GAME PREVIEW

• Fresh off its first Big Sky Conference win on Thursday, Sacramento State (5-11, 1-3) will play its second home game in three days on Saturday night vs. Northern Colorado (11-7, 1-4). Tip is 7 p.m. at Hornet Pavilion.
• The Hornets used a large second half (49-30) to defeat Northern Arizona on Thursday night by an 83-69 score.
• Sacramento State had played its first three Big Sky Conference games on the road before beating NAU in the Big Sky home opener.
• Thursday night's victory put an end to a ruthless stretch of 49 straight days without a home game - the third long streak in the nation without a home contest.
• It also put the team's 0-7 road trip in the rear view mirror. Thursday was the Hornets' first home game since a 94-46 victory over San Francisco State on Nov. 25.
• The Hornets have won four straight at home, and are 5-1 at the brand new Hornet Pavilion. Sacramento State's only loss at home came via 92-87 loss to a UC Santa Barbara team that was picked to finish second in the Big West Conference preseason poll.
• The win over NAU came without the services of the Hornets' first (Mikey Williams) and third (Jeremiah Cherry) leading scorers. Both were out with injury. Williams easily leads the Big Sky with 29.7 ppg in league play, and is questionable for Saturday's game. Cherry has missed 10 straight games to injury.
• Seven Hornets have missed at least one game to injury this season, and forward Brandon Gardner went down with injury in the first half vs. NAU, and did not return.
• Northern Colorado, which is the defending Big Sky regular season champions, has lost six of its last eight games after beginning the season with a 9-1 record. The Bears' 1-4 league record is surprising after being picked third in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll.
• The Bears are coming off a 76-73 road loss at Portland State on Thursday.
• In a series that dates back to 2006, the Hornets are 9-26 all-time against Northern Colorado. That includes a 6-11 record at home.
• The Bears have won five straight in the series, but three of those victories came by five points or fewer. The last Hornet win was at home (72-64) on Jan. 12, 2023.
• Last season, Northern Colorado swept the season series with a 77-61 win in Sacramento, and a 68-64 victory in Greeley.
• The Bears shoot an impressive 49% from the field - tops in the Big Sky and 36th in the nation. They also shoot 37% from 3PT, the 37th best mark in the nation. Four of Northern Colorado's starters average double figures in points for a team that averages 84.0 ppg.

MULTIMEDIA/TELEVISION OPTIONS

• For the fifth straight season, all Hornet home games, and games played at a Big Sky Conference venue, will stream on ESPN+. 
• That includes Saturday night that airs on ESPN+ with 29th-year play-by-play announcer Steve McElroy and former Hornet assistant coach Ajay Riding on the call.
• In addition, the game will be televised locally on KMAX 31. It is the first of five home games that will be televised throughout the season. Saturday will also mark the first time in recent memory the Hornets had a home game televised.
• 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..

RECAP OF NORTHERN ARIZONA VICTORY

• Sacramento State's Prophet Johnson scored a season-high 29 points, Mark Lavrenov added a double-double (11 pts, 10 reb) and Jayden Teat buried four 3-pointers to lead the Hornets to an 83-69 victory over Northern Arizona on Thursday evening.
• After trailing by five (39-34) at halftime, Sacramento State had a huge second half in which they outscored Northern Arizona, 49-30. 
• The Hornets broke things open with a 13-2 run over a four minute stretch that extended a three-point advantage to 74-60 with 4:42 remaining. Sacramento State led by at least 11 points the rest of the way. 
• NAU led by as many as 10 points (50-40) early in the second half, before the Hornets outscored the Lumberjacks, 43-19, during the game's final 16 minutes.
• The Hornets earned their first conference win in the Mike Bibby era.
• Sacramento State had just seven turnovers, outscored NAU, 18-8, in points off turnovers, and also had a large advantage (18-7) in second chance points. 

THE BIBBY ERA

• Head coach Mike Bibby, who spent half of his 14-year NBA career with the Sacramento Kings, returned to the city where he became a fan favorite while helping the Kings to multiple playoff appearances in the early 2000s.
• A first team All-American, Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year and the No. 2 overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Bibby helped Arizona to a 1997 NCAA national championship.
• Recently, Bibby had assistant coaching stops with the Puerto Rican National Team, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies summer league teams, and G-League Ignite.
• During his six seasons at Shadow Mountain High School (five as head coach), he coached the team to five state championships, a 157-21 overall record, a 72-game winning streak, and a six-year home winning streak.

SHAQ ON BOARD AS GENERAL MANAGER

• Shaquille O'Neal is in his first season as general manager of the Hornets. He joined the program shortly after the appointment of Mike Bibby to head coach.
• O'Neal played 19 years in the NBA and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.
• He accepted the position in a volunteer capacity and will focus on recruitment, marketing, and holistic player development - both on and off the court.

FORMER KING BRAD MILLER ALSO ON STAFF

• Fourteen-year NBA veteran Brad Miller is also on staff as the team's Lead Advisor.
• Miller spent six years with the Kings where he and Bibby were teammates from 2003-07.
• A two-time All-Star, Miller finished his career with 11.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 48% from the field and 80% from the free throw line.

