Jerrick Harding ends career as Weber State's all-time leading scorer
Paul Grua - Weber State Athletic Communications
3/20/2020
On April 22, 2016, Jerrick Harding committed to furthering his education and playing college basketball at Weber State University. On March 11, 2020, his career came to an end, with yet another scoring record.
In between, he became the most prolific scorer in Weber State basketball history and one of the best to ever play for the Wildcats.
Harding finished his four-year career at Weber State scoring more points than any other player. He finished with 2,266 points in 122 career games as a Wildcat, which also ranks as the third-most points in Big Sky Conference history.
Harding also ends his career as Weber State’s all-time leader in free throw percentage and ranks in the WSU career top 10 in 12 different categories.
After consideration I've decided to further my education and play basketball at Weber State University ?? pic.twitter.com/VwY81nqb4v
— DEONTRE ™? (@JHarding_10) April 22, 2016
But all those accolades came with challenges, especially as a senior as he fought through multiple injuries.
He came to Weber State as the 2016 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year, but despite averaging 27.8 points per game as a senior, he was not highly recruited. He had no Division I offers entering his senior season of high school, and received just four offers after high school.
He chose Weber State, partly because Damian Lillard was one of his all-time favorite players, and joined the Wildcats as a freshman during the 2016-17 season. Wildcat head coach Randy Rahe planned on redshirting him but Harding wanted to play. He played in all 32 games that season and started the last six games. He scored 18 points in the Big Sky Tournament title game against North Dakota and was named to the All-Tournament team.
During Harding’s freshman season, teammate Jeremy Senglin became Weber State’s all-time leading scorer, passing Bruce Collins, who was WSU’s leader for 37 years. Senglin finished with 2,078 career points but little did anyone know, his record would only last three more years.
With Senglin’s career over, Harding moved into a leadership role as a sophomore and had a historic season for the Wildcats. He became the first sophomore in WSU history to earn first-team All-District honors and was a unanimous first-team All-Big Sky selection. He averaged 22 points a game, 15th best in the nation and was fourth among freshmen and sophomores. He scored the fourth-most points ever in a season and on March 3, 2018, broke a 41-year old record for the most points in a game in Weber State history, when he scored 46 points in a win at Montana State.
He returned as a junior and again earned first-team All-Big Sky and All-District honors while finishing second in the conference in scoring at 21.4 points per game. He also led the conference in free throw percentage and scored 30 or more points four times, including a season-high 36 points against Delaware State.
After three years at Weber State, it was clear he was on path to history. But adversity was trying to stop him.
Prior to his last year at Weber State, Harding was named the Big Sky Preseason MVP. However, he suffered a stress fracture in his foot injury right before the season, which made his senior season unknown.
He missed nearly eight weeks of action and with no preseason practice, returned to the Wildcat lineup in the second game of the season. He quickly picked his scoring pace right back up, including 36 points in Weber State’s first-ever win at Utah Valley on Dec. 7.
As Big Sky play began right after Christmas, Harding still wasn’t as healthy as he wanted but he put up 26 points against Eastern Washington in the conference opener. However, in the final minutes of that game, he went down with an ankle injury, which forced him to miss the next game.
He returned to action and so did his scoring pace. During an eight-game stretch from Jan. 16 - Feb. 8, he averaged 27.9 points per game and scored 30 or more points three times. He was also quickly moving up the scoring charts at Weber State. On Jan. 20, he passed Lillard to move into third in WSU scoring history. Ten days later, he passed Collins for second place.
Jerrick Harding has passed Bruce Collins and moved into 2nd place on the Weber State career scoring list. #PurpleReign #WeAreWeber #BigSkyMBB pic.twitter.com/6Orbqe0Z0O
— WeberStateMBB ?? (@WeberStateMBB) January 31, 2020
History was made on the night of Feb. 6, 2020 at the Dee Events Center. Harding entered the game needing 24 points to pass Senglin as Weber State’s all-time leading scoring. Turned out he only needed half the game. Harding exploded with an incredible first half, capped by a jumper at the halftime buzzer that gave him 25 points to become WSU’s career leading scorer.
He didn’t stop there, as he finished with 44 points in the win over Sacramento State, the most points ever in a game in the history of the Dee Events Center. Harding made five 3-pointers and was a perfect 11 of 11 from the free-throw line in the win.
He followed that up with 24 points in another win against Northern Arizona and was named the Big Sky Player of the Week.
Jerrick Harding is now Weber State’s all-time leading scorer!!!
— WeberStateMBB ?? (@WeberStateMBB) February 7, 2020
Congrats @JHarding_10!#PurpleReign #WeAreWeber #BigSkyMBB #LouderandProuder
???? pic.twitter.com/OmgsKZLxz6
However, injuries still caused problems, as he was forced to miss the next game with pain in his leg. He played the final seven games of the season. In his final career game, Harding broke another Weber State record as he finished with 33 points against Sacramento State in the Big Sky Tournament, which is the most points ever by a Wildcat in a Big Sky Tournament game.
In four years as a Wildcat, Harding scored 2,266 points in 122 games. He also finished his carer as WSU’s all-time leader in free throw percentage at 86.8 percent.
All total, his name is in the WSU career top 10 in 12 different categories. He is second in career field goals made (668) and third in field goals attempted (1,591) and free throws made (473). He’s also fifth in career steals (130), sixth in free throws attempted (544), sixth in 3-pointers made (213) and attempted (572), eighth in games started (93), ninth in scoring averaged (18.6) and ninth in games played (122).
Harding is the first Weber State player to ever score 600 or more points three times in a career, and has three of the top 10 single-season point totals in school history. His 22.2 scoring average as a senior ranked seventh in the nation and is the sixth-best in WSU history.
He also has two of the top three highest scoring games in Weber State history.
From a lightly recruited player to Weber State’s all-time leading scorer, it’s been an amazing path for Jerrick Harding who will always be remembered as one of the greatest Wildcats ever.
“There aren’t enough words to describe what he’s done,” Rahe said. “I haven’t coached a guy that has dealt with more things this year than Jerrick did. He had no break all year long. He was never healthy all season and for him to do what he did is incredible. He was a phenomenal leader in everything he did and I’ll never forget him and his toughness.”
