Cal Poly basketball teams ready to tip off season amid COVID restrictions. Here’s a preview
Cal Poly men’s and women’s basketball teams start their COVID-impacted seasons this week, with each hoping to improve on last year’s results in the Big West Conference.
The teams will start the season without fans due to COVID-19 precautions, with possible future crowds dependent on health guidelines provided by the Big West Conference, Cal Poly officials and San Luis Obispo County Public Health.
The Cal Poly men will start the season at home Friday at 4 p.m. against Bethesda College of Anaheim, a member of the Pacific Christian Athletic Conference.
The radio broadcast will air on ESPN Radio 1280, and live stats, audio and video streams will be be available. Go to Cal Poly’s schedule website page at gopoly.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule for ways to follow the action throughout the season.
The women begin their season Wednesday at No. 2 Stanford, with tipoff at 11 a.m.
To follow the women’s action, go to gopoly.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule/2020-21.
This season, the men’s and women’s teams will play more games against Big West opponents (expanded to 20 from 16), and back-to-back contests will be played at the same site to minimize travel and encourage safety amid the ongoing pandemic.
The men’s team kicks off conference play at Hawaii in games on Dec. 27-28 and returns home to Mott Athletics Center against Big West newcomer UC San Diego on Jan. 1-2.
The women’s team plays at home against Hawaii in games on Dec. 27-28 and faces UC San Diego on the road on Jan. 1-2.
Each Big West program will play its conference schedule over an 11-week period with one bye week, according to university officials.
Games won’t be rescheduled should the need for quarantine during the season occur; tie-breaking procedures will be applied at the end of the regular season, according to Cal Poly officials.
Cal Poly men’s basketball
The Cal Poly men’s team will look to improve on a 7-23 record (4-12 in conference) in 2019-20, guided by second-year Head Coach John Smith, who said his goal is to help his players steadily improve.
“We’re going to work to do the right things to get better every day,” Smith told The Tribune of this year’s expectations. “We’re going to play team basketball, move the ball and play hard each and every game.”
The Mustangs, who finished in last place in the conference last year, lost their leading scorer, Junior Ballard, who posted 13.1 points per game as a sophomore. Ballard, who transferred to Fresno State, tied for a team high 3.7 rebounds per game last season.
Smith said he expects 6-5 senior Mark Crowe (3.7 points per game in 2019-20) and 6-10 junior Tuuka Jaakola (7 points per game last year) to be among his key returners, citing their shooting abilities, along with the play of 6-5 sophomore Colby Rogers.
In addition, Smith has tapped into his Los Angeles area recruiting pipeline, bringing in a crop of freshmen from the Southland, including 5-10 point guard Camren Pierce of Rancho Cucamonga High School High, whom he expects to see playing time.
Six-foot-six Mission Prep graduate Kyle Colvin embarks on his sophomore campaign after appearing in 26 of 30 games with 10 starts. Colvin finished second in the lineup with an 81.1 percent free throw mark and fifth with 6.8 points per game.
Keith Smith of Danville, the Cal Poly head coach’s nephew, averaged 4.4 points per game and enters his senior season.
“We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together when (Keith) was growing up because we were in different areas,” John Smith said. “It has been a great experience to see him develop as a player and a person.”
Coach Smith said he doesn’t yet have an official starting lineup, which he’ll determine this week. The second-year head coach embraces a philosophy to either shoot under seven seconds, or work the shot clock and defense and wait to shoot until after 17 seconds.
“I believe in taking good shots anywhere on the floor,” Smith said. “If the mid-range shot is there, take it.”
The head coach came to Cal Poly after serving as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton, where he was part of the Titans’ 2018 Big West Conference Tournament-championship squad and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Smith said one of his players was quarantined after testing positive for COVID-19, but has since returned to the team after isolation. Players wear masks in practice.
Cal Poly’s women’s basketball
Faith Mimnaugh begins her 24th season at the Mustang women’s coach, the longest serving of any Big West Conference program.
Mimnaugh acknowledges that facing Stanford on the road will be a daunting task — especially with six Mustangs players in quarantine. Two have tested positive, and four are quarantining due to exposure to other students who have tested positive.
“They’re probably the highest ranked opponent that we’ve ever faced,” Mimnaugh said. “They’re a well-oiled machine. They have incredible talent, and it’s exciting for our players and coaches to go against team of that quality.”
Mimnaugh said it’s a good challenge, even though the betting odds are in favor of the Cardinal, to gauge the level of skill and talent of a national championship contender.
The Mustangs are coming off a 11-18 overall season and a 6-10 Big West Conference record last year.
Cal Poly returns 6-3 forward Sierra Campisano, who has a “legitimate chance of being Conference Player of the Year,” Mimnaugh said. Campisano, a senior, averaged 17.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last year.
Abbey Ellis, a 5-6 point guard from Australia, is coming off a freshman campaign where she averaged 15.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals a game.
In a recent team scrimmage, Mimnaugh said, Ellis sank at least 80% of her attempts from the floor, free throw line and three-point mark each.
“Abbey has been really playing at an extremely high level,” Mimnaugh said.
The longtime Mustangs coach said the squad was playing its best to end last season and lost a handful of games by 5 points or less. She said this year’s squad is further along on its offensive prowess than on the defensive end, which will need continued improvement.
“We return five seniors, and having that experience will definitely help facing those situations,” Mimnaugh season. “I expect to compete for a Big West title this year. I felt like we were one of the scariest teams in the tournament last year (before the pandemic interrupted the action and canceled the season).”
The Mustangs beat Long Beach State 59-48 and then UC Irvine 70-49, earning a semifinal berth in the Big West Conference tournament against UC Davis, before the season was called off.
This season, the team has been practicing with masks as well, only taking them off for full-court runs that require heavy cardio.
Mimnaugh said that the rewards of coaching have included “watching the growth of the people” whom she coaches.
“It’s truly enjoyable to watch them grow into outstanding, incredible human beings,” Mimnaugh said. “Our team GPA was 3.3, and I get to watch them grow in all facets of their lives. I’m just a small part of their development as they stretch themselves to achieve all they do in life.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 9:13 AM with the headline "Cal Poly basketball teams ready to tip off season amid COVID restrictions. Here’s a preview."
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