GAME PREVIEW

• Fresh off a season-opening 106-44 victory over Cal Maritime, the Hornets (1-0) will play their first road game of the young season on Friday evening at Fresno State (0-0). Tip at the Save Mart Center will be 7 p.m.
• In the win over Maritime, the Hornets set a program record with 35 assists (on 41 made buckets), set a Div. I-era record (1991-pres.) with a .651 field goal percentage, saw six players score in double figures, and scored 100+ points for just the 14th time in the Div. I era.
• Sacramento State scored 53 points in both halves, and after trailing, 6-3, in the early going, finished the final 17 minutes of the first half on a 50-7 run.
• The Bulldogs will be playing their first game of the season.
• The Hornets will be playing their second game of a stretch that will see the team play four of their first six games on the road.
• Both teams did not have good seasons a year ago, and both have first-year head coaches.
• Sacramento State finished 10-24 a year ago, and is under the guidance of first-year interim head coach Michael Czepil, while the Bulldogs went 12-21 and are led by first-year head coach Vance Walberg.
• Czepil picked up his first collegiate win as a head coach on Tuesday, which prompted a wild postgame scene in the locker room that involved Hornet players dousing Czepil with water.
• 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.
• The Hornets finished last season with a 10-24 overall record, and 4-14 in the Big Sky Conference. However, the team won four of its final six games, which included winning two games at the Big Sky Tournament for the first time since joining the league in 1996-97.
• Sacramento State is 9-41 all-time vs. Fresno State, including a 2-29 record when playing in Fresno. However, the Hornets defeated the Bulldogs at the Save Mart Center in the teams' most recent meeting on Dec. 17, 2022.
• That win snapped a 26-game road losing streak against Fresno State that dated all the way back to the 1952-53 season. Though the win came just two years ago, all eight Hornets that played in the win at Fresno State are no longer on the Hornets. Current first-year Sacramento State assistant coach Zach Chappell scored 13 points in the game.
• Not only did the win snap a long road losing streak, it snapped an overall losing streak of 23 straight games against the Bulldogs that dated back to the 1965-66 season.
• 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.
• Sacramento State returns nine players from last season's team. However, the team 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.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Friday evening's game will stream on the Mountain West Network. It is part of a Hornet schedule that will see every game feature a video stream.
• 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.
• 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.

INTERNATIONAL ROSTER

• The Hornets' roster is one of the most international in the nation.
• Sacramento State has players representing six different countries - Australia (5), United States (5), Canada (1), England (1), Finland (1) and South Sudan (1).
• In addition, Sacramento State has players from four of the seven continents - North America, Africa, Europe and Australia.
• The Hornets' head coach, Michael Czepil, is from Melbourne, Australia, and took the team on a trip to Sydney, Gold Coast and Melbourne during the summer.

THE CZEPIL ERA BEGINS

• Sacramento State begins the 2024-25 season under the guidance of interim head Michael Czepil (Zep-pull). David Patrick, who coached the Hornets the previous two seasons, stepped down on May 22 to become the associate head coach at LSU.
• Czepil spent the previous two seasons on Patrick's staff as the associate head coach.
• A native of Melbourne, Australia, Czepil has 14 years of collegiate, international and professional coaching experience.
• He arrived at Sacramento State after spending four seasons at UC Riverside (2018-22), including the final two as the team's associate head coach.
• Czepil has had a big influence on all areas of the program the last two seasons, including recruiting, on-floor coaching, player development and scouting.

NINE PLAYERS RETURN, ONE STARTER

• The Hornets return nine players from last seasons' team which finished 10-24 overall and 4-14 in the Big Sky Conference.
• Sacramento State lost its top four, and five of the team's top six scorers from a year ago. In fact, the team's highest returning scorer is forward Jacob Holt who averaged 6.7 points per contest.
• Five returners averaged between 4.0 and 7.0 points, comprised of Holt, guards Emil Skytta (5.0 ppg) and Alex Kovatchev (5.0 ppg), forward Bowyn Beatty (4.3 ppg) and guard Bailey Nunn (4.2 ppg).
• Each of those players improved their scoring averages during the final six games. That included Bailey Nunn (9.2 ppg), Jacob Holt (8.0 ppg) and Emil Skytta (7.0 ppg). In addition, Beatty averaged 7.7 points and 7.7 rebounds during the Big Sky Tournament.
• Skytta is the lone returning starter, having started the final 26 games last season.

YOUNG ROSTER

• Last season, Sacramento State was one of four Div. I teams in the nation to play their freshmen over 40 percent of the team's total minutes.
• The returners who had big contributions last season as freshmen are Emil Skytta, Alex Kovatchev, Bowyn Beatty, Bailey Nunn and Michael Wilson.
• All of those freshmen are back this season. In fact, of the team's nine returners this season, six are sophomores and one is a redshirt freshman. Of the team's 14 total players, only five are upperclassmen (two seniors, three juniors).

