Weber State University Athletics
Weber State Hosts Utah In Oquirrh Bucket Battle
11/27/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Weber State University
Overall Record: 2-2
HOME: 1-0 ROAD: 0-0 NEUTRAL: 0-2
Big Sky: 0-0 Home: 0-0 Road: 0-0
G A M E # 5
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH WHEN: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2007 SITE; DEE EVENTS CENTER (12,000) WHERE: OGDEN, UTAH TIME: 7:07 (MST) / KJZZ-TV PROBABLE WEBER STATE STARTERS
F- 45 Juan Pablo Silveira 6-4 205 Jr. Salto, URUGUAY 9.0 1.0 2.8 F- 11 Arturas Valeikia 6-9 225 Sr. Vilnius, LITHUAN. 14.8 12.0 1.3 C- 40 Steve Panos 6-8 230 So. Salt Lake City, UT 9.0 3.5 0.0 G- 23 Brody Van Brocklin 6-2 175 Sr. Fruit Heights, UT 4.0 1.5 1.5 G- 10 Dezmon Harris 6-1 175 Sr. Fort Worth, TX 7.8 0.5 3.3 RESERVES F- 44 Tyler Billings 6-8 225 Sr. Smithfield, UT 8.0 1.5 0.0 F- 31 Daviin Davis 6-4 205 Jr. Midland, TX 4.5 1.5 1.5 C- 55 Trevor Morris 6-9 240 Fr. Nampa, ID 1.3 1.0 0.0 G- 33 Kellen McCoy 5-6 175 Jr. Norman, OK 5.0 2.5 1.5
F- 13 Stephen Weigh 6-6 220 So. Rockhampton, AUST 11.3 1.8 0.8 F- 21 Shaun Green 6-8 208 Jr. Salt Lake City, UT 1.8 4.0 3.0 C- 50 Luke Nevill 7-1 165 Jr. Perth, AUST 13.5 7.5 0.8 G- 11 Lawrence Borha 6-3 205 Jr. Staten Island, NY 10.8 1.5 1.3 G- 32 Tyler Kepkay 6-0 185 Jr. Vancouver, BC 8.3 3.3 3.3 RESERVES G- 1 Johnnie Bryant 6-0 180 Sr. Oakland, CA 14.3 2.0 3.0 F- 14 Kim Tille 6-9 205 So. Cagnes-sur-Mer, FRA 6.0 3.5 0.8 G- 15 Carlon Brown 6-4 210 Fr. Riverside, CA 4.5 3.5 1.3 UNIVERSITY OF UTAH "Runnin' Utes" HEAD COACH JIM BOYLEN JIM BOYLEN took over the Utah program in March of 2007 becoming the 14th head men's basketball coach in Ute men's hoop history. ... Boylen came to Utah after spending the past two seasons as an assistant for Tom Izzo at Michigan State. He also served as a Spartan assistant from 1989-92 under Jud Heathcoate. ... Boylen spent 13 seasons in the NBA as an assistant for the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks. SERIES HISTORY Utah leads the overall series 23-12. ... Weber State won the first-ever meeting on Dec. 7, 1972 in Salt Lake City 81-70. ... Utah comes into Ogden riding a five-game win streak over the Wildcats. ... Utah has WON in its last three appearances at the Dee Events Center. Weber State holds a slim 9-8 advantage in the series when playing in Ogden. ... There have been four OVERTIME GAMES played in the series. Utah holds a 3-1 advantage in those games. ... Utah largest margin of victory in the series is 35 points (83-48, 1996-97 season in Salt Lake City. Weber State largest victory margin is 12 points (91-79, 1979-80 season in Ogden.). LAST YEAR IN SALT LAKE CITY LUKE NEVILL hit 11-12 shots from the field scoring 24 points and three other Utes scored in double figures as the Utes rolled to a 67-55 win over the Wildcats on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 before 8,929 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. ... Utah got 65 of its 67 points from it's starting five as the Utes hit 26-47 (.553) from the field including 9-17 (.529) from beyond the arc. ... WSU got 17 points off the bench from DEZMON HARRIS. DAVID PATTEN was the only other double figure scorer for the Wildcats with 15. ... Utah's defense held the ?Cats to just 17-41 (.415) shooting for the game. LAST TIME IN OGDEN CORIC RIGGS scored 17 points and DAVID PATTEN and NICK COVINGTON each added 11, but it wasn't enough as the Utes out scored the Wildcats 12-7 in overtime to win 67-62 on Saturday, November 26, 2005 before 8,042 in the Dee Events Center. ... Utah led at halftime 26-22. ... The Utes built it up to six early in the second half only to see the Wildcats came back and take a 41-40 lead on a free throw by DAVID PATTEN at the 9:24 mark. That would be WSU's last lead but they kept on tails of the Utes finally tying the game at 55-55 with seven seconds left on a lay up by TERRELL STOVALL. ... Utah's TIM DRISDOM appeared to have won the game with one second left but was called for an offensive