Cal Poly Mustangs (7-9) vs. Long Beach State Beach (7-9)
The 2022-23 NCAA men’s basketball season goes on Thursday, January 12, with the Big West Conference showdown from Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California, where the Cal Poly Mustangs square off against the Long Beach State Beach.
The tip-off is set for 10:00 PM ET, and the Beach open as 8.5-point home favorites with a total of 137.5 points. Long Beach State is undefeated in four straight meetings with Cal Poly, while the total has gone over in five of their previous seven encounters.
The Cal Poly Mustangs (7-9; 9-5 ATS; 1-3 conf.) extended their losing streak to three games this past Saturday. They suffered a 62-57 defeat to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, covering an 8-point spread in front of the home fans. The Mustangs made 42.3% of their field goals (6-for-19 from deep) and handed out 15 assists, but they also committed 17 turnovers and sent the Gauchos to the free-throw line 28 times.
Senior guard Chance Hunter went 5-for-8 from downtown against Santa Barbara and finished with 19 points. Alimamy Koroma, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, accounted for 14 points, six rebounds, and a couple of steals, and he’s now averaging a team-high 11.4 points and 5.1 boards a night.
Graduate guard Chance Hunter's 19-point effort brought his four-year Division I total to 999, but Cal Poly fell at home Saturday to UC Santa Barbara, 62-57.#RideHighhttps://t.co/M2fLaKmwBc
— Cal Poly Men's Basketball (@calpolymbb) January 8, 2023
Cal Poly is No. 271 in the NCAA NET Rankings and No. 272 in the KenPom rankings. The Mustangs score just 94.0 points per 100 possessions (335th in the nation) on 41.9% shooting from the field (303rd). They make 5.5 triples per game (335th) on a poor 28.9 percentage clip (344th). On the defensive side of the ball, the Mustangs allow 102.4 points per 100 possessions (165th) on 48.6% shooting from inside the arc (171st) and 32.4% from downtown (147th).