Weber State University Athletics
The 1995 Weber State men's basketball team 30th Anniversary
1/17/2025 12:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Back in the National Spotlight. How the 1995 Weber State team made history as one of the best Wildcat teams of all-time.
When the 1994-95 season began, the Wildcats were looking to repeat as Big Sky Champions but also had a few other goals in mind. Weber State was coming off a great year in 1993-94 where it finished 20-10 and was 10-4 in the Big Sky. The Wildcats tied with Idaho State for first place in the Big Sky but won the tiebreaker and were declared the conference champions. Coach Ron Abegglen was named Big Sky and District Coach of the Year after guiding the Wildcats to their first Big Sky title in 10 years.
However, that season the Big Sky Tournament was not held at the site of the regular season champion like most seasons. The tournament was held at Boise State where the home team Broncos were the fifth seed in the tournament at 7-7. Boise State beat Weber State 84-72 in the semifinals and the Broncos went on to win the conference tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament. Weber State’s season ended earlier than planned and the Wildcats were ready for another shot in 1994-95.
Weber State lost five letterwinners but also returned five lettermen from the 1993-94 team, including two starters. Ruben Nembhard, a 6-3 guard from Bronx, N.Y, was back for his senior season after leading the Wildcats with 13.3 points and 4.5 rebounds a game after transferring from Paris Junior College in Texas.
“I was recruiting in Texas and looking at Johnnie Moore, who became a great player and rebounder for us,” Abegglen recalled. “I saw this Ruben Nembhard kid who was just taking over and dominating the game. I hustled down and talked to their coach and asked them what was going on. Ruben had signed with Arkansas. Then he had to make up one class and he didn’t get it done so Arkansas dropped him. Ruben called us and asked if we were still interested. I said, ‘Absolutely.’ He came here and sat out one year and got his grades up and then was a terrific player for us. Ruben was a player that could do a lot of things for us.”
The other returning starter was 6-7 forward Kirk Smith from Belize City, Belize. Nicknamed “Shabba”, Smith had transferred to Weber State from Navarro (Texas) Junior College and started in 22 games as a junior for the Wildcats.
Three other players returned from the previous season and would be starters for the Wildcats in 1994-95. Forward Jimmy DeGraffenried, a 6-6 junior from Santaquin, Utah, returned after his sophomore season where he played in all 30 games and averaged 11 points a game. DeGraffenried was known as a sharp-shooter who made 49 three-pointers as a sophomore. During his junior season he became the school’s all-time leader in three-pointers made. DeGraffenried is also known for his game winning shot the previous season at Utah State, one of the most memorable comebacks in Weber State history.
On Dec. 7, 1993, the Wildcats headed to Logan to take on the Aggies. Utah State held a 37-30 lead at halftime and was in control most of the game. The Aggies led by as many as 20 points in the second half. They held a 15-point lead with 7:00 remaining when the Wildcats started their comeback. The ‘Cats cut the lead to three at 79-76 with 2:42 to play but the Aggies responded with five straight and held an eight point lead at 84-76 with 1:14 to play. DeGraffenried converted on a three-point play to cut the lead to five with 59 seconds left, then Ruben Nembhard hit a leaning three-pointer to cut the lead to three with 38 seconds to play. After two USU free throws the Aggies led 86-82 with 16 seconds left. David Greer’s layup cut the lead to two points with four seconds left. Utah State inbounded the ball but committed a turnover with two seconds left. Weber State threw the ball in to DeGraffenried who turned and nailed a 40-foot desperation attempt to give Weber State an 87-86 buzzer-beating victory over the Aggies. The Wildcats scored 57 points in the second half for one of the most memorable wins in school history.
Another returner for the 1994-95 season was Lewis Lofton, a 6-3 senior from Clarksdale, Miss., who came to Weber State from North Idaho Junior College and played in all 30 games as a junior. Lofton was regarded as one of the top defensive guards in the Big Sky.
In the middle, the ’Cats returned senior center Jeff Lentfer from Anchorage, Alaska. Lentfer had already played three seasons with the Wildcats and played in all 30 games as a junior.
Those were the returning five players from the previous year. Coach Abegglen and his staff brought in seven new players, with six of them junior college transfers. Joining the Wildcat program that season were: Bryan Emery, a guard from Farmington, Utah, Lamont Gundy, a guard from Suitland, Md., Justin Nielsen, a forward from Taylorsville, Utah, Andy Smith, a center from West Valley, Utah, Justyn Tebbs, a guard from Salt Lake City, and Tracey Thomas, a forward from Centralia, Wash. Freshman Fred Dawson from Hooper, Utah also joined the program. Gundy did not play that season but all the other new players saw significant playing time for the Wildcats.
