Ever since Weber State put up a school-record 41 3-point attempts in a come-from-behind win over Utah State in early December, the Wildcats have been on a 3-point shooting spree. The only problem is, the long shots haven't been going down lately - witness abysmal 5-for-27 and 5-for-22 efforts in consecutive losses to BYU and Purdue.
Having seen enough of the long-range bombing, Weber coach Ron Abegglen decided to put a stop to it for Monday night's game against the University of San Diego. He put the red light on all but three players and instructed his players to work the ball inside.The Wildcats listened to their coach, shied away from the treys and the result was an 89-78 victory over the Toreros.
"We were more patient and got the ball back to the bucket," said Abegglen. "We did some nice things in the second half."
For Weber, now 10-4, the game was a huge improvement over its last contest, a 35-point loss to nationally-ranked Purdue last week. Abegglen put his team through some "spirited" practices to try to get things turned around before the start of Big Sky play. "We worked really hard after the Purdue game," said Abegglen.
While there were a lot of positive things about the win over a good San Diego team (7-3), Abegglen still wasn't thrilled with his team's overall play.
"Our defense still needs a lot of work," he said. "Our team defense is el stinko."
Ironically, it was the Wildcats' defense that turned the game around in the second half. The Wildcats trailed 43-41 at halftime, but caused five turnovers in a three-minute span to break the game open, increasing their lead from 53-52 lead to 64-52.
Elroy Miller picked his man clean and went in for a dunk; David Greer scored a layup off a steal; and Greer scored inside after a Robbie Johnson steal. Greer made 9 of his 11 points in a two-minute stretch to key the 'Cats rally.
Ruben Nembhard, one of the players instructed not to shoot treys, rebounded from a horrid 2-for-14 night against Purdue to shoot 7-for-9 for a team-high 17 points. Johnson finished with 16, while Jimmy DeGraffenreid scored 15, including 3-of-8 from 3-point range. Kirk Smith added 13 points.
San Diego, was the third team from the West Coast Conference that the Wildcats have defeated this year, joining Pepperdine and Portland as Weber victims.
The Wildcats' tour of the WCC continues Thursday night when they play at Gonzaga. They open Big Sky action the following Thursday at Idaho State.