Men's basketball continues road swing in Sacramento

GAME DAY NOTES: at Sacramento State
BIG SKY NOTES: January 26

DETAILS
Date: Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009
   Tip: 8:05 p.m. (MT)
Location: Sacramento, Calif.
   Venue: Hornets Nest (1,200)
Television: BigSkyTV.org
   Play-by-play: Steve McElroy
   Analyst: N/A
   Sideline: N/A
Radio: 1310 KFKA (Greeley)
   Play-by-play: Troy Coverdale
   Web stream: 1310KFKA.com
Live stats: Hornetsports.com
Series: NC, 3-2
   Last: NC, 91-73 (1-13-2009)

SOME STORY LINES

• Northern Colorado, following its 65-55 victory at Montana State a week ago tonight, can match its road-win total from last season (two) with a victory against the Hornets. The Bears are 1-1 against Sacramento State in Sacramento.

• The Hornets finished last season with just two Big Sky victories, and one of those came against Northern Colorado -- a 74-70 home victory on Feb. 2, 2008. The Bears are looking to avoid a repeat “toe stub” tonight in the Hornets Nest.

• To get a victory tonight, Northern Colorado will most likely need to keep Sac. State’s Loren Leath from getting hot. Leath, a senior guard, scored a school D-I record with 41 points in the Bears’ 91-73 win earlier this season in Greeley.

• The Bears will also probably have to shoot the three better than it has recently. NC comes into tonight’s game on the heels of its worst three-game stretch of three-point shooting this season (.211 - PSU; .182 - MSU, .313 - UM).

SERIES HISTORY
08-09: NC, 91-79 (H)
07-08: SAC, 74-70 (A)
07-08: NC, 74-60 (H)
06-07: NC, 84-81 (A)
06-07: SAC: 74-70 (H)

ABOUT THE HORNETS

• Senior guard Loren Leath is one of the most lethal scorers in the Big Sky Conference. He averages 16.2 ppg overall (second in the league) and his 20.6 ppg average in BSC games is also tied for second. He scored 41 in these teams’ previous meeting.

• Center Justin Eller is the Big Sky Conference’s top rebounder at 7.2 per game. He’s had four double-doubles this season, with the latest coming in the Hornets 72-69 victory against Idaho State.

• Sacramento State is at the bottom of the Big Sky Standings, but the Hornets have been competitive in many of their games this season, including two games ago against BSC co-leader Weber State (L, 67-59) and Saturday’s victory against Idaho State.