Wildcats back home to host Bison Wednesday night

• Riding a three-game winning streak, including a tournament title, the Weber State men's basketball team returns home to open December against North Dakota State Wednesday night as part of the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge.

• The Wildcats and Bison will tipoff at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night at the Dee Events Center in Ogden. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with Michael Goodkind 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 is 4-4 on the season and has won three games in a row, including two wins at the Arizona Tip-Off last Friday and Saturday in Tempe, Arizona. The 'Cats beat Bowling Green 73-70 on Friday and beat Pepperdine 68-53 on Saturday to win the Desert Division title of the tournament.

• Weber State senior Miguel Tomley was named the Arizona Tip-Off Tournament MVP for his performance in leading the Wildcats to the two wins. Tomley averaged 22 points and knocked down 10 3-pointers in the two wins and was named the Tournament MVP. He shot 54 percent from the field and was 10 of 17 from 3-point range in the two games. He was also 8 of 8 from the free throw line. He scored 16 points with four 3-pointers in Friday's win over Bowling Green. He followed that up with a season-high 28 points with six 3-pointers in Saturday's win over Pepperdine, where he was also a perfect 8 of 8 from the free throw line.

Through eight games, Tomley is second on the Wildcat team in scoring at 11.8 points per game. He is also currently fourth in the Big Sky in 3-pointer percentage and fifth in 3-pointers per game.

• Last Saturday's game was also the 100th career college game for Tomley had he surpassed 1,000 career points. He now has 1,011 career points with 177 3-pointers in his career. He played two seasons at Santa Clara and two seasons at Idaho State before transferring to Weber State last summer. He was the only Wildcat named to the Big Sky All-Conference Preseason team this year.

• Senior Blaise Threatt was also named to the All-Tournament team after another strong performance. Threatt averaged 20 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.5 steals in the two games last week. He scored 19 points in the win over Bowling Green and 21 points in the win over Pepperdine.

• Threatt has led the Wildcats in scoring six times this season and reached double figures in all eight games and scored 20 or more three times.

Through eight games, Threatt ranks second in the Big Sky in scoring at 18.3 points per game. He is also second in the conference and 16th in the nation in steals at 2.8 per game, and ranks second in the league in minutes, third in assist to turnover ratio, third in assists, fifth in field goal percentage, and 11th in rebounding.

• This is the second year for the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge. All 10 Big Sky teams and all nine Summit League teams will compete in the challenge, with most teams playing two games. Weber State will play at North Dakota this Saturday in Grand Forks.

Teams will be playing for a combined trophy with results from both the men's and women's games, totaling 36 games. Teams get one point for a home win and 1.5 points for a road win. The Summit League won last year via a tiebreaker.

Last year, Weber State beat South Dakota State at home and won at Oral Roberts.

• Through the first eight games, Weber State is second in the Big Sky in field goal percentage defense at 39.7 percent. The Wildcats are also second in the conference in rebounding and third in steals and scoring margin.

• 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.

• North Dakota State enters Wednesday's game with a 5-4 overall record. The Bison have won their last two and three of their last four games. They are coming off an 83-63 win over Utah Valley on Thanksgiving night in Birmingham, Alabama.

NDSU enters the game ranked sixth in the country in 3-pointers per game, averaging 11.9 made 3-pointers a game. They are 20th in 3-point attempts per game at 30.3 and rank 23rd in the nation in 3-point percentage. The Bison made 49 3-pointers in the three games last week at a tournament in Birmingham.

• North Dakota State was 15-17 overall last season and finished fifth in the Summit League at 8-8. The Bison were picked to finish third in the preseason Summit League coaches poll, same as Weber State.

NDSU is coached by David Richman who is in his 11th season as head coach. He has led the Bison to 195 wins and three trips to the NCAA Tournament and two Summit League titles.

• This will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.

• Weber State has a rich basketball tradition and boasts the 26th best winning percentage in college basketball history. WSU has won 22 Big Sky Championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament 16 times. The 'Cats have six tournament wins, including a win over North Carolina in 1999. Weber State also boasts several players professionally, including NBA superstar Damian Lillard who played four years at Weber State from 2008-12, and Jones who was drafted this year.

• After Wednesday, the 'Cats will conclude the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge at the University of North Dakota on Saturday, December 7 in Grand Forks.

Weber State will have just one game next week playing at Utah Tech on Friday, December 13, before returning home for two games the following week.

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Players Mentioned

Blaise Threatt

Miguel Tomley

Weber State University Athletics