Cal Poly basketball preview: Mustangs return with high hopes and new weapons

Ali Koroma has improved every season at Cal Poly.

Whether it was his back-to-the-basket game or recognizing when he needs to slide over to block a shot, Koroma has seen growth across the board.

Now an All-Big West-level player, the 6-foot-8 center hailing from Freetown, Sierra Leone, is heading into his last season as a Mustang with one thing on his mind:

Winning.

“I don’t have any personal goals. I am trying to just lead my team to more wins,” Koroma said.

The Cal Poly basketball team has amassed an 18-64 record in Koroma’s three years at the university. Since the 2019-20 campaign, the Mustangs haven’t won more than seven games in a season.

One of the problems was how young the team was, which was illustrated by a lack of on-court maturity and steadiness. The team turned the ball over at one of the highest rates in the conference. On multiple occasions, the Mustangs gave up leads in the second half and lost the game.

But through the additions this offseason via transfer, the program is no longer one of the youngest in the Big West.

With nine upperclassmen and multiple returners, the Mustangs are now one of the older teams in the conference and have a wealth of Division 1 experience.

“I think this team is very special. I think we’re very talented. The guys we’ve had the past couple of years, they have matured a lot. Going into their junior or sophomore years, they’ve played a lot of games, so we’ve learned a lot of things,” Koroma said.

Cal Poly basketball team adds new weapons

While the team struggled throughout last season, there were inklings of a framework of how the team wanted to play.

The Mustangs were a stout defensive team that could get out and run in transition. If the team played in the halfcourt, they went through Koroma.

Koroma increased his field goal percentage from 47.2% his sophomore to 50% his junior year on 70 more shots. Last season he was a dominant force on the block and forced defenses to send double teams and load up on his post-ups with extra defenders.

The counter to the extra defensive attention was for Koroma to spray the ball out to teammates. The issue there, however, was that the team shot 29% on three-pointers last season and 40.9% overall from the field.

Passing was also an issue for Koroma, who turned the ball over 69 times with 15 assists across the whole year. Becoming a better passer has been a focus all summer for him.

“We’ve worked on that the whole summer, just the retreat dribble, chinning the ball looking at the details, reading the defense. We’ve worked on that a lot, and I think it’s definitely gonna pay off,” Koroma said.

At the same time, not only does Koroma need to improve as a playmaker, the team needs to improve its shooting.

The program brought in graduate transfers Chance Hunter and Nick Fleming to boost the team’s outside shot-making. Hunter is a career 37% three-point shooter. Fleming has a clean jump shot off the dribble and off the catch.

Sophomore Issac Spears is another dynamic shot creator who can hit threes and shoot on the move.

Internally, the team has worked on its shooting.

In the team’s exhibition game against Cal State Los Angeles and season opener against Bethesda University, Trevon Taylor, Brantley Stevenson and Kobe Sanders have all shown improved shooting. Stevenson scored 16 points against Bethesda on three of six shooting from three in the Mustangs’ 94-59 win on Monday. Sanders and Taylor’s releases appear more consistent and tight, and they’re more willing to take shots when given to them.

Another huge addition to the team is center Bryan Penn-Johnson. Standing over 7 feet tall, Penn-Johnson is an imposing interior presence on both ends. His length bothers opponents shooting around the basket and when he closes out on the perimeter to a shooter.

On the offensive end, he’s a threat to catch lobs and finish above the rim on a dump-off pass. The key for Penn-Johnson will be maintaining his motor and activity whenever he gets minutes.

With Penn-Johnson and Koroma getting the majority of minutes at the center spot, the team has 40 minutes of solid center play.

“We can match (Penn-Johnson and Koroma) with different teams in the conference. Irvine and Riverside are really big. San Diego is smaller, so you can match up in different ways, or force them to try and match up with our size. I like our versatility at that spot,” Coach John Smith said.

Coach has high hopes for more experienced Mustang team

With the center rotation solidified and an improved roster through external and internal means, the Mustangs finally have the tools and experience to take the next step forward.

“We’re now one of the older teams in the conference and Ali has spearheaded that,” Smith said.

“His maturity has shown throughout the preseason, and he does things off the floor with the guys that helps us stay bonded and cohesive. That maturity is just showing right now, and hopefully it’ll show at the end of the year.”

When Koroma is on the floor, the team has the difficult part of offense down: having the initial creator to draw extra defensive attention to open up opportunities for teammates. Now it’s about capitalizing on those chances manufactured by Koroma with shooting and attacking scrambling defenses.

In his last season at Cal Poly, Koroma has the chance to put it all together.

“I think scoring and rebounding and all those stats are important, but if it doesn’t translate to winning, it’s nothing,” he said.

“So just trying to take the next step is to lead my team to win a lot more games, get us more confident, just put us in winning situations, do whatever it takes. Whether it’s passing the ball, rebounding and blocking shots, just leading my team to wins. I think that’s the next step for me.”

How to watch the Mustangs

The Mustangs are slated to play 32 games highlighted by matchups against a No. 10 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the University of San Francisco, Stanford, Pepperdine, and the University of Washington.

The Stanford and Washington games will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Cal Poly’s Blue-Green Rivalry game against UCSB will be featured on Spectrum SportsNet. The rest of the team’s matchups will be featured on ESPN+.

For the team’s first Division 1 game, Koroma and the Mustangs were set to travel to the University of San Francisco to take on the Dons Thursday at 7 p.m. Tickets for home games can be purchased via GoPoly.com.

This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 10:46 AM.