Gonzaga At Sacramento State

Gonzaga (10-1) starts a nine-day California trip with a 2 p.m. visit to Hornet Gym to take on Sac State (3-10).

At a glance

GU coach Dan Fitzgerald has a little bit of Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz in him. You know, whenever the Irish play a 2-8 team, Holtz prefaces the game with something like “this could be the biggest game of the year for us.” Heading into this game, against one of the weakest Division I teams in the nation, Fitzgerald labeled this game “scary.” But acknowledged that he’d rather be there “than playing in Ann Arbor.”

Sac State has drawn some whopping crowds to Hornet Gym, such as the 254 who showed up for the win over Columbia. “We’ve got to be able to play under any circumstances,” Fitzgerald said. “We can’t get distracted; we’ve just got to go in and play and get in and do our job and get out.”

In some ways it is important, particularly since it is the final tuneup before West Coast Conference play starts for the Bulldogs at San Diego on Thursday.

This game was originally scheduled for spacious Arco Arena, but was moved when Sac State officials discovered the arena was already booked for a Boyz II Men concert.

The Hornets, coached by former Idaho standout Don Newman, just won their first road game in four years at Loyola of Chicago. But also on that trip, the Hornets sent Butler to the free-throw line a mammoth 63 times in a loss in Indianapolis.

Gonzaga: John Rillie, 14.7 points per game; Jason Rubright, 6.2 rebounds; Kyle Dixon, 3.8 assists. Sac State: Mark Hunter, 11.3 ppg; Adrian Hillman, 6.9 rpg; Hunter, 5.8 apg.

Radio: KJRB (790 AM), pregame 15 minutes before tipoff.