GAME PREVIEW

• Playing its best basketball of the season, Sacramento State (8-13, 4-5) will host Weber State (11-11, 5-4) on Monday evening. Tip at Hornet Pavilion is 7 p.m.
• Monday will see the Hornets play at home for the third time in five days. Sacramento State beat Montana State (83-80) on Thursday, and Montana (86-79) on Saturday. Both of those teams entered the game in second place in the Big Sky standings.
• Sacramento State is 8-1 at home at home, including 4-0 vs. Big Sky competition. Overall, the team has won six straight at home since a 92-87 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 11.
• The Hornets have consistently sold out the fixed seating portion of Hornet Pavilion, and are averaging 2,685 fans per night. The total attendance of 24,168 over nine home games is more fans than the last two years combined. Saturday's crowd of 3,116 was the largest on-campus crowd in program history (1948-pres.) for a basketball game.
• Each of the Hornets' last three home games have been one possession games in the final minute, only to see Sacramento State come out victorious in each.
• This current four-game homestand is a welcome sight for a Hornet team that is still seeking its first road victory. The team went 49 straight days without a home game from Nov. 30-Jan. 14. That streak is the third longest in the country among Div. I teams.
• Eight different Hornets have missed games to injuries this season. None bigger than forward Jeremiah Cherry (15.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg) who has missed the last 15 games with injury. Fellow starter Brandon Gardner has missed the last five games with injury.
• Sacramento State is at the midway point of the conference season, and already has more overall wins (8) and conference wins (4) than all of last season's 7-25, 3-15 squad.
• The Wildcats (5-4) are tied for fourth in the conference standings, and Sacramento State (4-5) is just a game back in sixth place. The top six seeds will receive a first round bye at the Big Sky Tournament which takes place in Boise, Idaho, from March 7-11.
• Weber State will be the first Big Sky team the Hornets will play for a second time. The Wildcats defeated the Hornets, 95-82, on Jan. 3 in Ogden, Utah.
• The Hornets are 12-53 all-time against Weber State, and have dropped 11 of the last 13 stretching back to 2021. Sacramento State defeated the Wildcats in Ogden last season, which also happens to be the Hornets' last road victory.
• Sacramento State is 8-23 at home vs. Weber State, and has just one win in the last six games at home against the Wildcats - 71-69 victory at the Nest on Jan. 11, 2024.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Monday's game will stream on ESPN+ with 29th-year play-by-play announcer Steve McElroy and former Hornet assistant coach Ajay Riding on the call.
• 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..

LAST MEETING VS. WEBER STATE

• Four Hornets scored in double figures, led by Mikey Williams' game-high 26 points, but it was not enough in Sacramento State's 95-82 loss at Weber State on Jan. 3.
• The game marked Sacramento State's sixth consecutive road game.
• After Jahni Summers opened the game's scoring with a 3-pointer, Weber State responded with a 14-2 run, and led for nearly 39 minutes of clock. Though the Wildcats never led by more than 16 points the entire way, Weber State kept its lead at eight points or more the majority of the way.
• Sacramento State, which trailed at the break, 50-39, continued to scratch and claw throughout the second half. That included a 9-0 run to get within six points (67-61) of the Wildcat lead with 9:51 to play. The Hornets would later cut the deficit again to six points at 70-64, but got no closer. 
• Williams had a game-high 26 points to go with four rebounds and a steal. After scoring 12 points in the first half, he added 14 more in the second half. 
• The big difference in the game was at the free throw line where Weber State converted on 11 more freebies. Sacramento State, uncharacteristically, shot just 63% (15-24) from the line while the Wildcats were at 77% (26-34). 
• Weber State made just one more field goal (SAC 29-65; WSU 30-59) and both teams converted on nine three balls. Weber State finished 9-for-18 from distance, including Vartiainen Viljani who scored 20 points on 6-of-8 from 3PT.
• Mark Lavrenov (12), Jayden Teat (12) and Taj Glover (10) also scored in double figures.

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 in all but one home game. 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 14 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 14 players on the roster, there are 10 Div. I transfers, two high school players, one junior college transfer, and one transfer from a Div. II school. 
• The 12 total transfers on the Hornets' roster are tied for third most in the country. The leader is 14 by both Memphis and Southern Miss. There are zero teams with 13 transfers on the roster.
• 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.
 
HITTING THE FREEBIES

• Sacramento State has done a great job at getting to the free throw line, and once there, converting on its freebies.
• The Hornets lead the Big Sky, and rank 31st in the nation, with 18.5 free throws made per game. In addition, they are 24th in the country with a .773 free throw percentage.
• The team recently converted a program-record 34 straight free throws which spanned parts of three games. That included making the final nine freebies vs. Northern Colorado, going 17-for-17 at Idaho, and making its first eight at Eastern Washington.
• The 17 makes at Idaho were the most without a miss during the program's Div. I era. Five different Hornets are currently shooting above 80 percent from the free throw line.

LAVRENOV NOT PLAYING LIKE A FRESHMAN

• True Freshman forward Mark Lavrenov took on a big role after Jeremiah Cherry went down with injury at UCLA. 
• In stepped Lavrenov, who has been one of the team's best players. He has posted four double-doubles in the last six games, and has seen his scoring improve drastically of late. Over the last five games, he is averaging 18.0 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
• Overall, he is averaging 10.0 points and 7.1 rebounds. And in conference play, he has raised those numbers to 14.4 points and 8.4 rebounds. 
• That includes 17 points and 17 rebounds vs. Northern Colorado, back-to-back 26-point games at Idaho and Eastern Washington, and 17 points and 12 boards vs. Montana State.
• He is second in the Big Sky in both rebounding and offensive rebounds per game (2.9) against conference opposition. He has also pulled 10+ rebounds in five of the last seven.
 
STAT SHEET STUFFING PROPHET

• Senior guard Prophet Johnson was named the Big Sky Player of the Week two weeks ago after averaging 29.5 ppg. That included 30 vs. Northern Colorado, and 29 vs. NAU. He is off to another big start this week, averaging 26.5 ppg vs. the Montana schools.
• He has scored in double figures 15 times, including nine games with at least 20 points.
• Johnson is averaging 17.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals per game
• The steals are the eighth best mark in the nation. Among players standing under 6-foot-5, his 8.0 rebounds are the best mark in the country. In addition, the rebounding average is the third best among all guards in the nation.
• Despite being in just his third season of Div. I ball, he snagged his 500th career rebound last week at Eastern Washington, and now has 1,021 Div. I points.
• At 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, his seven double-doubles are just three shy of the Hornet Div. I era season record of 10, set by center Callum McRae in 2022-23.
 
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 14 points in all but one of his games vs. Big Sky opposition. He missed two straight games to injury, before returning to score 14 at Idaho.
• He scored 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 scored in double figures in eight straight games, including 18+ points six times. That streak ended with four points at EWU.
• Overall, he has 15 games in double figures (two 30-point games). After averaging 13.3 ppg through eight games, he is averaging 20.1 ppg over his last 11 games.
• His average of 20.6 ppg in Big Sky play is fourth best in the conference. Overall, Williams is averaging 16.9 points, 4.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 34.9 minutes per game (3rd in Big Sky).