SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State second-year head men’s basketball coach Brian Katz announced the team’s schedule for the 2009-10 season today. The schedule includes a total of 30 games, including 13 at home, 15 on the road and two neutral-site contests.
The team’s slate of games is highlighted by road dates at Oregon State, UC Davis, USC and Pacific. In addition, the team will compete in a preseason tournament for the first time since the 2005-06 season. That tournament, called the Rice Basketball Challenge, will see Sacramento State play its first three games of the season over three days against host Rice (Nov. 13), Houston Baptist (Nov. 14) and South Alabama (Nov. 15).
The home portion of the schedule is highlighted by Loyola Marymount and UC Riverside making the trip to Sacramento, as well as each of the Big Sky Conference teams. Sacramento State will play just five non-conference games inside the friendly confines of the Hornets Nest.
After opening the season with three games in Houston, Sacramento State plays its home opener against Bethany on Nov. 18 at 7:05 p.m. That game is followed by dates at Oregon State (Nov. 21) and Idaho (Nov. 24) as the Hornets play five of their first six games away from home.
UC Riverside then makes its first appearance in Sacramento since the 2003-04 season on Nov. 28, followed by the basketball version of the Causeway Classic at UC Davis on Dec. 2. The Hornets are 62-44 all-time against the Aggies, including an 82-70 victory last year in Sacramento. The team then plays its Big Sky opener at home against Weber State on Dec. 5, followed by a two-game road trip to USC (Dec. 8) and Pacific (Dec. 12).
Sacramento State and USC will play for the first time since the 1997-98 season opener, in which the Hornets fell to USC at Memorial Auditorium. The game against Pacific will mark the fourth straight season the teams have met, and the 38th time since the series began in 1948-49.
The Hornets then open a season-high tying three-game homestand by jumping back into Big Sky play with a game against Idaho State (Dec. 19), followed by non-conference tilts against William Jessup (Dec. 21) and Loyola Marymount (Dec. 27). The game against William Jessup will be the second game of a doubleheader that will see the Hornet women play at 5:05 p.m., and the men at 7:35 p.m.
After the game against LMU, the Hornets have just two non-conference games remaining on the schedule, a home-and-home series against Seattle on Jan. 9 (home) and Feb. 13 (away). The Hornets’ first Big Sky road trip takes place on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 when the team travels to Eastern Washington (Dec. 31) and Portland State (Jan. 2), respectively.
The home game against Seattle on Jan. 9 begins the second and final three-game homestand of the season, as the team will face Montana (Jan. 15) and Montana State (Jan. 17). That homestand is followed by a four-game road trip that is comprised of games against Northern Colorado (Jan. 22), Northern Arizona (Jan. 24), Weber State (Jan. 29) and Idaho State (Jan. 30).
The final four regular-season home games come against Portland State (Feb. 5), Eastern Washington (Feb. 7), Northern Arizona (Feb. 26) and Northern Colorado (Feb. 27) while the final three road games will be at Seattle (Feb. 13), Montana State (Feb. 18) and Montana (Feb. 20).
The Big Sky Tournament dates feature the quarterfinal rounds on March 6, semifinals on March 9, and the championship game on March 10. The tournament format remains the same with the top six teams in the nine-member league advancing to the postseason event.
NOTES -- So far, Sacramento State will have two televised games this season, and both games (Jan. 24 at Northern Arizona; Feb. 20 at Montana) will be aired on Altitude Sports & Entertainment...the Hornets play one exhibition game, and that will come at home against Menlo on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7:05 p.m.
