GAME PREVIEW

• Sacramento State (7-21, 3-12) will play its final two home games of the season this week against the Montana schools. That begins on Thursday vs. Montana (20-8, 13-2). Tip at the Nest is set for 7 p.m.
• Thursday will mark the first of just two remaining games in the Nest. Sacramento State, which began playing games in the Nest in 1955, will move to The Well next season. The project will convert a portion of The Well, an on-campus fitness facility, into a venue for both men's and women's basketball, and will seat around 3,000 fans.
• The volleyball and gymnastics teams will continue to play in the Nest next season and beyond, while both the men's and women's basketball teams will move into the new facility. A name has not yet been established for the new digs.
• The Hornets have just three games left in the regular season as Thursday begins a stretch of three games in five days - Saturday vs. Montana State, Monday at Portland State.
• Sacramento State is 5-9 at home, and 2-5 vs. conference foes in the Nest. The Hornets split a pair of road games last week, including an 80-77 win at Weber State on Thursday.
• The Big Sky Tournament, hosted in Boise, Idaho, will begin on Saturday, March 8. All 10 teams in the Big Sky qualify for the postseason event, and most likely, Sacramento State will take on Weber State in the first round on March 8 at 4:30 p.m. PT. The winner of that game will take on the No. 1 seed on Sunday, March 9. That opponent could be Montana.
• Speaking of the No. 1 seed, Montana is currently in first place, and in a battle with Northern Colorado for the Big Sky's regular season championship. The Grizzlies currently sit in first with a 13-2 conference record, while the Bears are a half game back at 13-3. Montana is seeking its first regular season title since the 2018-19 season.
• The Griz are the hottest team in the Big Sky, having won nine straight. Of those nine wins, six have come by single digits, including Saturday's 89-85 win at Montana State.
• Montana is 6-7 on the road, but 6-1 against Big Sky foes.
• The Hornets are 12-51 all-time vs. Montana, including a 9-22 mark at home. Sacramento State has dropped four straight to the Grizzlies.
• One of those losses came earlier this season in an 87-59 defeat in Missoula. That was the Hornets' most lopsided defeat in Big Sky play this year, and second most lopsided loss of the season (82-45 at Oregon State).
• Sacramento State's last win in the series came on Jan. 26, 2023, a 67-48 home victory.
• Montana is shooting 50 percent from the field, the second best mark in the nation. That has led to a scoring average of 76.9 ppg (second best in the Big Sky). The team has four starters averaging between 11.5 and 13.7 points.
• Montana senior guard Austin Patterson played the previous two seasons for the Hornets. He is currently averaging 5.6 points and 18.8 minutes per game. Last season at Sacramento State, he averaged 9.5 points and 28.0 minutes per contest.

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 home games, and will be joined for both games this week by former Hornet assistant coach Ajay Riding.
• 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 MEETING (HORNETS VS. GRIZ)

• Montana shot 56% (32-57) from the field, and 46% (12-26) from the 3-point line on the way to an 87-59 victory over Sacramento State on Feb. 1 at Dahlberg Arena.
• Montana never trailed, and led by at least 12 points the entire second half. The Grizzlies saw 12 players crack the scoring column while shooting at least 55 percent from the field in both halves. Conversely, Sacramento State, which trailed, 38-26 at halftime, shot 37% (20-54) from the field and 22% (5-23) from distance.
• The Hornets did attempt eight more free throws than Montana, finishing 14-for-19.
• The Hornets received 29 of their 59 points from the bench. That includes true freshman Leo Ricketts providing scoring punch with 13 points (4-8 FG, 2-5 3FG, 3-3 FT) to go with a pair of rebounds and two steals. Julian Vaughns had 13 points and five rebounds.

INJURY BUG GO AWAY

• Sacramento State has dealt with injuries a good portion of the season to key players.
• Guard Alex Kovatchev, after starting each of the first four games, has missed 24 consecutive games with injury.
• Emil Skytta, who started 41 consecutive games dating back to last season, missed seven straight games until returning three weeks ago. He has played six games since his return.
• Senior guard Julian Vaughns - the team's second leading scorer - has missed the last four games. Prior to the injury, Vaughns was playing his best basketball of the season.
• Sophomore guard Bailey Nunn missed the last two home games with injury before returning last week to play in both road contests.
• Seven-foot forward Bowyn Beatty, a rotational player who appeared in each of the first 16 games (including a start two days before his injury), has missed 12 straight games.
• Its one thing to lose reserves to injury, but its entirely another to lose starters. Kovatchev, Skytta, Nunn and Vaughns are all starters.

