8 rebounds per game. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
BANDELJ UPS THE SCORING PACE: Cal Poly\u2019s leading returning scorer from last season, sophomore guard Peter Bandelj enters Thursday\u2019s game with UC San Diego second in the lineup and sixth among Big West players at 16.2 points per game following a career high 37-point effort at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4). A double-digit scorer in all but two appearances, Bandelj ranks 28th among NCAA Division I players with a 45.6 (31-for-68) percent three-point mark after sinking a program record nine at Cal State Fullerton. Also sixth among Big West players with an 86.7 (52-for-60) percent free throw mark, Bandelj \u2013 through 48 collegiate appearances \u2013 is averaging 12.0 career points per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WARD\u2019S SUPERIOR SOPHOMORE EFFORT: Cal Poly\u2019s leading shooter and ranked eighth among Big West players with a 49.7 (71-for-151) percent mark, sophomore guard Cayden Ward \u2013 behind 12 double-digit scoring efforts \u2013 enters Thursday\u2019s matchup with UC San Diego third in the lineup and seventh among Big West players at 16.1 points per game. Earning Big West Player of the Week praise following a career high 28-point effort at Utah (Nov. 20), Ward \u2013 who averaged 7.4 points per game as a freshman \u2013 also owns a 25-point night against Montana State (Dec. 16).\u00a0<\/p>\n
UNITED NATIONS: Cal Poly\u2019s 2025-26 roster features players from nine different countries \u2013\u00a0a figure eclipsed by only UT Martin (13). Cal Poly, however, is the only Division I program this year with a roster that canvasses all six habitable continents\/regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CLOSED PORTAL DOORS: Alongside Duke, Tennessee, American and Boston University,\u00a0Cal Poly was just one of just five Division I programs not to lose a player to the transfer portal during the offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SANDERS DEBUT MAKES NBA MUSTANGS TWO: Cal Poly saw a second Mustang alum make his NBA debut on Oct. 22 when guard Kobe Sanders (2020-24) \u2013 drafted 50th overall by the New York Knicks in June before being traded to the Clippers \u2013 appeared for Los Angeles. Cal Poly\u2019s first and only NBA Draft selection since 1978, Sanders joined guard David Nwaba (2013-16) \u2013 who appeared for the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago, Cleveland, Brooklyn and Houston between 2017 and 2022 \u2013 as the only former Mustangs to play in the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ETC.: The Mustangs are in\u00a0their 32nd Division I season and 82nd as a four-year program \u2026\u00a0Cal Poly\u2019s Nov. 3 season opener at USC\u00a0marked the earliest start date in program history \u2026 Cal Poly\u2019s 92-85 victory at Utah (Nov. 20) marked the program\u2019s first and only win against a current Big 12 program since defeating Arizona State on Dec. 2, 1949 \u2026 Cal Poly\u2019s Nov. 25 matchup with Southeast Missouri marked the first all-time matchup between the two programs \u2026 the Mustangs improved to 51-1 against non-Division I opposition with an 87-81 home victory against Division III Redlands on Nov. 29 (Cal Poly transitioned to the Division I level prior to the 1994-95 season) \u2026 Peter Bandelj\u2019s nine three-pointers at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4) set a new program record, surpassing the previous mark of eight by four different Mustangs and last accomplished by graduate guard Jarred Hyder (Dec. 17, 2024).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOUSA\u2019S MOMENT: A double-digit scorer in all 13 appearances, sophomore guard Hamad Mousa \u2013 who finished with 26…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-112876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}