GAME PREVIEW

• Sacramento State (9-20, 5-12) will play its regular season finale at home on Monday vs. Idaho State (12-18, 5-12). Tip at Hornet Pavilion is 7 p.m.
• The Hornets will be playing their third game in five days, which includes road losses to Montana (81-73) on Thursday, and Montana State (82-61) on Saturday.
• Monday is Senior Night, and Hornet seniors Prophet Johnson, Shaqir O'Neal, Davis Ambuehl and team manager Vince Cooke will be honored prior to the game.
• The winner of Monday's game will be the No. 8 seed, and play No. 7 Idaho in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament (Boise, Idaho) on Saturday, March 7, at 7 p.m. PT. The loser of Monday's game will either be the No. 9 or 10 seed, and play Northern Arizona on March 7 at 4:30 p.m. PT. NAU cannot finish higher than the 9 seed.
• The top six teams receive a first round bye, and Idaho is locked into the No. 7 spot.
• While Sacramento State is winless on the road (0-16), the Hornets have been good at home as the team is 9-4 at Hornet Pavilion. The average attendance of 2,738 fans at Hornet Pavilion is the third best mark in the Big Sky (trailing the Montana schools).
• The Hornets, however, have lost three straight at home with each of those games coming down to the final minutes.
• Injuries have been a massive problem as the Hornets have played with either seven or eight players in the rotation each of the last six games. In fact, since guard Mikey Williams was injured late in the Portland State game, the Hornets have dropped six straight without the dynamic guard in the lineup. Overall, the team has dropped seven straight.
• 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 23 straight games. The Hornets are playing undersized, and have been badly outrebounded on the glass of late.
• 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.
• Idaho State began the conference season with a 3-2 record, but has dropped 10 of its last 12. The Bengals are 3-11 on the road, and 1-7 on the road at Big Sky opposition.
• The Bengals beat the Hornets in Pocatello, 97-84, in the Big Sky opener on Jan. 1.
• The Hornets are 29-36 all-time vs. Idaho State, including a 16-13 mark at home.
• Sacramento State has won five straight at home vs. the Bengals, and ISU has not won in Sacramento since 2019. Each of the last four meetings in Sacramento have been decided by five points or less. That includes last season's 75-71 victory in the Nest.

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Monday's game is televised locally on KMAX 31 and streamed 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. IDAHO STATE

• Idaho State had 56 second-half points, and converted on 14-of-30 (47%) shots from distance in a 97-84 victory over Sacramento State on Jan. 1 at Reed Gym.
• The game marked the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.
• The loss overshadowed a huge night from dynamic guard Mikey Williams, who was brilliant from start to finish. The sophomore finished with a career-high 34 points, tied for sixth most in the Hornets' Div. I era (1991-pres.). He shot 13-of-23 from the field, 3-for-7 from distance, and 5-of-7 from the free throw line.
• However, it was not enough against an Idaho State squad that put up a season-high 97 points. After the Hornets scored the game's first two points on a pair of Williams free throws, the Bengals went on a 9-0 run and proceeded to lead for 37 minutes.
• After trailing, 41-32, at halftime, Sacramento State closed to within two points (45-43) of the deficit with 16 minutes to play. However, that was as close as the Hornets would get. The Bengals immediately responded with a 13-4 run and led by at least eight points the rest of the contest.
• ISU converted on six more shots from the field (SAC 41%, 26-63; ISU 49%, 32-65) and nine more 3-balls (SAC 5-19; ISU 14-30). The Bengals had a season-best 19 assists on their 32 made buckets and held a 19-11 advantage in points off turnovers.