2024–25 Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team

2024–25 Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	3–9 (0–0 Big Sky)
Head coach	Michael Czepil (interim)
Assistant coaches	Hays Myers Van Green Elijah Roth Zach Chappell
Home arena	Hornets Nest

2024–25 Big Sky men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Northern Arizona	0	–	0		–			8	–	4		.667
Northern Colorado	0	–	0		–			8	–	5		.615
Portland State	0	–	0		–			7	–	5		.583
Montana	0	–	0		–			7	–	6		.538
Weber State	0	–	0		–			6	–	7		.462
Idaho State	0	–	0		–			5	–	6		.455
Idaho	0	–	0		–			5	–	8		.385
Montana State	0	–	0		–			5	–	8		.385
Eastern Washington	0	–	0		–			3	–	9		.250
Sacramento State	0	–	0		–			3	–	9		.250
† 2025 Big Sky tournament winner As of December 22, 2024

The 2024–25 Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team represents California State University, Sacramento during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hornets, led by interim head coach Michael Czepil, play their home games at the Hornets Nest located in Sacramento, California as members of the Big Sky Conference.

Previous season

The Hornets finished the 2023–24 season 10–24, 4–14 in Big Sky play to finish in tenth (last) place.^[1] They defeated Idaho in the first round^[2] and upset top-seeded Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals,^[3] before falling to eventual tournament champions Montana State in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament.^[4]

On May 22, 2024, head coach David Patrick announced that he would be stepping down, in order to take the associate head coaching position at LSU,^[5] with associate head coach Michael Czepil being named interim head coach for the upcoming season.^[6]

Offseason

Departures

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Brandon Betson	1	G	6'1"	190	Senior	Hercules, California	Graduated
Akol Mawein	3	F	6'9"	220	Senior	Sydney, Australia	Graduated
Quadry Adams	11	G	6'4"	190	Junior	Piscataway, New Jersey	Transferred to Chaminade
Austin Patterson	20	G	6'3"	185	Junior	Sonora, California	Transferred to Montana
Zee Hamoda	24	G	6'7"	180	Junior	Riffa, Bahrain
Duncan Powell	31	F	6'8"	240	Sophomore	Dallas, Texas	Transferred to Georgia Tech

^[7]

Incoming transfers

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Jalen Pitre	1	F	6'8"	220	Junior	Long Beach, California	Pepperdine
EJ Neal	3	G	6'5"	200	Senior	San Francisco, California	Idaho
Deonte Williams	6	G	6'6"	210	Junior	Sydney, Australia	South Georgia Tech

Recruiting class

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Lachlan Brewer G	Tasmania, Australia	Launceston College	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Oct 10, 2023
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Leo Ricketts G	Pleasant Hill, California	De La Salle High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	May 24, 2024
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2024 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

2024–25 Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 1 Jalen Pitre 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Jr Pepperdine Long Beach, California G 2 Bailey Nunn 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Knox Raiders Melbourne, Australia G 3 EJ Neal 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Idaho San Francisco, California G 4 Alex Kovatchev 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Australian Centre of Excellence Perth, Australia G 5 Michael Wilson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Sacramento High School Sacramento, California G 6 Deonte Williams 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr South Georgia Tech Sydney, Australia G 7 Lachlan Brewer 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Launceston College Launceston, Australia G 10 Emil Skytta 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Central Michigan Helsinki, Finland G 11 Leo Ricketts 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Fr De La Salle High School Pleasant Hill, California F 14 Kiir Kiir Chol Deng 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) So NBA Global Academy Juba, South Sudan F 15 Jacob Holt 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Sr Santa Clara Delta, British Columbia G 24 Julian Vaughns 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Alberta Oakland, California F 25 Bowyn Beatty 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) So NBA Global Academy Canberra, Australia F 34 Chudi Dioramma 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Fr Haringey Sixth Form College London, England	Head coach Michael Czepil (Nicholls State) Assistant coach(es) Hays Myers (LSU) Van Green (Rice) Elijah Roth (Arizona) Zach Chappell (Sacramento State) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: October 16, 2024

