GAME PREVIEW

• After dropping a pair of road games, including a heartbreaker on Saturday, Sacramento State (5-13, 1-4) will play twice inside the Nest this week. The first of those two games is Thursday when the Hornets welcome Idaho State (8-8, 3-2) for a 7:00 tip.
• The Hornets are coming off a 68-64 road loss at Northern Colorado on Saturday. The Hornets had a chance to take the lead with nine seconds left, but Julian Vaughns' 3-ball missed. Sacramento State was looking to give the Bears (6-0) their first conference loss.
• This week is an important homestand as the Hornets will play four straight on the road from Jan. 30-Feb. 8.
• Sacramento State is 4-6 at home this season, which included a Big Sky-opening 56-53 win over Portland State on Jan. 4.
• However, the Hornets have not won since as they will attempt to snap a four-game losing streak on Thursday.
• Idaho State finished off a 2-1 homestand by sweeping both Montana schools at home last week. That included a 70-67 win over Montana, and 86-61 over Montana State.
• The Bengals are 2-6 on the road. They split their only Big Sky road games, defeating Northern Arizona, 72-67, and falling in overtime, 93-92, to Northern Colorado.
• Sacramento State is 28-34 all-time against Idaho State, which includes wins in eight of the last 11 meetings between the two teams.
• The two teams split the season series a year ago with each squad winning at home.
• The Hornets are 15-13 at home, including four straight wins in the Nest. The last home loss to the Bengals came on Jan. 12, 2019.
• In a series littered with close games, eight of the last nine meetings between the teams have been decided by five points or less. The only outlier was a rare blowout (68-40) win for ISU over the Hornets in Pocatello last season. That snapped a streak of eight straight games decided by five points or fewer.
• Idaho State has been very good in the defense and rebounding departments. The Bengals rank third in the nation with a rebounding margin of +11.6 per game. The team is also eighth in the country with 14.8 offensive boards per game.
• Thursday's game is a matchup of the Big Sky's top two defensive units as the Hornets are first (49th in the nation) yielding just 66.1 ppg. Idaho State sits second in the Big Sky (69th in the nation) allowing 67.4 ppg.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Every game the remainder of the season (home and away) will stream on ESPN+.
• 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 streams on watchespn.com and the ESPN App.
• Steve McElroy, in his 28th year as the play-by-play voice, is on the call for all home games.
• 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.

A LOOK AT THE LAST GAME

• Sacramento State held a 62-61 lead with a minute to play, but Northern Colorado closed the final 41 seconds on a 7-2 run to beat the Hornets, 68-64, on Saturday evening.
• After trailing by seven points at halftime (43-36), the Hornets, playing without two starters, had a strong second half that saw the team take two late leads at 61-59 with 3:14 to play, and later the 62-61 advantage.
• A 9-1 run turned a six-point deficit to a 61-59 lead, capped by a 3-pointer from Michael Wilson at the 3:14 mark. However, Sacramento State would score just three points the rest of the way, both from Julian Vaughns with a free throw at the 2:22 mark and a layup with 19 seconds to play.
• That layup had the Hornets trailing just, 65-64. Sacramento State immediately fouled, and Northern Colorado's Jaron Rillie split a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left.
• Trailing by two points (66-64), the Hornets raced down the floor and Vaughns' 3-point attempt (to give the Hornets the lead) missed with nine seconds left. Rillie responded with two free throws at the seven-second mark to put things away.
• Sacramento State finished the game shooting 45% (23-51) from the field while Northern Colorado was 42% (19-45). The biggest difference came at the free throw line. The Hornets were 12-of-15 from the charity stripe while the Bears were 22-for-27.

INJURIES TAKING A TOLL

• Sacramento State played without three key players during each of the last two games.
• Guard Alex Kovatchev, after starting each of the first four games, has missed 14 consecutive games with injury.
• Guard Emil Skytta, who had started 41 consecutive games dating back to last season, has missed the past three games.
• Seven-foot forward Bowyn Beatty, a rotational player who had appeared in each of the first 16 games, missed his first two games last week
• All three players are sophomores and all three have big roles with the team, especially Skytta and Kovatchev who are the Hornets' top two defenders. Kovatchev is always in the right place at the right time offensively and defensively, and Skytta is one of the team's best at playing downhill and getting to the rim.
• All three players were starters a year ago.

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

• Sacramento State is 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 entered the season with 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 Hornet program the last two seasons, including recruiting, on-floor coaching, player development and scouting.

