Blue-Green rubber match set for first round of the Big West Tournament

Alan Williams, the Big West Conference MVP, is at the heart of the UCSB attack. By Owen Main

Conference basketball tournaments are tricky. A team has just finished a grueling conference schedule and played every other team twice already. After 30-plus games, these are the ones that matter most.

For two-seed UCSB and seven-seed Cal Poly, the game also happens to be at noon. On a week-day. Not exactly prime time.

To have a chance to get to the prime-time game Saturday night though, one of these Blue-Green rivals will have to find a way to play their best in the opening game of the conference tournament.

Last Saturday, in front of a senior-night sellout crowd at Mott Athletics Center, UCSB and Big West Conference MVP Alan Williams were dominant. Big Al scored 23 points, got a ton of rebounds, and blocked five shots.

Cal Poly shot less than 25 percent from two-point range and had another long first-half scoring drought.

On Thursday afternoon, they’ll have to play better and more consistently to beat the favored Gauchos. They’ve beaten this team in a hostile environment once this year, but doing it a second time will be really difficult. Here’s what has to happen for them to win.

Sophomore, David Nwaba, must produce consistently within the offense if Cal Poly wants to upset the Gauchos. By Owen Main

Offense rhythm and flow

Cal Poly has to establish some kind of offensive rhythm. They’ve played a full season now, against all kinds of defenses. For players, at this point in the season, to say things like, “we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were running into each other,” when talking about playing offense is surprising to hear in March. It’s what was happening, but it’s still surprising.

On Thursday afternoon, Cal Poly will have to have some rhythm and flow to their offense. Multiple players will need to be getting baskets and scoring in their “normal” ways for this team to have a chance. Kyle Odister will need to make some outside shots. David Nwaba will have to score in a variety of ways, including from the free-throw line. Chris Eversley will have to be his usual resourceful self, picking his spots and shooting as well as he did at the beginning of the season. Guys will have to be patient and trusting when the Mustangs have the ball.

Stopping Big Al

Williams is the Big West Conference MVP. He’s a huge presence inside and won’t be completely stopped. His low-post touches, however, do need to be limited and Cal Poly needs to decide who they want to shoot the three-pointer if they double-team him.

In the first game, Joel Awich made a few great plays early in the game to deny Williams the post-entry pass. On Saturday, Cal Poly’s forwards had no such luck and Williams not only got his points, but opened-up open shots for others. Containing Williams means not only keeping him under 20 points or so, but keeping him from impacting other guys’ open shots, too.

Scoring from someone else?

In the game Cal Poly won early in the conference schedule, Anthony Silvestri came off the bench to make five three-pointers and score 17 points. To put that game in perspective, Silvestri has only scored 70 points this season — an average of 2.8 points per game. It doesn’t need to be Silvestri, but someone might have to play out of their mind on Thursday for this team to move on. It could be Eversley or Odister or Nwaba playing more consistently than ever and putting together a complete game. It could also be Jamal Johnson or Brian Bennett or someone else getting some real offensive aggression and scoring. One way or another, most of the team will go cold for a spell, and it might be up to one or two players to make a few shots to get them out of it.

UCSB is a deserving two-seed. Cal Poly aside, the Gauchos are one of three or four teams I could really see winning this tournament. In his fifth season, Joe Callero has never been to the Big West Tournament final. This year, getting back to the semifinals would seem like a big deal.

The Mustangs started off the season 3-0. This is the fun time of the year, when fans can say to each other, “all you have to do is just win three games.”

Photos by Owen Main