Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Northern Colorado
Wildcats back home to take on Bears Thursday night
2/4/2026 5:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball
• Weber State returns to the Dee Events Center for two games this weekend, starting Thursday night against Northern Colorado.
The Wildcats and Bears will tipoff at 7:00 p.m. at the Dee Events Center. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
• Weber State started the second half of Big Sky Conference play on Monday night with a 104-90 loss at Sacramento State. The Wildcats are 11-12 overall and 5-5 in Big Sky play. WSU is in the midst of a stretch of four games over eight days.
Northern Colorado is 13-10 overall and 3-7 in Big Sky play and the Bears have won two straight.
• Weber State had five players score in double figures in Monday's game, led once again by Tijan Saine Jr., who has led the Wildcats in scoring in eight of the 10 Big Sky games, including the last six. He scored 22 points on Monday, with 20 coming in the second half, and has reached 20 or more points in seven of the 10 conference games.
Saine leads the Big Sky in scoring in conference games at 21.2 points per game. Overall this season, he has scored in double figures 18 times and reached 20 or more nine times.
He leads Weber State in scoring at 16.1 points per game and is second in the league in free throw percentage at 87.1 percent. He is shooting 89.2 percent in conference games.
He is also third in the Big Sky in assist to turnover ratio and ranks fifth in assists.
• Malek Gomma posted his second double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds on Monday. He is now third in the Big Sky in rebounding at 7.2 per game. Gomma also leads the Wildcats in field goal percentage at 55.9 percent.
• Nigel Burris, the lone senior on this year's Wildcat team, started Monday's game and had a season-high 17 points, along with eight rebounds. Burris has reached double figures 11 times this season and is averaging 10 points per game. He is also shooting 53 percent from the field.
Freshman Duce Paschal added 10 points on Monday, his third double digit scoring game of the season.
• Viljami Vartiainen knocked down two 3-pointers on Monday and moved into the WSU record books for career 3-pointers. He now has 151 career 3-pointers, tied with Kyle Bullinger for the 10th most in WSU history.
This season Vartiainen is second on the Wildcat team in scoring at 11.9 points per game and ranks second in the Big Sky in 3-pointers per game at 2.9. He is also third in the league in 3-point percentage at 40.5 percent.
• Weber State was two key players on Monday. Junior Jace Whiting missed his third game with a foot injury and is still expected to be out a few more weeks.
Sophomore Trevor Hennig missed his second straight game due to illness.
• Weber State gave up 12 3-pointers for the third time this season and the second of the last two games. WSU is now second in the conference in 3-point defense and also ranks second in scoring offense, turnover margin, and steals.
WSU still leads the Big Sky in rebounding at 38.0 per game.
• Northern Colorado is coming off two home wins over Idaho and Eastern Washington last week. The Bears lead the Big Sky in scoring offense, assists, and rebounding margin and rank second in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, 3-pointers per game. UNC's Quinn Decker ranks seventh in the nation in assists. He is also fifth in the Big Sky in scoring. Zach Bloch is fourth in the nation in 3-point defense.
The Bears are coached by Steve Smiley who is in his seventh season with the Bears. Smiley is a former assistant coach at Weber State. He was on the staff with the Wildcats from 2014-16 under coach Randy Rahe and worked with then-assistant coach Eric Duft.
• The Wildcats beat the Bears 76-71 on January 10 in Greeley. Weber State held the Bears to just 1 of 14 from 3-point range in the win. Edwin Suarez led WSU with 18 points and Tijan Saine added 17.
WSU is 26-14 all-time against Northern Colorado, including the win earlier this season, which snapped a three-game losing streak to the Bears. In games in Ogden, Weber State is 16-3 all-time, but the Bears have won three of the last six.
• The Wildcats will host Northern Arizona on Saturday night, then return to the road at Idaho and Eastern Washington next week.
