Cal Poly Men’s Basketball announced its finalized 2025-26 schedule on Wednesday, adding 12 non-conference games featuring last year’s conference champions and NCAA tournament teams.

Last year, the Mustangs exceeded expectations in head coach Mike DeGeorge’s first season, including making program history by upsetting Stanford for their first win over an ACC opponent ever and first win over a power conference opponent since 2012.

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They snapped their 46-game conference losing streak and went on a late surge to the Big West tournament, reaching their first Big West Championship semifinal since 2014. This came despite a slow start to conference play where they started 0-8 before finding their rhythm with a largely new roster.

With momentum from last year’s turnaround, Cal Poly is set to begin a new season against a tough non-conference slate.

The season opens on Nov. 3 at USC. After that, the Mustangs will return home to face Division III Pacific Lutheran on Nov. 5 before heading on the road for a six-game stretch over the rest of the month. That run includes matchups with last year’s Mountain West Tournament champion Colorado State, which secured a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Big Sky champion Montana, which earned a No. 14 seed.

Other notable opponents include Power Four conference teams UCLA and Utah.

Seven returners and eight newcomers will make up this year’s new-look squad. Sophomore Peter Bandelj entered the transfer portal during the offseason but withdrew and will return as Cal Poly’s top scorer. He started 15 games last season, averaging 10.4 points with 20 double-digit efforts. Also back is sophomore Cayden Ward, who played 23 games with an average 7.4 points last year.

The Cal Poly Men’s Basketball program officially started practice for the 2025-26 season on Sept. 22, giving the roster mostly composed of new recruits over a month to prepare. The first opportunity for fans to see the team in action is during an exhibition game on Friday, Oct. 24 against Division II Cal State East Bay.

Cal Poly will play its first two conference games on Dec. 4 and 6, a continuing scheduling strategy by the Big West intended to add early-season intrigue before the holiday season.

The Mustangs will then wrap up non‑conference play with a trip to UCLA on Dec. 19 and a visit from Idaho on Dec. 21. 

A season removed from breaking a historic losing streak, and with DeGeorge now in his second year, Cal Poly Men’s Basketball will begin their 2025-26 run with higher expectations than anytime in recent memory.