Where’s Bibby been? Sac State men’s basketball set for first home game in 7 weeks
They haven’t played a home game since last year, and though it has officially been seven weeks and two days, it feels like a lifetime for the Sacramento State Hornets.
The men’s basketball team under first-year head coach Mike Bibby returns to Hornet Pavilion on Thursday for a 7 p.m. tip against Northern Arizona in Big Sky Conference action, the squad’s first home conference game of the season. On Saturday night at the Pavilion, Sac State takes on Northern Colorado in another 7 p.m. start.
The Hornets have found that home is where the heart — and victories — have been. Sac State is 4-1 at the Pavilion, but the Hornets are licking their wounds after an 0-7 road trip that dropped the team to 4-11 on the season and 0-3 in the Big Sky.
Sac State with a new staff that headed by Bibby, the Sacramento Kings star guard from the early 2000s, has tried to blend in 14 new roster players against seasoned teams on the schedule, including games at UCLA, Cal, Pacific in Stockton and Baylor in Texas. The Big Sky schedule includes Hornets setbacks to Idaho State (97-84), Weber State (95-82) and Portland State (96-69), with Bibby imploring movement on offense and more stops on defense.
Sac State’s last victory was 94-46 over San Francisco State on Nov. 25. The Hornets are the last Big Sky team to not have a home conference game. Northern Arizona is also winless in the Big Sky at 0-4, and the Lumberjacks are 0-7 on the road. Sac State is 18-47 all-time against Northern Arizona in a series that started in 1991, the first year the Hornets played at Division I, and NAU has a five-game winning streak against Sac State.
Sac State has been hammered by injuries, none more crippling than to 6-foot-11, 250-poind forward Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry, who muscled inside to average 15.2 points and 8.2 rebounds. The team is 1-9 without their personable big man who transferred in from UNLV.
Hornets guard Mikey Williams leads the team in minutes played at 34.8 and in scoring average at 17.8. Williams has had scoring outputs of 30 points against UC Santa Barbara, 34 against Idaho State, 26 against Weber State and 29 against Portland State. Fellow guard Prophet Johnson scores just under 15 points a game to go with a team-high 8.4 rebounds.
In six starts in place of the hobbled Cherry, who’s sidelined with a knee strain, true freshman forward Mark Lavrenov has upped his scoring average to 7.3 points and rebounds to 6.1
Lavrenov, out of Rocklin High School in Placer County, earned The Sacramento Bee’s Player of the Year honor in 2025.