Cal State Bakersfield is reeling and they look for their first Big West win of the season playing host to a Cal Poly team that is coming off a loss.
Cal Poly had won two in a row before losing their last game. They are 1-1 in Big West play and with the loss in their last game fell to .500 (7-7) on the season. While the team has a solid defense the Mustangs only rank 354th in the nation, out of 363 D1 teams, averaging 59.2 ppg.
Cal State Bakersfield has lost six in a row and eight of their last nine games. The only win in that span came facing a non-Division 1 team and they are 0-2 in Big West play and 4-9 overall. The Roadrunners come into this game as a slight 1.5-point home favorite with a total of 117.5.
In their last game Cal Poly was in the islands in a 57-48 loss to Hawaii where they were outscored from the free throw line 24-7. They played good D holding the Rainbow Warriors to 37.2% shooting and 9.1% (1-11) 3-pt shooting but they only shot 40.8% from the floor and 10% (1-10) from deep. Alimamy Koroma and Trevon Taylor led Cal Poly with 10 points each while the other three starters were a combined 7-22 from the field. The Mustangs did cover the spread as a 10.5-point favorite and they have covered in seven of their last nine games including their last two.
Koroma (11.6 ppg) is one of two players that is averaging in double figures and in the last two games has 23 points and 11 rebounds. Taylor (10.2 ppg 5.3 rpg) is the second leading scorer and leading rebounder and he has 10 points in each of the last two games where in both he failed to shoot ov er 37.5% from the floor. Chance Hunter (8.8 ppg) had eight points in the last game after totaling 23 points in the previous two games. On the season Cal Poly is 1-5 on the road and last season they lost to Cal State Bakersfield twice.