The Sports Network

DATE & TIME: Friday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (7,201) -- Fort Worth, Texas. Television: FSN-SW+. Home Record: Cal Poly 0-0, TCU 0-0. Away Record: Cal Poly 0-0, TCU 0-0. Neutral Record: Cal Poly 0-0, TCU 0-0. Conference Record: Cal Poly 0-0, TCU 0-0. Series Record: First-ever meeting.

GAME NOTES: A first-ever meeting between a couple of programs kicks off their respective 2012-13 schedules tonight, as the TCU Horned Frogs battle the Cal Poly Mustangs at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas.

For Cal Poly, this is its first venture to the state of Texas in nearly 12 years. The squad, which has a tough non-conference slate for the first several weeks with meetings against UCLA, Saint Mary's, Nevada, Santa Clara and Washington all on the road, is coming off one of their best campaigns at the Division I level. In 2011-12, the Mustangs posted an 18-15 mark overall, their second-highest win total at the D-I level as they took their cues from head coach Joe Callero who is entering his fourth season with the group.

Cal Poly finished a solid 8-8 against the rest of the Big West Conference, and at no point lost more than three games in a row during the run.

As for the Horned Frogs, this game opens the 102nd season in program history and this time around the team begins to follow the guidance of new head coach Trent Johnson, who has previously been in charge at Nevada, Stanford and LSU, the former being a member of the Big West back in 1999-2000 before heading to the Western Athletic Conference.

TCU's overall record from last season was identical to that of the Mustangs, and the Frogs also finished league play at .500 (7-7) in the final year of their Mountain West Conference schedule. The team took part in the College Basketball Invitational where it first defeated Milwaukee (83-73) before bowing at Oregon State (101-81).

While it probably has no bearing on this particular matchup, the Horned Frogs have an all-time record of 14-10 against current members of the Big West Conference, which is where Cal Poly currently resides. For the Mustangs, this is their first encounter with a program from the Big 12 Conference since 2005 when they lost to former member Colorado, 93-75.

The Mustangs are focused mostly on their backcourt which features seniors Dylan Royer and Drake U'u. Royer was the fifth-best three-point shooter in Division I last season, hitting his attempts at a 46.5 percent clip, while U'u was just getting his feet wet as he started 18 of 26 games and produced just over six points per contest. Fellow senior guard Chris O'Brien figures to be a major player for the team this year after being forced to sit out 2011-12 with an injury in the preseason. Chris Eversley was a starter along the front line for the Mustangs last year, earning his spot by posting slightly better than eight points per game for a team that kept scoring to a minimum as much as possible, en route to just 64.7 ppg.

While the Mustangs were trying to prevent games from getting out of hand on the scoreboard, TCU was heading in the opposite direction as much as possible, going so far as to deliver 102 points in an overtime win against 11th-ranked UNLV on Valentine's Day. The team often had a different leading scorer from one game to the next, but only Hank Thorns (13.5 ppg) and J.R. Cadot (11.4 ppg) finished with double-digit averages and neither of them is still on the team. Garlon Green (9.9 ppg) comes back as the top returning scorer and ki8ght be the top three-point threat for the Frogs at the moment. Amric Fields (9.6 ppg) was used mostly off the bench before, but now figures to play a major role for the group, while Kyan Anderson (8.3 ppg, 91 assists) will be expected to distribute the ball even more.

Last season the Mustangs ranked among the best in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 60.5 ppg, but don't expect that to be the case tonight with the amount of firepower TCU brings to the court.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: TCU 72, Cal Poly 60