Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Eastern Washington
'Cats back home to host Eastern Washington Thursday
1/16/2024 4:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Wildcats and Eagles Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.
• Weber State returns home to host the league leader Thursday night as the Wildcats take on Eastern Washington.
• The Wildcats and Eagles will tipoff at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with Tony Parks and former Weber State head coach Joe Cravens on the call. Weber State radio coverage will be on 103.1 FM "The Wave" with Steve Klauke and former Weber State standout and Big Sky MVP David Patten calling the action. Live stats available at WeberStateSports.com and the Weber State Wildcats app.
• Weber State is 11-6 on the season and 2-2 in Big Sky play. After winning six-straight games, the Wildcats are coming off two road losses at Sacramento State and Portland State last week. WSU trailed by 24 points in the second half at Portland State before rallying to cut the lead to one but it wasn't enough in a 69-66 loss.
• Eastern Washington is 9-7 overall and currently in first place in the Big Sky at 3-0. The Eagles have won five-straight games entering Thursday's matchup.
• Weber State junior Dyson Koehler had a career-high 21 points in Saturday's game at Portland State. Koehler was 6 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. It was his first career game scoring 20 points. He has scored in double figures in seven of the last 10 games and is averaging 12.8 points per game in that stretch. Koehler is fifth in the BSC in free throw percentage.
• Weber State junior standout Dillon Jones had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists in Saturday's game and played all 40 minutes. Jones leads the Big Sky in rebounds and ranks second in scoring and assists. He also leads the conference in minutes played, and is third in steals, third in free throw percentage, and fifth in field goal percentage. He ranks fourth in the nation in double-doubles with 10 in 16 games this season. He is also fourth in the nation in defensive rebounds and 18th in overall rebounds.
• Jones ranks third in school history and seventh in Big Sky history in career rebounds with 990. He also ranks second in career steals and needs just three more steals to pass Eddie Gill as the school's all-time leader. Jones is also fifth in career assists, eighth in free throws made, and 11th in scoring. He needs six more points to pass Al Hamilton and move into 10th in all-time scoring. He has played in 104 career games at Weber State and was the unanimous selection as the Big Sky Preseason MVP. He is a two-time first-team all-conference selection and a two-time all-district selection. He participated in both the G League and NBA Draft combines this summer before returning to school.
• Weber State ranks 13th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 62.8 points per game. The Wildcats are also 13th in the country in fouls per game and 23rd in turnovers committed per game.
• The Wildcats lead the Big Sky in scoring defense, scoring margin, and turnover margin. They are second in field goal defense, 3-point percentage, free throw percentage, and third in rebounding margin, 3-point defense, and 3-pointers per game.
• Thursday's game will be the 125th career game for Wildcat senior KJ Cunningham. He currently is tied for eighth in Weber State history in career games played, and is 11 games away from the school record. He has been with the Wildcats since the 2019-20 season and has played in all 17 games this season, including eight starts.
• Weber State has all five starters returning from last year and the Wildcats were picked first in the Big Sky Conference preseason media and coaches polls. WSU had two players named to the Big Sky preseason all-conference team in Jones and Verplancken.
• The Wildcats are coached by Eric Duft who returns for his second season as head coach and his 18th season overall at Weber State. He spent 16 seasons as an assistant coach under Randy Rahe before becoming the 10th head coach in WSU history in May 2022. Weber State finished 18-15 overall last season and was third in the Big Sky at 12-6.
• Weber State has one of the most international rosters in the country as the Wildcats have eight players that come from outside of the United States, representing six different countries. Two players are from England (Louie Jordan, Alex Tew), and two from Serbia in cousins Marko and Nemanja Sarenac. WSU also has players from Switzerland (Arnaud Revaz), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Handje Tamba), Finland (Viljami Vartiainen), and the Dominican Republic (Steven Verplancken).
• Eastern Washington is on top of the Big Sky standings heading into Thursday's game with a 3-0 conference record and a 9-7 overall mark. Since Big Sky play started after Christmas, Eastern Washington has won five-straight. They beat Portland State and Sacramento State at home, beat South Dakota and North Dakota State in the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge, and won 79-58 at Idaho last Saturday.
• The Eagles lead the Big Sky in field goal percentage, field goal defense, 3-point percentage, 3-pointers per game, and assists. They also rank second in scoring offense and third in scoring margin. Nationally, EWU is 10th in the nation in effective field goal percentage, 24th in 3-pointers per game, 25th in 3-point percentage, and 27th in overall field goal percentage.
• Eastern Washington won the Big Sky regular season last year at 16-2 and was 23-11 overall. The Eagles were picked second in the Big Sky preseason media poll and third in the coaches poll.
• Weber State holds a 50-30 all-time series lead over Eastern Washington but the Eagles have won the last three and six of the last seven against the Wildcats.
In games in Ogden, the Wildcats are 31-9 all-time but Eastern Washington has won three of the last four at the Dee Events Center.
• After Saturday, Weber State is back home for two games next week hosting Eastern Washington on Thursday and Idaho on Saturday.
• At the January 20 home game, Weber State will throw it back 25 years and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1999 Wildcat team that won the Big Sky Championship and beat North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Harold "The Show" Arceneaux and Eddie "The Thrill" Gill are both scheduled to be in attendance, along with a few other members of the 1999 team, and will speak at halftime.
