As the timer on the Hornet Pavilion scoreboard ran down its final few seconds, the Sacramento State men’s basketball team left the court as losers for the very first time.
The Hornets took on their future Big West Conference mates, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, who were also undefeated entering the game. The Gauchos took the lead about seven minutes into the first half, leaving the Hornets on the chase for the remaining 33 minutes.
A buildup of minor mistakes made the difference for Sac State, with the Hornets making errors in some of the fundamental aspects of basketball, such as boxing out opponents and staying active on defense.
“We’re not engaging in the pick-and-roll,” head coach Mike Bibby said. “We give up four rebounds in a row to start the second half, and they end up hitting the three– just little stuff like that.”
Another huge red flag for the Hornets was their free throw shooting. Sac State made just 15 of their 23 free throws, totaling an unremarkable 65%.
“That would be a totally different game,” Bibby said of the missed free throws. “I mean, we shoot free throws everyday in practice.”
Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the Hornets. Sophomore guard Mikey Williams led the game with 30 points, shooting 57% from the 3-point line.
“I feel like the game opened up for me today, you know? Just making the right reads,” Williams said. “I feel like I did good at executing in the looks that I had.”
Williams said he feels that the team’s main focus for improvement should be on the defensive side of the ball.
“Offensively, we don’t have a problem,” Williams said. “Everything is honestly defense to me. I think once we tighten that up, we’ll be a lot better.”
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Bibby said he has a similar mindset for his guys. Defensively, the Hornets only forced 8 turnovers to the Gauchos’ 12.
“They gotta buy in. We work on defense every day,” Bibby said. “They’re not putting it into the game. I think once they do that and realize to buy in on the defensive schemes, we’ll take off.”
Senior forward Jeremiah Cherry also had a big game for the Hornets. Despite his four-block and two-steal performance, he was critical of the team’s defense as well.
“We gave up too many points,” Cherry said. “If we would have just played a little bit better defense, we would have blown them out the water.”
The Gauchos have a greater inside presence and more size on their roster than the Hornets’ previous opponents, causing the Hornets to lose the rebounding battle for the first time.
“Rebounding is effort,” Bibby said. “When you go out there, and you don’t box out and you give them second-chance points, it puts you behind the eight ball.”
The Gauchos played a balanced game, being led in scoring by three different players, all with 17 points. Junior guard Miro Little paired his 17 points with 8 assists, leading all players in the game.
“[Sac State’s] got a great team– talented team, for sure,” Little said. “Super talented offensively, also. Defensively, they got a lot of work to do, like we do also.”
The atmosphere at Hornet Pavilion was as electric as ever, with the crowd packing the house for the third straight game to reach an attendance of 2,734.
“I don’t think we’ll have a problem with our crowds. It’s Sacramento, and they love basketball,” Bibby said. “I think we’re exciting enough to where they’ll want to come and check us out.”
Sac State looks to right their wrongs and get back in the win column on the other side of the Causeway against UC Davis. The Hornets’ first away game of the season will be at the University Credit Union Center on Friday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.
“It’s gonna be a good game,” Bibby said. “We’ll get some rest, work on our knicks and knacks and get back to it.”
