BYU basketball: Previewing the Weber State Wildcats
BYU basketball looks to make it five wins in a row when they take on the Weber State Wildcats at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
Since falling to then-No. 25 Alabama, BYU basketball has done nothing but win. The Cougars are now ranked 66th in the KenPom rankings and will look to make in five-straight wins on Saturday night.
The opponent? The Weber State Wildats. The venue? The home of the Utah Jazz, Vivint Smart Home Arena, as part of the Beehive Classic.
The Wildcats are 4-4 on the season, but are coming off back-to-back losses. In their last game, the Wildcats got shellacked by Utah Valley at the UCCU Center, losing 83-56.
In that game, UVU’s Akolda Manyang dominated. He scored 25 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked six shots. BYU basketball fans got a glimpse of the seven-foot center when the Cougars clashed with the Wolverines, but it was Yoeli Childs who stood tall that night.
Expect more of the same from Childs against Weber State.
The Wildcats struggled with the somewhat raw game of Manyang, so Childs should have no trouble getting his 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Who To Watch For
If there’s one thing that stands out for the Wildcats, it’s that they’re incredibly balanced. Weber State has four players averaging double digit scoring, five players averaging 4+ rebounds and four players averaging 1+ steals per game.
But a trio of players stick out from the pack.
Brekkott Chapman: The former Utah big man has been putting together a very solid campaign for the Wildcats. Through eight games he’s averaging 26.5 minutes per night, scoring 14 points and adding 4.4 rebounds and two assists. He’s also putting up an average of one steal and 1.5 blocks per game.
Jerrick Harding: Harding leads the Wildcats in scoring, putting up 18.4 points per game on 54 percent shooting from the field and 48 percent shooting from beyond the arc. However, his last two games have been underwhelming. He’s scored just 20 points on 9-of-28 shooting, including a 1-of-7 mark from 3-point range.
Zach Braxton: Braxton is the team’s leading rebounder, nabbing seven of them per game. He’s also averaging 10.8 points per game on 57 percent shooting. His last time out (the loss to UVU), Braxton got into foul trouble. As a result he only played 18 minutes and scored just three points.
Overall, the Wildcats are a really efficient shooting team, connecting on 51 percent of their shots (43 percent of their 3-pointers). But, Weber State has yet to win a road game – and while Vivint Smart Home Arena is supposed to be a neutral site, one would imagine there will be plenty of BYU basketball fans on hand.