Preview: Utah vs. Cal Poly college basketball game

The Utah men's basketball team closed out its six-game homestead to start the 2025-26 season Thursday with a nonconference tilt against Cal Poly.

Thursday's contest from Jon M. Huntsman Center, set for 7 p.m. MT., will also serve as the second game in the Acrisure Series for the Runnin' Utes (5-0). The next game in the multi-team event will pit them against Grand Canyon (Tuesday, 10 p.m. MT) in Palm Desert, California.

Utah concludes the Acrisure Series the following day against either Ole Miss or Iowa (7:30 p.m. or 10 p.m.). But first, Alex Jensen will look to iron out more wrinkles as they host the Mustangs (2-3) out of the Big West conference.

The Last Time Out

Monday night's nonconference tilt against Purdue Fort Wayne was yet another instance of a lower-tiered mid-major opponent being able to hang around and keep things interesting before Utah decides to shut the door in the closing minutes.

Going roughly 5 minutes without a bucket down the stretch of the second half certainly didn't help the cause, though Utah's lack of physicality on the defensive end of the floor didn't make fending off its pesky Horizon League foe any easier. The Runnin' Utes allowed the Mastodons, who ranked No. 224 in offensive efficiency on KenPom, to score 17 fast break points, finish with 42 points in the paint and shoot 22-of-38 (57.9%) from inside the arc.

Those factors contibuted to Purdue Fort Wayne's ability to make things interested in the second half after digging itself into a 16-point hole in the first half. Utah's lead was trimmed down to as low as six points multiple times over the course of the last 3 minutes of regulation, as the Mastodons went on a 7-0 scoring run during a cold stretch from the Runnin' Utes before making it 74-68 with 1:22 remaining following a triple from Maximus Nelson.

Utah guard Don McHenry rsponded about 30 seconds later with a 3-pointer of his own, pushing his team's lead back to nine with under a minute left to play. That allowed the Runnin' Utes to ice the game at the free-throw line, where they went 8-for-8 from over the course of the last 35 seconds of regulation.

Terrence Brown led his squad with 27 points — his fourth straight 20-point performance — while McHenry chipped in 18 and Seydou Traore had 17 in the 85-77 final from Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Scouting the Mustangs

Cal Poly returned 34.6% of its scoring production from last season's 16-19 squad and was picked to finish No. 7 in the Big West once again in the league's 2025-26 preseason coaches poll.

However, for all the roster turnover going on around the country, Cal Poly was one of just five Division I programs to not lose a player to the transfer portal in the offseason, along with Duke, Tennessee, American and Boston University.

The Mustangs' leading returning scorer from the 2024-25 campaign, sophomore guard Peter Bandelj, brought his average up to 15.8 points per game following a season-high 21 points in the team's 90-82 loss to Montana on Tuesday. The Ljubljana, Slovenia, native who suited up for the Slovenia men's national team in the 2025 FIBA U20 EuroBasket competition in Greece rejoined Mike DeGeorge's program in the offseason after putting up 6.0 points per game in international play.

Dayton transfer Hamad Mousa proved to be a valuable addition early on, as the 6-foot-8 forward who finished with only 26 points across 20 appearances with the Flyers last season averaged 17.8 through his first four games with his new team. Mousa, who didn't play in Tuesday's game against the Grizzlies, had a 23-point, 12-rebound outing in Cal Poly's 101-79 victory over Division III constituent Pacific Lutheran (Washington) on Nov. 5.

Sophomore guard and Stockton, California, native Cayden Ward stepped up with 26 points in that win over the Lutes.

Utah's transition defense will face perhaps its toughest challenge yet through the first six games of 2025-26, as Cal Poly entered Thursday ranked No. 2 in the country on KenPom.com in adjusted tempo.

Cal Poly came into the matchup ranked No. 218 overall in the country on KenPom.com.

How to watch Cal Poly vs. Utah

• Date: Thursday, Nov. 20
• Game Time: 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT
• Where: Jon M. Huntsman Center
• How to watch (TV): ESPN+
• Radio: ESPN 700
• KenPom's final score prediction: Utah 89, Cal Poly 76