HORNETS AT THE BIG SKY TOURNAMENT

• Sacramento State will make its 16th appearance at the Big Sky Conference Tournament since joining the league prior to the 1996-97 season.
• As the No. 10 seed, the Hornets (7-24, 3-15) will play in the first round of the tournament on Saturday vs. No. 9 seed Weber State (11-21, 5-13) at 4:30 p.m. PT.
• The winner of that game will play top seed and Big Sky regular season co-champion Northern Colorado (23-8, 15-3) on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. PT in the quarterfinals.
• Last year, the Hornets were the No. 10 seed and made a nice run, defeating Idaho (72-64) in the first round and top seed Eastern Washington (74-69) in the quarterfinals. The run came to an end in the semifinals to eventual tournament champion Montana State (74-71) in a game that could have gone either way.
• Prior to the 2015-16 season, only the top six or seven teams qualified for the league's postseason event. This season marks the 10th straight year the tournament will be played on a neutral floor, and sixth straight at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho.
• All 10 Big Sky teams qualify for the league's postseason event and the top six teams receive a first round bye.
• The quarterfinal rounds will be played on Sunday and Monday, the semifinals on Tuesday, and the championship game Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. PT on ESPN2.
• Every game of the tournament will stream on ESPN+. Both semis and the championship will be televised. One semi is on ESPN2, and the other is on ESPNU.
• The Hornets have qualified for the semis four times (2003, 2006, 2015, 2024), but have never qualified for a Big Sky Tourney championship game since joining the league in 1996.
• The Hornets have won their first game of the tournament seven times in the last 10 years, and six of those victories came as the Nos. 7, 8, 9 or 10 seed. Over that 10-year stretch, Sacramento State won its first game in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2024
• Sacramento State is 10-14 all-time in tournament play. That includes an 0-2 record at home, 2-2 on the road, and 8-10 on a neutral floor. The Hornets hosted quarterfinal games in 2004 and 2005 as the No. 4 seed, but lost to No. 5 Weber State on both those occasions.

GAME PREVIEW

• Sacramento State (7-24, 3-15) will enter the tournament as losers of four straight, including a 59-56 loss at Portland State in the regular season finale. Of the Hornets' 18 Big Sky games, 10 were decided by six points or less (3-7 in those outcomes).
• Weber State (11-21, 5-13) has been playing close games for over a month as each of the team's last nine games have been decided by eight points or fewer.
• That includes the Hornets' 80-77 win over the Wildcats in Ogden on Feb. 20 when Jacob Holt's 3-pointer with 0:36 left was part of his huge 27 points and 13 rebounds night.
• The teams split their season series this year with each team winning on the road. That includes an 87-81 Wildcat victory at the Nest on Jan. 25. Both games were decided by six points or less, part of a pattern of close games between the teams.
• Seven straight Hornet-Wildcat meetings have been decided by six points or less (Weber is 5-2 in those outcomes). In fact, the two teams have played every game close since a 65-50 Wildcat victory in 2022.
• The Hornets' top two scoring games in Big Sky play have both come against Weber State (81 points at home; 80 points in Ogden). Also scored 80 points at Eastern Washington.
• Overall, Sacramento State is just 12-51 all-time against Weber State, including a 1-1 mark when playing on a neutral floor.
• Both of those neutral floor meetings have come at the Big Sky Tournament in Boise. That includes a 70-64 quarterfinal loss to Weber State on March 6, 2023, and a first round 62-54 Sacramento State victory on March 11, 2020.
• The Hornets are 1-5 in Big Sky Tourney play against Weber State, including losses in three straight postseasons to the Wildcats (2003-05). The Hornets lost at home in the quarterfinal round in 2005 and 2004, and lost in Ogden in the semis in 2003.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Every game of the Big Sky Tournament will stream on ESPN+. That includes televised games on the ESPN family of networks for the semifinals and championship game.
• The Big Sky Conference is in its fourth season of broadcasting its games on ESPN+.
• 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.
BIG SKY TOURNAMENT FORMAT