foul sending the game into overtime. ... PATTEN gave WSU a brief 56-55 lead 19 seconds into the extra stanza but a lay up by BRYANT MARKSON and a big three-pointer by SHAUN GREEN put the Utes up 60-56 with 3:37 left. ... STOVALL made two free throws with 12 seconds left pulling the Wildcats to within one at 63-62. WSU immediately fouled DRISDOM who made both free throws. WSU came down looking for a three-pointer to tie by NICK COVINGTON turned it over with six seconds left. MARKSON was fouled and made both free throws to ice the game. ... Utah was led by JOHNNIE BRYANT's 21 points including 4-6 from the arc. MARKSON added 14 and freshman LUKE NEVILL came off the bench to scored 12 points. SCOUTING THE UTES UTAH comes into Ogden with a 2-2 record overall. The Utes last played on Monday, November 19 at home losing to Santa Clara 72-57. ... Utah began the season with a home court win over South Carolina-Upstate (86-52) AND A 77-64 win over High Point in Seattle, Washington in the opening round of the Pre-Season NIT. They lost to Washington the next night 83-77. ... The Utes have four players in double figure scoring led by guard JOHNNIE BRYANT (6-0, 180 Sr. Guard). Bryant, who comes off the bench, is averaging 14.3 points per game and is shooting 56 percent (22-39) from the field and 8-18 (.444) from the three-point arc. He is a perfect 5-5 from the line. ... Big LUKE NEVILL (7-1, 265 Jr. Center) is rapidly becoming one of the best big men in the country. Nevill averages 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. ... As a team the Utes are hitting a sizzling .532 (109-205) from the floor overall and 30-70 (.429) from behind the arc. They are dominating the boards with a +5.7 rebound margin advantage. ... The Ute defense has stifled opponents from the field holding them to just .417 (85-204) from the field and just 29-77 (.377) from behind the arc. ... Utah is out scoring its opponents by an average of +6.4 points per game. HEAD COACH RANDY RAHE In his first season at Weber State RANDY RAHE set the bar high. He took the a team which was 10-17 the year previous and molded them into a 20-12 team in 2006-07.. The Wildcats were picked to finish 6th in the Big Sky Conference pre-season coaches and media polls, but Rahe and the Wildcats rose to the top to finish league play 11-5 and tied with Northern Arizona for the regular season crown. But the Wildcats won the tie-breaker by virtue of their in-season sweep of the Lumberjacks. The 'Cats went on to beat NAU in the finals of the Conference Tournament and earned the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. ... For those efforts, Rahe was named BIG SKY CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR and the USBWA DISTRICT VIII COACH OF THE YEAR. ... Heading into Wednesday's game with the Utes Rahe is now 22-14 (.611) overall and 0-1 vs. Utah. A QUICK WSU HISTORY LESSON The Wildcats begin their 46th season as a four-year institution on the NCAA Division I level and their 45th season as a member of the Big Sky Conference. ... In 1962-63 Weber became the first junior college in the country to moved from the juco ranks directly into NCAA Division I basketball. ... Since then, the Wildcats have won 17 Big Sky Conference titles and made 15 appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. ALL-TIME RECORD Weber State's all-time record in Division I basketball stands at 818-473 (.634). ... That's an average of 18.13 wins per season. ... In 45 years of hoop action the Wildcats have had just EIGHT LOSING SEASONS and in 21 of those 45 seasons have posted 20 WINS OR BETTER!. HOME SWEET HOME THE DEE EVENTS CENTER CELEBRATES ITS 30TH YEAR The 2007-08 season marks the 30th season of playing in the 12,000 seat Dee Events Center. .... Opened on Nov. 1, 2007, the first regular season basketball game was played on November 29 against Long Beach State with the Wildcats prevailing 99-96 in overtime. .... The 'Cats have enjoyed tremendous success over the years at the DEC. They have an overall record