Home cooking: Sac State ends skid as Mike Bibby tries ‘to get the groove on’
Mike Bibby is a stickler for details in a sport that has defined him and often consumes him.
Where to post up, where to shoot. Where to pick, where to roll. How to play, how to compete, how to bounce back.
The Sacramento State basketball coach was wired this way throughout his 14-year NBA playing career, including his finest seasons with the Sacramento Kings in the early 2000s. So one can imagine the angst and frustration for a renowned competitor who admits that he “loves to win” and “I hate to lose.”
In his first year heading the Hornets, Bibby has had both hands on the wheel as he navigates detours on their road to respectability, determined to keep the bus from drifting into the ditch of despair. In their first home game in more than seven weeks, Sacramento State on Thursday night defeated Northern Arizona 83-69 at Hornet Pavilion, adding a bit of shine for a team desperate for a victory.
A near-overflow crowd of 2,298 fans stood and cheered as the final seconds ran down, watching their beleaguered Hornets improve to 5-11 overall and 1-3 in Big Sky Conference play. Senior guard Prophet Johnson scored 29 points to pace the Hornets, who snapped a seven-game losing streak. Each victory this season has been at home.
Bibby has challenged his group since the start of the season to hustle, because that is one element that players can control. To that end, the coach has received gritty efforts from true freshman forward Mark Lavrenov, The Sacramento Bee’s 2024-25 Player of the Year out of Rocklin High School in Placer County. He scored 11 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds, and he pumped his fists and let out a yell twice after big plays that helped seal the game down the stretch.
“I knew coming into the season this wasn’t going to get better overnight,” Bibby said pregame of a program that has posted just two winning seasons since moving from Division II to Division I in 1991. “We’re trying to teach these kids the right way to play the game, and to play hard, and to play with each other. It’s been a struggle. We haven’t really been playing together as a team on either end of the court. When things go bad, you can see the energy go away from our faces, like we’re giving up.”
No one threw in the towel on this night. The Hornets trailed 39-34 at the half to a Lumberjacks team that is 6-12 overall, 0-5 in the Big Sky and winless on the road. In short, this was a game the Hornets absolutely had to have.
Bibby before the game said his team had to be “tougher, flat out. We have to get on the ball, get on the ground for a loose ball, stick our nose in for rebounds. We’ve got to overcome. ”
After Thursday’s game, Bibby said his team needed this victory.
“The second half, the way we played is how I envisioned them playing, playing for each other,” Bibby said. “They were genuinely happy for each other. They play hard and thinks will take care if itself. It’s a great feeling when you’ve been teaching them for months, and it finally shows up. So it’s good for them when they’re happy.”
Bibby said he was delighted to see another nice crowd, saying, “You know Sacramento, people like basketball. They’re going to come watch games. There are times when I wouldn’t come watch us play either. We’re down on players, but we’re going to keep fighting.”
Injuries have hurt Hornets
Seven players have missed games for Sac State this season because of injury or illness, including the Hornets’ best big man in 6-foot-11 Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry. The UNLV transfer was averaging 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds before a knee strain sidelined him. Sac State is 2-9 without him.
On Thursday, Sac State was without its best guard and leading scorer. Mikey Williams, a 6-3 transfer from UCF, sat out with a sore back but expects to play Saturday against Northern Colorado at Hornet Pavilion. Williams leads all scorers in Big Sky play with a 29.7 points-per-game average. He is averaging 17.8 points on the season.
The Hornets already had the task of merging 14 players new to the program in quick order. Twelve of those are transfers from other schools.
“It’s been challenging, and it’s been hard because we lost our big guy Bear, and we need him,” said Johnson, Sac State’s leading scorer Thursday. “He was a big piece to our team. It’s really getting a puzzle together. (We’ve) got to get the groove on.”
Sac State has struggled to slow teams on the break, in the paint and in rebounding. In Big Sky action, the Hornets allowed 97, 95 and 96 points before stalling out Northern Arizona. Bibby said he was pleased with the second-half effort but said the team cannot afford to lose focus on defense.
“A lot of times on defense, we’re not giving any effort, and it’s showing,” Bibby said before the game. “I mean, we’re just getting our ass kicked. I told the guys that there’s got to be a point where you get embarrassed and to fight back ... Be physical, or you just get run over all the time, and that’s what teams are doing to us.”
After the game, the coach said, “We played much better.”
Plenty of season left
Thursday marked the season’s midway point with 13 Big Sky games remaining. The Big Sky Tournament is March 7-11 in Boise, Idaho — an event in which every Big Sky team has a shot to chase a dream. The conference champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Bibby on the season in general admitted to being disappointed, an understatement, but he is not discouraged. There’s a big difference.
“No, not at all discouraged because I know we can be better,” Bibby said. “They have to learn to play together, play harder, and things will take care of itself. Sometimes, we’re just not playing hard enough. If we don’t put in an effort, we’re going to get killed.”
Sacramento State athletic director Mark Orr said he hasn’t given up on the Hornets or Bibby.
“He’s sounding like a coach,” Orr said. “It takes time for everyone to gel. We’ll get there.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 9:58 PM.