GAME NOTES: The Cal Poly Mustangs begin defense of their 2014 Big West Tournament championship on Thursday night, as they tangle with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in the annual event at the Honda Center.

Cal Poly, which is the seventh seed this time around, is still only 10-11 in the tourney even though it won the title last season with a narrow 61-59 victory over Cal State Northridge. Ironically, those same two teams make up the two lowest seeds in this year's tournament.

The Mustangs were a streaky team during the conference schedule, three times losing at least three straight games, closing out the regular season on a four-game slide.

As for the second-seeded Gauchos, a team which has won this tournament a total of three times, most recently in 2011 with a 65-56 decision against Long Beach State, they own a record of 20-28 overall. The squad is riding high on a season-best five-game win streak and has come out on top in eight of the last nine overall, save for a narrow 64-62 setback versus UC Riverside on the road on Feb. 19. Thanks to the recent run of success, the Gauchos delivered an 11-5 mark in league action in 2014-15.

UCSB owns a 65-34 advantage in the all-time series between the programs, the Gauchos taking both meetings during the regular season. The most recent of those battles took place in the regular-season finale last weekend as UCSB posted a 64-56 triumph at home as Alan Williams erupted for a massive double- double consisting of 26 points and 19 rebounds for the hosts, and yet Cal Poly actually won the rebounding battle overall, 32-31.

The winner of this meeting will be back in action on Friday against an opponent to be determined based on the seeds remaining.

As one of only two players on the Mustangs to start all 16 conference games, Brian Bennett earned himself all-conference status as he paced the program in scoring (10.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg) against the rest of the league. However, while he managed to make good on a solid 46.1 percent of his field goal tries, Bennett was a miserable 48.8 percent at the free-throw line. Ridge Shipley (10.5 ppg), Morgan Reese (10.5 ppg) and Joel Awich (10.4 ppg) all played significant roles in the team generating a mere 59.1 ppg. David Nwaba (9.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg) has missed four games due to injury, but he is listed as probable for this outing so there is some hope for his return.

What makes UCSB one of the favorites to get back to the title game this season is Williams, a three-time All-Big West First Team selection who, during conference play, averaged a double-double consisting of 14.1 ppg and 12.0 rpg, although he did play in just nine of those 16 league outings. As he proved in the most recent matchup with Cal Poly, he can single-handedly take over a game in the paint, something the Mustangs must have prepared for with the season finale still fresh in their minds. Also taking a spot on the All-Big West First Team was Michael Bryson, a 14.4 ppg scorer in league play as he knocked down 38.7 percent of his 3-point tries. Add to that John Greene and Gabe Vincent with 11.0 and 10.9 ppg, respectively, and the UCSB offense is hard to touch.

With one of the top interior players hitting his stride at just the right time and there being so many other offensive options to choose from, the Gauchos look like a safe bet in this first game of the tournament.