Gameday: at Cal Poly

Snakebitten.

That’s really the only way to describe Cal Poly’s season to this point. The 2-6 Mustangs could be 6-2, coach Joe Callero feels, if their late-game execution had been better at some key moments.

Nowhere was that better illustrated than Poly’s inability to close out UC Irvine on Wednesday at Mott Gym. They allowed the Anteaters, trailing by three in the final seconds, to heave a fullcourt pass to Mamadou Ndiaye at the opposite elbow. After the defense inexplicably converged on him, Ndiaye kicked out to a shooter for a 3, sending it to overtime. Where, predictably, the ‘Eaters prevailed.

Well, UH’s 13-point win over physical CP in Honolulu on Jan. 6 was one of the convincing ones.

As I wrote in today’s paper, if the Rainbow Warriors (17-3, 6-1 BWC) can capture this ESPNU-televised contest, they’ll have done something no other UH team has — won their first four conference games on the mainland.

Coach Eran Ganot has pored through the annals of the program, so you can bet he’s well aware of that little tidbit.

He confirmed as much Saturday morning in a phone interview.

“The reality is, it’s always difficult, especially in this conference, to win on the road. Any conference,” Ganot said. “Obviously we got one the other night and we got a team here that didn’t play on Thursday, they’re ready for us, they’re fired up. So it’s a great thing as a competitor, you want every game to be a battle. You gotta love the competition, love the challenge of it.

“Yeah, I’m aware of it, and I also know I’m surprised by it, because I just know how difficult that is to do.”

Point guard Roderick Bobbitt picked up a single steal in the win over UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, raising his career total to 143. He’s now tied for fourth with Tony Webster, and needs three more to move up to third alongside Troy Bowe.