Coach Abegglen had already posted a 56-31 record in three previous seasons at Weber State and never had a losing record in 31 years as a head coach in high school, junior college and college. Joining him on the staff that season as assistant coaches were Jim Mossel, Mark Coffman and Bob Lyman. Kirk Abegglen served as an administrative assistant.
“We knew we had a good team with a lot of returners,” Abegglen recalled. “We were really strong on the guard line with Ruben and Lewis and had lots of other weapons up front with Jimmy, Kirk and Jeff. They were all tough guys. They expected to win and they did.”
The Wildcats boasted perhaps one of the most diverse starting five in the country with players from New York City, Mississippi, Utah, Belize and Alaska.
“The team had all the pieces that year,” recalled longtime Weber State Sports Information Director Brad Larsen. “We had very difficult guards to defend and had so many other players that could knock down shots. We had two centers in Jeff Lentfer and Andy Smith that were both kind of off-the-wall personalities but they were tough. The team really got along well and had good chemistry. They had a lot of grit to them.”
“That was a fun group of players,” DeGraffenried recalled. “Ruben was so strong and physical. I still remember him dunking on Glenn Robinson at the Dee Events Center. Kirk Smith was such a great shot blocker. I think the glue of that team was Jeff Lentfer. He would do all the little things. He would set the meanest screens and would always keep us together. He was the one that would get in the huddles and tell us what to do and keep our heads in the game. Plus we had really good guards with Lewis Lofton and Justyn Tebbs. We had a lot of components that made it work.”
The season began with a home win over Lewis and Clark State in late November before heading to the Santa Barbara Gaucho Classic where the Wildcats lost to Delaware and beat Wagner. They followed that up with a home win over UC Davis to start the year 3-1. They suffered a 71-54 loss at Utah and then lost to Old Dominion in overtime in Hawaii, despite 35 points from DeGraffenried.
“I remember Coach Abegglen was so mad after we lost that game,” Larsen recalled. “He got so mad he took a five gallon water bucket and dumped it all over the floor in the locker room. Joel Bass, our trainer, and I wanted to laugh, but we knew we couldn’t. It was pretty funny to watch Coach A when he got mad. Sometimes he would get mad on purpose, but this time he really meant it.”
The Wildcats bounced back to beat Baylor in Hawaii and then defeated BYU 86-74 in Ogden behind 31 points from Nembhard and 20 from Lofton.
WSU followed that up with losses at Wyoming and at Purdue, the third straight season they had faced the Boilermakers. They came back to finish the preseason with wins over Southern Utah and BYU-Hawaii to enter conference play with a 7-5 record. Nembhard entered Big Sky play averaging 20.3 ponits and 4.6 assists per game.
The Wildcats didn’t start Big Sky play the way they were looking to. They opened up with a home win over Montana State but then lost 92-87 at home to Montana, snapping a 14-game home winning streak. They followed that up with a win at Boise State but then lost 86-70 at Idaho State and started Big Sky play 2-2. But from there they would finish 9-1 in league action.
The ’Cats were in a tight race for the conference title with Montana and were behind to the Grizzlies after losing at home. They pulled off a 57-54 win Feb. 9 in Missoula, one of eight straight games they won before losing by one point at Idaho. They defeated Northern Arizona on March 4 in the final regular season game to finish in a tie for first with Montana at 11-3. The Wildcats won the tiebreaker and earned the right to host the conference tournament.
Coach Abegglen was honored as the Big Sky Coach of the Year for the second-straight season. Ruben Nembhard was the first player in Weber State history to be named Big Sky Most Valuable Player. The league did not start the MVP award until 1978-79 and Nembhard was the first Wildcat to win the award. Jimmy DeGraffenried and Kirk Smith joined Nembhard on the Big Sky All-Conference first team.
On March 10, 1995, Weber State defeated Idaho State 71-65 at the Dee Events Center in the semifinals of the tournament, setting up the championship game against the Grizzlies. The Wildcats led by six points at halftime but a big second half propelled them to an 84-62 win. Nembhard had 24 points and was named the Big Sky Tournament MVP.
The Wildcats were Big Sky Tournament Champions and were headed to the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in school history but the first time in 12 years.
Before the tournament began Abegglen was quoted as saying, “This is what all the hard work and dedication leads up to, a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. It’s been a while since Weber State has been there, so there are probably a lot of people out there who don’t know who we are, how to say our name or where we’re located. Hopefully, we can do some good things this week to help people remember.”
When the week ended there were lots of people around the country who knew how to say Weber and how good the Wildcat program was.
On Selection Sunday the Wildcats were sent all the way across the country to Tallahassee, Fla., to face national power Michigan State who was ranked ninth in the country. It marked the first time a Big Sky team had been sent east of the Mississippi to play in the tournament. It was also the first time since 1979 a Big Sky champion was not sent to the West Region.