THE NEW GUYS

• The Hornets' roster is comprised of 14 players, five of which are brand new to the program. • Of those five players, two are freshmen and three are transfers. Two of the transfers are from Div. I programs, including guard EJ Neal (Idaho) and forward Jalen Pitre (Pepperdine). • The other transfer is guard Deonte Williams who played at South Georgia Tech JC.
• The two freshmen are Lachlan Brewer (Australia) and Leo Ricketts (De La Salle HS).

CONTROLLING THE GLASS

• Sacramento State has controlled the glass each of the last two seasons. In fact, the team has finished in the top 25 teams in the nation (among 351 Div. I playing schools) in rebound margin both years.
• That includes last season's average of +6.4 boards per game, which ranked 22nd in the country. Two years ago, the team was 18th at +6.0 rebounds per game.
• Those averages led the Big Sky both seasons. In addition, last year's average of 11.7 offensive rebounds per game led the Big Sky, and helped the team to 11.6 second chance points per contest.

HOLDING THE OPPOSITION TO UNDER 70

• Last year, it was a pretty safe bet the opponent score at the end of the game told you if the Hornets won or lost.
• When the opposition scored 70 points or more, the Hornets went 0-16.
• Conversely, Sacramento State was 10-8 when the opposition scored 69 or fewer points. Four of the Hornets' final six opponents last season were held to 69 or less.

THE COACHING STAFF

• Czepil will be joined on the sidelines by assistant coaches Hays Myers, Van Green, Elijah Roth and Zach Chappell.
• Myers returns for his third season as assistant, while Roth (also in his third year) was elevated from director of operations to assistant coach.
• Green enters his first season at Sacramento State after spending eight years on the coaching staff at Rice.
• Chappell returns to his alma mater after recently completing a pro playing season in Germany. Chappell had three highly productive years as a player at Sacramento State from 2020-23, which includes being named all-Big Sky Conference as a senior in 2022-23.

HORNETS LOVE CLOSE GAMES

• Of the Hornets' 21 games against a Big Sky opponent (including the conference tournament) last year, 16 were decided by single digits. The Hornets went 5-11 in those games.
• Eleven of those were decided by five points or less, and the team was 4-7 in those outcomes.
• In the team's three Big Sky Tournament games, the Hornets posted an eight-point win over Idaho in the first round, five-point win vs. Eastern Washington in the quarters, and a three-point loss to Montana State in the semis.

THREADS

• Sacramento State will, once again, have three uniform sets - home white, road green and neutral black.
• For the second straight year, the last names of each player will be displayed on the back of the white and black jerseys. The greens will not feature a last name.

FINAL SEASON IN THE NEST

• Sacramento State will embark upon its final year in the Nest. Next season, the team will move into the The Well on campus.
• The project is set to convert a portion of The Well, an on-campus fitness facility, into a venue for both the men's and women's basketball teams. The Well sits next to the football field on the south end of campus. Seating capacity will likely be around 3,000.
• Built in 1955, the Nest is currently one of the oldest facilities among all NCAA Div. I institutions with a seating capacity of only 1,012.
• The Hornets have played in the Nest every year since 1955, except four seasons (1996-00) when they played at downtown Memorial Auditorium. Those four seasons were also the team's first four in the Big Sky Conference.

LIMIT THE TURNOVERS

• A problem area last season for the team were turnovers.
• Sacramento State ranked 347th in the nation (among 351 Div. I teams) in turnover margin at -4.3 per game. The Hornets averaged 14.6 miscues per contest (335th) and forced 10.3 per game (306th).
• However, the team did show improvement in the late going. That included the Big Sky Tournament, in which the Hornets turned the ball over just 32 times over three games, and had a positive turnover margin vs. all three opponents.

QUICK NOTABLES

• Of the team's 14 players, 11 appeared in Tuesday's game vs. Maritime. Julian Vaughns and Kiir Kiir Chol Deng missed the game with injury, and Leo Ricketts will redshirt this season.
• The Hornets have plenty of size with five players standing 6-foot-8 or taller. At 7-0, Bowyn Beatty leads the way, followed by Jacob Holt (6-10), Chudi Dioramma (6-10), Kiir Kiir Chol Deng (6-9) and Jalen Pitre (6-8).
• During the summer, the team went on an 11-day trip to Australia (June 6-16) that featured elements of education, cultural experience and competition. The Hornets traveled to Sydney, Gold Coast and Melbourne, and played three games. It marked the program's second trip abroad as the Hornets went to Taiwan in 2016.
• Sacramento State will play three teams this season for the first time ever - Air Force, Mercyhurst and Omaha.