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Weber State men’s basketball: WSU finalizing home tourney as part of boosted schedule

By BRETT HEIN - Standard-Examiner | Jun 25, 2025

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

This September 2024 photo shows a view of Weber State's Dee Events Center in Ogden and its new basketball court design.

OGDEN — Weber State men’s basketball has struggled to line up nonconference home games for the better part of two decades, so the Wildcats are trying something new: a multi-team event in the Dee Events Center.

That, and a same-season home-and-home series, have the 2025-26 Wildcats on track to play more than three home games against Division I opponents for only the second time in the last 20 seasons.

“I think this MTE is a good way of getting two home games and still being fiscally responsible,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “It’s great for more opportunities to get our fans in front of our team, see them play, connect with them, and I’m really excited about it.”

If the final details get set, Weber State will have seven home games in the upcoming nonconference season with five against Division I opponents.

First, a return game in an existing series with Utah Tech. Second, the home portion of the announced Big Sky-Summit Challenge matchups, which brings Oral Roberts back to Ogden. Third, Weber State has signed a home-and-home series with Kansas City that brings that Summit League team to Ogden on Nov. 29 and sends the Wildcats to Kansas City on Dec. 10, according to a contract obtained by the Standard-Examiner.

In past seasons, that’s as much as the Wildcats could manage, totaling two or three DI home opponents in every season but two stretching back to 2006-07. One season (2022-23) had just one DI home opponent, while 2011-12 put Damian Lillard in front of home fans five times against DI opponents (thanks, in part, to ESPN’s now-defunct Bracket Busters event).

That brings us to this multi-team event. Duft said Weber State has one mid-major team and a sponsor lined up for a three-team event on the weekend before Thanksgiving. All that’s left is finalizing the third team and how much the sponsor can help cover, as WSU would be on the hook to send a payout to both visiting squads.

“Hopefully we can increase ticket sales and just give our fans more opportunities to see the team. We’ve got to do that,” Duft said. “It’s been almost impossible to get home games here at our level, so to do it, we’re going to have to be aggressive and find ways to do it. Tim (Crompton) has done a good job helping us with that, finding creative ways to make the budget part of it happen.

“(Assistant coach) Jorge Ruiz has worked his tail off trying to finish putting this together. When it all comes out, hopefully fans are excited for it and support it.”

Duft said the likely format is that each of the three teams gets two games over the space of three days.

WSU is likely to open the season at home on Nov. 3 against a non-Division I team and have one more such game slotted before the new year, giving the Wildcats seven nonconference home games. That seems like a recipe to let the new roster simmer together early as the Wildcats try to bounce back from the program’s worst-ever conference finish at 5-13 and ninth place.

The Wildcats brought in four junior transfers aiming to boost the team’s athleticism and toughness: point guard Tijan Saine (Western Washington), shooting guard Jace Whiting (Boise State/UNLV), forward Edwin Suarez (Arizona Western) and forward/center Malek Gomma (Seattle).

Those players join key returners in senior forward Nigel Burris, junior sharpshooter Viljami Vartiainen and sophomore shooting guard Trevor Hennig. Sophomore Declan Cutler and redshirt David Hansen will look to make a name for themselves.

Four true freshmen join the team in point guard ArDarius Grayson (Oakland, California), combo guard Duce Paschal (Portland, Oregon), shooting guard Anthony Moore (Stockton, California) and forward Bourgeois Tshilobo (Mission Hills, California).

The three-team event would bring a much different feel to the season compared to recent schedules, considering the six road games (and local flair) also on the docket. Weber State is playing at Utah for the first time since 2010, will play at Utah State, and will continue its series against Utah Valley with a game in Orem.

WSU will also return a trip to UC Irvine, play the aforementioned road game in the series with Kansas City, and travel to St. Thomas for the road portion of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge.

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