Weber State men’s and women’s basketball teams come out of the holiday break with tough tests to resume Big Sky Conference play against Montana State and Montana.

The men are making the toughest two-game road trip in league play, one that will likely hold big conference-race ramifications later, while the women host a team typically on top and the team that is currently on top.

For Weber State men’s basketball (9-4, 2-0 Big Sky), the Wildcats start their road trip by visiting Montana State (9-4, 1-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday.

WSU’s recent weaknesses will be in the spotlight against the Bobcats, who shoot 37% from 3 (40th nationally against DI opponents) and limit opponents to 31.7% (117th best).

Montana State is led in scoring by 6-foot-10 big man Jubrile Belo, who averages 13.2 points per game. That’s another sore spot for Weber State, who is searching for sure answers at center. The Wildcats are getting little offensive production from any of the centers to take the court and play major rotational minutes in a given game (Alex Tew, Cody Carlson, Michal Kozak), and WSU struggled to give defensive resistance to Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson last time on the court.

Last season, WSU beat Montana State twice in Ogden behind 17 points in each game from Dontay Bassett, but Bassett has yet to crack the rotation at center after working through health and conditioning roadblocks that held him out of the season’s first eight games.

Belo leads a cast of nearly have five double-digit scorers with 5-foot-8 Xavier Bishop (12.1 ppg), Amin Adamu (10.5), sharpshooter Tyler Patterson (10.4), and forward Abdul Mohamed (9.8 points, 7.7 rebounds per game). Patterson, Bishop and Mohamed have knocked down the 3 well this year and WSU will need to keep Bishop and Adamu out of the paint.

These are things WSU did well enough last season in two wins against the same players. This season’s roster, with additions of Koby McEwen and JJ Overton, was meant to increase Weber State’s ability to stop dribble penetration and improve the defense. It appeared through eight games that the Wildcats had succeeded at this, but recent results cast doubts on how sustainable the defense can be.

While COVID-19 surges are again disrupting college basketball schedules (more on that later), the WSU men are currently COVID-free but have dealt with non-COVID illnesses limiting certain players in practice throughout December. A full-strength roster will be key to compete on the trip as both opponents have speedy guards and skilled big men.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, Weber State opens the New Year in Missoula to face Montana (8-5, 1-1). The Griz take good care of the ball, pass it well and are good at creating turnovers. But Montana allows opponents to shoot at a very high clip and sends them to the free-throw line often.

That game will feature a matchup of forwards as Josh Bannan (11.7 points, 7.6 rebounds per game) and Dillon Jones (12.7 points, 10.4 rebounds per game) face off. Bannan is the only Montana player averaging double-digit scoring so far this season. The Griz get balanced contributions from guards Robby Beasley (9.7 points), Brandon Whitney (9.4) and Cameron Parker (8.2).

WSU WOMEN

Weber State women’s basketball (5-6, 1-1 Big Sky) is a couple of buckets from a 2-0 conference start and continues six straight games at home by hosting Montana State (7-6, 2-0) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Dee Events Center, then hosts Montana (9-2, 2-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Montana State has been a mainstay as a top-three team in the league for years. Though the Bobcats struggled with NAIA Carroll College (69-60 win) and Division II MSU-Billings (took two overtimes to win), they did take home wins over Northern Colorado and Sacramento State to open conference play.

Darian White, a 5-foot-6 guard, is as skilled as they come and leads the Bobcats with 15.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game.

Montana State could serve as a good litmus test on just how much Velaida Harris’s Wildcats have grown from last season. WSU’s next win would give them six on the season, which is as many as the Wildcats claimed in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons combined.

Montana appears to be the cream of the crop in Big Sky women’s basketball this season. The Griz also beat the same teams as MSU to open conference play in early December, but did so by an average 14.5-point margin.

To boot, Montana most recently blasted Seattle (83-57) and Utah State (103-80) to put the Big Sky on notice.

Carmen Gfeller leads Montana with 14.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, complemented by guards Sammy Fatkin (12.4 ppg) and Sophia Stiles (10.5). Gfeller shoots 45% from 3, Stiles 38.5%, and Haley Huard shoots flames off the bench going 17 of 32 from deep in 13.8 minutes per game.

COVID UPDATE

Four conference games have been called off this weekend between the men’s and women’s Big Sky schedules due to high rates of COVID-19 for the Idaho men and Eastern Washington women.

Wednesday, a Big Sky representative provided the following update on discussions to change the conference’s COVID scheduling policy: “Following a meeting between the league’s athletic directors, plans are currently being reviewed and we expect a decision/announcement by the end of the week.”

Currently, Big Sky rules say games lost to COVID-19 disruption will not be made up and the team responsible for the cancellation takes a forfeit loss in the league standings. Many conferences went to policies like this entering the 2021-22 school year as a way to incentivize teams and players to be vaccinated and avoid schedule disruptions.

The current omicron variant, however, appears to be more contagious (though with less severe symptoms), with vaccines less effective against preventing omicron infection, and has caused many conferences to change course and revert back to a policy typical of the 2020-21 season, which determines a canceled game as no-contest.

Some leagues this season have also instituted a clear standard by which roster disruption can or cannot result in a postponement; for example, the WAC says teams with seven players and one coach available must play.

With no such standard, at least one made public by the Big Sky, it’s not known what level of disruption caused Idaho and Eastern Washington to call off their games this weekend.

Statements from both schools said information about possible rescheduled games was to be determined in the future. It’s not known if the Big Sky will consider rescheduling games lost to COVID disruption, or allow schools to do so of their own accord.

Last season, the Big Sky prohibited teams from trying to make up lost games, which resulted in highly variable and imbalanced schedules between teams and quickly scheduled games against nonconference opponents (usually non-Division I opponents). Weber State men had five Big Sky games canceled, four of them home games, last season.

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