Paul Grua, WSU Athletics

POCATELLO, Idaho — Checking in at the first timeout of Weber State’s loss Saturday at Idaho State, fifth-year guard KJ Cunningham set a program record that may never be broken again.

Entering his 135th game, Cunningham is the new Mr. Wildcat, holding the WSU men’s basketball record for career games played.

“This is a blessing,” Cunningham said after Saturday’s game. “It means I’ve been here and stayed down for this team every day, worked hard to be on the court, been able to play and help win games.”

It’s a big reward for the 6-foot-2 guard from Bryan, Texas, who remained at Weber State despite a playing trajectory that might have led most others to transfer. After starting 14 games as a freshman, he came off the bench in all 23 games played in the 2020-21 season, then played in only 21 of 33 games the next season at 6.7 minutes per appearance.

“If you play long enough, your role is going to change,” he said. “If you really love the game, sometimes you’re going to come off the bench, or you’ll go from the bench to not playing, you just cheer your team … Stick around in the program. Have hope and find things that are going to make you better, and work on those things.”

ISAAC FISHER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

That led to last season when Cunningham — the player multiple coaches for multiple years have praised as being smart, consistent, solid and reliable — again became the lead point guard in the 11th game. WSU was 3-7 before that but finished 15-8 with Cunningham in that role.

He started eight games this season before returning to a backup role behind Blaise Threatt, but still averages 20 minutes per night. He’s made 62% of his total career field goals in the past two seasons, averaging six points per game on 43% shooting.

One of his favorite on-court memories, he says, is the December 2022 upset at Utah State that saw WSU rally from down 14 early in the first half to claim one of the program’s best-ever regular-season victories.

That game highlights how Cunningham makes an impact. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but there’s a lot going on in his 11 points from that night. He shot 3 of 6 from deep, and his final triple was the biggest. After WSU’s 23-4 run put the Wildcats up 57-51, USU finally returned serve and tied the game with a Steven Ashworth 3.

That started a run of four straight possessions of traded 3-pointers in 50 seconds. WSU had to answer in that rally or risk giving up momentum to USU in front of its home crowd. Cunningham’s 3 with 2:38 left capped the back-and-forth to keep WSU ahead 67-64.

His two biggest games this season also netted 11 points. He scored that total on two 3-pointers in each of WSU’s road wins at Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington.

His career-high came in the 2023 Big Sky quarterfinals, scoring 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting with zero turnovers in a win over Sacramento State.

Another big reward for staying “down for this team” is his degree. Cunningham is a professional sales major with minors in communication and in sports coaching, and has overcome dyslexia to reach that goal.

And to top it off, Cunningham and his longtime girlfriend Kiera Harris became fiancé and fiancée two weeks ago.

Here’s why Cunningham’s Mr. Wildcat title may never be taken:

He takes the honor from Michal Kozak (134 games, 2017-22), who passed Jordan Richardson (132, 2010-14). Cunningham will reach 139 games, and would hit 140 if WSU makes at least the Big Sky tournament semifinals.

The near-untouchable nature of that record is owed to a few things. The most prominent factor is the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to all college athletes receiving a “free” year of eligibility in the 2020-21 school year. So Cunningham’s five full seasons are unlikely to happen again for anyone else.

The second is the total number of games future players might be able to play. The limit for regular-season games is 31; a run to the conference title game would net 34 games in the Big Sky’s current tournament format, and a win and appearance in the NCAA Tournament would net 35. A future WSU player would need to play 35 games for four seasons to reach 140 for a career.

Richardson took his crown due to WSU’s 2013 run to the CIT championship game, which gave the Wildcats 37 games in the 2012-13 season. But that tournament no longer exists, and the NIT has done away with the longstanding tradition of giving automatic bids to regular-season champions. So postseason opportunities have drastically decreased in the last 10 years.

The only player who could reasonably take the title from Cunningham is Dillon Jones, the last remaining player with a fifth year available who could reach 150-plus career games — but that would require Jones to return to WSU next season. That’s incredibly improbable, given Jones’ trajectory as a first-round NBA draft pick.

So barring future changes to schedule structures and limits, Cunningham’s name will be at the top of the WSU record-book entry for career games for years to come.

“Seeing that number and my name for most games, that’s a great feeling for me,” he said.

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