Weber State’s men’s team, which tied for fourth place and will play as the No. 6 seed, arrives in the City of Trees on Saturday ahead of a Monday night matchup with No. 3 Eastern Washington.

The Wildcats (16-15, 10-8) aim for their first appearance in a tournament title game since 2017 and will, head coach Eric Duft says, focus on the things that win games no matter the setting.

“Sometimes there’s an element of getting too much into game plan for opponents and forgetting some of the fundamental things you have to do to be good and win any night,” Duft said Thursday. “So today in practice, we spent most of our time just working on us and working on things we’ve got to do well.

“It’s going to be the team that’s the most on edge, the most physical, the team that can play to their true character and not worry about what’s on the line. The message has been, let’s be who we are, stay in character, play the right way and we’ll have a chance to win it.”

Keith Webber, for the Big Sky Conference

Weber State split the season series with Eastern Washington (13-18, 11-7), controlling a 91-80 victory in Ogden but losing touch quickly in a 84-66 blowout in Cheney.

That blowout came in the middle of an eight-game winning streak for the Eagles, who ended with wins in eight of their last nine games. WSU says the numbers show EWU has a top-50 offense nationally since that streak began on Feb. 5.

Lately, forward Kiree Huie and guard Isaiah Moses — two of Eastern’s eight rostered seniors — have been making opposing defenses feel the pain.

“They can score inside with two guys, they’ve got a terrific guard, and some shooters around them,” Duft said. “The biggest thing is, you’ve got to have the right mentality to guard them and we didn’t have a very good mentality when we played at their place.”

That road loss on Feb. 14 came without junior guard Jace Whiting and sophomore Trevor Hennig. Hennig missed five of six games while dealing with the flu, while Whiting missed 12 games with a foot injury suffered on Jan. 17. WSU may have both playing in Boise.

In his return in the season’s final four contests, Hennig scored 14 points per game on 54.8% shooting. Whiting, meanwhile, has been on the court this week and coaches are monitoring his soreness and stamina as he takes basketball reps in practice. Whiting averaged 11.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 19 games.

Otherwise, junior guard Viljami Vartiainen, who scored a career-high 30 points on seven 3-pointers last year in Boise, said it’s about understanding the moment.

“Being able to give everything you have and not having to live with regret after — that you didn’t give your all on certain possessions, and not let that be a reason you lose,” Vartiainen said. “It’s a neutral environment and crazy things have happened in the tournaments, so just going in with the mindset of staying true to ourselves and doing the best we can effort-wise.”

Weber State and Eastern Washington tip off at 8 p.m. Monday, March 9, in a game that streams on ESPN+. The winner plays again in a 9:30 p.m. Tuesday semifinal on ESPN2. The tournament title game is 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2.

Ken Pomeroy’s formula gives EWU a slight edge in the contest, predicting an 81-79 score at 57% probability. His strongest prediction is for No. 7 Idaho over No. 8 Sacramento State at 68%. That’s followed by No. 9 Idaho State over No. 10 Northern Arizona at 66%, then by No. 5 Northern Colorado over No. 4 Montana at 61%.

WSU women gain confidence after poor start

Weber State’s women’s team rose from the perpetual cellar to the No. 4 seed last season, but a repeat performance was not in the cards when the Wildcats (10-21, 4-14) lost the first nine games of the conference schedule.

Playing without senior forward Antoniette Emma-Nnopu, WSU began league play on Jan. 1 by coughing up a seven-point lead and going scoreless for the final six minutes to lose at Portland State. Two months later, with Emma-Nnopu on the court, Weber State scored 30 points in the fourth quarter to blast the Vikings 81-52 to end the regular season.

“Some adversity we had to face there that put us in a weird rhythm, so we just had to put our head down and really focus on the fundamentals,” WSU head coach Jenteal Jackson said. “You watched our group in the (pre-conference), you’re like, ‘oh, these kids are tough.’ … It’s a good group, but definitely a lot of learning curves and growing pains for freshmen and … our kids playing heavy minutes for the first time in their careers.”

Now the same two teams play five days later as the No. 9 Wildcats open the entire Boise slate with the No. 10 Vikings (6-24, 2-16) at noon Saturday on ESPN+.

“It’s a brand-new slate, it doesn’t matter what happened Monday. Portland State will be amped up; everybody is, it’s tournament time,” Jackson said. “So we’re just doing everything we can to be prepared.”

WSU has won three of its last five and lost by five to fourth-place Idaho State, which has the Wildcats feeling like they can compete better in a tournament setting.

“I think they’re in a good space, feeling confident that not just can we hang with anybody, but we can win games. So just head down, one game at a time,” Jackson said.

A win Saturday would give Weber State a noon tipoff Sunday against No. 1 Idaho (26-5, 17-1), who beat WSU by 19 at home and by 13 in Ogden.