Whenever Sacramento State men's basketball coach Brian Katz is asked about freshman point guard Dylan Garrity, he almost always starts by saying the same thing.
"I'm not right very often, but I was right on that one," he usually says.
Katz was the only Division I coach to offer Garrity a scholarship, and the player is making his coach look smarter as the season goes on.
Garrity had 14 points and 16 assists in the Hornets' 86-76 victory over Montana State last Thursday. The 16 assists are a school record and tied for the most by a Division I player this season.
Garrity moved up to fifth among NCAA Division I players with 6.8 assists per game. He added seven Saturday, but Sac State had its four-game win streak snapped by Montana.
"I don't want to act like I'm some great evaluator because I've made my share of mistakes, too, but with him we were really right," Katz said. "I really thought he'd be really good. I thought he would play like this. It's exciting because he's going to get nothing but better.
"He'll end up being one of the top (point guards) in the conference. There's some guys better than him for sure, but by next year he'll be as good as any of them."
Garrity is not at the level of Weber State's Damian Lillard or Montana's Will Cherry, yet. Lillard leads the nation is scoring and is a legitimate NBA prospect. Cherry is an experienced floor leader and scorer.
But Garrity is improving as a scorer, averaging 7.9 points per game.
"The key is he can score, which allows him to pass," Katz said. "Early in the year, I told him, 'You're going to have to score more because you're pass-first all the way and guys are starting to play the lanes. In order to be a good passer, you've got to be a threat to score.' It's not that he can't score. It's his nature to want to be a passer first. It's a good problem to have."
Aggies men – The UC Davis men have known all season that they will qualify for the Big West Conference tournament regardless of their record because Cal State North- ridge is ineligible due to academic progress penalties.
Eight of the nine teams in the Big West advance to the tournament. Because Northridge is out, UC Davis is in.
UC Davis recently snapped an 18-game losing streak by beating Northridge 79-71 at the Pavilion.
The Aggies (2-22, 1-11) still want to play well in their final six games of the season and host Pacific (10-14, 6-6) tonight.
Hornets women – Freshman point guard Fantasia Hilliard's buzzer-beating layup gave the Sac State women an impressive 77-76 victory at Montana State on Saturday and kept the Hornets within two games of the sixth spot in the Big Sky Conference standings.
The top six of nine teams in the Big Sky qualify for the postseason tournament. Sac State is seventh, behind Portland State. In their final three games of the regular season, the Hornets meet the Vikings twice.
Sac State (9-17, 4-9) hosts Portland State (13-11, 5-6) Saturday at 1:05 p.m. The teams also play each other in the season finale Feb. 25 in Portland.
Aggies women – The UC Davis women are just a game out of first place in the Big West but must continue to play well on the road if they hope to get the top seed in the conference tournament.
The Aggies (15-8, 7-4) begin a three-game trip Thursday at Long Beach State (10-14, 5-6). First-place Northridge (14-10, 8-3) awaits on Saturday.
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