GAME PREVIEW

• Sacramento State (1-1) will play the third and final leg of its season-opening three game road trip on Monday at Denver (2-0). Tip at Hamilton Gymnasium is 6 p.m. PST.
• The Hornets will be playing their second game in three days. They are coming off a 65-55 road win at UC San Diego, which was first year head coach David Patrick's first Hornet victory since taking over the reins on April 5.
• In that win, the Hornets were 14-of-25 from the 3-point line, and all but five of their field goal makes came from distance.
• Monday's game will mark the first of a rare non-conference home and home against Denver, as the Hornets will host the Pioneers on Dec. 7 at the Nest.
• The two teams have played each other just three times with the Hornets holding a 2-1 lead in the series. The last meeting came on a neutral floor in Cheney, Wash., as part of the Eastern Classic on Nov. 27, 2016. The Pioneers won, 72-61, behind 17 apiece from Jake Pemberton and Daniel Amigo. Marcus Graves led the Hornets with 16 points.
• Monday will mark just the second time the Hornets have played in Denver, and first since a 74-53 Sacramento State win in 2006 when Haron Hargrave buried eight 3-pointers.
• The UCLA game marked the Hornet head coaching debut of David Patrick, who became Sacramento State's 15th head coach in program history (1948-pres.).
• Patrick, who is 46, is a veteran collegiate and international coach with 17 years of coaching experience. A native of Bermuda who moved to Australia at the age of 10, Patrick came to the United States prior to his senior year of high school. He is a renowned recruiter with worldwide connections and has won at every stop of his coaching career.
• Last year's Hornet squad, under the guidance of interim head coach Brandon Laird, posted an 11-18 overall record and 6-14 mark in the Big Sky Conference. The Hornets have not finished higher than seventh place in the Big Sky each of the last seven seasons.
• Sacramento State was selected sixth in both the Big Sky media and coaches polls.
• The Hornets return just six players, including the team's second (Zach Chappell 11.6 ppg in '21-22) and fourth (Cameron Wilbon 9.1 ppg in '21-22) leading scorers.
• Denver will be playing the finale of its season-opening three-game homestand which included a 68-63 win over Big Sky foe Idaho, and 90-68 over non-Div. I Colorado College. The Pioneers are shooting .515 from the field, including 11-for-13 from Lukas Kisunas.
• Last season, the Pioneers finished 11-21 overall and 7-11 in the Summit League. They return eight players from a year ago (three starters) and welcome eight newcomers.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Monday's game will be televised on Altitude 2 (channel 681 on DirecTV), and will be streamed on Pioneer All-Access, which is a subscription based service.
• There will be no radio for Monday's game.
• For the second straight season, all Hornet home games, and games played at a Big Sky Conference venue, will be streamed on ESPN+.
• In addition, every home game this year will be broadcast live on ESPN 1320 AM with 26th-year play-by-play man Steve McElroy calling the action.
• Links for all multimedia options, including live stats for every game, can be found next to each game on the men's basketball schedule at hornetsports.com.