# 2018–19 Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team represented California State University, Sacramento in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hornets were led by eleventh-year head coach Brian Katz and competed at The Nest as a member of the Big Sky Conference for the 23rd consecutive season. They finished the season 15–16, 8–12 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They defeated Northern Arizona in the first round of the Big Sky tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Montana.

## Before the season

The Hornets finished 7–25 overall, and 4–14 in the conference. During the season, the Hornets participated in the Wooden Legacy, which was held in Fullerton, California. Sacramento State earned 8th place by losing to Cal State Fullerton, Saint Joseph's, and San Diego State. Sacramento State lost in both matches of the Sacramento Showcase against rival UC Davis and Portland. In the postseason, Sacramento State lost to Portland State in the first round of the 2018 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament in Reno, Nevada.
On July 19, 2018, the Sacramento State Hornets finished renovating The Nest's court. The renovation features include an emphasis on the main logo, implementing the school-known hashtag #StingersUp, and a redone of Sacramento State's colors.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Justin Strings | 3 | F | 6'7" | 220 | Senior | Carson, CA | Graduated |
| Jiday Ugbaja | 4 | G | 5'11" | 194 | Senior | San Francisco, CA | Graduate transferred to San Francisco State |
| Cristian Perez | 32 | F | 6'7" | 215 | Junior | Santa Fe Springs, CA | Left the team for personal reasons |
| James Herrick | 50 | C | 6'10" | 256 | Senior | Minden, NV | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Ethan Esposito | 22 | G/F | 6'7" | 220 | Sophomore | Naples, Italy | Junior college transferred from San Diego City College |
| Brandon Davis | 32 | G | 6'2" | 190 | Sophomore | Mission Hills, CA | Transferred from UC Santa Barbara. Under NCAA transfer rules, Davis will have to sit out from the 2018–19 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Elijah McCullough #62 PG | La Verne, CA | Damien High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 155 lb (70 kg) | Sep 10, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 73 ||||||
| James Bridges SG | Las Vegas, NV | Ed W. Clark High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Feb 26, 2018 |
| Recruiting 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: "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 5, 2018. ||||||