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 5, 2024* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Cal Maritime	W 106–44	1–0	16 – Tied	8 – Tied	8 – Williams	Hornets Nest (529) Sacramento, CA
November 8, 2024* 7:00 pm, MWN		at Fresno State	L 57–64	1–1	17 – Vaughns	7 – Kovatchev	4 – Tied	Save Mart Center (5,657) Fresno, CA
November 12, 2024* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at UC San Diego	L 54–64	1–2	14 – Kovatchev	7 – Tied	3 – Tied	LionTree Arena (1,031) La Jolla, CA
November 16, 2024* 5:00 pm, ESPN+		Cal State Northridge	L 69–79	1–3	20 – Holt	6 – Kovatchev	4 – Tied	Hornets Nest (578) Sacramento, CA
November 24, 2024* 1:00 pm, ACCNX		at California Cal Classic	L 77–83	1–4	25 – Holt	8 – Holt	5 – Skytta	Haas Pavilion (3,662) Berkeley, CA
November 27, 2024* 1:00 pm, MWN		at Air Force Cal Classic	W 63–61	2–4	12 – Tied	8 – Holt	7 – Nunn	Clune Arena (1,529) Colorado Springs, CO
November 30, 2024* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Mercyhurst Cal Classic	L 60–66	2–5	15 – Holt	6 – Holt	4 – Skytta	Hornets Nest (415) Sacramento, CA
December 4, 2024* 6:00 pm, SLN		at Denver Big Sky-Summit Challenge	L 59–80	2–6	24 – Holt	9 – Holt	2 – Tied	Hamilton Gymnasium (422) Denver, CO
December 7, 2024* 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Omaha Big Sky-Summit Challenge	L 60–70	2–7	15 – Holt	10 – Dioramma	6 – Nunn	Hornets Nest (502) Sacramento, CA
December 14, 2024* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		UC Davis Causeway Cup	L 62–69	2–8	17 – Holt	7 – Holt	4 – Tied	Hornets Nest (902) Sacramento, CA
December 17, 2024* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Oregon State	L 45–82	2–9	9 – Holt	5 – Tied	2 – Nunn	Gill Coliseum (2,314) Corvallis, OR
December 22, 2024* 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Stanislaus State	W 98–47	3–9	23 – Holt	10 – Dioramma	4 – Tied	Hornets Nest (510) Sacramento, CA
December 30, 2024* 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Bethesda						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
Big Sky regular season
January 4, 2025 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Portland State						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
January 9, 2025 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Idaho						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
January 11, 2025 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Eastern Washington						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
January 16, 2025 5:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Arizona						Findlay Toyota Court  Flagstaff, AZ
January 18, 2025 5:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Colorado						Bank of Colorado Arena  Greeley, CO
January 23, 2025 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Idaho State						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
January 25, 2025 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Weber State						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
January 30, 2025 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Montana State						Worthington Arena  Bozeman, MT
February 1, 2025 3:00 pm, ESPN+		at Montana						Dahlberg Arena  Missoula, MT
February 6, 2025 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Eastern Washington						Reese Court  Cheney, WA
February 8, 2025 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Idaho						ICCU Arena  Moscow, ID
February 13, 2025 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Northern Colorado						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
February 15, 2025 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Northern Arizona						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
February 20, 2025 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Weber State						Dee Events Center  Ogden, UT
February 22, 2025 5:00 pm, ESPN+		at Idaho State						Reed Gym  Pocatello, ID
February 27, 2025 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Montana						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
March 1, 2025 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Montana State						Hornets Nest  Sacramento, CA
March 3, 2025 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Portland State						Viking Pavilion  Portland, OR
Big Sky tournament
March 8–12, 2025  ESPN+		vs.						Idaho Central Arena  Boise, ID
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific.

Sources:^[8][9]

References

1. "2023-24 Men's Basketball Standings". Big Sky Conference. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
2. "IDAHO MEN'S BASKETBALL: UI bounced from Big Sky tournament by Sacramento State in the first round". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
3. "Another one-and-done: Top-seeded EWU men lose first Big Sky tourney game to Sacramento State 74-69". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
4. "Montana State secures 74-71 victory over Sacramento State in Big Sky Conference Tournament". USA Today. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
5. "David Patrick steps down as Sacramento State's men's basketball head coach to join LSU's staff". CBS News. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
6. "David Patrick steps down as Sacramento State basketball head coach to join LSU staff". ABC10. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
7. "2024-25 Men's Basketball Roster". hornetsports.com. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
8. "2024-25 Men's Basketball Schedule". Sacramento State. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
9. "Sacramento State Hornets 2024-25 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved October 16, 2024.