Life on the Cal Poly campus was a bit different this week after the Mustangs delivered the biggest basketball victory in school history — a 70-68 upset win over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.
Coach Joe Callero said it took him an hour to get through well-wishers during a stop for coffee. Junior point guard Jamal Johnson told his coach he received more attention from classmates in one day than he had in his entire career.
“We made a little history for our team,” Callero said.
The Mustangs (2-2) will try to build on their big win Saturday night when they visit Saint Mary’s (4-2), which is riding a rare two-game losing streak but is notoriously tough at McKeon Pavilion.
“Quite frankly, we know exactly what we’re going to see — a team that’s locked and loaded and ready to tear somebody’s face off,” Callero said.
Callero is anxious to see if his team can play with the same abandon it showed while rallying from a 51-33 deficit with 12 minutes left to beat a top-25 team for the first time in its 19-year NCAA Division I history.
And just not any ranked team — although the Bruins dropped from No. 11 all the way out of the rankings after the loss — but an iconic program.
Beforehand, the Mustangs toured the Hall of Fame room in the new Pauley Pavilion and took photos in front of a statue of John Wooden.
The Mustangs won 18 games last season, beat USC and lost at home to Saint Mary’s by just five points. They’re a decent squad.
Still, this was monumental for them.
Callero changed strategies throughout the game, hoping to rattle a UCLA team with three blue-chip freshmen in its lineup. When Cal Poly pulled within seven points and UCLA called a timeout, the Mustangs started to believe.
“When we cut it to two points, they called another timeout and that just blew our bench apart,” Callero said. “Everybody knew the game was on.
“I just put my hands in my pockets. I figured, let this play this out and see if we can’t shock ’em.”
They did.
