But what transpired Saturday at the Dee Events Center laid bare what an inexperienced, perhaps undersized Weber State men’s basketball team is up against this season.

It wasn’t the one-two UC Riverside guard combo of Zyon Pullin and Flynn Cameron, where Weber State got stops and made a second-half run. It wasn’t the sheer size and length of Washington, where WSU battled from start to finish until a late UW rally. It wasn’t the efficient offense of Colorado State, or even pushing through the havoc-causing defense of Tarleton State that was a close game from start to finish.

It was Utah Tech, a third-year Division I squad from a like conference that made itself a clear barometer for Weber State.

And what the Trailblazers got was a landmark win under 18-year head coach Jon Judkins, a third-year Division I squad laying a 77-65 dismantling on a flat Weber State team that has four weeks to find some answers to build itself as a competitive squad in the Big Sky Conference.

“This was big. This was fun,” Judkins said. “They beat us pretty good at our place last year and it was fun to come back here and get one back. It means a lot but again, it’s (one) game.”

Jacob Nicolds and Noah Gonsalves hit consecutive 3s to spark an early UT 12-0 run, capped when big man Tanner Christensen dunked over WSU center Alex Tew, to give the visitors a 14-4 lead.

The outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way. Zahir Porter scored on a drive and Dillon Jones made a pair of free throws to get Weber State (2-6) to within 19-13, but the Trailblazers spent the rest of the night slowly building the lead and held a double-digit advantage the rest of the night.

“They came out and punched us in the mouth,” WSU guard Steven Verplancken Jr. said. “When we’ve got to play from behind, that’s just tough the whole game. We had stretches where we had chances, but if we can mature a little bit more, take a good shot, save a possession defensively, you know, O-boards and get an easy two points … today we were a little flat. We’ve got to mature on that end and come to play every night.”

Christensen, a 6-foot-10 Idaho transfer, has been a plug-and-play replacement for graduated all-WAC big man Hunter Schofield. Christensen scored 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, adding eight rebounds and five assists, and was a menace WSU couldn’t handle.

Around Christensen are a score of experienced returning players: Cam Gooden (a pedestrian five points and six assists after scoring 29 at USU), Isaiah Pope (19 points on 7-of-9 shooting), Nicolds (11 points) and Frank Staine (five points) — all of whom have been at Utah Tech for at least three seasons.

Verplancken, the one WSU player who can consistently make an outside shot so far, led the Wildcats with 15 points while shooting 3 of 5 from deep (everyone else was 1 of 9). Jones came alive offensively in the second half and totaled 13 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

Porter added 12 points on a series of tough makes at the basket and four free throws. Keith Dinwiddie and Tew each scored eight points.

“I thought we played hard with the energy we brought to the building. Our problem was, we didn’t bring enough energy to the building,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said.

Dancell Leter added nine points for a Utah Tech (4-5) team that shot 26 of 50 from the field. That efficiency is not an anomaly against this WSU team, which has allowed all but one of its seven Division I opponents to shoot 49% or better from the field (and that was Washington at 47%).

Verplancken diagnosed his team as having a tendency to gamble or take risks on defense instead of playing more “solid,” which results in easy looks for opponents.

Duft said his team is a work in progress, and potential answers on the defensive end of the floor may include changes to the lineup and rotation.

Duft acknowledged his team — as it starts Keith Dinwiddie (6-foot), Junior Ballard (6-foot-3) and Verplancken (6-foot-4) on the guard line and Dillon Jones (6-foot-6) at forward — is undersized. (That’s compared to last year’s guard line of 6-foot-3 Sigu Sisoho Jawara, 6-foot-4 Koby McEwen and 6-foot-6 JJ Overton, for example.)

By percentage of available rebounds, Weber State is one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country (10th). Where being undersized is hurting the Wildcats is the number of rebounds available is small: WSU is currently the third-worst team in the country at effective field goal percentage defense. They’re taking the ball out of the net more often than not.

“A lot of it comes down to individual defenders. We’re probably going to need to go with the guys that are going to take the most pride in that end of the floor,” Duft said.

Playing Dyson Koehler (five points, two steals Saturday) at the 3 and Porter, who is 6-foot-6, at shooting guard may be one answer, Duft said. Perhaps 6-foot-10 Handje Tamba can work back into the rotation (though 6-foot-8 freshman Daniel Rouzan was a plus-three in his plus-minus Saturday, with two points and two rebounds in 13 minutes).

Getting 6-foot-9 freshman forward Louie Jordan on the floor may also be in the cards if he can handle defensive assignments. Aside from the size, he, at least in theory, raises the ceiling for Weber State’s 3-point shooting abilities.

“I want to play Louie. We have been kind of in this situation where we’re playing teams with a lot of experience, a lot of seniors, and it’s hard when you’re a true freshman,” Duft said. “But I want to get him in. He’s bought in, he’s done a great job, he plays really hard.”

However it happens, nothing seems set in stone for the squad that has just two seniors and two juniors.

“We’ve got to be a lot more committed to it and get the right guys on the floor,” Duft said. “We’re going to build this thing the right way. We are not going to sacrifice our culture. We’re going to get the guys out there who are going to buy in and if we have to take some lumps early, then so be it.”

Offensively, Duft said they need to find a way to help his players play with confidence.

“When we do make a good play, we’re missing the open shot. We’re trying to force way too much,” Duft said. “So far, it just hasn’t clicked for us. We just have to stay with it.”

It doesn’t get any easier to close nonconference play.

Weber State next travels to play a skilled Cal Baptist team on Wednesday. The Lancers boast scoring guard Taran Armstrong (14 ppg), LMU transfer spark plug Joe Quintana, fifth-year senior forward and Utah transfer Riley Battin, 10 & 7 South Dakota forward transfer Hunter Goodrick, and imposing 7-footer Timothy Ighoefe, a transfer from Georgetown.

Even a Dec. 10 home matchup against Division II Saint Martin’s now has intrigue. The Saints are 7-1 and led by Portland State transfers Kyle Greeley and Jaden Nielsen-Skinner, among others, and are 2-0 to start GNAC play. That’s the final home game of nonconference play.

After that, it’s a trip to Cal Poly (Dec. 16) before traveling to Utah State (Dec. 19) and BYU (Dec. 22) in a difficult close to the non-league ledger.