“A small group of Wildcat students drove all the way across the country to see the game,” Larsen remembered. “On the way there one night they slept in the press box at Southern University’s football stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CBS did a story about them coming all the way from Ogden.”
The small school Wildcats were facing the Spartans who were coached by legendary coach Jud Heathcote, in his 19th season as head coach at Michigan State. He had previously announced that the 1994-95 season would be his last at MSU. He had led the Spartans to 10 NCAA Tournaments, including the 1979 title with Magic Johnson. Heathcote was no stranger to Big Sky basketball or Weber State. He had spent five seasons as the head coach at Montana in the 1970s.
The Spartans came into the game with a 22-5 record and were 14-4 in the Big Ten, second in the league standings. They were led by All-American senior guard Shawn Respert who ranked ninth in the nation in scoring at 25.5 points per game and was a terrific three-point shooter. His running mate in the backcourt was senior point guard Eric Snow who was averaging 10.9 points a game. Junior center Jamie Feick averaged 10.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.
Abegglen knew facing the powerful Spartans was a big challenge for the Wildcats. “We had some game film on Michigan State and they didn’t have any film on us. Jud Heathcote was a good friend of mine whom I had known for a long time. We watched a lot of film on them. They had two terrific guards in Snow and Respert. They were so fast and so tough to go against. I thought our guards were pretty good, but I thought we would be in trouble because of their speed.”’
Despite the challenge the Wildcat players felt they could win the game. “We always felt we had a chance because of Coach A,” DeGraffenried recalled. “He did a great job of preparing us so we would go into every game with confidence. He would tell us if we did certain things we would win the game. He would break it down and keep it simple so it gave us a lot of confidence.”
On Friday, March 17, 1995, the 14th seeded Wildcats went up against the third seeded Spartans at the Leon County Civic Center in Tallahassee. The game didn’t start out great for the Wildcats as Michigan State jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and then led 10-5 four minutes into the game. Weber State stayed level with the Spartans for the next few minutes and trailed 20-19 mid-way through the first half. But then MSU responded with an 8-0 run and led by nine points at 28-19 with 8:00 to play in the half. The Wildcats never got closer than three points the rest of the half and the Spartans finished the half on an 8-3 run and took a 46-37 lead at halftime. Respert led Michigan State with 16 points at the half and Nembhard had 14 for Weber State. The Spartans shot an incredible 69 percent from the field in the first half.
Coach Abegglen talked about his game plan against the Spartans.
“Coach Heathcote told me after the game that he knew they were in trouble at halftime. We convinced Kirk Smith that if he would sprint the length of the court that their guards would be there and he could block their shots. He committed to it. That was our total game plan, to have Kirk take off and get back on defense and let the other guys do the rebounding and it worked.”
The Spartans led 49-41 early in the second half when the Wildcats caught fire. WSU went on a 15-2 run over the next six minutes and took a 56-51 lead with 12:52 to play. They would never trail again. DeGraffenried made two three-pointers and Nembhard scored five points in that stretch and the Spartans had seven turnovers in the same time frame.
The Wildcat lead reached 10 points at 63-53 with 10:34 to play but then it was Michigan State’s turn as the Spartans scored eight straight points to cut the Wildcat lead to two with 8:00 to play. Back-to-back three pointers by Justyn Tebbs and DeGraffenried extended Weber State’s lead to eight points with 5:10 to play. The Spartans came back with six straight points but each time they got close to taking the lead the Wildcats would score a bucket.
“I remember sitting with Jeff Simon from the Standard-Examiner and Kurt Wilson our radio announcer. We looked at each other with about a minute to play and said, we’re going to win this,” Larsen recalled.
The Wildcats made eight of 10 free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Weber State led by two points at 74-72 with 54 seconds left after a three-pointer by Respert. The Spartans would not score again and the ’Cats made their free throws to seal a 79-72 shocking upset of Michigan State. The Wildcats had won their first NCAA Tournament game in 16 years and were the talk of the tournament across the nation. Nembhard led the Wildcats once again, finishing with 27 points, five rebounds and four steals. DeGraffenried added 15 with four three-pointers and Lofton added 14. Respert had 28 points with seven three-pointers for the Spartans but the Wildcats had shocked them and ended the career of Jud Heathcote.
“We had only packed enough clothes to stay a day or two,” Larsen recalled. “We thought we would go to Boise State but they sent us to Tallahassee. I realized that I had to update notes and stats and do lots of interviews and I wasn’t sure what to do. After we won there was so much demand for Coach Abegglen. We stayed at the arena until about midnight going to all the different TV spots for interviews. Everyone wanted to know where “Weber” State was and what we were doing. We became one of the darlings of the country.”
