The start of every season is an opportunity to iron out the wrinkles of a new roster, and Sacramento State seems to be doing just that.
The Hornets played well in stretches on Tuesday, outperforming the UC San Diego Tritons in various areas, but are still working to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
A turnover-laced first half was the culprit behind a 64-54 road loss to the Tritons in the latter of a two-game road trip. The Hornets committed 13 turnovers in the opening half off of which UCSD scored 14 of its 35 first-half points.
“We didn’t really come out as tough as we talked about,” sophomore guard Alex Kovatchev said. “We talk about coming out with bravery and taking the game on and I feel like the second half we had that. Just gotta have it for a full 40.”
Sac State outscored the Tritons in the second half 30-29, but couldn’t emerge from the hole they dug themselves in the beginning that saw them trailing by double digits. Three games into this season, the Hornets are averaging 17 turnovers a contest, worse than their 14.6 per game last year that placed them last in the Big Sky.
“Obviously it’s the one thing right now through three games that we have to address and get better at,” Sac State head coach Michael Czepil said. “There’s a lot of teams in the country that have issues three or four games in. We clearly know what ours is, which is good, so now we can address it.”
Poor lapses in play have been at the center of the Hornet’s first road losses. Sac State let a 17-2 run diminish their seven-point first-half lead against Fresno State and had seven turnovers in the first nine minutes of play against UCSD.
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The offensive end is a work in progress for Sac State, but the defense has been a bright spot for a team that just dropped to 1-2. Czepil said they have a developing identity on that side of the floor.
“Their understanding is good and they’ve been able to stick to the plan and make adjustments as the game unfolds,” Czepil said. “They’ve definitely bought into that side of the ball, which is hopefully going to hold good water for us as we go through the season.”
Sac State held the Tritons to 35% from the field and 64 points on Tuesday, which is no easy feat. UCSD was coming off a 94-point performance over Pepperdine where they shot 49%. Last season they were third in their conference, averaging nearly 77 points per game.
“I think effort is a huge thing,” senior forward Jacob Holt said. “We know the scout pretty well, in terms of their players and knowing what they’re good at and what coverage we’re in defensively.”
Another shortcoming the Hornets have grappled with in their non-conference slate is free throw shooting and it proved troublesome again on Tuesday. Despite making the same amount of field goals and threes as the Tritons, Sac State shot 8-of-16 from the charity stripe while UCSD made 18-of-26.
After three games, Sac State is shooting 50% from the line. Against Fresno State, they only attempted two free throws the entire game.
Sac State has had a different lineup to start the second half in back-to-back games, another sign that points to this team still figuring itself out.
“We’re working through at the moment to figure out what that looks like,” Czepil said. “It’s us trying to find a lineup that can play that first four minutes of the second half, which is a very important stretch of the game.”
They’ll have another opportunity to put together a complete game on Saturday when they host the Cal State Northridge Matadors at The Nest at 5 p.m.