## Season

Senior Marcus Graves was named to the All-Big Sky Second Team.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition |||||||||
| November 2, 2018* 7:05 pm | | Bethesda | W 103–55 | | 15 – Esposito | 6 – 3 Tied | 10 – Graves | The Nest (528) Sacramento, CA |
| Non-conference regular season |||||||||
| November 9, 2018* 7:05 pm | | Simpson (CA) | W 75–52 | 1–0 | 20 – Esposito | 10 – Graves | 11 – Graves | The Nest (537) Sacramento, CA |
| November 16, 2018* PPD, Big Sky Network | | Cal Poly | | | | | | The Nest Sacramento, CA |
| November 20, 2018* 7:05 pm | | vs. UC Davis Rivalry | W 58–55 | 2–0 | 11 – 3 Tied | 7 – 2 Tied | 8 – Graves | Golden 1 Center (1,545) Sacramento, CA |
| November 24, 2018* 7:05 pm | | Cal State Fullerton | W 87-82 $^{OT}$ | 3–0 | 22 – Graves | 12 – Graves | 8 – Graves | The Nest Sacramento, CA |
| November 29, 2018* 7:00 pm | | at UC Santa Barbara | L 58-75 | 3–1 | 15 – Patton | 5 – Mauriohooho-Le'afa | 3 – Tied | The Thunderdome (1,516) Santa Barbara, CA |
| December 1, 2018* 7:05 pm | | at Cal State Northridge | W 88–68 | 4–1 | 19 – Graves | 12 – Esposito | 5 – Graves | Matadome (812) Los Angeles, CA |
| December 8, 2018* 7:05 pm | | at Portland | L 67–76 | 4–2 | 22 – Patton | 11 – Patton | 4 – Tied | Chiles Center (1,789) Portland, OR |
| December 11, 2018* 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Holy Names | W 81–56 | 5–2 | 19 – Patton | 11 – Fowler | 10 – Graves | The Nest (496) Sacramento, CA |
| December 13, 2018* 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Westcliff | W 89–40 | 6–2 | 18 – Graves | 11 – Jacobs | 6 – Mauriohooho-Le'afa | The Nest (307) Sacramento, CA |
| December 21, 2018* 7:05 pm, P12N | | at Washington | L 41–57 | 6–3 | 12 – Tied | 6 – Graves | 2 – 3 tied | Alaska Airlines Arena (6,888) Seattle, WA |
| Big Sky regular season |||||||||
| December 29, 2018 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Northern Colorado | L 65–70 | 6–4 (0–1) | 15 – Patton | 9 – Patton | 6 – Graves | The Nest (581) Sacramento, CA |
| January 3, 2019 7:05 pm | | at Montana | L 56–87 | 6–5 (0–2) | 10 – Graves | 5 – Mauriohooho | 2 – Graves | Dahlberg Arena (3,920) Missoula, MT |
| January 5, 2019 1:05 pm | | at Montana State | L 70–84 | 6–6 (0–3) | 18 – Graves | 7 – Fowler | 5 – Graves | Breeden Fieldhouse (2,723) Bozeman, MT |
| January 12, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Idaho State | L 70–72 | 6–7 (0–4) | 27 – Graves | 8 – Fowler | 4 – Graves | The Nest (761) Sacramento, CA |
| January 17, 2019 5:35 pm | | at Northern Arizona | W 66–64 | 7–7 (1–4) | 34 – Patton | 11 – Patton | 3 – Graves | Walkup Skydome (1,706) Flagstaff, AZ |
| January 19, 2019 1:05 pm | | at Southern Utah | L 71–76 | 7–8 (1–5) | 24 – Graves | 8 – Nwachukwu | 5 – Graves | America First Center (1,672) Cedar City, UT |
| January 24, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Idaho | W 69–48 | 8–8 (2–5) | 14 – Graves | 8 – Patton | 10 – Graves | The Nest (634) Sacramento, CA |
| January 26, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Eastern Washington | L 92–94 $^{OT}$ | 8–9 (2–6) | 29 – Graves | 10 – Nwachukwu | 9 – Graves | The Nest (708) Sacramento, CA |
| January 31, 2019 6:05 pm | | at Idaho State | W 74–58 | 9–9 (3–6) | 18 – Graves | 9 – Nwachukwu | 6 – Graves | Holt Arena (1,525) Pocatello, ID |
| February 2, 2019 6:05 pm | | at Weber State | L 65–75 | 9–10 (3–7) | 14 – Graves | 6 – Bridges | 4 – Graves | Dee Events Center (7,034) Ogden, UT |
| February 9, 2019 6:05 pm | | at Northern Colorado | L 59–65 | 9–11 (3–8) | 14 – Graves | 6 – Graves | 3 – Graves | Bank of Colorado Arena (1,637) Greeley, CO |
| February 11, 2019 7:35 pm, Big Sky Network | | Portland State | W 78–67 | 10–11 (4–8) | 16 – Esposito | 7 – Patton | 5 – Graves | The Nest (689) Sacramento, CA |
| February 14, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Southern Utah | W 84–73 | 11–11 (5–8) | 22 – Patton | 13 – Patton | 6 – Maruiohooho | The Nest (615) Sacramento, CA |
| November 16, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Northern Arizona | L 66–78 | 11–12 (5–9) | 18 – Graves | 10 – Patton | 4 – Patton | The Nest (706) Sacramento, CA |
| February 21, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Weber State | W 78–76 | 12–12 (6–9) | 24 – Graves | 12 – Patton | 7 – Graves | The Nest (621) Sacramento, CA |
| February 23, 2019 7:05 pm | | at Portland State | L 57–65 | 12–13 (6–10) | 12 – Patton | 8 – Nwachukwu | 6 – Graves | Pamplin Sports Center (1,115) Portland, OR |
| February 28, 2019 6:05 pm | | at Eastern Washington | W 59–56 | 13–13 (7–10) | 19 – Graves | 10 – Graves | 9 – Graves | Reese Court (1,027) Cheney, WA |
| March 2, 2019 7:05 pm | | at Idaho | L 90-94 | 13-14 (7-11) | 21 – Tolbert | 5 – Patton | 8 – Graves | Cowan Spectrum (1,219) Moscow, ID |
| March 7, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Montana State | W 70–67 | 14–14 (8–11) | 34 – Hall | 8 – Kirby | 7 – Frey | The Nest (709) Sacramento, CA |
| March 9, 2019 7:05 pm, Big Sky Network | | Montana | L 68–86 | 14–15 (8–12) | 20 – Patton | 6 – Patton | 6 – Mauriohooho | The Nest (977) Sacramento, CA |
| Big Sky tournament |||||||||
| March 13, 2019 8:30 am | (8) | vs. (9) Northern Arizona First round | W 72–60 | 15–15 | 27 – Graves | 4 – Graves | 5 – Patton | CenturyLink Arena Boise, ID |
| March 14, 2019 11:00 am | (8) | vs. (1) Montana Quarterfinals | L 73–79 | 15–16 | 30 – Graves | 8 – Fowler | 5 – Graves | CenturyLink Arena Boise, ID |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific. |||||||||