How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: UCLA Bruins vs. Cal Poly Mustangs
After the UCLA women's basketball demolished Cal Poly on Tuesday, the Bruin men's basketball team hosts the Mustangs tonight.
Just two nights after the UCLA men’s basketball team defeated Arizona State, the Bruins return to action tonight against the Cal Poly Mustangs.
I’m going to start this off with the good news. Like the Cal Poly women’s basketball team, the Mustangs’ men’s team has racked up wins against lower level schools like the NCAA Division II Cal State East Bay Pioneers along with a couple of Division III schools.
But before you start thinking that the Bruins might replicate Tuesday night’s 88-point win by the women’s team, this is also a team which beat Utah by seven points in Salt Lake City. So, if UCLA doesn’t come to play, they could potentially suffer the same fae as the Utes.
The Mustangs are led by second-year head coach Mike DeGeorge. In DeGeorge’s first season with Cal Poly, the Mustangs went 16-19.
Cal Poly Starting Five
The Mustangs are led by sophomore guard/forward Hamad Mousa. He transferred to Cal Poly after playing last season at Dayton. Mousa leads the Mustangs in scoring with 20.1 ppg and he’s second in rebounds with 5.5 rpg. Mousa is one of just two players in Division I from Qatar.
DeGeorge will start a pair of sophomores at the other guard spots. Slovenian Peter Bandelj is second on the team in scoring with an average of 17.1 ppg. He leads Cal Poly in assists with 42. Bandelj is shooting 46.6% from beyond the arc, which makes him the Mustangs’ best three-point shooter of players with at least five attempts. Cayden Ward is third on the team in scoring with an average of 15.2 ppg. His 48.8% shooting percentage makes him the team’s best shooter of any player with at least 12 shot attempts.
The team’s two remaining starters should be a pair of freshman forwards. Ali Assan is averaging 4.8 ppg. He leads the team in both blocks with nine and rebounds with an average of 5.6 rpg. Austin Goode is averaging just 2.2 ppg but he scored seven in 23 minutes against Montana State.
The other three guys who should see significant time tonight are Guzman Vasilic, Jake Davis and Troy Plumtree. All of these players have played in all of Cal Poly’s games this year. Vasilic is averaging 7.3 ppg while Davis is averaging 5.9 ppg and Plumtree is averaging 4.1 ppg.
Analysis
As long as UCLA doesn’t come into this game sleepwalking or Mick Cronin doesn’t use it to experiment with his lineups, this game should be over by half time. If the Bruins are sleepwalking, look out for them to face the same fate as the Utes. And, if Cronin is tinkering, the Bruins will prevail in a game which could be much closer than it really should be.
Here’s how to watch and stream tonight’s game:
UCLA Men’s Basketball (8-3)
Opponent: Cal Poly Mustangs (5-7)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 6-1
When: 7:00 pm PT, Friday, December 19, 2025
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Big Ten Network with J.B. Long and Don MacLean
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: KABC-AM 790 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 372 (UCLA Call)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!!
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