Weber State men’s basketball announced its complete 2021-22 schedule Thursday morning, and it coincides with Standard-Examiner reporting through the summer with one major highlight:

In the space of just more than one week, WSU will host Utah State, BYU and Fresno State at the Dee Events Center to cap the nonconference schedule in December.

The Wildcats will play five home games in nonconference play and, with a home conference series featuring Northern Arizona and Portland State, WSU will play a total of six home games in December.

WSU opens with two Division II teams in Concordia-St. Paul (senior center Cody Carlson’s former team) in a Nov. 4 exhibition, then hosts Western Colorado on Nov. 9 to open the regular season. Just before the final stretch of top-flight home games, WSU also hosts Maine-Fort Kent.

Three road games include two payout games at Duquesne and Washington State. WSU also travels to Dixie State as part of a home-and-home series.

Three neutral-site games at the Jersey Mike’s Classic will be Nov. 18-21 at Eckard College in St. Petersburg, Florida. The top of the field there is comprised of Weber, UMass and UNC-Greensboro, with Ball State, Green Bay and Florida International also participating. WSU will play three of those five opponents.

WSU will travel to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne on the front-end of the trip that takes them to Florida for the tournament.

Weber State takes in $145,000 in buy-game money, according to contracts obtained by the Standard-Examiner ($85,000 from Washington State, $60,000 from Duquesne). It will pay out about $45,000 ($35,000 as an entry fee to the Jersey Mike’s Classic, and about $10,000 total to the three non-Division I oppnents WSU will host).

A net of $100,000 and the final string of home games in December appears to be a solid way to come out of 2020-21 when the pandemic resulted in Weber State having two weeks of the schedule being cut off the front end of the season, crowds being either empty or limited capacity, the opportunity for buy-games limited, and seven games canceled by COVID-19 issues with opponents.

When a second-straight conference series was canceled in January, WSU scheduled a home-and-home series with WAC school Tarleton State, which began in Ogden on Jan. 17. The return game to Texas was originally scheduled to be this season but has been pushed to 2022-23.

Sources tell the Standard-Examiner that a new series with Utah Valley is also expected to pick back up next season.

With 11 teams, the Big Sky Conference slate is a full round-robin schedule of 20 games for perhaps the last time. Southern Utah is playing its final season in the conference, after which it will leave to join the WAC.

Weber State fields five second-time seniors on this year’s squad, led by returning big men Dontay Bassett, Cody Carlson and Michal Kozak. Marquette transfer guard Koby McEwen and Utah Valley wing transfer JJ Overton join the team, with experienced junior wing Zahir Porter and sophomore guard Seikou Sisoho Jawara also returning, among others.

Below is the full 2021-22 schedule, with the three mid-season tournament opponents yet to be determined.

WSU 2021-22 MBB SCHEDULE

CAPS — home game

* — Big Sky Conference game

Nov. 4: vs. CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL (exhibition)

Nov. 9: vs. WESTERN COLORADO

Nov. 15: at Duquesne

Nov. 18-21: Jersey Mike’s Classic, Florida

Nov. 27: at Dixie State

Dec. 2: vs. NORTHERN ARIZONA*

Dec. 4: vs. PORTLAND STATE*

Dec. 8: at Washington State

Dec. 11: vs. MAINE-FORT KENT

Dec. 15: vs. UTAH STATE

Dec. 18: vs. BYU

Dec. 23: vs. FRESNO STATE

Dec. 30: at Montana State*

Jan. 1: at Montana*

Jan. 8: at Idaho State*

Jan. 13: vs. IDAHO*

Jan. 15: vs. EASTERN WASHINGTON*

Jan. 20: vs. IDAHO STATE*

Jan. 24: at Southern Utah*

Jan. 27: at Northern Colorado*

Jan. 29: at Sacramento State*

Feb. 3: vs. MONTANA*

Feb. 5: vs. MONTANA STATE*

Feb. 10: at Eastern Washington*

Feb. 12: at Idaho*

Feb. 17: vs. SACRAMENTO STATE*

Feb. 19: vs. NORTHERN COLORADO*

Feb. 24: at Portland State*

Feb. 26: at Northern Arizona*

March 5: vs. SOUTHERN UTAH*

March 9-12: Big Sky Tournament, Boise

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