Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Western Colorado
Men's basketball home opener Thursday night
11/9/2022 12:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Weber State hosts Western Colorado at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.
• Weber State men's basketball will play its home opener for the 2022-23 season this Thursday night when the Wildcats host Western Colorado at the Dee Events Center.
• Thursday's game will tipoff at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center. The game will be televised on ESPN+ with Tony Parks and former Weber State head coach Joe Cravens calling the action. The Weber State radio broadcast will be on 103.1 FM "The Wave" with Steve Klauke and former WSU standout and Big Sky MVP David Patten calling the action. Live stats will be available at WeberStateSports.com.
• Weber State opened its 61st season of Division I basketball on Monday night with a 69-52 loss at the University of Washington in Seattle. The Wildcats led by six points midway through the first half and cut the Washington lead to three points in the second half, before the Huskies pulled away.
• New transfer guard Keith Dinwiddie led Weber State with 14 points in his first game as a Wildcat. Another transfer, junior Steven Verplancken, added 12 points with two 3-pointers. All-Big Sky performer Dillon Jones had eight points, even rebounds and tied his career-high with eight assists.
• Weber State has begun the season with a new head coach in Eric Duft who was named the 10th head coach in Weber State history in May. Duft replaces Randy Rahe who retired after 16 seasons as the head coach at Weber State as the Big Sky Conference's all-time leader in career wins with 316 and led the Wildcats to five Big Sky titles and three trips to the NCAA Tournament. Duft is no stranger to Weber State, having spent all 16 seasons as an assistant coach under Rahe.
• Weber State finished 21-12 overall and finished in a tie for third in the Big Sky at 13-7.
• The Wildcats return five players off last year's squad, led by sophomore forward Dillon Jones, who earned second-team All-Big Sky and All-District honors last season. Jones is a two-time All-Big Sky selection and was named to the preseason all-conference team this year. He finished seventh in the country in rebounding last season at 10.6 rebounds per game. He also was 10th in the nation in double-doubles with 17 and averaged 12.6 points per game.
• Also returning for Weber State is senior Zahir Porter, junior KJ Cunningham and sophomores Dyson Koehler and Alex Tew.
• Weber State welcomes eight new scholarship players this season, including four Division I transfers. Junior Ballard (Fresno State), Keith Dinwiddie Jr. (San Diego State), Handje Tamba (Tennessee) and Steven Verplancken Jr. (Southern Illinois) have all joined the Wildcats as Division I transfers.
• WSU was picked to finish fourth in the Big Sky Conference preseason media and coaches polls.
• Western Colorado is a Division II school located in Gunnison, Colorado and members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Thursday's game will be the second-straight Division I exhibition game for the Mountaineers, after opening the season at Utah Valley on Wednesday. Western Colorado was 5-23 overall last season and 4-18 in conference play.
• The two teams opened Weber State's season last year, a 100-60 Wildcat win in Ogden as six Wildcats scored in double figures.
• WSU opens the season with six of the first seven games away from home. After Thursday, the 'Cats are back on the road at Colorado State next Monday before three games at the Vegas 4 Tournament.
