Five times a year during the conference season, Sacramento State basketball players and coaches wake up before the sun rises, board a bus and head to Sacramento International Airport.

They board a plane and travel to other universities to prepare for their conference games. But unlike most Division I college basketball teams who play in big metropolitan cities, Sac State travels to Montana, North Dakota and Idaho to face their conference opponents.

“I never thought I would go to North Dakota,” said sophomore guard Case Rada.

This is the life of a Big Sky Conference basketball player.

Unlike schools like UC Davis who take one-hour flights and bus rides within the state to play most of their conference opponents as members of the Big West Conference, Sac State travels to eight different states in a three-month period every season.

In 2014, the team has flown a combined 14,400 miles and travelled as many as four states in one day to get to or from its destination.

“There are no road trips like Big Sky road trips,” said junior guard Mikh McKinney. “There is a lot of jet lag and you have to have a tough mindset.”

This last weekend, the Hornets left for their final Big Sky road trip of the season to face Weber State and Idaho State. After leaving on an 8 a.m. flight the day before the game and making a quick layover in Denver, the team drove 40 miles north to reach Weber State’s campus in Ogden, Utah.

The day concluded with a team meeting and practice in the arena to get a feel for the gym. Unlike The Nest, the Dee Events Center holds 10 times the amount of people.

Director of operations Nate Smith said there is a different feel to each gym that the players need to adjust to.

Although the team has fun on the bus and eats meals together and hang out in each others rooms, this was a business trip and they were there to work.

On the day of the game, everyone is focused. They get on the bus two hours before game time and the players and coaches are silent, thinking about their assignments, the playbook and their determination to win.

Right after the game ended, players boarded the bus and headed to their next destination – a two hour bus ride to Pocatello, Idaho.

While the players came to Sac State to play basketball, they are also taking classes in order to complete their degrees. This past semester, the men’s basketball team finished with its highest combined GPA of 2.99.

Since time is a luxury during college and having been on the road 20 days since January, organization is necessary.

“You have to know going into it that it will be difficult,” said junior point guard Dylan Garrity, who also majors in communication studies. “Every athlete is assigned a mentor, and Sac State does a good job keeping us organized.”

Sophomore Cody Demps is not only one of the three guards in the starting lineup, but also a mechanical engineering student. Other majors on the team include communication studies, sociology, business administration and kinesiology.

“The biggest thing is missing the actual class time, but the instructors are really helpful and meet with me during their office hours,” Demps said. “I don’t really like doing homework on the road. I prefer to do it before we leave.”

But while traveling, learning about their opponents is just another class. The test is when they get on the court.

“The difference is if you get four out of five questions right in a basketball game, you don’t get a B, you fail,” said Sac State head coach Brian Katz. “You need to get them all right to succeed.”

Some of the players travelled before in community college, but never flew because of the smaller distances to their destinations.

“Back in (junior college) we took vans everywhere. We weren’t blessed with charter busses,” said junior forward Zach Mills, who transferred from Irvine Valley College. “It’s definitely more comfortable and you get fed a lot better too.”

Another common activity on the road is eating. It does not matter if they are eating Denny’s Grand Slams on the bus to the airport, a pre game meal at the hotel, or out to eat at a steakhouse, they always have room for more.

“They can burn nearly 3,000 calories a practice,” said Joe Ramos, men’s basketball athletic trainer.

No matter what city, state or gym they step into, by the end of the trip, they are ready to head home.

“There is always fatigue because travel in the Big Sky is so tough,” Garrity said.

Members of the men’s basketball team came from all over to play together at Sac State, and by the end of the season, whether or not they win or lose, they form their Big Sky family by the end of the season.

“We have spent so much time ever since summer we have grown to love each other,” Demps said.

Ryan Kuhn can be reached on Twitter @rskuhn