of 332-91 (.785) under the dome including a 13-2 record last season. ... Weber State's overall home court record, counting the 15 seasons in old Swenson Gym is a solid 512-109 (.824). ... The Wildcats were a staggering 180-18 (.909) in Swenson Gym! ... THE WILDCATS HAVE A CURRENT 10-GAME HOME COURT WIN STREAK. Weber State's last loss in the Dee Events Center came on Thursday, January 4, 2007 to Idaho State (55-58). DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE Weber State forward ARTURAS VALEIKA (6-9, 225 Sr. from Vilnius, Lithuania) has come out on fire to begin the season recording FOUR straight "double/double"s. His 15- points and 12 rebounds vs. Utah State helped the Wildcats to a 78-71 home court win. ... He then had 10 points and a WSU career high 14 rebounds vs. Cal State San Bernardino and followed that up with a WSU career high 22 points and added 11 rebounds vs. Youngstown State. ... For his efforts in the first two games, Valeika was named the BIG SKY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK. ... Comes into the Utah game having made 20-30 (.667) from the field and 18-25 (.720) from the line which included an 8-9 performance @Cal State Bakersfield. THEY AREN'T APPLE OR CHERRY EITHER! The Wildcats committed a season high 22 TURNOVERS at Cal State Bakersfield but still pulled out a 61-56 win with some good shooting (21-37 .568) and defense (holding the Roadrunners to 21-55 .382). ... It must be the "california" on the uniforms. The Wildcats also had 20 turnovers vs. Cal State San Bernardino. ... The ?Cats are averaging 17.5 turnovers per game, 5.5 more than Coach Randy Rahe's target goal for the team. GOOD SHOOTERS The ?Cats have shot 50 PERCENT OR BETTER in three of their four regular season games and were close (25-52 .481) in the other vs. Youngstown State. ...WSU is a solid 26-65 (.400) from the three-point arc as well. ... In the eight halves of basketball this season Weber State has shot 55 percent or better in FIVE of those halves. ... Their worst half was 36 percent vs. Youngstown State (1st half) but came back to shoot a season best 62 percent in the 2nd half. FIRST HALF SCORING Weber State has been slow out of the gate this season. The Wildcats are averaging just 29.25 points in the first half this season compared to 32.75 by opponents. ... WSU owns the second half averaging 36.75 points and holding opponents to just 34. HOME, BRIEFLY Wednesday's game against UTAH is one of only two for the Wildcats in the first eight of the season. ... The Wildcats won't be home again until Friday, December 14 when they meet Montana-Western. RAHE KNOWS THE UTES A LITTLE Many of the players on the floor for UTAH on Wednesday will be familiar to WSU head coach RANDY RAHE. He helped recruit them. Rahe spent two seasons on the coaching staff at Utah before taking the job at Weber State. Rahe was on the Utah staff two years ago when the Utes beat the Wildcats 67-62 in overtime in Ogden. ODDS AND ENDS . . . It took 36 games but at the 11:34 mark of the second half at Cal State Bakersfield, Weber State head coach Randy Rahe received his first TECHNICAL FOUL as a head coach. . . . After forcing Utah State into 23 turnovers, the last three teams WSU has faced have averaged just 12.7 turnovers per contest. . . . ON UTAH: "This may be, could be, the best shooting team we will face all season. They come at you low with Nevill and can spread the court and fire away from the arc. We will have tough time matching their height and strength. We will need to take care of the ball and make every possession count in order to give ourselves a chance to win."
ON BAKERSFIELD: "We played with some purpose and passion, especially in the second half when they made a little run on us and we responded by shutting them down. Our big men really played well on both ends of the court."
ON THE LONG LAY OFF (one game in 15 days) "It came at a good time because we have the ?death march' coming with road games at Illinois, BYU and San Francisco after the Utah game."