• This year's tournament features all 10 teams playing in a five-day, single-elimination
event that takes place at Boise's Idaho Central Arena from March 8-12
• The top six seeds - #1 Northern Colorado, #2 Montana, #3 Portland State, #4 Idaho State, #5 Montana State, #6 Idaho - each receive a first round bye.
• On Saturday, there are two first round games - No. 9 Weber State vs. No. 10 Sacramento State at 4:30 p.m. PST, and No. 7 Northern Arizona vs. No. 8 Eastern Washington at 7 p.m. PST.
• On Sunday, Northern Colorado will play the SAC/WSU winner at 4:30 p.m., and Montana will take on the NAU/EWU winner at 7 p.m.
• On Monday, Idaho State and Montana State will play at 4:30 p.m. PT, prior to Portland State taking on Idaho at 7 p.m. PT.
• The semifinals will take place on Tuesday - 6:00 p.m. on ESPNU, and 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
• The championship game will air on ESPN2 on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. PT.
• Every game of the tournament will stream live on ESPN+.

INJURIES HAVE NOT BEEN KIND

• 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 27 consecutive games with injury.
• Emil Skytta, who started 41 consecutive games dating back to last season, missed seven straight games from Jan. 11-Feb. 1
• Senior guard Julian Vaughns - the team's second leading scorer - has missed six of the last seven games. Prior to the injury, Vaughns was playing his best basketball of the year.
• Sophomore guard Bailey Nunn missed a pair of home games (Feb. 13 and Feb. 15), and is still working his way back into shape.
• 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 15 straight games.
• Forward Jalen Pitre, who started the first four games of the season, has missed 23 consecutive games.

SKYTTA PLAYING HIS BEST BALL OF THE SEASON

• Over the last five games, guard Emil Skytta is playing his best basketball of the season - impressive considering he is still not quite 100% after recently returning from injury.
• During those five games, he is the team's second leading scorer at 11.6 ppg and has scored in double figures four times. He scored 10+ points twice in his first 19 games.
• Also, during the five-game stretch, he is shooting 59% FG (24-41) and 40% 3FG (8-20). He is also averaging 4.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 34.7 minutes.
• The run includes a season-high 14 points at Weber State, 13 vs. Montana State, 12 at Portland State, and 11 at Idaho State.

PROVIDING A SPARK

• Due, in part, to the multitude of injuries, a pair of walk-ons - guards Michael Wilson and Leo Ricketts - have become routine rotational players.
• Ricketts, a true freshman walk-on, recently started four straight games, which included playing all 40 minutes vs. both Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.
• After garnering a DNP each of the first 16 games of the year, he has played 15 straight  games, and is averaging 4.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 16.1 minutes.
• Wilson, in his second year with the Hornets, has played 20+ minutes in 11 conference games, and is averaging 4.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 18.8 minutes per contest. On Monday at Portland State, he had 10 points and four rebounds in 34 minutes off the bench.

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.

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 0-22. 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 1-22 when trailing with five minutes to go, and 0-2 when tied at five minutes.

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 four 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.

SLOW STARTS

• In eight of the team's 15 conference losses, Sacramento State fell victim to extremely slow starts it could never quite overcome. Below are a few examples:
• At home, Eastern Washington had a 27-10 lead.
• Northern Arizona jumped out to a 25-7 lead in Flagstaff.
• 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 the recent home loss to Montana, the Grizzlies got off to a 20-6 lead.
• Consider the Hornets have been outscored in the first half of conference games by 7.8 points, but have outscored the opposition by 0.9 points in the second half.

THE PROFICIENT DIORAMMA

• Redshirt freshman forward Chudi Dioramma has served as Jacob Holt's backup all season. When Holt exits a game, Dioramma takes his place and vise versa.
• Though he is averaging just 5.8 points and 3.7 rebounds, the 6-foot-10 native of London, England, is shooting 64 percent (75-118) from the field.
• With Holt's graduation this year, expect big things from Dioramma next season when he takes over as the primary big man in the rotation. His 40-minute averages are 18.5 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. That also includes 4.2 offensive boards.
 
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 7.5 rpg) and scoring (5th at 16.1 ppg).
• He has led the team in scoring on 20 occasions this season, including five of the last six games. During that stretch was a huge game at Weber State where he had 27 points and career-high tying 13 rebounds while hitting the dagger 3-ball in the closing minute.
• Holt has six double-doubles this season, ten 20+ point games, and two 30+ games.
• He also ranks top 3 in the league in free throws made (129) and attempted (181).
• 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

• Recently, the Hornets played their final two home games in the Nest. 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 played in the Nest for 70 years. The program played its first four seasons of Big Sky play at downtown Memorial Auditorium from  1996-00.