PROVIDING A SPARK

• Due, in part, to the multitude of injuries, a pair of walk-ons - guards Michael Wilson and Leo Ricketts - are key rotational players and both are receiving good minutes.
• Ricketts, a true freshman walk-on, recently played 40 minutes in back-to-back games. He has played in 12 straight games after getting a DNP each of the first 16 games of the season. He has garnered the start in four straight games, and was the Hornets' best player at Montana when he scored 13 points.
• Wilson, in his second year with the Hornets, has played 28+ minutes in five of the last nine games, and has been a fixture in the rotation the last 15 games. In the team's matchup at Missoula, Wilson had seven points, five rebounds and a steal in 26 minutes.

INTERNATIONAL ROSTER

• 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 two as associate head coach.

GOING YOUNG

• Sacramento State has a 14-man roster, and nine of those players are underclassmen (six sophomores, three freshmen) with just two seniors.
• The Hornets rotation has featured three freshmen and three sophomores for nearly the entire slate of Big Sky games.
• Each of the last two games, the Hornets have used an eight-man rotation that includes three freshmen, three sophomores and a pair of seniors. The starting lineup has two freshmen and one sophomore. The lone seniors are Jacob Holt and EJ Neal.

10 MINUTE MARK TELLS THE TALE

• The 10 minute mark of the second half is a great indicator of whether or not the Hornets will win or lose. When trailing with 10 minutes to play, the team is 0-19. When leading at the 10-minute mark, Sacramento State is 7-2.
• In addition, the team is 6-0 when leading at the five minute mark, but 1-19 when trailing with five minutes to go, and 0-2 when tied at five minutes.

SLOW STARTS

• In seven of the team's 12 conference losses, Sacramento State fell victim to extremely slow starts it could never quite overcome.
• At home against Idaho, the Vandals jumped out to a 22-11 lead.
• At home, 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 in Flagstaff as Sacramento State did not score its fourth point until the 12:29 mark of the first half.
• Weber State got off to an 18-7 lead in the Nest.
• Montana jumped out to a 25-11 lead in Missoula.
• At home vs. Northern Colorado, the Bears got off to a 25-6 lead at the 9:44 mark.
• In Saturday's loss at Idaho State, the Bengals jumped out to a 35-19 lead.

DEFENSIVELY SPEAKING

• Overall, Sacramento State is third in the Big Sky in scoring defense (70.3 ppg), and ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.436).
• That has helped the Hornets stay in games despite an offense that ranks last in the league at 67.1 points per game.
• However, the team is averaging 73.0 ppg over the last two games on the strength of burying 27 3-pointers and shooting 48 percent from distance (27-for-56) over that span.

BREWER'S HOT STREAK

• Over the last five games, true freshman guard Lachlan Brewer has been impressive, averaging 10.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 1.6 spg while shooting 59% FG (19-32) and 67% 3FG (10-15).
• That includes three double-figure point games over that five-game span after doing so four times in his first 22 games of the season.
• Brewer poured in season bests in points (17) and 3-pointers (5-for-6) in the win at Weber State. That came one game after posting a double-double (11 pts, 10 reb) vs. NAU.
• This season, he is shooting a very proficient .479 (34-71) from the 3-point line. If he had enough attempts to qualify, that percentage would rank as the top mark in the country.
 
HOLT'S BIG SEASON

• Senior forward Jacob Holt has established himself as one of the top players in the Big Sky. In league play, he is the only player in the conference to rank among the top five in both rebounding (4th at 7.6 rpg) and scoring (5th at 16.1 ppg).
• He has scored 17+ points in three straight games, and has posted double-doubles in two of the last three. That includes 27 pts and 13 reb at Weber State, and 17 pts and 13 reb vs. Northern Arizona. He hit the dagger 3-ball at Weber State, and the 13 rebounds set a new career best. In both of those 13-rebound games, he had five offensive boards.
• Holt now has six double-doubles this season, nine 20+ point games, and two 30+ games.
• He also ranks second in the league in free throw attempts (164) and third in makes (118).
• If the season ended today, his 16.2 overall scoring average would rank as the highest for a Hornet since Bryce Fowler averaged 19.0 ppg during the 2021-22 season.
 
FINAL SEASON IN THE NEST

• Sacramento State will play its final two games in the Nest this week. Next year, the team will move into the The Well on campus. A name for the facility has yet to be determined.
• The project will 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 adjacent 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 spent their first four Big Sky years at downtown Memorial Auditorium.

TALE OF TWO HALVES

• Sacramento State is being outscored by 8.8 ppg during the first half against Big Sky opposition. In the second half, the Hornets have outscored the opposition by two points.