Weber State University Athletics
Wildcats Resume In-State Battles With A Saturday, December 13 Meeting @Southern Utah University
12/12/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
For Release on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2008
Overall Record: 3 - 4 / Big Sky: 0 - 0
HOME: 2 - 1 ROAD: 0 - 2 NEUTRAL:1 - 1
BIG SKY: Home: 0 - 0 Road: 0 - 0
GAME #8 @Southern Utah University
WHEN: Saturday, December 13, 2008
SITE: The Centrum (5,500)
WHERE: Cedar City, Utah
TIME: 7:35 p.m. (MST)
PROBABLE WEBER STATE STARTERS
Pos.No. Name HT WT CL HOMETOWN PPG RPG APG
F-3 Kyle Bullinger 6-6 210 RsFr. Mountain View, WY 10.3 4.7 0.7
F-12 Nick Hansen 6-4 200 Jr. Pocatello, ID 9.4 1.9 1.0
C-40 Steve Panos 6-8 240 Jr. Salt Lake City, UT 10.6 6.1 0.3
G-33 Kellen McCoy 5-6 180 Sr. Norman, OK 12.9 3.0 2.2
G-1 Damian Lillard 6-2 180 Fr. Oakland, CA 6.7 2.4 2.0
RESERVES
F-31 Daviin Davis 6-4 190 Sr. Midland, TX 9.9 2.9 2.0
C-55 Trevor Morris 6-9 235 So. Nampa, ID 3.9 4.6 0.2
F-32 Darin Mahoney 6-8 220 Fr. Heber City, UT 2.7 2.6 0.6
PROBABLE SOUTHERN UTAH STARTERS
Pos.No. Name HT WT CL HOMETOWN PPG RPG APG
F-50 Tyler Quinney 6-7 210 Sr. Sandy, UT 14.0 5.5 1.3
C-44 John Clifford 6-10 210 Sr. South Jordan, UT 10.9 7.3 0.6
G-10 Dave Marek 6-2 180 Sr. Benesov, CZECH 7.3 1.3 3.5
G-12 Mike Josserand 5-11 165 So. Las Vegas, NV 4.1 2.8 4.3
G-25 Davis Baker 6-4 195 Jr. Coto de Caza, CA 17.5 5.8 1.1
RESERVES
G-2 Eules Thompson 6-2 170 Jr. Los Angeles, CA 5.3 1.7 1.0
G-23 Jake Nielson 6-4 200 Fr. Aurora, CO 5.1 2.6 0.6
G-3 Cory Davis 6-0 175 Jr. Salem, OR 4.1 1.3 1.9
STATISTICAL MATCH UPS
CATEGORY SUU WSU
Scoring Offense 68.8 67.6
Scoring Defense 67.2 71.9
Scoring Margin +1.6 -4.3
Field Goal % .480 .468
Field Goal % Defense .499 .454
3-Point Field Goal % .344 .389
3-Point Field Goal % Defense .282 .363
Free Throw Shooting .762 .713
Rebounding Offense 32.6 31.6
Rebounding Defense 26.0 31.9
Rebound Margin +6.6 -0.3
Assists 14.62 9.71
Turnovers 15.25 17.00
Blocked Shots 1.00 2.28
Steals 6.87 4.57
SOUTHERN UTAH "Thunderbirds"
HEAD COACH ROGER REID
ROGER REID begins his 2nd season as head coach of the Thunderbirds. . . . Reid is a 1968 graduate of Weber State where he played two seasons on the basketball and baseball teams. He was the starting guard on the 1967-68 team under Coach Dick Motta which made the school's first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament. . . . Reid has coached on the high school, junior college and four-year college levels. He spent eight seasons as the head coach at BYU where he guided the Cougars to three WAC championships and five berths in the NCAA Tournament. . . . Reid came to SUU after spending two seasons as the head coach at Snow JC in Ephraim, Utah. . . . Coming into Saturday's game, Reid's career coaching record at BYU and SUU stands at 165-100. . . . Reid was 5-3 overall vs. Weber State while at BYU. This is his first meeting with the Wildcats at SUU.
SERIES HISTORY
Weber State leads the overall series 18-6. The two teams did not play each other last season. . . . The first game played in the series came during the 1981-82 season. . . . When playing in CEDAR CITY, the series is tied 4-4, but the T-Birds have won the last two in the Centrum 75-63 in 2006-07 and a 68-47 blowout of the ?Cats in 2005-06. . . . There has been just one OVERTIME game played in the series and it was SUU's first win ever over the Wildcats, winning 92-90 (1986-87) in Ogden. . . . Southern Utah has won three of the last five overall meetings.
LAST TIME IN CEDAR CITY December 9, 2006
Weber State had two more field goals (24-44 to 22-45), but the Thunderbirds converted 27-32 (.844) free throws en route to a 75-63 win over a Wildcat team which went on to win the Big Sky Conference championship in Coach Randy Rahe's first season. . . . STEVE PANOS made two free throws with 6:44 left in the first half to pull the ?Cats to within three at 22-19. But thunderous slam dunk by SWANEY COOPER ignited a 14-5 scoring run and SUU went into the locker room with a 36-24 half time lead. That 12 point margin would be the difference as the two teams each scored 39 second half points. . . . The Wildcats were 16-29 (.552) from the field in that second half, and held the T-Birds to just 9-20 (.450), but SUU converted 19-23 (.826) second half free throws while the ?Cats were just 4-7. . . . SUU's STEVE BARNES scored a game high 24 points hitting 7-15 from the field and perfect 8-8 from the line. . . . DAVID PATTEN led the Wildcats with 12 points. TYLER BILLINGS, DAVIIN DAVIS and STEVE PANOS each had 11. . . . SUU out rebounded the Wildcats 28-23 and had 11 OFFENSIVE boards.
