Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Utah Valley
Wildcats host Utah Valley Saturday night
12/20/2024 11:27:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Weber State and Utah Valley tipoff at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.
• It's an in-state showdown Saturday night when Weber State hosts Utah Valley at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
• The Wildcats and Wolverines will tipoff at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night . The game will be televised on ESPN+ and the ESPN app 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 Carl Arky and former Weber State standout and Big Sky MVP David Patten on the call.
Live stats are available at WeberStateSports.com and the Weber State Wildcats app.
• Weber State has won its last two games and is 6-6 on the season. The Wildcats beat Utah Tech 73-71 in St. George last Friday and are coming off a 128-58 win over Lincoln on Wednesday night. The 128 points is tied for the second-most in a game in WSU history and the 70-point win was the fifth largest ever. In the win, Weber State shot 62 percent from the field and made 17 3-pointers. The Wildcats also had seven players score in double figures. WSU also grabbed 62 rebounds, the most by the Wildcats in a game in nine years.
• Weber State senior Blaise Threatt had his second career double-double in Wednesday's win, finishing with a team-high 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Threatt has led the Wildcats in scoring in eight of the 12 games this season and is currently second in the Big Sky in scoring at 17.6 per game. He is also second in the conference in assist to turnover ratio and second in steals at 2.3 a game. Threatt is also fifth in the league in assists and sixth in field goal percentage.
• Another Wildcat senior, Miguel Tomley added 13 points and made three 3-pointers in Wednesday's win. Tomley has scored in double figures in five of the last six games. Over the last six games, Tomley is averaging 17.2 points per game with 20 3-pointers made.
Overall he is second on the Wildcat team in scoring at 12.8 points per game. He ranks second in the Big Sky in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.5 and is third in 3-pointers per game at 2.5.
• Wednesday's game was the 100th career game for senior Vasilije Vucinic and that makes all five of Weber State's seniors will have played in at least 100 career games. Blaise Threatt (125 games), Dyson Koehler (123), Alex Tew (105), and Miguel Tomley (104), join Vucinic in playing in at least 100 games in their college careers. Koehler missed Wednesday's game due to an ankle injury.
• Weber State made a season-high 17 3-pointers in Wednesday's win, the fourth time this season with at least 10 3-pointers made. The Wildcats also improved to 6-2 this season and 36-4 under coach Eric Duft when leading their opponents in field goal percentage. WSU is 0-3 this season when trailing in field goal percentage. WSU is also 5-1 this year when leading in rebounds and 1-5 when trailing
• Like Weber State, Utah Valley is also 6-6 heading into Saturday's in-state game. The Wolverines are coming off a 70-56 win at Idaho State on Wednesday night. They started the season 4-1 before losing four-straight games but have since won two of their last three games.
UVU also has wins over Western Colorado, UTEP, Murray State, West Georgia, and North Dakota. Like Weber State, UVU has also played North Dakota State and North Dakota. They are 2-5 on the road this season
This season the Wolverines are 20th in the country in blocked shots at 5.4 per game. They also lead the Western Athletic Conference in rebounding margin at +5.3.
• UVU is coached by Todd Phillips who is in his second season as head coach. They were 16-16 overall last year and finished tied for fourth in the conference at 11-9. Utah Valley was picked to finish fifth in this year's WAC preseason poll.
• Saturday's game will be the 16th all-time meeting between the two in-state schools with Weber State holding an 8-7 series lead. The Wildcats are 7-1 against the Wolverines in Ogden and 1-6 in games in Orem. The two teams met last December in Orem with UVU winning 70-54.
The last game in Ogden was on January 2, 2021, a 70-62 Wildcat win. UVU's only win at the Dee Events Center was in December 2018.
• The Wildcats are coached by Eric Duft who returns for his third season as head coach and his 19th 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 was picked third in the Big Sky preseason media poll and fourth in the coaches poll.
• Weber State has nine players coming from six different countries on this year's roster. The 'Cats have three players from Canada, two from Serbia, and one each from England, Finland, Montenegro, and Japan.
• After Saturday, Weber State will have eight days off for the holiday break and will then play their next four games on the road.
The final non-conference game of the year will be on Sunday, December 29 at the University of Oregon, who is currently ranked 10th in the nation.
After the new year, Weber State will begin Big Sky Conference play with the first three games on the road.
