Preview: @UNCO_MBB Battles with Second-Place Weber State Saturday Night

Saturday, February 10

Ogden, Utah

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Weber State University

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Photo by: Dean Popejoy

2/9/2018 7:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

UNC Game Notes Weber State Game Notes

The Bears enter the Dee Events Center after a close win Thursday.

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

Greeley, Colo.—The Northern Colorado men try to pick up the pace from their last game as they play in arguably the hardest environment in the Big Sky. UNC (16-9, 7-5) seeks its first-ever win at Weber State (16-7, 9-2) Saturday night. The Bears are 0-10 when playing in Ogden, Utah, but do have a few close calls.

Opening Tip
Weber State and Northern Colorado have only been playing since the Bears entered the Big Sky Conference in the 2006-07 season. The Wildcats lead the overall series 18-5 and have won the last five contests between the two schools. UNC's last win came on January 31, 2015, in Greeley, 71-57.

Record Book Watch
With Jordan Davis' 23 points at Idaho State, JD moves into ninth all-time in UNC history for points. Davis now has 1,295 points in his career and trails John McFarland (1994-97) for eighth place by 31 points. JD is now tied with Troy Graefe (1983-85) for seventh for career assists with 299 each. The Las Vegas native needs 15 assists to pass Carlos Martinez (1996-00) for sixth.

Andre Spight and Davis are making their way up the chart for assists in a single season. Dre has 94 and JD has 71. The record is held by Davis with 162 last year. Spight sits fourth while Davis is three assists away from getting his name twice in the top 10.

Spight has his sights set on the points in the season record and trails Will Figures by 26 for third. Dre needs 164 to tie Devon Beitzel. He is on the verge of being at the top for 3-pointers made and free throw percentage as well.

Jalen Sanders has already notched the top spot for blocks in a single season with 31. The previous was 28 set by Connor Osborne (2009-14) in the 2012-13 season. Osborne holds the career record with 71.

Last Time Out
The 58 total fouls slowed the game down but Northern Colorado found its flow late to make the comeback win, 85-82. UNC used hot shooting from the field to sweep the season series over Idaho State.

Last Time vs Weber State
If you took a mirror to Northern Colorado's first half, you would see Weber State's second half as the switch handed UNC its third-straight defeat 78-74 to the Wildcats. UNC saw Weber State outshoot them in the second half 55.0 percent to UNC's 37.0 percent to propel WSU to its fifth straight win over Northern Colorado.

Bears Tracks

The Bears are slowly but surely making their way up the scoring list and now average 79.6 points per game overall and 80.8 during the conference season. Because of his recent performance, Spight has moved up the list of top scorers and now puts in 20.9 points per 40 minutes which is third overall. Dre's conference hot streak has sat him atop the list of scorers by averaging 24.2 per game.
The Bears are looking down at everyone else in the league when it comes to defensive rebounds. UNC has pulled down 690 defensive boards while the closest to them is Weber State who has 650 on the season. Jonah Radebaugh is the Bears' leading rebounder on the season with 6.0 per game which places him 11th in the league. Tanner Morgan and Jalen Sanders are in the top 15 in the league with Sanders coming in at 14 (5.6 rpg) and Morgan is 15th with 5.5 rpg.
Spight isn't only scoring the ball as he is in fifth for assists in the conference with 3.8 apg.
Dre is one back from Tyler Hall of Montana State in the lead for 3-pointers made per game. Hall has 83 and Spight 82 which puts them first and second in the season overall. Spight does lead Hall by one in just Big Sky conference games…42-41.

Scouting Weber State

Randy Rahe enters his 12th as the head coach of the Weber State men's basketball program. Rahe is Weber State's all-time winningest coach and is the Big Sky Conference's career leader in conference wins. In his 11 seasons at Weber State, Rahe has led the Wildcats to five Big Sky titles and nine postseason tournament appearances, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament. He is also the first coach in Big Sky Conference history to be named conference Coach of the Year four times and has coached six Big Sky MVP's in his 11 seasons at Weber State. He has also had two players drafted in the NBA, including two-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard.
The Wildcats have won six of their last seven since their victory in Greeley. In the six wins, their average margin of victory is 13. Weber State sits second in the Big Sky at 9-2. Their two losses in the conference are to North Dakota and Idaho State.
WSU's Jerrick Harding is the Big Sky-leading scorer by averaging 21.8 ppg. The Wildcats also boast the second-leading rebounder in the conference in Zach Braxton (7.6 rpg).
Weber State (80.3 ppg) scores the second most amount of points in league play and one of two teams to average over 80 points per game.
The purple-clad Wildcats are atop six categories in the Big Sky for the season and five categories for just league play. Conference: 3-point percentage, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, defensive rebounding percentage and 3-pointers made. Overall: scoring margin, free-throw percentage, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, defensive rebounds, and defensive rebounding percentage.

What's Next
Northern Colorado will be home for its last two regular-season games at Bank for Colorado Arena when they host Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Northern Arizona comes to town February 15 at 7 pm brought to you by Ehrlich Toyota and Chick-Fil-A. Senior night will be the 17th against Southern Utah as UNC will recognize Andre Spight, Tanner Morgan, Anthony Johnson and Tyler Loose for all they have done for the Northern Colorado men's basketball team.