GAME PREVIEW
• Sacramento State (6-12, 2-3) will play the second and final leg of this week's road trip on Saturday at Northern Arizona (8-10, 1-3). Tip at Findlay Toyota Court is 1 p.m. PT.
• The Hornets are coming off a gut wrenching 77-75 loss at Northern Colorado on Thursday in which
Zee Hamoda's potential game-winning 3-pointer was blocked at the buzzer.
• It was Hamoda that buried a floating 10-footer with 0.2 seconds left to provide last Saturday's victory over Idaho State. In addition, he scored four points in the final 17 seconds in last week's win over Weber State.
• Playing close games has become the norm in Hornet Land. Three straight, and five of the last seven games have been decided by three points or less. In fact, of the team's five games against a Big Sky opponent, four have been decided by three points or fewer.
• Besides two-point wins over Idaho State and Weber State, and Thursday's loss to Northern Colorado, the Hornets also fell in the final second at Idaho (61-58) on a Quinn Denker banked 25-footer at the buzzer. That play was No. 1 on ESPN SportsCenter's Top Plays.
• Sacramento State is 1-8 on the road, and has dropped five straight away from home.
• That lone road win came at rival UC Davis on Nov. 26 by a 69-63 score.
• Northern Arizona won a lopsided home game against Portland State (84-65) on Thursday. Prior to the game, the Lumberjacks had dropped five of their last six.
• NAU has yet to lose at home (4-0), and that victory over PSU marked the Lumberjacks' Big Sky home opener. Of Northern Arizona's four home wins, two came by two points or less. That includes 76-74 vs. Southern Utah, and 74-73 vs. North Dakota.
• Despite NAU's 43-18 all-time record against the Hornets (24-6 in Flagstaff), Saturday's game is setting up to be close. Three of the last four meetings between the schools have been decided by five points or less.
• Last season, the teams split their two meetings with the home team winning each game. That includes a 59-56 Hornet home win, and a 77-55 Lumberjack home victory.
• The Hornets are in 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 Hornets' Div. I era (1991-pres.), and third most in program history.
• Sacramento State is currently wearing black patches on the left shoulder of their home white jerseys in honor of Robert "Money" Martin who passed away in late November. Martin played for the Hornets from 1985-89, and remains the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,774 career points. That includes a program-record 294 made 3-pointers.
MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS
• Every game the remainder of the year will stream on ESPN+.
• This marks 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.
