2022–23 Weber State Wildcats men's basketball team

The 2022–23 Weber State Wildcats men's basketball team represented Weber State University in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wildcats, led by first-year head coach Eric Duft, played their home games at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah, as members of the Big Sky Conference.

2022–23 Weber State Wildcats men's basketball
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	18–15 (12–6 Big Sky)
Head coach	Eric Duft (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Eric Daniels Dan Russell Jorge Ruiz
Home arena	Dee Events Center

2022–23 Big Sky men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Eastern Washington	16	–	2		.889			23	–	11		.676
Montana State †	15	–	3		.833			25	–	10		.714
Weber State	12	–	6		.667			18	–	15		.545
Montana	10	–	7		.588			17	–	14		.548
Idaho State	8	–	10		.444			11	–	21		.344
Sacramento State	7	–	11		.389			14	–	18		.438
Portland State	6	–	11		.353			12	–	19		.387
Northern Colorado	6	–	12		.333			12	–	20		.375
Northern Arizona	5	–	13		.278			12	–	23		.343
Idaho	4	–	14		.222			10	–	22		.313
† Conference tournament winner

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2021–22 season 21–12, 13–7 in Big Sky play to finish a tie for third place. As the No. 4 seed in the Big Sky tournament, they defeated Montana in the quarterfinals before losing to Northern Colorado in the semifinals. Despite having 21 wins, they were not invited to a postseason tournament. After the season, Rahe would retire as the winningest coach in Weber State and Big Sky conference history. He would be succeeded by assistant coach Eric Duft.

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
David Nzekwesi	4	F/C	6'9"	250	Junior	The Nague, Netherlands	Transferred
Seikou Sisoho Jawara	5	G	6'3"	210	Sophomore	Mataró, Spain	Transferred to San Diego
Michal Kozak	11	F	6'8"	215	Senior	Plzeň, Czech Republic	Graduated
Donatas Kupsas	13	F	6'8"	210	Sophomore	Joniškis, Lithuania	Left the team for personal reasons
Josh Sanders	14	G	6'2"	180	Freshman	Kaysville, UT	Left the team for personal reasons
Koby McEwen	15	G	6'4"	195	Senior	Toronto, ON	Graduated
Dontay Bassett	21	C	6'9"	250	Senior	Oakland, CA	Graduated
Chance Trujillo	23	G	6'3"	205	Freshman	Kaysville, UT	Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons
JJ Overton	24	G/F	6'6"	190	Senior	San Diego, CA	Graduated
Jake Furgerson	25	F	6'7"	210	Sophomore	Star, ID	Walk-on; transferred
Cody Carlson	34	F/C	6'10"	230	Senior	Duluth, MN	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Keith Dinwiddie Jr.	10	G	6'0"	185	Sophomore	Los Angeles, CA	San Diego State
Junior Ballard	24	G	6'3"	185	GS Senior	Stockton, CA	Fresno State
Handje Tamba	32	F	6'11"	229	RS Freshman	Knoxville, TN	Tennessee
Cole Lake	41	G	5'11"		Sophomore	Eagle, ID	Walk-on; Montana Western
Sebastian Gahse	43	F	6'10"		Junior	Stuttgart, Germany	Central Wyoming College

2022 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Chris Dockery SG	Los Angeles, CA	Middlebrooks Academy	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Oct 28, 2021
	Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A   247Sports:
Daniel Rouzan PF	Las Vegas, NV	Bishop Gorman High School	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	236 lb (107 kg)
	Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A
JJ Louden SG	Indianapolis, IN	Pike High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	175 lb (79 kg)
	Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A
Louie Jordan SF	Leicester, England	Charnwood College	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	N/A	Apr 4, 2022
	Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2022 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved December 15, 2022.

2023 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2023 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Viljami Vartiainen SG	Helsinki, Finland	HBA Märsky	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	N/A	Oct 10, 2022
	Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2022 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved December 15, 2022.

