UH Vs. Cal Poly (2/19/26)

It was a night to forget all around!

The University of Hawaiʻi Men’s Basketball team got off to a horrible start and fell to the Cal Poly Mustangs, 85-79, at Bankoh Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday! Despite the loss — only UH’s second at home — UH officially clinched a spot in the 2026 Big West Tournament! It was also the first time UH fell to Cal Poly on home court since 2015!

Dre Bullock led the ‘Bows with 22 points and nine rebounds! Isaac Johnson was next with 18 points and was a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line.

Hamad Mousa led Cal Poly with 24 points and nine rebounds. Cayden Ward chipped in 19 of his own and six rebounds. Peter Bandelj added 12, and Troy Plumtree chipped in 10 to round out the double-digit scoring Mustangs.

Cal Poly got off to a fast start and led 15-2 by the first media timeout. That included the first seven consecutive points.

Johnson got UH on the board, but UH kept getting beaten off the dribble and gave up layups to Cal Poly. Little by little, UH managed to find a rhythm and got back into Cal Poly’s neighborhood.

A 14-2 UH run made things a contest again, which included five straight made field goals. UH got within one but did not make a field goal for the final 8:10 of the first half!

Cal Poly ended the first half on a 9-2 run that was punctuated on a coast-to-coast buzzer beating layup by Ward to take a 44-35 lead over UH.

UH showed some fire in the second half and tied the score at 52 thanks to a 7-0 run with all seven coming from Bullock alone.

Cal Poly shut UH down and scored the next nine unanswered and forced UH to start from scratch once again!

Yacine Toumi provided some help with seven points total in the second half. That included four critical points to put UH down two, 64-62, with 6:30 to go!

Cal Poly again answered via Bandelj with a three-point play. That started a 9-1 Cal Poly run, and UH could not force a rally.

UH shot a woeful 3-of-23 (13%) from 3-point range to Cal Poly’s 8-of-28 (29%) and committed 17 turnovers to Cal Poly’s 13. The difference was that Cal Poly pummeled UH on points off turnovers, 22-4.

UH will hope to bounce back after dropping two straight games for the first time in conference play, and ending what was a 10-game win streak at home going back to November 20 against Arizona State. They will return to the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday, Feb. 21 on a nationally televised game against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on ESPNU. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 pm HST.