Paradise did not come easily to the Cal Poly basketball team.

After defeating Cal State Northridge on Thursday night, the Mustangs made the three-hour drive from their San Luis Obispo campus to San Jose, checking into the hotel at 1 a.m. The wake-up call was at 6 a.m. Friday, enough time to catch the 8 a.m. flight to Honolulu. Because their Waikiki hotel rooms were not ready when they arrived, the Mustangs lounged in the lobby until departing for Friday afternoon’s two-hour practice at the University of Hawaii.

The Mustangs remained undaunted as they prepared ahead of tonight’s Big West game against UH in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Tip-off is at 5 p.m.

“Like I told our guys,” Cal Poly coach John Smith said of the obstacles, “nobody cares we had to go through that. … We can’t use that as an excuse. We’ve got to come ready to play.”

At 7-6 overall and 1-0 in the Big West, the Mustangs already have matched the most victories during Smith’s head-coaching tenure — “with 19 games to go in conference,” Smith said. The Mustangs were 7-23 in 2019-20 and 7-21 last season. While this is Smith’s fourth season at Cal Poly, he has recalibrated the clock.

“I look at this as year 2 for us,” Smith said. “COVID kind of derailed it. You take those two years away” — 2019-20 and 2020-21 — “because we really couldn’t build it the right away.”

Because of health/safety restrictions, there were several practices in which no more than two players could work out near a basket. “You couldn’t teach them college basketball,” Smith said.

With an emphasis on player development, Smith’s first full recruiting class included five true freshmen. “Four of them are still here,” Smith said. “We’re fortunate to have longevity with those guys, and see them continue to grow and mature.”

Facing teams who have taken advantage of the transfer portal, the Mustangs have changed strategies of recruiting mostly high school seniors. Now they are open to adding a couple of transfers — from other NCAA programs or the junior colleges — to supplement the roster.

“I never want to be young again, like we were,” Smith said. “I feel if we’re going to lose some seniors, we’re definitely going to get a transfer, and a high school guy to sandwich that.”

The Mustangs have worked on harassing opposing shooters and hunting rebounds. “In order to win games, you’ve got to rebound,” said Smith, whose Mustangs average a plus-2.7 on the boards.

But while defensive rebounds usually lead to fast breaks, the Mustangs have set their offense to a deliberate tempo to minimize turnovers. The Mustangs’ average possession is 18.9 seconds, ranking 322nd among 358 Division I teams. They average 7.6 fast break points.

“We want to make sure we get a quality set every single time down,” said Smith, noting it will be a style employed “until they mature and see the game through (my) lenses. Then I’ll let the reins go.”

Alimamy Koroma, a 6-foot-8 post, leads a balanced attack with 11.8 points per game. Kobe Sanders is averaging 14.5 points against Portland State and CSUN.

“He’s a 6-8 basketball player who can play the one, two, three, four,” Smith said. “(Thursday) night, he played point guard for us. He did a phenomenal job. I would say he’s our most important and versatile player.”

Smith first noticed Sanders as a 6-1 point guard for San Diego’s Christian High. “And then when I got the job at Cal Poly, he was a 6-6 senior,” Smith said. “I liked that. He’s very smart. We were fortunate to develop that relationship early on.”