@unco_mbb Final Home Series Starts With Sacramento State

GREELEY, Colo. – The final home series for Northern Colorado (8-18, 5-9 Big Sky) begins this Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:00 p.m. (11-14, 4-10 Big Sky) with Sacramento State coming to Bank of Colorado Arena.

For all other information regarding the game please visit our GAMEDAY CENTRAL.

Scouting The Bears (Game Notes)
- Northern Colorado has now lost five straight coming off a 74-73 defeat at North Dakota last Saturday in the team's only game of the week.
- UNC outrebounded and had a better shooting percentage from the floor and three, but a season-high 23 turnovers proved costly in the loss.
- This is the third time this season the Bears have had a losing streak of four games or longer.
- Northern Colorado is 4-1 against Sac State at home under head coach B.J. Hill with the only loss coming in the 2011-12 season. Since then, the Bears have won the last -three straight in Greeley.
- These two matchups are crucial for the team this week as it is more than likely they will either play Portland State or Sacramento State at the Big Sky Tournament in Reno.
- UNC will need to win out the remainder of its games to finish the season .500 in Big Sky play. Under Hill, The Bears have only finished under .500 once in league action during his tenure.

Scouting The Hornets (Game Notes)
- The Hornets shook off a four-game losing streak with a big win over Idaho last Saturday, 68-65.
- Forward Justin Strings has been the team's leading scoring in the last five games and has six games on the year scoring 20 or more points. Strings is averaging 15.2 ppg on the season and 16.2 ppg in Big Sky play.
- SSU boasts two other players in double figures in Marcus Graves (13.2 ppg) and Cody Demps (12.4 ppg)
- Despite its record Sacramento State has the fifth best defense in the league, holding opponents to 72.4 ppg.
- The Hornets also have the Big Sky's best shot blocking team, averaging 4.4 blocks per game, totaling 110 on the season. The next closest team to that mark is Eastern Washington with 4.0 blocks a game.

4 For $30 Family Pack
- A walk up offer only, fans have the chance to get four tickets, four pepsi products and four hot dogs (can be subsituted) all for $30 dollars at Thursday's game against Sacramento State. The offer is presented by the Greeley Tribune with the game sponsor being Sears Real Estate.

If It's Not This, It's That
- UNC did everything right in Saturday's loss at North Dakota, they played defense holding the Fighting Hawks to just 41.0% shooting and 23.0% from three, they rebounded, outboarding UND 37-30 and they shot well, boasting a 48.8% average on the night.
- Unfortunately the Bears turned the ball over 23 times, a season-high, allowing North Dakota to score 20 points off of the turnovers in the one point, 74-73 loss.
- Northern Colorado also missed 10 free throws, going 23-of-33 (69.7%) from the line last Saturday.
- Jeremy Verhagen and Dallas Anglin led the team in scoring both putting up 10 points apiece. UNC also had five players score 9 points in the defeat.

Against Sacramento State
- Northern Colorado holds a 12-6 advantage over the Hornets in the all-time series.
- The first time the two teams met came back in the 2006-07 year, when the Bears officially joined the Big Sky Conference. UNC dropped the contest at home to SSU, 74-70.
- UNC held a seven-game win streak over Sac State from 2007 to 2011, the longest of the series. The Bears have split the series, 1-1 with SSU the last four seasons.
- This is the first time ever that Northern Colorado will play Sacramento State just one time in the regular season.
- Northern Colorado is 6-4 against Sacramento State under Head Coach B.J. Hill

Preview Of The Big Sky Tournament
- Northern Colorado and Portland State are currently tied for the 8th seed heading into this week's games at 5-9 overall, with Sac State just one game back in 10th at 4-- Either Thursday or Saturday's game has the high possibility of being a preview of who the Bears will play in Reno at the Big Sky Tournament.
- Should Northern Colorado win both matchups this week and Montana State drop their games at Weber State and Idaho State, UNC can move into a tie for the sevevnth place seed heading into the final two games of the year.
- If UNC goes 4-0 over the next four games, they would need UND to finish 1-3 and Montana State to go 1-3 to jump up to the 6th seed.

Tickets
- Single game Sacramento State tickets and Portland State tickets are on sale now. It's your last chance to see the Bears in action, so don't miss out! To purchase single game tickets head over to our Ticket Central.

Bears On The T.V.
- The television agreement between the University of Northern Colorado and Comcast continues this winter with the broadcast of a combined 10 men's and women's games and began on December 8 with the women's team taking on Colorado State. The men's New Year's Eve (Dec. 31) game against Eastern Washington can be found Comcast (CET) channel 900.

#RoadtoReno
- New this year the Big Sky Conference will be headed to Reno, Nevada for both the men's and women's tournament. The #RoadToReno will begin on New Year's Eve and take place over March 7-13 for the women's tournament.

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Hoops Staff On Twitter
Head Coach  B.J. Hill :               @CoachBJHill
Asst. Coach  Joel Davidson :     @Coach_Davidson
Asst. Coach   Will Hensley :   @CoachHensley
Asst. Coach  Eric Murphy :   @EMurph123
Dir. of Ops  Taylor Green :        @Coach_TGreen

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