The Wildcats were not finished yet. They faced a matchup with sixth seeded Georgetown in the Big East in the Second Round on Sunday, March. 19. Georgetown was coached by another coaching legend in John Thompson and had a very talented team with several players that went on to play in the NBA. “After we beat Michigan State we were on such a high but we knew we had to get prepared,” DeGraffenried said. “I remember thinking we could beat Georgetown too.”
Among the future NBA players on the Hoya squad was freshman guard Allen Iverson who the following year would become the top pick of the 1996 NBA Draft. Iverson was joined on the roster by Othella Harrington, Don Reid, Jerome Williams, Boubacar Aw, Jahidi White and others and entered the game with the Wildcats with a 20-9 overall record.
The Wildcats were not afraid to play the Hoyas but Georgetown jumped off to a great start, scoring the first 10 points of the game. But from there, Weber State responded with 13 straight points of their own and held a 13-10 lead with 12:54 to play in the first half. It was a see-saw battle for the rest of the half with five lead changes and the Wildcats held a 27-25 lead at halftime. Nembhard had 12 points and the ’Cats had held Iverson to just two points on 1 of 7 shooting in the half.
A 10-6 run to start the second half gave Weber State a 37-31 lead just over five minutes into the half. A 7-3 run, with five points coming from Iverson, gave the Hoyas a 38-37 lead and they extended their lead to four points at 44-40 with 10 minutes to play. Back-to-back three-pointers from Lewis Lofton tied the game at 46-46 with 5:48 remaining. Georgetown led 50-47 with 3:27 remaining when Weber State scored four straight to take a 51-50 lead with 45 seconds left.
Iverson made one of two free throws to tie the game at 51-51 with 40 seconds left. Nembhard had a shot attempt blocked by Don Reid with 32 seconds left but the ’Cats got the ball back and Nembhard was fouled by Boubacar Aw with 7.4 seconds to play. Nembhard went to the free throw line, shooting one-and-one, with the score tied at 51-51. He missed the first attempt and the Hoyas had the ball. Iverson drove down and took a long three-pointer to win the game but missed the rim entirely. Don Reid was in the right place at the right time and rebounded the ball and layed it in as time expired and the Hoyas won the game 53-51.
Weber State was stunned and Georgetown was advancing to the Sweet 16. The Hoyas went on to lose to eventual Final Four team North Carolina, led by Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace.
Nembhard finished the game with 19 points and Lofton added 14 but the Wildcats shot just 35 percent for the game. Iverson finished with 16 points with 14 coming in the second half.
“We had a great chance to beat Georgetown,” Abegglen said. “We were down early and really made some shots and played great over the last few minutes. Ruben was terrific but then missed the free throw at the end. If Iverson’s shot had hit the rim we would have gone to overtime. Instead it was an airball and they made the layup. I thought the kids deserved to win that game and it broke my heart but sometimes that’s the way the ball bounces. That’s basketball.”
We had seven seconds left and a guy on the free throw line and I started thinking, ‘We’re going to win this thing,’ but it ended up not happening,” DeGraffenried recalled. “I remember John Thompson running across the court and was so excited. If the shot just hits the rim we go to overtime and liked our chances. It was still a great experience. Getting the win and then being right there with a chance to win another. It was a terrific experience.”
Weber State’s season had come to an end with a 21-9 record. WSU had won 21 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 11 years. The Weber State program was once again back in the national spotlight. Ruben Nembhard finished the season leading the Big Sky in scoring at 20.1 points and steals at 2.4 per game. In his two year career he scored 999 career points.
DeGraffenried, Nembhard and Smith all were named to the Weber State 50th Anniversary Team. After that season Nembhard, Lofton, Lentfer and Smith all left the program as seniors but Weber State continued its strong play the following year, finishing with a 20-10 record and second in the Big Sky. In the opening game of the 1995-96 season, Weber State won 102-86 at Fresno State, behind 30 points from DeGraffenried, in the first round of the NIT preseason tournament. It was also the first game for new Fresno State head coach Jerry Tarkanian.
DeGraffenried went on to win co-Big Sky MVP honors during the 1995-96 season as he led the Big Sky in scoring at 21.2 points per game. He finished his career playing in 117 games for the Wildcats, a school record at the time. As of 2013 he ranked third in scoring in WSU history with 1,624 points. He is also fourth in career three-pointers with 196. He is also a member of the Weber State Athletic Hall of Fame. Following his days at Weber State he went into coaching spending time at his alma mater Payson High School and Salem Hills High School. He will always remember his time at Weber State.
“It’s always fun to look back on those days,” he said. “I love getting together with the old players and coaches. We always share that common bond with each other. I love Coach A and still get advice from him all the time. He’s a great basketball mind. For me Weber State was a great decision. It’s made a huge difference for me in my life.”
Coach Abegglen was just getting started and four years later he would make history once again with another memorable tournament run for the Wildcats.