SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Sacramento State men's basketball team, under the guidance of first-year head coach David Patrick, begins its preseason practice schedule on Monday, Sept. 23.

Practice will continue approximately five days a week leading up to the team's season opener, a date with UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 7. The Hornets' schedule will be officially released next week.

Notables

• Only six players return from last season's team which finished 11-18 overall and 6-14 in Big Sky Conference play. That includes guards Zach Chappell, Chris Holley, Rick Barros III and Xavier Ford, swingman Teiano Hardee and forward Cameron Wilbon. Chappell (11.6 ppg) and Wilbon (9.1 ppg) were the team's second and fourth leading scorers a year ago, respectively. Barros (.444) and Hardee (.440) were the team's top 3-point shooters (by percentage) last season.

• Sacramento State's roster is comprised of 13 players, including seven new to the Hornets. Of those seven newcomers, six are transfers from Div. I programs. That includes guards Gianni Hunt (Oregon State), Quadry Adams (St. Bonaventure) and Austin Patterson (Wofford), forwards Hunter Marks (Hartford) and Akol Mawein (Oklahoma), and center Callum McRae (UC Riverside). The other newcomer is Kiir Kiir Chol Deng, who will be a true freshman after playing in the NBA Global Academy in Australia.

• The Hornets' roster will have an international look, as four players and two coaches were raised on foreign soil. Four of those individuals are from Australia in Hunter Marks, Akol Mawein, head coach David Patrick and associate head coach Michael Czepil. Callum McRae hails from New Zealand, and Kiir Kiir Chol Deng is from South Sudan. Sacramento State is one of just 13 men's basketball teams in the country to have a roster that features players from at least three different countries (other than the United States).

• Every member of Sacramento State's coach staff is new, including David Patrick, who was named Sacramento State's 15th head men's basketball coach on April 5. Patrick, 46, a renowned recruiter with worldwide connections, has been a part of winning teams at every stop of his coaching career. A native of Bermuda who moved to Australia at the age of 10, Patrick has 17 years of coaching experience, most recently as Oklahoma's associate head coach in 2021-22. Patrick has recruited 11 players that have played in the NBA (including seven draft picks - four first rounders) and has coached 28 players that have gone on to play professionally, including 19 in the NBA.

• Patrick will be joined on the sidelines by associate head coach Michael Czepil, assistant coaches Loren Leath and Hays Myers, director of operations Tyson Batiste, and director of scouting & analytics Elijah Roth.

• Sacramento State has plenty of size this season, and could be among the tallest teams on the West Coast. The Hornets feature four players that stand at 6-foot-9 or taller. That includes 7-foot-1, 280-pound center Callum McRae, who will be the tallest player in program history. Three players stand at 6-toot-9, comprised of Kiir Kiir Chol Deng, Hunter Marks and Akol Mawein.

• The home of the Hornets - the Nest - received some upgrades during the summer. Most notable is the new paint job that includes a black ceiling and dark green walls. Prior to the paint job, the majority of the walls and the ceiling were white.

• The Hornets will be wearing brand new home (white), road (black) and alternate (green) jerseys this season. Sacramento State will be wearing black jerseys as their primary road colors for the first time in the Div. I era. In the past, the primary road color was green.

• David Patrick has stressed defense and rebounding, so expect an emphasis on those two elements of the game. Last season, the team allowed 70.2 points per game, which did not rank among the top 200 teams in all of Div. I. In addition, the Hornets were a -4.7 in rebounding margin per contest, which ranked 329th out of 350 Div. I programs.

• Though the Hornets went 5-8 last year at home, the program is still a combined 87-46 (.654 winning percentage) inside the Nest dating back to the 2012-13 season.

•  Sacramento State will, once again, play its rival UC Davis at the downtown Golden1 Center in the basketball version of the Causeway Classic on Nov. 22. The two rivals have played each other at Golden1 Center five times in the last six years (the 2020-21 game was canceled because of the pandemic). After the Aggies won the first two meetings, the Hornets have won the last three, which includes wins by double figures in each of the last two matchups.