The Wildcats were bringing back three second-year seniors from a 17-6 campaign in the 2020-21 season, added two more second-year seniors in transfers Koby McEwen and JJ Overton, and brought back definite rotation staples Dillon Jones, Seikou Sisoho Jawara and Zahir Porter with steady reserve guard KJ Cunningham.

“We’re too skilled to turn the ball over,” the message from coaches echoed in an empty Dee Events Center. “Way too good, and skilled, and veteran.”

The directive: “Every possession ends in a shot.”

That was an early moment, among many, in which Rahe and his coaching staff turned the team over to the players, trusting that players of their age, experience and make-up would rise to the call and take the reins.

“I told them early on, this is your team. If you guys will take ownership of your team, and if you will hold each other accountable and not take it personally, then we’ve got a chance to do something pretty good,” Rahe recalled last week after a win over Eastern Washington. “But it’s up to you. How good do you want to be?”

The Wildcats responded. Specifically, to the call to take care of the ball — Weber State is 26th nationally in lowest turnover percentage, and second in the Big Sky — and generally, to the question of how much they wanted to take control.

Headed into the final month, WSU is 18-6 overall and 11-2 in the Big Sky, a half-game in first place ahead of the Montana State team that dealt the tired ‘Cats a blow to end last week. The Wildcats’ schedule cools off just as it heats up for MSU and top contender Southern Utah, in third place at 9-3.

Despite changing starting lineups and rotations, Weber State has tallied two separate winning streaks of eight games and has delivered an up-tempo, pressure-based style on both ends of the court that has a regular-season title within reach, provided health and consistency hold up as it has to this point.

“It’s consistency. These guys come to practice every day, they’re locked in, they’re ready to go. Every game, no matter what the situation is. The stretch we’ve been through … they’re always ready to go compete,” Rahe said. “I think it’s a motivated team that wants to try to accomplish something this year.”

The second-year freshman Jones is a natural leader, and the resurgence of senior big man Dontay Bassett has provided a steady presence on the court. Bassett became known as a defensive communicator last season.

But McEwen’s decision to play at Weber State has paid dividends, especially.

“He plays with an edge and he’s going to make sure our guys are held accountable. But he’s also extremely poised, extremely confident. And I think that rubs off on our guys,” Rahe said. “We’ve had a lot of games coming down the stretch where Koby’s like, ‘we’re good, let’s go make a couple plays and we’re going to be fine.'”

Rahe said another of McEwen’s attributes that has filtered to the team, or amplified it for players who already had it, is that “he knows nothing else than to compete as hard as he can, every possession, whether it’s practice or a game.”

That was apparent in last week’s tight home win over Montana in which McEwen scored 21 points in the first half before the Griz tried to take him out of the game. In the end, he scored 32 points on 19-of-20 shooting from the free-throw line, the latter a new program record for makes from the foul line in a game.

“My team looks to me to attack. It’s not really about me scoring. If we’re in the bonus, I’ll shoot free throws, but me being in attack mode is good for our team because it opens up opportunities for everybody else, and that’s what I really try to focus on,” McEwen said.

That held true in what proved to be the decisive play when McEwen drove to the paint and was cut off by a double team at the baseline, so he whipped a pass to the open Bassett in the corner for a 3 that put WSU up six points with three minutes to play.

“It’s just trying to find opportunities for guys,” he said. “I may not always get the assists, but as long as I’m flattening out the defense and making two guys commit to me, I did my job.”

Sometimes that ownership and accountability is visible during games. A fairly heated exchange between Jones, McEwen and Sisoho Jawara was hard to miss in Saturday’s 21-point loss after the Wildcats gave up a late offensive rebound and bucket.

Rahe said good teams usually have that edge, to some degree.

“They can go at each other once in a while, they get a little frustrated, I have no problem with that. It’s just being competitive and wanting to do as well as you can do. It was a frustrating night,” Rahe said. “But they’re all good when it’s all said and done. This team is very together. It’s just heat of the battle, that’s all it is. None of that stuff carries over.”

As the final stretch begins, the Wildcats open and close with their toughest remaining tests. They open with a road rematch at Eastern Washington on Thursday as part of the EWU/Idaho road trip, and end March 5 with a home game against Southern Utah.

WSU has shown it can take care of business over long stretches. It opened the season with an eight-game win streak by taking a three-game tournament sweep that included a comeback win over Ball State, road wins over Duquesne and Dixie State, and opened conference play 2-0 with the most dominant defensive effort against a Division I opponent in 21 seasons in a 67-44 win over Northern Arizona.

After a 12-day layoff to start the calendar year, WSU launched into another eight-game win streak by pushing past some rust, throttling Idaho State by 32 after postponed games, and going 4-0 in a stretch of four games over eight days in four different cities.

With Montana State playing as good as ever, and Southern Utah’s talent ever a threat, it will take that same focus to the finish line if Weber State wants its first regular-season title since 2016.

“I appreciate that they haven’t let their guard down a whole lot,” Rahe said. “It’s been a really fun team to coach so far because I don’t have to worry about some of that stuff. I don’t have to scream and holler and hope they’re ready.

“They’ve taken great ownership of the team … they’re trying to accomplish something, and they’re pretty motivated to do that.”