Bears hungry for a win on the road, take on Sacramento State

Game 18: Sacramento State (Sacramento, Calif.)
Northern Colorado notes | Big Sky notes

GAME INFORMATION:

Game 18: The Bears will play their second straight on the road and look to snap a four-game road losing streak against Sacramento State.
When: 8:05 p.m. (MT) Saturday, Jan. 26.
Where: Sacramento, Calif. -- The Nest (1,200).
Live stats: hornetsports.com
TV: americaonesports.com (Big Sky TV)
Radio: KFKA-AM 1310 (Troy Coverdale)
All-time series: The Bears have dominated the all-time series between the two teams, going 9-3 overall and 5-1 in Sacramento.

A LOOK AHEAD:

• At 8:05 p.m. (MT) on Saturday, Jan. 26, Northern Colorado will play its second straight game on the road as the Bears take on Sacramento State. After having their two-game winning streak snapped on a buzzer shot against Northern Arizona, the Bears will be looking to get back on the winning track against the Hornets.
• Sacramento State comes into Saturday's matchup with a 9-8 overall mark and currently sit in a tie for fourth in the Big Sky with a 4-5 conference mark. The Hornets are coming off a home win on Thursday, as they defeated North Dakota 67-58.
• Northern Colorado had dominated the all-time series between the two teams, having won nine of the 12 matchups. All the games in the all-time series have come in Big Sky play. Although the Bears have enjoyed subtantial success against the Hornets, they will still be looking for revenge as they fell to Sacramento State in the last matchup. Before that game last season though, the Bears had won seven straight against the Hornets. They are 5-1 all-time in Sacramento.
• Last season, Northern Colorado won the first matchup 61-53 on the road, but the Hornets finally broke through against the Bears with a 73-62 win inside Butler-Hancock.
• The Hornets are led by senior forward John Dickson, who leads the team with 13.7 points per game and is second on the squad with 6.2 rebounds per contest. Last year's Big Sky Freshman of the Year, Dylan Garrity, is, once agan, leading the conference in assists (5.1/game).

NORTHERN COLORADO NOTEWORTHY:

• Saturday's matchup against Sacramento State will be the first game Northern Colorado has played in the Pacific Time Zone since a Dec. 1 69-63 loss to UC Riverside. The also fell to Cal Poly 64-53 in the Bears' other West Coast game this season.
• Last year's beste three-point shooting team in the nation, Northern Colorado has begun to heat up from outside again. Over the last five games, the Bears have shot 46 percent from deep. Twice in that five-game stretch, the Bears hit at least 10 three-point buckets.
• Tevin Svihovec has stepped up his game when it comes to handling point guard duties over the last handful of contests. The redshirt sophomore has dished out 14 assists compared to just five turnovers over the last three games and is leading the team with 3.06 assists per game. His 1.02 assist-to-turnover ratio is 10th in the Big Sky.
• Derrick Barden is on pace to break Northern Colorado's Division I single-season rebounding record in just five games. The record is currently held by Taylor Montgomery, who grabbed 190 rebounds during the 2010-11 season. Barden is averaging 8.7 rebounds per game and currently has 148 boards.
• Tate Unruh needs just six more threes to break into the top-10 on the school's all-time career 3-pointers list. He is also currently 18th in the country with 3.06 3-pointers per game and is 16th in three-point percentage (.444).