GAME PREVIEW

• Sacramento State (9-18, 5-10) will play the first of three games over a five-day span when the team travels to Missoula to play Montana (14-14, 8-7). The Hornets and Griz will tip on Thursday at 6 p.m. PT.
• These upcoming three games are also the final of the regular season for Sacramento State and the rest of the league. The Big Sky Tournament will take place March 7-11 in Boise, Idaho. All 10 of the conference's teams qualify for the event.
• If the season ended today, the Hornets would be the No. 8 seed, playing No. 7 Idaho in the first round. The top six teams at the postseason event receive a first round bye.
• The Hornets are still seeking their first road win (0-14), and first Big Sky win away from home (0-7). After the Hornets' game on Thursday at Montana, the team will travel to Bozeman for a matchup Saturday at Montana State.
• Injuries have been a massive problem as the Hornets have played with either seven or eight players in the rotation each of the last four games. In fact, since guard Mikey Williams was injured late in the Portland State game, the Hornets have dropped four straight without the dynamic guard in the lineup.
• The Hornets have also been without two other starters in forwards Jeremiah Cherry and Brandon Gardner. Cherry, who is 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, was averaging 15.5 ppg and 8.2 rpg before getting injured at UCLA. He has missed 21 straight games. The Hornets are playing undersized in every game and were outrebounded, 49-28, by Idaho on Saturday.
• Despite the Hornets hitting a rough patch over the last two weeks, the team's nine overall wins and five conference victories are more than last season's records of 7-25 and 3-15.
• The Hornets are coming off an 86-80 home loss to Idaho in which the Vandals closed the final 3:11 on a 10-3 run.
• After starting the conference season with a 7-2 record, Montana has dropped five of its last six. The first loss during that stretch came to Sacramento State (86-79) at Hornet Pavilion. The Hornets and Griz played that game in front of 3,116 fans - the largest on-campus crowd in program history (1948-pres.).
• The Hornets are 13-52 all-time against Montana, and the win earlier this year snapped a five-game losing streak against the Griz.
• The Hornets are 3-27 all-time in Missoula with wins in 2022, 2017 and 2003. Each of the last two wins came by three combined points.
• Should the Hornets win on Thursday, it would be just the team's second season sweep of Montana since joining the Big Sky in 1996. The other came during the 2016-17 season.
• Four of the last five meetings in Missoula have been decided by seven points or less, and three of those were decided by two points or fewer.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Like every game the rest of the season, Thursday's contest will stream 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.