SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State first-year head men's basketball coach Mike Bibby announced the 2025-26 schedule today.

The schedule includes 30 games, comprised of 14 at home and 16 on the road. The regular season begins with a home game vs. Dominican on Nov. 4, and concludes with a home matchup vs. Idaho State on March 2. The Big Sky Tournament is March 7-11 in Boise, Idaho, followed by the first day of the NCAA Tournament on March 17.

The Hornets will play the usual 18-game Big Sky Conference portion of the schedule (nine at home, nine on the road) beginning on Jan. 1, as well as 12 non-league games. Sacramento State begins the season with three straight, and four of its first five, at home.

Notables:

• Sacramento State's 66-year run in the Nest will come to an end this season, as the team will move its home games to The WELL on campus. A name for the facility has yet to be determined. The project is converting a portion of the The WELL, an on-campus fitness facility, into a venue for both the men's and women's basketball teams. Seating capacity will be around 3,000, and the project should be done in September. The Hornets had 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.

• Every Hornet home game will begin at 7 p.m., with the exception of a Sunday game (Nov. 16) vs. Presbyterian which will begin at 1 p.m.

• Sacramento State opens the season with a three-game homestand - Nov. 4 vs. Dominican, Nov. 7 vs. Jessup, Nov. 11 vs. UC Santa Barbara. In addition, the team has a season-long four game homestand during Big Sky Conference play from Jan. 29-Feb. 7.

• The team will play a season-long seven-game road trip from Nov. 29-Jan. 10. That includes its final four non-conference games (Pacific, Baylor, California Baptist, CSUN) and first three Big Sky games (Idaho State, Weber State, Portland State). In fact, the Hornets do not play a home game between Nov. 26 and Jan. 14, a span of 50 consecutive days without a home contest.

• Sacramento State's annual matchup vs. UC Davis will be on the road on Friday, Nov. 14. In the teams' last matchup at Davis, the Hornets pulled out a 69-63 victory on Nov. 26, 2023. The Hornets have won four of the last six meetings in the series, and own a 73-49 all-time record against the Aggies.

• The Hornets will play in the Empire Classic Multi-Team Event. As part of the MTE, Sacramento State will play a home game vs. Presbyterian (Nov. 16), followed by road matchups at UCLA (Nov. 18) and California (Nov. 21). The matchup at UCLA will mark just the fourth time the teams have played, and first since 2022. Every game has been played in Los Angeles. Sacramento State played at Cal in an MTE last year, and fell by an 83-77 score.

• Sacramento State will be playing two opponents for the first time in program history (Baylor, Presbyterian). Baylor, a member of the Big 12 Conference, has reached at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament each of the last six years. That includes a 2021 national championship. Presbyterian, which hails from Clinton, S.C., plays in the Big South Conference and joined the Div. I ranks prior to the 2007-08 season.

• All 14 players on the Hornets' roster are brand new to the program. Sacramento State is one of eight programs in the country with zero returning players from a year ago. One of those teams is Baylor, who the Hornets play on Dec. 2 in Waco, Texas.

• The entire Sacramento State coaching staff is new to the program, except Zach Chappell who was an assistant coach last season. This year, Chappell is the assistant general manager. Chappell also played for the Hornets from 2020-23.

• In all, the Hornets play non-league opponents from seven different Div. I conferences - Big West (UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, CSUN), Big 12 (Baylor), Big 10 (UCLA), ACC (California), WCC (Pacific), Big South (Presbyterian) and WAC (California Baptist). 

• Once the Big Sky portion of the schedule begins on the road on Jan. 1, the Hornets will play 18 straight games vs. conference opposition, concluding with March 2 at home vs. Idaho State.

• The conference slate features the usual Thursday-Saturday-Monday matchups with teams playing each week on two of those days, primarily Thursday and Saturday. In fact, the Hornets play just two league games on Monday (both at home) - Feb. 2 vs. Weber State; March 2 vs. Idaho State. Each team in the 10-member Big Sky will play the other teams twice, followed by the Big Sky Tournament which takes place in Boise for the eighth straight year. Sacramento State will play nine Saturday games during conference play, seven Thursdays, and two Mondays.

• This year marks the Hornets' 30th in the Big Sky Conference (1996-pres.), but will also serve as the team's last. Recently, Sacramento State announced that it will join the Big West Conference as a full member beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. In 2026, the Hornets will join a Big West lineup that includes California Baptist, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, CSUN, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and Utah Valley.

• Senior Day will be Monday, March 2, vs. Idaho State. The Hornets have four seniors on the roster - Jeremiah Cherry, Prophet Johnson, Jeremiah Nyarko, Shaqir O'Neal.

• Last year's Hornet roster featured players from six different countries. This year, of the 14 players on the roster, 13 are from the United States. Only one player is from overseas - Nyarko (Ghana). The 13 Americans represent six different states within the U.S. - California (5), Arizona (3), Georgia (2), Florida (1), Indiana (1) and Ohio (1).