Roster

2022–23 Weber State Wildcats men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G/F 0 Zahir Porter 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Independence CC Bronx, NY F 2 Dillon Jones 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 235 lb (107 kg) So Sunrise Christian Prep Columbia, SC G 3 KJ Cunningham 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Rudder HS Bryan, TX F 4 Dyson Koehler 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) So Cal Poly Draper, UT G 10 Keith Dinwiddie Jr. 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So San Diego State Los Angeles, CA G 11 Steven Verplancken Jr. 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Southern Illinois San Pedro, DR G 12 Chris Dockery 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Bishop Gorman HS Las Vegas, NV C 20 Alex Tew 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) So Cooper International Academy Cheshire, England F 21 Daniel Rouzan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Fr Bishop Gorman HS Las Vegas, NV G 23 JJ Louden 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Desert Valley Prep (NV) Indianapolis, IN G 24 Junior Ballard 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Fresno State Stockton, CA F 30 Louie Jordan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Fr Charnwood College Leicester, England C 32 Handje Tamba 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) RS Fr Tennessee Kinshasa, Congo G 41 Cole Lake (W) 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Montana Western Eagle, ID F 43 Sebastian Gahse 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Jr Central Wyoming College Stuttgart, Germany G 55 Abdul-Noor Beyah (W) 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Fr Cedar Hill HS Cedar Hill, TX	Head coach Eric Duft (Sterling (KS)) Assistant coach(es) Eric Daniels (Johnson & Wales) Dan Russell (Wyoming) Jorge Ruiz (Grand Canyon) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 2, 2022* 7:00 p.m.		Adams State	W 88–76		Dee Events Center  Ogden, UT
Non-conference regular season
November 7, 2022* 9:00 p.m., P12N		at Washington	L 52–69	0–1	Alaska Airlines Arena (6,445) Seattle, WA
November 10, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Western Colorado	W 83–67	1–1	Dee Events Center (4,113) Ogden, UT
November 14, 2022* 7:00 p.m., MW Network		at Colorado State	L 52–77	1–2	Moby Arena (3,769) Fort Collins, CO
November 21, 2022* 8:00 p.m., Baller TV		vs. UC Riverside Vegas 4	L 65–72	1–3	Dollar Loan Center  Henderson, NV
November 22, 2022* 5:30 p.m., Baller TV		vs. Abilene Christian Vegas 4	W 77–67	2–3	Dollar Loan Center  Henderson, NV
November 23, 2022* 2:30 p.m., Baller TV		vs. Wright State Vegas 4	L 65–87	2–4	Dollar Loan Center  Henderson, NV
November 29, 2022* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		Tarleton State	L 65–75	2–5	Dee Events Center (1,873) Ogden, UT
December 3, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Utah Tech	L 65–77	2–6	Dee Events Center (4,663) Ogden, UT
December 7, 2022* 8:00 p.m., ESPN+		at California Baptist	L 52–64	2–7	CBU Events Center (2,817) Riverside, CA
December 10, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Saint Martin's	W 82–58	3–7	Dee Events Center (4,459) Ogden, UT
December 14, 2022* 8:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Cal Poly	W 74–45	4–7	Mott Athletics Center (1,329) San Luis Obispo, CA
December 19, 2022* 7:00 p.m., MW Network		at Utah State	W 75–72	5–7	Smith Spectrum (7,000) Logan, UT
December 22, 2022* 7:00 p.m., BYUtv		at BYU	L 57–63	5–8	Marriott Center (13,229) Provo, UT
Big Sky Conference season
December 29, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Northern Colorado	W 81–72	6–8 (1–0)	Dee Events Center (4,861) Ogden, UT
December 31, 2022 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Northern Arizona	W 76–60	7–8 (2–0)	Dee Events Center (4,923) Ogden, UT
January 7, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Idaho State	L 57–67	7–9 (2–1)	Dee Events Center (5,114) Ogden, UT
January 12, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Montana	W 59–57	8–9 (3–1)	Dahlberg Arena (3,243) Missoula, MT
January 14, 2022 4:00 pm, ESPN+		at Montana State	L 52–67	8–10 (3–2)	Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (3,270) Bozeman, MT
January 19, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Portland State	W 84–68	9–10 (4–2)	Dee Events Center (4,448) Ogden, UT
January 21, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Sacramento State	W 50–48	10–10 (5–2)	Dee Events Center (6,156) Ogden, UT
January 26, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Idaho	W 73–65	11–10 (6–2)	Idaho Central Credit Union Arena (1,713) Moscow, ID
January 28, 2023 3:00 pm, ESPN+		at Eastern Washington	L 71–75	11–11 (6–3)	Reese Court (2,231) Cheney, WA
February 4, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+		Idaho State	W 72–71 2OT	12–11 (7–3)	Reed Gym (1,669) Pocatello, ID
February 6, 2023 9:00 pm, ESPNU		Northern Colorado	L 54–88	12–12 (7–4)	Bank of Colorado Arena (1,503) Greeey, CO
February 9, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Montana State	W 73–63	13–12 (8–4)	Dee Events Center (4,827) Ogden, UT
February 11, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Montana	L 69–74	13–13 (8–5)	Dee Events Center (6,372) Ogden, UT
February 16, 2023 8:00 pm, ESPN+		at Sacramento State	W 52–49	14–13 (9–5)	Hornets Nest (906) Sacramento, CA
February 18, 2023 8:00 pm, ESPN+		at Portland State	W 65–57	15–13 (10–5)	Viking Pavilion (1,583) Portland, OR
February 23, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Eastern Washington	L 82–89	15–14 (10–6)	Dee Events Center (5,817) Ogden, UT
February 25, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Idaho	W 67–53	16–14 (11–6)	Dee Events Center (6,039) Ogden, UT
February 27, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Arizona	W 90–89 OT	17–14 (12–6)	Findlay Toyota Court (876) Flagstaff, AZ
Big Sky tournament
March 6, 2023 8:00 pm, ESPN+	(3)	vs. (6) Sacramento State Quarterfinals	W 70–64	18–14	Idaho Central Arena  Boise, ID
March 7, 2023 9:00 pm, ESPN2	(3)	vs. (2) Montana State Semifinals	L 58–60 2OT	18–15	Idaho Central Arena  Boise, ID
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain.

Source