ENTIRE COACHING STAFF IS NEW

• Not only is Mike Bibby brand new to the program, so is his entire coaching staff. That includes his son, Michael Bibby, who is one of two associate head coaches.
• Joining the Bibbys on the staff are associate head coach Raymond Walcott, and assistant coaches Jason Fraser, Greg Moody II and Dr. August Mendes.
• The Hornets list two general managers, including Zach Chappell and Shaq. Chappell was an assistant coach on last year's coaching staff, and also played three highly successful seasons as player at Sacramento State (2020-23). An all-Big Sky Conference performer as a senior in 2022-23, he played one season of pro ball in Germany in 2024.
• Dr. Al Biancani, the new strength and conditioning coach, developed a relationship with Bibby when he served in the same role with the Sacramento Kings while Bibby was a player. Biancani was the second-ever strength coach hired by an NBA team.

THE MOVE TO HORNET PAVILION

• Sacramento State's 66-year run in the Nest has come to an end.
• The team moved its home games to The WELL on campus. The name of the facility is Hornet Pavilion. The project converted a portion of the The WELL, an on-campus fitness facility, into a venue for both the men's and women's basketball teams.
• Overall capacity is 3,000, and the project was completed in late October. The fixed seating portion of the facility has sold out four of the Hornets' first five home games. The only non-packed house came on a Sunday afternoon game vs. Presbyterian.
• 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.

BRAND NEW ROSTER

• All 15 players on the Hornets' roster are brand new to the program. Sacramento State is one of seven programs in the country with zero returning players from a year ago. 
• Of the 15 players on the roster, there are 11 Div. I transfers, two high school players, one junior college transfer, and one transfer from a Div. II school. 
• The 13 total transfers on the Hornets' roster are third most in the country, trailing only 14 by both Memphis and Southern Miss. There are seven teams that sit just below the Hornets with 12 transfers.
• Davis Ambuehl, who played for Hornet Football in the fall as a tight end, joined the Hornets on Nov. 25. He has yet to play for the basketball team while dealing with injury.

FINAL SEASON IN THE BIG SKY

• This season marks the Hornets' 30th in the Big Sky Conference (1996-pres.), but will also serve as the team's last.
• During the summer, 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.

MIKEY MAKING HIS MARK

• Sophomore guard Mikey Williams, who is a nationally popular player with over 3 million followers on Instagram, has been very good in his first season with the Hornets.
• He has scored at least 26 points in all three league games, and easily leads the Big Sky with an average of 29.7 ppg in conference play. He did miss Thursday's game to injury.
• That includes a career-high 34 points at Idaho State, 26 at Weber State, and 29 at Portland State. That's all part of a stretch in which he has scored in double figures each of the last seven games, including 18+ points in each of the last six.
• Overall, he has 12 games in double figures (two 30-point games), including at least seven points in every game. After averaging 13.3 ppg through the first eight games of the season, he is averaging 23.0 ppg over the last seven games.
• Among conference leaders (overall), he is second in minutes (34.8 mpg), free throws made (80) and attempted (102), and fourth in scoring (17.8 ppg) and assists (4.7 apg).
 
GLOVER'S SURGE

• Over his last three games, redshirt freshman guard Taj Glover is averaging 9.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 20.3 minutes per game. 
• That is a huge increase in production when you consider through the first 13 games, he was averaging 2.8 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 9.4 minutes per game.
• He hadn't scored in double figures all season until racking up 10 points at Weber State, and 11 at Portland State. On Thursday vs. Northern Arizona, he started in place of Mikey Williams and responded with eight points, four rebounds and seven assists in 28 minutes.

LAVRENOV FILLING IN WELL FOR INJURED BEAR

• Freshman forward Mark Lavrenov was thrust into action after Jeremiah Cherry went down with injury at UCLA. Cherry, off to a big start (15.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg), was injured at the 8:18 mark of the first half against the Bruins and has not played since.
• In stepped Lavrenov, who immediately posted a double-double (10 pts, 10 reb) in 29 minutes against the Bruins. He added another double-double (11 pts, 10 reb) vs. NAU.
• Despite playing sparingly the first five games of the season, Lavrenov is averaging 7.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 21.1 minutes while getting to the FT line often (78%, 47-for-60). Of his 102 rebounds, 39 have been on the offensive glass. In league, he is 10.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg.
• There is no time table for Cherry's return. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound forward is averaging 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per contest.
 
STAT SHEET STUFFING PROPHET

• A valuable all-around guard, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Prophet Johnson is averaging 15.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.8 steals and 33.6 minutes. That includes a huge game vs. NAU when he scored a season-high 29 points to go with six rebounds and six steals.
• He already has six double-doubles, leads the Big Sky in steals, ranks second in rebounds, and is the third best rebounding guard in the country. He is also 9th in the nation in steals.
• He has scored in double figures 11 times, including six games with at least 20 points. 
• Overall, Johnson is the Big Sky's eighth leading scorer, averages 6.2 FTA per game, and has scored 12+ points in 11 games. His six double-doubles are just four shy of the Hornet Div. I era season record of 10, set by center Callum McRae in 2022-23.
 
NOTABLES

Sophomore Jayden Teat has scored in double figures in a season-high three straight games. During that stretch, he is averaging 11.7 points, and has buried 10 3-pointers (56%, 10-for-18 from 3PT). He has connected for at least three 3-balls in each of those games.