With four Big Sky Conference games remaining, the Sacramento State men’s basketball team still has a chance to make the postseason tournament.

The Big Sky Tournament will feature the six best teams in the conference and the winner will have an automatic bid for the Division I NCAA Tournament.

The Hornets enter tonight’s matchup with Portland State University 1.5 games back of the sixth place team, Eastern Washington University.

Portland State has not faced the Hornets yet this season.

The Hornets come into the game 4-1 in their last five games and the lone loss came on Saturday to Montana by nine points, which was a 20-point improvement from the last time the teams met on Jan. 21.

Senior center Josh McCarver said the team is focused right now and looking to make the conference tournament.

Read about Josh McCarver’s pregame ritual.

“Everyone on our team is so driven right now and we all know how important our remaining games are,” McCarver said. “We are going to keep practicing hard and do our best to put ourselves in a position to make the postseason.”

After the Hornets play fourth-place Portland State tonight, they will take on San Jose State University on Saturday in a non-conference game. The Hornets play Portland State again on Feb. 23 and then have their final game against Idaho State University on Feb. 25.

Junior forward Joe Eberhard said playing Portland State twice could be more difficult the second time they play each other.

“The second game will help and hurt us both because just like us knowing them, they will know us,” Eberhard said.

The Hornets trail behind Eastern Washington, which has two matchups against Idaho State, one against Portland State and one against the University of Northern Colorado remaining.

If Portland State drops all three games against the Hornets and Eastern Washington, it would drop them to 6-9 and potentially below both Sac State and Eastern Washington.

With four games remaining for the Hornets, anything is possible and McCarver said getting a shot to play in the tournament his would be great.

“I love all the guys on my team and want to play with them for as long as possible,” McCarver said. “A chance to make a run in the postseason would be amazing.”

Josh Stanley can be reached at [email protected].