THE TALE OF TWO HALVES

• During Big Sky play, the Hornets have struggled in the first half, before turning things around in the second. However, the large first half deficits have been hard to overcome.
• Sacramento State is being outscored by a whopping 14.2 ppg during the first half against Big Sky opposition. The Hornets have done a nice job of turning the tables in the second half, outscoring their Big Sky competition by 4.4 points after halftime.

SLOW STARTS

• In three of the team's four conference losses, Sacramento State has fallen victim to slow starts it could never quite overcome. Making the slow starts even more frustrating is two of them came at home against Idaho and Eastern Washington.
• Against Idaho, the Vandals jumped out to a 22-11 lead.
• Eastern Washington had a 27-10 lead as the Hornets did not score their fourth point until the 11:25 mark of the first half.
• Northern Arizona jumped out to a 25-7 lead as Sacramento State did not score its fourth point until the 12:29 mark of the first half.

GETTING TO THE FREE THROW LINE

• Sacramento State has done a nice job getting to the free throw line during league play.
• In fact, the team's 114 free throw attempts are second most in the Big Sky. However, Sacramento State is only shooting those freebies at a 68% clip (77-for-114).
• The Hornets have gone to the line at least 15 times in all five league games, averaging 22.8 trips to the charity stripe per game.
• Leading the way is Jacob Holt. His 43 attempts are 38 percent of the team's output.

YOUNG STARTING LINEUP AND ROTATION

• Prior to the recent spat of injuries, Sacramento State had consistently used a starting lineup consisting of three underclassmen (one freshman, two sophomores).
• Before Skytta went down, the Hornets used the following lineup (featuring just one senior) for six straight games - freshman Lachlan Brewer, sophomores Bailey Nunn and Emil Skytta, junior Julian Vaughns and senior Jacob Holt.
• When Skytta went down, forward Bowyn Beatty replaced Skytta in the lineup vs. EWU as the Hornets went big. However, Beatty then went down with injury the next practice.
• Last season, Sacramento State was one of four Div. I teams in the country to play their freshman over 40 percent of the team's total minutes.
 
HOLT'S BIG SEASON

• Senior forward Jacob Holt has established himself as one of the top players in the Big Sky with his consistent play. He currently ranks among the top five players in the conference in scoring (2nd at 16.9 ppg), rebounding (3rd at 7.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (5th at .533).
• Defensively, he sits at third in the league with 0.9 blocked shots per contests.
• He is the only player in the Big Sky to rank among the top five players in both scoring and rebounding, and has led the Hornets in scoring in 13 of the team's 18 games.
• That includes 35 points and 10 rebounds vs. Idaho on 8-14 FG, 2-2 3FG, and 17-21 FT. The 35 points are the fifth best output in the program's Div. I era (1991-pres.), and the second highest output in a loss. The free throws made and attempted are both Div. I records.
• Holt was Big Sky Player of the Week on Dec. 31, and has posted double-doubles in four of his last six games. That includes a narrow miss with 25 points and 9 boards at Northern Colo.
• He has scored in double figures 15 times, including seven 20-point efforts.
• If the season ended today, his scoring average would be the highest for a Hornet since Bryce Fowler averaged 19.0 ppg during the 2021-22 season.
• Holt also leads the Big Sky in free throws made (87) and attempted (119) - marks that currently rank 45th and 36th in the nation, respectively.
 
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 (and smallest) 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.

QUICK NOTABLES

• Point guard Bailey Nunn has started 10 straight games after going the first 37 games of his career without garnering a start. During those nine games, he is averaging a team-best 33.8 minutes to go with 8.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
• Both freshman Leo Ricketts and sophomore Kiir Kiir Chol Deng received their first minutes of the season last week at Northern Arizona. Rickets scored his first collegiate points (2) in nine minutes while Chol Deng had two rebounds in 10 minutes.
• Guard EJ Neal is due for a breakout game. He has gone a season-long four straight games (and seven of the last eight) scoring in single digits. This comes after notching double digits in six of the first 10 games of the season. Through six games, he was averaging 10.5 ppg (second on the team). Since that time, his scoring average has dropped to 7.8 ppg.
• On Saturday at Northern Colorado, guard Michael Wilson set or tied his career high in points (11), rebounds (7) and minutes (38). His 11 points came on 3-7 FG, 2-4 3FG, and 3-3 FT. That included a 3-ball with 3:14 left to give the Hornets a 61-59 lead.
• Guard Lachlan Brewer is shooting an impressive 47% (21-45) from the 3-point line. However, he has yet to attempt more than four 3-balls in any game this season.
• Guard Julian Vaughns had scored in double figures in three straight games before being limited to five points at Northern Colorado. His 10.1 ppg ranks second on the team.