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Weber State's Nigel Burris (5) talks with teammate Jace Whiting on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Logan.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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Campbell's Muneer Newton (11) shoots against Wisconsin's Nolan Winter (31) on Nov. 3, 2025, in Madison, Wis.

Morry Gash, Associated Press

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OGDEN — After a tough road trip, Weber State men’s basketball returns home this week to host its first multi-team event since 1991 in the inaugural Junction City Jam.

Weber State brings Campbell and UT-Arlington to the Dee Events Center for games starting Wednesday. It’s the first of four straight home games for WSU, and the start of a five-game Division I home schedule, the most for the Wildcats since the 2011-12 season.

“We’re excited to play some home games. Thanks to our administration for getting us some money to put this together, and the sponsors we have,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “It’ll be nice to play home games and get our crowd introduced to these new players that we have, and this team.

“These games tell you a lot about your team,” he continued. “We’ve got two really athletic, talented opponents coming in who are going to play fast and aggressive, so the games should be exciting.”

Duft hopes it’s the first of many Junction City Jam events.

“We’d like to expand on it,” he said. “They’re changing the schedule rules next year so it will be 32 games you can play. So I think it will be a little easier to get a four-team, three-game tournament … so we hope to look to expand on it. It’s a great week for fans and supporters of college basketball.”

SCHEDULE

Wednesday: Weber State vs. Campbell, 8 p.m.

Friday: UT-Arlington vs. Campbell, 1 p.m.

Saturday: Weber State vs. UT-Arlington, 7 p.m.

All games will also stream on ESPN+ with Tony Parks and Joe Cravens on the call.

TICKETS

Tickets are available at www.weberstatetickets.com or at the Dee Events Center box office.

Goldenwest Credit Union, one of the title sponsors, is promoting a free ticket promotion, accessed by going to WSU’s ticket site and entering “BBJamGoldWest” into the “Enter Promo Code” text box in the upper right. The promotion is good for up to five free tickets for one game.

WEBER STATE

Weber State is 1-3 this season, coming off three road losses to Utah, Utah State and UC Irvine, who will be three of the four- or five-best teams WSU plays all season.

Junior guard and newcomer Jace Whiting says Weber State practices harder than any team he’s been on and he’s been surprised with how fast the team’s chemistry is coming together with all the new faces.

“Everybody shows up every day to compete as hard as they can, and I love it. It pushes every one of us to get better. … This is probably the toughest group I’ve played with in a long time,” Whiting said.

The former Syracuse resident says he likes how much pride the team takes in defense and rebounding, and the ability to scramble and play help defense so far shows that they have each other’s back. But he’d like to see them fine-tune a few things offensively.

“I’d like to see it translate more offensively where we’re more physical with our screens and getting more post touches, because we have some really good bigs, they work extremely hard,” he said. “So, trying to get them more touches. Love to play with those guys.”

Through two weeks of the season, Weber State leads the country in raw, overall rebounds per game (52.8) and is second in 3-point percentage defense (16.3%) despite having one of the shortest rosters in the country (45th shortest among 365 Division I teams).

That includes being 20th nationally with 16.8 offensive rebounds per game (and 125th by offensive rebound percentage), a much different identity than most WSU teams over the past 15 years.

Sophomore guard Trevor Hennig leads WSU at 16 points per game. Whiting turns in 13 points per game, and senior center Nigel Burris averages 11.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

With Burris as the only senior, WSU is one of 22 Division I teams with one or zero seniors.

CAMPBELL

Campbell is 2-2 this season under first-year head coach John Andrzejek. The Camels lost at Wisconsin and West Virginia before winning games against Western Michigan and non-DI team Mid-Atlantic Christian last week.

Campbell also sports a shorter roster and has not shot the ball well from the field thus far, but has the 12th-highest free-throw rate nationally in games against DI opponents. Campbell averages a whopping 32.3 free-throw attempts per game this season.

Senior guard DJ Smith (No. 9) is the man to watch. The 6-footer is on his fourth school, first at his native Little Rock, then Bowling Green, then Robert Morris. He’s averaging 22.5 points per game and averages shooting 3.5 of 9.5 (36.8%) per game from the 3-point line. Forward Dovydas Butka (No. 13) averages 13.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, and forward Chris Fields Jr. averages 12.5 and 8.5.

Wednesday’s game will be the first meeting between Campbell and Weber State.

UT-ARLINGTON

Weber State has hosted Arlington at home before; in February 2012, the Mavericks came to the Dee Events Center to face Damian Lillard and company in a premier, mid-major BracketBuster game.

Now, UT-Arlington comes to the Junction City Jam under third-year head coach KT Turner with a 3-1 record.

In Division I games against New Mexico and Missouri State, the Mavericks have played games full of turnovers. Arlington turns the ball over a lot and causes them, too. They shot poorly in those two games but got on the offensive glass (15 per game) to make up for it, while defending the 3-point line well and blocking shots.

Senior, 6-foot-7 forward Raysean Seamster (No. 2) leads UT-Arlington at 17.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Guard Cash Chavis (No. 1) adds 10.8 points per game. Former Northern Colorado wing Marcell McCreary (No. 42) has provided an efficient 9.5 points per game on 55.6% shooting and 41.2% from the 3-point line.

WSU and UT-Arlington are 1-1 in the all-time series, last played in 2014.

FAST FACTS