Colorado
Weber State’s shooting woes lead to bad loss against Colorado State
Weber State suffered a tricky loss towards Colorado State in a sport on Nov. 14, 2022. (Weber State Athletics)
Estimated learn time: 3-4 minutes
OGDEN — Halfway via the primary half, Weber State was already within the midst of a poor taking pictures efficiency.
Because the Wildcats moved the ball round, Dillon Jones drove inside, then turned and kicked the ball out to Steven Verplancken Jr., who was broad open and arrange in one in all his favourite 3-point spots. He let it fly.
The ball went midway down, spun round and out.
The miss encapsulated the already tough night time the Wildcats had been having with their shot, and issues did not get significantly better as the sport wore on. Ultimately, the ultimate buzzer sounded and Weber State’s nightmare efficiency towards Colorado State ended because the Wildcats fell 77-52.
For a group that is nonetheless working to search out its offensive id, the Wildcats suffered one in all their worst taking pictures performances in current reminiscence. Weber State shot simply 33.9% from the sector and a depressing 21.4% from 3-point vary. In the meantime, Colorado State went 53.7% from the sector and 50.0% from 3-point vary.
The one factor the Rams struggled to do within the sport was shoot free throws — they barely scraped over 50% taking pictures.
Issues began out sluggish for the Wildcats and took a couple of minutes earlier than dropping of their first basket of the night time on a Keith Dinwiddie Jr. layup. A few 3s by the Rams, and the house group jumped out to a fast 8-2 lead. The guests clawed their method for each bucket and secured their first lead of the night time with about 13 minutes to go within the first half.
It was a lead they might by no means maintain once more the remainder of the night time.
The Rams let issues keep considerably shut within the opening half after they struggled with a lot of their open photographs. Whereas Weber State will get credit score defensively for Colorado State’s misses, the Wildcats did not make issues too arduous for the Rams. Colorado State shot 46.4% within the first half, however it may have been lots increased had they managed to hit extra of the open photographs created by Weber State’s defensive lapses.
When the Rams moved the ball into the important thing to one in all their huge males, the Wildcats had been fast to carry a double group in an effort to power a foul shot and even seize a turnover. Whereas it labored just a few instances, it typically led to a Colorado State 3-point shooter being left broad open because the guests weren’t at all times fast sufficient to rotate because the ball moved.
Colorado State had 4 completely different gamers shoot 50% or higher from 3-point vary. In the meantime, the perfect 3-point shooter the Wildcats had was Jones who shot 2-of-4 within the sport.
Jones was, as soon as once more, the star for the Wildcats and recorded his second double-double of the season, and second in back-to-back video games. He tallied 20 factors and 14 rebounds, and offered a spark at instances for the struggling Weber State group. However one participant is not sufficient to win a sport towards a tricky Mountain West opponent. The one different Wildcat in double figures was Verplancken Jr. with 11 factors.
The excellent news for Weber State was that they shot higher general within the second half of the competition; the dangerous information was so did Colorado State. The guests went into the locker room at halftime having solely scored 15 factors in your complete first 20 minutes of the sport. The Rams led by 21 on the break and went on to win by 25.
As head coach Eric Duft’s group travels again to Ogden they’re going to have every week to prepare earlier than their subsequent opponent. Weber State will take part within the Vegas 4 Event subsequent week in Las Vegas.
Their first opponent will likely be Monday towards UC Riverside, they usually’ll have video games on Tuesday and Wednesday, as nicely. Although the primary three video games have every introduced their very own challenges, the Wildcats have a little bit of time to attempt to get issues proper earlier than some huge video games on a impartial web site as they attempt to search out the win column once more.