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OGDEN- Games against in-state rivals BYU and Utah State highlight the 2014-15 Weber State men's basketball schedule, which was released Tuesday by WSU head coach Randy Rahe in a press release.
"As always, we try to put together a challenging schedule and we feel we've done that again this year," said Rahe, who is the reigning Big Sky Coach of the Year. "This year will be another difficult schedule that will be great preparation for the conference season. We are excited to play in the tournament in the Virgin Islands and always look forward to playing the in-state games. We will face several strong teams in the preseason at home and on the road, which will prepare us for the new Big Sky season."
The Wildcats will play two exhibition games, Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 before the regular season opener, which will be Nov. 14 at Utah State in Logan. It will mark the third time in six years that the Wildcats open the season against the Aggies.
The Wildcats host BYU at the Dee Events Center on December 13.
The home opener will be Monday, Nov. 17 against Presentation College, an NAIA school from Aberdeen, S.D. After that, the Wildcats will compete in the previously announced Paradise Jam Tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Wildcats will play three games in the tournament between Nov. 21-24. They will open against Illinois State on Nov. 21 and then play either LSU or Old Dominion on Nov. 22 or 23. WSU will face Clemson, Gardner-Webb, Nevada or Seton Hall in the final game of the tournament on Nov. 24. The tournament will be Weber State's first preseason tournament in three years.
The Wildcats will then return to the Dee Events Center to host Oral Roberts on Dec. 1. They will also host BYU (Dec. 13), Utah Valley (Dec. 20) and Bristol University (Dec. 27) in non-conference games. The 'Cats will face non-conference road games at UT Arlington on Dec. 6 and at Oklahoma on Dec. 22.
WSU will begin 2015 with the new 18-game Big Sky Conference schedule, opening the conference slate Jan. 1 at Eastern Washington. They will then face new league member Idaho on Jan. 3 in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals are charter members of the Big Sky and are returning to the conference this season.
Weber State will play four of the first six games and seven of the first 11 conference games on the road. The Big Sky home opener will be Jan. 8 against Montana, followed by a Jan. 10 game with Montana State. In the new conference schedule, the Wildcats will play seven league teams twice and four teams once. WSU will play Portland State and Sacramento State only at home and will face North Dakota and Northern Colorado only on the road. The 'Cats will conclude the conference season with five of the final seven league games at home, with the conference finale on March 7 against Eastern Washington.
The Big Sky Tournament will be held March 12-14 at the site of the regular season champion. This season the top eight teams in the league standings will advance to the tournament.
Weber State is coming off a strong 2013-14 season which saw the Wildcats win their 21st Big Sky Conference title. WSU also won the Big Sky Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 15th time in school history. Coach Rahe, who returns for his ninth season with the Wildcats, was named Big Sky Coach of the Year and became the first coach in conference history to win the honor four times. Rahe enters this season as the second winningest coach in conference history.
The Wildcats will return five players from last year's team, including Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Joel Bolomboy and Big Sky Freshman of the Year Jeremy Senglin. The 'Cats also added five new freshmen and two junior college transfers to this year's roster.
Contributor: Paul Grua, Weber State sports information director
