GAME PREVIEW

• Sacramento State (9-19, 5-11) will play its final regular season road game on Saturday afternoon at Montana State (16-13, 10-6). Tip at Worthington Arena is noon PT.
• The Hornets are playing the second leg of a stretch that will see the team play three games in five days to close the regular season. That includes Thursday's 81-73 loss at Montana in which Sacramento State trailed by just four points with a minute to play.
•  The Big Sky Tournament will take place March 7-11 in Boise, Idaho. All 10 of the conference's teams qualify for the event, and the top six receive a first round bye.
• If the season ended today, the Hornets would be the No. 9 seed, playing No. 10 Northern Arizona in the first round on Saturday, March 7, at 4:30 p.m. PT.
• The Hornets are still seeking their first road win (0-15), and first Big Sky win away from home (0-8). After the Hornets' game on Saturday at Montana State, the team closes the regular season at home on Monday vs. Idaho 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 five games. In fact, since guard Mikey Williams was injured late in the Portland State game, the Hornets have dropped five 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 22 straight games. The Hornets are playing undersized in every game and were outrebounded, 49-28, last week vs. Idaho.
• Despite the Hornets hitting a rough patch over the last few weeks, the team's nine overall wins and five conference victories are more than last season's records of 7-25 and 3-15.
• After starting the conference season with a 7-1 record, Montana State has dropped five of its last eight Big Sky games. However, the Bobcats earned an impressive 84-69 home win over first-place Portland State on Thursday night.
• Montana State was 7-1 in league until falling to the Hornets in Sacramento on Jan. 29 by an 83-80 score. In that game, the Hornets shot 56% from the field, their second highest output of the season.
• Sacramento State is 25-44 all-time vs. Montana State, and the Bobcats have won nine of the last 11 meetings. The Hornets are just 7-27 on the road vs. MSU, but did get a win Bozeman on Feb. 24, 2024, by a 66-63 score. 
• Coupled with the victory earlier this year in Sacramento, the Hornets are seeking their first season sweep of Montana State since the 2003-04 season. Sacramento State has swept MSU just twice, with the first time coming in the 2002-03 season.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Like every game the rest of the season, Saturday'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.

LAST MEETING VS. MONTANA STATE

• Prophet Johnson (27), Mikey Williams (23) and Mark Lavrenov (17) combined for 67 points to help Sacramento State to an 83-80 victory over MSU on Jan. 29 at the Pavilion.
• In a game the Hornets led for over 27 minutes of clock, Sacramento State shot a then season-high 56% (32-57) from the field while also knocking down eight treys in 18 attempts (44%). The Hornets had a huge advantage in fast break points (24-2), and scored 40 points in the paint - many off breakaway opportunities from the team's 11 steals.
• Sacramento State also turned the ball over just 11 times, contributing to a 17-11 edge in points off turnovers. The Hornets held a 45-38 halftime lead only to see Montana State chip away, and eventually take its largest lead of the second half at 71-69 with 4:39 to play. However, the Hornets closed the final four minutes on a 14-9 run, which included six points from Williams. 
• Perhaps the sequence of the game came with 30 seconds remaining. Montana Sate had the ball while trailing, 77-75, but Williams got a steal off a Jed Miller turnover, and fed a streaking Jahni Summers up the floor for a two-hand flush and a four -point lead.
• After the and-1 free throw from Summers gave the Hornets a five-point advantage, Sacramento State made three of its last four free throws to help put the game away. Williams buried two clutch free throws with four seconds left to give the Hornets a three-point lead, and Miller's desperation halfcourt heave at the buzzer was off the mark.