It was an indifferent week with a valley of emotions for Sacramento State. On Wednesday, the Hornets completed a come-from-behind effort on the road against the Air Force Falcons by overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit. This win marked their first win over a Division I team this season.

With that win, Sac State had a chance to go 2-0 on the week against the Mercyhurst Lakers, but a muddy start that featured a 12-3 deficit didn’t allow them to prevail. The green and gold continue to play opponents close but have scarcely found the ability to come out on top.

That was a tough one

The worst losses are the ones you know you should’ve had, and all signs pointed to Sac State having a ‘gimme’ last Saturday.

Mercyhurst was the final opponent of a four-team round-robin dubbed the ‘Cal Classic.’ The Lakers played Air Force and University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears on the road.

In those two outings, Mercyhurst lost by a combined 60 points, while Sac State took out Air Force in Colorado and suffered just a 6-point loss to Cal at Haas Pavilion.

Mercyhurst is also playing their first season as a Division I program and is still getting acclimated to the hike in competition. But in the midst of a week-long road trip, they stole a win in The Nest nearly 2,500 miles away from their home of Erie, Pennsylvania.

“[It] felt like we came out a bit soft, undisciplined and thought we were going to roll them,” sophomore forward Bailey Nunn said. “You can never think that at the Division I level.”

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If it is broke, fix it

The Hornets got off to a rocky start against the Lakers, whose game plan was to collapse on Jacob Holt whenever he touched the ball in the paint, leaving shooters open outside.

Sac State went on to shoot 2-of-11 from the three in the first half on Saturday and didn’t look to attack the teeth of Mercyhurst’s defense while defenders were out of rotation.

Sac State head coach Michael Czepil said he spoke to the team after the game about needing to put pressure on the rim and not letting it turn into a 3-point contest.

The Hornets only made six first-half field goals, shot 23% from the floor, 18% from deep and never once led against the Lakers. Despite that, they were in position to tie or cut the lead to one with just over a minute remaining.

After a late-game turnover on a dire possession and an offensive rebound turned dagger three on the other end for Mercyhurst, Sac State’s late-game push came up short.

“Your competitive spirit has to be ready to go at all times, and we definitely came out a little flat to start,” Czepil said. “If you miss shots, miss open lay-ups, miss open threes, that can’t impact your ability to sprint back on defense and can’t impact your competitive spirit.”

Bailey Nunn’s long-awaited offensive arrival

After late-season growth in the 2023-24 season where Nunn scored in double figures in three of the Hornets’ last five games, it was reasonable to believe the freshman was on his way to a big second-year jump. Up until this point, that hadn’t been the case.

Nunn had yet to amass more than six points in a game this season and was shooting just 20% from three. Against Mercyhurst, Nunn blew his previous season-high out of the water in just one half of play.

Following a scoreless first half Saturday, Nunn scored or assisted on 16 of Sac State’s 38 points and shot 4-of-6 from deep, en route to a season-best 12 points in the second frame.

“He puts in a ton of work,” Czepil said of Nunn. “He’ll be fine, and he’ll just keep getting better.”

Nunn’s scoring jolt could’ve been useful in several games this year. His defensive scrappiness and unmatched effort are a nightly occurrence regardless, but if his second-half offensive performance on Saturday is here to stay, that would be a welcome sight for a team that has lacked consistent scoring punch.

Don’t make this a habit

A message that Czepil has tried to drill home to his team this season is sticking to good habits and not creating bad ones. Sac State needs to be sure their first-half struggles aren’t here to stay.

In their two games this week, the Hornets shot a combined 13-of-49 from the field, 5-of-24 from three and trailed by the exact same score of 33-22 going into halftime. They were able to overcome that halftime deficit and come out with a win over Air Force, a game they trailed by 17 points at one time, but fell to the Lakers after a lethargic start.

Mercyhurst’s senior guard Bernie Blunt lll scored 11 straight points for the Lakers out of the gate, including three triples, and leading them to a quick 12-3 lead in the first half. Sac State only scored one field goal in the first seven minutes of action.

“I feel like we have to be more forceful in our game planning and come out with the same intent each game,” junior guard Julian Vaughns said.

An overwhelming issue this year has been the inability to play solid for the whole duration of a game. There were some instances where the Hornets had played well in the first half but fell flat in the second, and vice versa.

In some of those up-and-down outings, Sac State took particularly long to find a groove on the offensive end; this week, it loomed larger than others. Against Air Force and Merychurst, the Hornets didn’t possess the ability to adjust to opposing defenses on the fly, and by the time they did, it was too late.

The week ahead

Sac State will enter the first week of December with a two-game spell against teams picked to finish at the bottom of the Summit League: The Denver Pioneers and Omaha Mavericks.

The Hornets will test the Pioneers in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday. This will mark the second time in a week they play a game at over 5,000 feet elevation, as they found a win over Air Force in Colorado Springs, CO last Wednesday.

Denver and Sac State share a common opponent in the California State University, Northridge Matadors and though each fell, Denver’s 29-point loss was steeper than Sac State’s 10-point loss.

After a 2-0 start, Omaha is 1-6 in its last seven. The Mavericks will travel to Sacramento on Saturday to take on Sac State in The Nest, marking the start of a stretch that will see the Hornets play seven of eight games at home.