SCOUTING THE THUNDERBIRDS
Southern Utah comes into Saturday's game with a 3-5 record overall, but three those five losses came on the road @Florida (50-64), @Tennessee Tech (68-69) and @Boise State (59-62). They also lost at home to Seattle Pacific (65-75) and are coming off a loss last week (Dec. 6) at UC Riverside (63-67). . . . The three wins at home were against Mesa State (85-73) and a pair of Summit League contests on Dec. 2 vs. Oakland University (82-66) and IPFW (78-62). . . . The Thunderbirds are led by UC Irvine transfer DAVIS BAKER (6-4, 195 Jr. Guard). Baker is averaging 17.5 points per game and is 25-28 (.893) at the free throw line this season. He's had four 20+ point games this season including 23 @Florida.
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WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY "Wildcats"
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. ... Last year, Rahe's team finished 16-14 overall, but posted a 10-4 mark in league play finishing third. ... Rahe is now 39-30 (.562) overall at Weber State and as a head coach and 21-10 (.677) in Big Sky Conference regular season games. ... Rahe is 1-1 vs. Southern Utah, 0-1 vs. the T-Birds in Cedar City.
RADIO /T V
Saturday''s game will be carried LIVE on 1430 AM radio KLO with CARL ARKY calling the action. The Pre-Game Show airs at 7:00 p.m. (MST). ...
A QUICK WSU HISTORY LESSON
The Wildcats are in their 47th season as a four-year institution on the NCAA Division I level and their 46th 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 835-489 (.6306). ... In 46 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
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 345-94 (.7858) under the dome including a 13-2 record in 2006-07 and 11-2 in 2007-08. ... Weber State's overall home court record, counting the 15 seasons in old Swenson Gym is a solid 525-112 (.8242). ... The Wildcats were a staggering 180-18 (.909) in Swenson Gym! .
FIVE FOR FIGHTING
For the first time this season, the Wildcats had FIVE PLAYERS score in DOUBLE FIGURES. . . . Kellen McCoy and Damian Lillard each had 15. Daviin Davis came off the bench for 14, Nick Hansen had 12 and Kyle Bullinger, 10. . . . The Wildcats are now 3-0 when they have FOUR or more players score in double figures, 0-4 when they have THREE.
FRESH - man AIR
The WSU coaching staff has inserted first-year freshman DAMIAN LILLARD (6-2, 180) into the starting line up at the point guard spot, moving Kellen McCoy over to the two spot. . . . Lillard came through in a big way on both ends vs. Long Beach State. He scored a career high 15 points, playing a career 34 minutes. He was 6-11 from the field and 3-4 from the three-point line. On the defensive end, he shut down Long Beach guard Donovan Morris (6-3, 205 Sr.) who had been averaging 20 points per game. Morris did not have a single first half point and ended the game with 14 on 5-13 shooting.
THREE BALL IN THE SIDE POCKET
The Wildcats regained their long range shooting touch in the 72-63 win Thursday night at home vs. Long Beach State. They were just 13-51 (.255) from the arc in the three previous games @Utah State, Montana Tech and BYU, but knocked down a season high 11 treys in the game in a season high 24 attempts (.458). Nick Hansen and Damian Lillard did most the damage hitting a combined 7-11 (.636). . . . The ?Cats were just 3-10 (.300) from the arc in the first half vs. the 49ers, but made 8-14 (.571) in the second half, many of them early in the second half when the Wildcats went on a 20-6 scoring run, breaking the game open.
ON THE REBOUND
The Wildcats also got back on track in the rebounding department with a 33-27 edge over Long Beach State. . . . The ?Cats had been out rebounded in each of the three previous games. . . . Kyle Bullinger led the way with a career high eight boards including three on the offensive end
BENCH PRESS
With Damian Lillard inserted into the starting line up at point guard, the WSU coaching staff moved Nick Hansen to the wing, bringing senior Daviin Davis off the bench in the last two games. . . . Davis had 10 points vs. BYU and 14 vs. Long Beach. He scored 12 of his 14 points vs. the 49ers in the second half hitting one three-pointer and going 9-10 from the free throw line. He was 4-4 from the line in a nine second stretch with less than 35 seconds remaining, keeping Long Beach State at bay.
GAME BREAK FILLERS
STEVE PANOS had his string of four straight double figure scoring games snapped vs. Long Beach State. He was 2-4 from the field with four points and had four rebounds. Panos has WSU's only "double/double" of the season with his 15 points / 10 rebounds in the first meeting of the season vs. @Long Beach State on November 22. . . . Weber State's last three opponents (Montana Tech, BYU, Long Beach - all home games) were a combined 32-40 (.800) from the FREE THROW line.
NEXT GAME
Weber State returns to the friendly confines of the Dee Events Center for a WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17 battle against UC Santa Barbara. ... Tip off vs. the Gauchos is set for 7:05 p.m. (MST). It will be Weber State's LAST HOME GAME in the year 2008. The ?Cats don't return home until opening Big Sky Conference play on Saturday, January 3, 2009 vs. Northern Colorado.
RANDY RAHE QUOTES
ON SOUTHERN UTAH: "They are a good, solid basketball team well coached in the fundamentals and have a toughness about them. Offensively they are a threat at every level, long range, medium range and down in the post, making them difficult to defend."
ON WEBER STATE: "I was really pleased with our effort on Thursday night, especially in the second half. Obviously when you shoot the ball well everything else falls into place, but I thought our defensive toughness actually helped the offense get going. The kids responded to our challenging practices last week, now they need to keep that focus this weekend."
