GAME PREVIEW
• Sacramento State (1-2) will play its fourth game of the young season when the Hornets welcome CSUN (2-1) to the Nest on Saturday. Tip is 5 p.m.
• The Hornets are coming off Tuesdays 64-54 road loss at UC San Diego. Each of the team's last two games have resulted in road losses, including a 64-57 defeat at Fresno State.
• Sacramento State will play its second home game, which includes the season-opening 106-44 victory over Maritime.
• The Hornets' defense has been solid, holding opponents to 31% shooting from the field, the fifth best mark in the nation. In fact, neither of their three opponents have shot better than 35% from the floor.
• The Hornets are in the midst of a stretch that will se the team play four of their first six games on the road, including Nov. 24 at Cal, and Nov. 27 at Air Force.
• CSUN is coming off Wednesday's 98-50 home win over Nobel University, which also served as the team's home opener.
• The Matadors began the season in New York, falling to St. Bonaventure, 70-56, before defeating Le Moyne in Syracuse by a 97-75 score.
• CSUN, which was selected sixth in the Big West Conference preseason coaches poll, finished last season with a 19-15 overall record and 9-11 mark in league.
• Sacramento State finished 10-24 a year ago, and is under the guidance of first-year interim head coach
Michael Czepil. It was Czepil who picked up his first collegiate win as a head coach in the win over Maritime.
• That win kicked off the
Michael Czepil era, who was named interim head coach on May 22. David Patrick had been the head coach each of the last two years, but resigned to become the associate head coach at LSU.
• Czepil (pronounced Zep-pull) had been on Patrick's staff at Sacramento State both seasons as the associate head coach, and is a native of Melbourne, Australia.
• In a series that dates back to 1960, Sacramento State is 9-29 all-time vs. CSUN. However, the Hornets have won the last two meetings, including a 20-point road victory (88-68) in the teams' last meeting on Dec. 1, 2018.
• Sacramento State is 7-11 at home vs. Northridge, including a 66-61 win in the Nest on Dec. 19, 2017. Prior to that win, Hornets had dropped 10 straight to CSUN, and hadn't defeated the Matadors since 1996.
• Sacramento State returns nine players from last season's team. However, the squad lost its top four, and five of the top six scorers from a year ago. The team's highest returning scorer is forward
Jacob Holt who averaged 6.7 points per contest.
• The Hornets did not play an exhibition game this season, opting instead to play a pair of closed-door scrimmages against UC Santa Barbara and San Jose State.
• The Hornets currently have four players averaging double figures in point, but no one averaging more than 11.0 ppg. That list is comprised of
Julian Vaughns (11.0 ppg),
Jacob Holt (11.0 ppg),
Michael Wilson (11.0 ppg) and
Alex Kovatchev (10.3 ppg). Only Holt and Kovatchev have played in all three games.
MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS
• For the fourth 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.
• That includes Saturday's game which will air on ESPN+ with 28th-year play-by-play announcer Steve McElroy on the call.
• 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.
Full set of game notes can be accessed by clicking on the link above the story.
