Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Sacramento State
'Cats hit the road at Sacramento State Thursday
2/14/2023 4:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Weber State has five games left in the regular season.
• Weber State hits the road for two games this week, beginning Thursday at Sacramento State. The Wildcats and Hornets will tipoff at 7 p.m. Pacific time (8 MT) from The Nest in Sacramento. The game will be televised on ESPN+ with the WSU radio broadcast with Steve Klauke on 103.1 FM "The Wave". Live stats at WeberStateSports.com and the Weber State Wildcats app.
• Weber State is 13-13 overall and 8-5 in Big Sky play. The Wildcats are coming off a home win over Montana State and a loss to Montana last weekend. Weber State is currently third in the Big Sky standings with five regular season game remaining before the conference tournament.
• Sacramento State is 12-14 overall and 5-8 in conference play. The Hornets have lost five-straight and seven of their last eight games heading into Thursday's contest.
• Weber State beat Sacramento State 50-48 on January 21 in Ogden, in a low scoring contest. Dillon Jones scored on a layup with six seconds left to put the Wildcats ahead and Sacramento State's final shot just missed to give the Wildcats the win.
Both teams struggled from the field as Weber State shot 32 percent, compared to 29 percent for Sacramento State. Jones had 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Wildcats.
• Do it all Dillon Jones led the Wildcats in scoring for the 14th time this season as he finished with 21 points in Saturday's game against Montana. Jones has scored in double figures 21 times and has reached 20 or more points six times. He is eighth in the Big Sky in scoring at 15.8 points per game and has reached double figures in 11-straight games and 19 of the last 20 games.
Jones has 15 double-doubles on the season, which is fourth-most in the nation. He leads the country in defensive rebounds at 10.0 per game and is ninth in the nation in overall rebounds at 10.8 per game. Jones leads the Wildcats in points, rebounds, assists and steals.
He also has had 10 or more rebounds in nine of the last 12 games and has led the Wildcats in rebounding in 16-straight games and 19 of the last 20 games. He ranks fifth in the Big Sky in assists at 3.8 per game, is second in steals at 1.6 per game. He is also third in the Big Sky in free throw percentage at 83.8 percent.
On Saturday Jones became the 37th player in WSU history to reach 1,000 career points. He has exactly 1,000 points in 81 games and is also seventh in career rebounds and fifth in steals.
• It was a great weekend for Wildcat senior Zahir Porter who scored a season-high 15 points in Saturday's game, which followed a previous season-high of 13 points in Thursday's win over Montana State. Porter was 10 of 17 from the field in the two games and knocked down five 3-pointers. He has scored in double figures 24 times in his Wildcat career. Porter has played in 81 career games over the last three seasons at Weber State and is one of two seniors on this year's team.
• Steven Verplancken added 14 points in Saturday's game, the 20th time he has reached double figures this season. Verplancken is second on the Wildcat team in scoring at 12.8 points per game and is shooting 41 percent from 3-point range. He is the only Wildcat that has started all 26 games this season.
• Weber State is led by new head coach Eric Duft who was named the 10th head coach in Weber State history in May. Duft replaced Randy Rahe who retired after 16 seasons as the head coach as the Big Sky Conference's all-time leader in career wins and led the Wildcats to five Big Sky titles and three trips to the NCAA Tournament. Duft spent all 16 seasons as an assistant coach under Rahe.
• Sacramento State started the Big Sky season 4-1 but have since lost seven of the last eight games, including the last five. The Hornets are coming off road losses at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado last week. They are 8-3 at home this season, including 4-3 at home in Big Sky play.
Sac State leads the Big Sky and ranks 27th in the nation in rebounding margin at +5.5. The Hornets are second in overall rebounding at 36.2 per game.
Thursday's game will feature the top two rebounders in the Big Sky with Dillon Jones in first at 10.8 per game and Sacramento State's Callum McRae in second at 9.5 rebounds per game. He is also second in the league in field goal percentage.
• Sacramento State is coached by first-year head coach David Patrick. He has spent time on coaching staffs at Oklahoma, Arkansas, TCU and LSU and was previously the head coach at UC Riverside for two seasons from 2018-20.
• Weber State holds a 47-10 series lead over Sacramento State. The Wildcats have won five-straight games and six of the last seven. In games in Sacramento, the Wildcats are 21-8 all-time and have won three-straight.
• The Wildcats will play at Portland State on Saturday night, before the final two home games next week against league-leading Eastern Washington on Thursday, February 23, and Idaho on Saturday, February 25.
