Sacramento State men’s basketball enters the 2016-17 campaign as the projected eighth place team in the 12-squad Big Sky Conference by the preseason media poll, and ninth according to coaches.
However, predictions are difficult to pinpoint, which is why the Hornets — who finished 14-17 on the season after a 70-53 loss to Montana in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament — will be better judged after its first two games of the season on the road against Power Five opponents Colorado (Pac-12 Conference) on Nov. 11 and Nebraska (Big Ten Conference) on Nov. 13.
When asked about the tough road trip to start the season, ninth year Sac State men’s basketball head coach Brian Katz jokingly referred to it as an “easy layup” at the Big Sky Conference Media Day on Oct. 21.
“My thing is, let’s play them early,” Katz said. “We’ve kind of done that traditionally, you know, two years ago we went to Gonzaga and we got beat (104-58) pretty good, but we learned a lot about ourselves (and) it’s kind of like a Big Sky road trip really — it’s a tough travel.”
This “tough travel” includes seven road games, one neutral contest and only three games at the Hornets Nest from Nov. 11 to Dec. 21. If there’s been one major weakness for the men’s basketball team, it’s been the Hornets’ win-loss record on the road, which is 17-43 in the past four seasons.
Sac State hopes to combat this with help from a lineup that returns 10 players including four starters from last year — led by junior forward Justin Strings, who posted a team-high 15.5 points per game and finished the season as an honorable mention all-Big Sky Conference selection.
“I think playing in a big venue just prepares you for playing at the bigger arenas that we have in the Big Sky,” Strings said. “Weber (State) has a really big arena, Montana is really loud, similar with Montana State (and) as we progress and move forward into the Big Sky, we’re going to have some tough road trips and some tough travel schedules so getting it out early now will definitely help us out.”
The core four that return to the Sac State starting lineup will also consist of junior guard Marcus Graves, who averaged 12.2 points a game and was the only Hornet to start in all 31 games last season; senior co-captain and forward Nick Hornsby, who put up 7.8 points per game and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per game; and senior co-captain and center Eric Stuteville, who averaged 8.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and a team-leading 1.9 blocks per game.
Even with a lineup of this stature, expect to see contributions from sophomore guard Jeff Wu, who is the first NCAA Division-I athlete from Taiwan to receive an athletic scholarship, and the incoming true-freshmen group of Chibueze Jacobs (guard), George Dancer (guard), Matt Battaglia (guard) and Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa (guard).
“Everyone on our team this year can help us, especially the freshmen,” Stuteville said. “Izayah is really good at running the point, Matt is a great shooter, C.J. is a great hustler and rebounder — does things he’s told to do. I think they’re working themselves into the system pretty well.”
Sac State, which is a team composed of over 70 percent California natives, will not only have the opportunity to improve upon last season’s 6-12 conference record, but will also be one the first college teams to play in the Sacramento Kings’ brand-new Golden 1 Center against UC Davis on Nov. 21.
“We’ll have them at that venue on the same date four years in a row — hope it really develops into a tradition, a rivalry,” Katz said. “I think the players are certainly excited … I would be surprised if there weren’t 10,000 (people) there at least, which for any college basketball team, that’s a great thing.”
If Katz is correct, a crowd of this magnitude would be nearly 10 times bigger than any attendance figure the team has ever seen due to the Sac State facility only being able to hold a little over 1,000 people. But you won’t hear Sac State complaining about its home court, as the program is 44-14 in the past four seasons at the Hornets Nest.
But prior to the Golden 1 Center and the nine home games coming to town after Dec. 29, Sac State must first handle business on the road at Colorado and Nebraska.
“I think anytime you play up, you clearly figure out what you’re good at and you clearly figure out what you’re not good at (and) your flaws are exposed even more, so that’s a good thing — you can attack them early,” Katz said. “We kind of think we know what they are, but they’ll be exposed in those two games, that’s for sure.”
However, before the start of the regular season on Nov. 11, Sac State will tip off its only exhibition game of the year at home against Pacific Union on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. at the Hornets Nest.
