Bengals Host Weber State on Saturday in Reed Gym

Men's Basketball | 1/21/2016 2:15:00 PM

Notes | Audio | Live Stats | Video

POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team begins a three-game home stand on Saturday, January 23, vs. Weber State. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Reed Gym. Jerry Miller and Brad Bugger will call the action live on 101.1 KEIR. Fans can follow the game live online with live video, audio and stats by logging onto isubengals.com. Next week the Bengals host Southern Utah on Jan. 28 and NAU on Jan. 30. Those games begin at 7 p.m. in Holt Arena.

Series vs. Weber State
Weber State leads the series 79-49. The Wildcats have won three straight over ISU. The Bengals
last win was a 78-75 overtime victory in Pocatello on Feb. 17, 2014.

Scouting Weber State
Weber State is 13-5 and 5-0 in Big Sky Conference play in league play. Joel Bolomboy is averaging 20 points and 15.4 rebounds a game while shooting .556 percent. Jeremy Senglin is scoring 16.8 points a game in conference.  Bolomboy is averaging 18.2 points and 13.6 points overall. Weber State is scoring 80.6 points a game and allowing 67.1 points. The Wildcats are shooting .496 percent from the field and averaging 39.2 points a game.  In conference play Weber State is scoring 78.8 points a game and giving up only 63.6 points while shooting .477 percent from the field.

Notes from the Win at Portland State
- Ethan Telfair's 11 assists was the most by a Bengal since Tomas Sanchez had 11 on Jan. 4, 2014. The school record is 17.
-Portland State's shooting percentage of .357 was the lowest by a Bengal opponent this season.
- Idaho State's 28 field goal attempts tied a season-high.
- ISU's 43 rebounds was a season-high.
- Stephen Lennox had a season-high four rebounds.
- Ben Wilson's six field goals made tied his career-high.
 - Erik Nakken played a career-high 21 minutes and had a career-best three rebounds.

Starting Lineups
This year ISU coach Bill Evans has used eight different starting lineups this season. The only constant has been Geno Luzcando who has started every game. The line up of  Ethan Telfair, Geno Luzcando, Kyle Ingram, Ben Wilson and Ali Faruq-Bey has started eight games.

Telfair to the Line
Ethan Telfair has gotten to the free throw line eight times or more in nine games. In the last six games he has gone 52-60 from the line. For the season he is the teams top free throw shooter at .835 percent (101-121).

Wilson Making an Impact
Ben Wilson has been efficient for the Bengals when he is out on the court. He is averaging 7.2 points a game and a team-best 5.8 rebounds. He is playing 31.4 minutes, shooting .511 percent from the field (the second best percentage on the team behind Kyle Ingram's .524) and he has 35 assists to 21 turnovers. In the last six games he is averaging 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting a team-best .588 percent from the field.

Battle of the Boards
ISU is averaging 35.2 rebounds a game, the most since averaging 37.7 during the 2005-06 season. On the flip side of things the Bengals are giving up 38.8 rebounds, the most the 2003-04 team gave up 40.4 boards a game.

Improved Defense
After the loss to Utah Valley, the Bengals were giving up 83.8 points a game.  Since the UVU game  ISU has only allowed 74.4 points a game.  In the nine game stretch ISU has held its opponents to 69, 64, 67, 79, 78, 84, 82, 70 and 77 points.

Nakken to the Court
Walk-on Erik Nakken has already had seven games playing 10 minutes or more. In six of the last seven games he has played 19 vs. UT Rio Grande Valley and 14 vs. CSUN and Weber State, 12 at Sacramento State, 10 vs. Northern Colorado and a career-best 21 in the road win at Portland State. He also played 10 vs. Dickinson State. