GAME PREVIEW

• Fresh off an season-opening road loss at Nevada, Sacramento State (0-1) will travel to the Bay Area to take on Stanford (1-0) on Friday. Tip at Maples Pavilion is set for 6:02 p.m.
• The Hornets opened with a 77-63 loss at Nevada on Tuesday night in a game the Hornets trailed by just six points with 3:30 to play.
• In that game, all five Hornet starters were brand new to the program. In fact, of the team's 10-man rotation, only two were returning players from a year ago.
• Stanford opened with an 88-79 home win over CSUN on Monday evening. In that game, Northridge led by four points with under three minutes to play, but the Cardinal closed on a 13-0 run.
• The Hornets will be playing the second leg of a stretch that will see the team play seven of its first eight games away from home. That includes two guarantee games to begin the season against Nevada and Stanford.
• The Hornets open the second season of the David Patrick era. Last year's squad finished 14-18 overall and 7-11 in the Big Sky Conference. The 14 wins were the most by a first-year head coach during the Div. I era (1991-pres.), and the third most in program history.
• Friday will mark the first meeting between the two teams since a Stanford 70-60 home win over the Hornets on Dec. 21, 2015. In that game, the Hornets and Cardinal were tied with under six minutes to play, but Stanford closed the final 5:08 on a 14-4 run.
• In a series which dates back to 1992, the Hornets are 0-5 all-time against Stanford. Each of those games were played on the road, and each were losses by double figures. The 70-60 loss in 2015 was the first time the Hornets lost by anything less than 18 points.
•  The Hornets are 4-44 all-time against the Pac-12's current affiliates, including eight straight losses against the conference.
• Sacramento State Athletics has won each of the last two head-to-head matchups at Stanford, with the Hornet baseball (April 18) and Hornet football (Sept. 16) teams recently winning road games against the Cardinal.
• Sacramento State did not play an exhibition game this season, opting instead to play a pair of controlled scrimmages against Cal Poly and Pacific. The Hornets won both of those games by double figures.
• Despite fielding a roster that consists of just four returners and 11 newcomers, Sacramento State was selected to finish fourth in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll.
• The fourth place prediction in the coaches poll is the highest showing for the program since the 2014-15 team was also selected fourth. In addition, it ties for the second highest prediction since the Hornets joined the Big Sky in 1996 - the 2005-06 team was third.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Friday's game will be televised live on Pac-12 Bay Area, and streamed via Pac-12 Live. Barry Tompkins (play-by-play) and Dan Belluomini (analyst) will be on the call.
• For the third straight season, all Hornet home games, and games played at a Big Sky Conference venue, will stream on ESPN+. The subscription-based service will stream on watchespn.com and the ESPN App.
• 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.