Big stage: Sac State, UC Davis basketball teams set for showcase games at Golden 1 Center
Sacramento State athletic director Mark Orr was surrounded by a sea of festive activity on Saturday afternoon, basking in the tailgate scene before kickoff of the 68th Causeway Class between his Hornets and the rival UC Davis Aggies.
Sacramento State won that game 27-21 before a record crowd of 23,073 at Hornet Stadium. Orr hopes even a sliver of that enthusiasm spills into Golden 1 Center on Tuesday night for the basketball version of the Causeway Classic.
The UCD and Sacramento State women tip off at 5 p.m. in a meeting of 2-1 teams, followed by the men’s contest pitting teams sporting 3-1 records. Each of the four teams includes players with local roots, and some from faraway lands.
The UCD men’s and women’s teams have won Big West Conference tournament championships in recent years, earning NCAA Tournament bids. March Madness is the goal for the Hornets teams of the Big Sky Conference, too.
Big picture, Orr said Sacramento State athletics has generated a buzz that goes well beyond the Hornets’ mascot and “Stingers Up!” mantra. The baseball program under coach Reggie Christiansen has made three NCAA Regional tournaments and was nationally ranked early last season. The football Hornets under coach Troy Taylor are 11-0, ranked second nationally and the No. 2 seed in the FCS playoffs.
The Hornets women’s basketball team was the most improved team in all of Division I last season.
“We can be a monster here,” Orr said of athletics in general at his university. “We have the coaches in place. We have outstanding student-athletes. All we need are facilities, and we’re working on that.”
Golden 1 Center affords Sacramento State and UCD a chance to showcase their programs in what Orr deems the “the best arena in the country.”
The women’s coaches — Jennifer Gross of the Aggies and Mark Campbell of the Hornets — are highly regarded and superb recruiters. The coaches regularly rave about their players, how they compete, how they care, how they set screens, box out and make the extra pass. The men’s teams are similarly fundamental — and tall and talented.
First-year Hornets coach David Patrick has brought in a host of big players from around the world as a man dialed in on the hoops scene across the globe. This includes 6-foot-9 Hunter Marks of Australia, 6-9 forward Kiir Kiir Chol Deng of South Sudan and the NBA Global Academy, 6-9 Akol Mawein of Australia, and last season with the Oklahoma Sooners, and the 7-1 Callum McRae of New Zealand and UC Riverside.
“We’re definitely big,” Orr said with a laugh. “We pass the airport look test. Our guys walk in and people know that we’ve got to be a basketball team.”
UCD under 12th-year coach Jim Les also has a host of bigs with skills. They include the 6-9 Christian Anigwe, Jac Mani and Niko Rocak, and the 6-11 Francesco Borra. Ty Johnson and Elijah Pepper are floor leaders for UCD. Pepper was born in Australia, and his father, Ryan, played pro ball in that country. Pepper is UCD’s leading returning scorer with a 15.1 average. Freshman Sione Lose of Sacramento’s Capital Christian has also played well. Sac State’s local flavor includes returning guards Rick Barros III and Zach Chappell of Capital Christian.
Patrick spent all spring, summer and fall with his Hornets to get to know them. Les has seven new players this season, and a summer European basketball trip helped in bonding and life experiences.
Said Les on his UCD experiences, “I’m blessed to go to work every day and work with high-character guys, and it keeps me young, keeps me energized. They uplift us. We’ve got it good here. Coaches in this profession have had championship teams but couldn’t stand their team. That’s not a problem here.”
As for the skillsets of players tall and taller, Les said it’s been a growing trend for years. It’s added to the game, and it’ll be on display at Golden 1.
“Players are bigger, faster, stronger than before, and they’re more versatile and skilled than ever,” Les said. “I’m from the dinosaur days that, if you were above 6-8, you were strictly in the post — never allowed to dribble or shoot from outside. It’s changed. It makes it fun. We can initiate the offense through our bigs. Every big man wants to play guard, right? You have to evolve.”
The Causeway Classic hoops version will also be a reunion of sorts for Brandon Laird. He is a UCD graduate, a member of the 1998 UCD team that won the NCAA Division II championship under coach Bob Williams. He coached 12 seasons at Sacramento State as an assistant and was the program’s interim coach last season. Laird is now back at UCD as an assistant coach.
“Bringing him in was a no-brainer,” Les said. “Ran into him at a coaching clinic and said, ‘Let’s go have a beer, have some lunch and talk. You’re too good of a guy and too good of a coach not to be in it, and we’d love to have you.’”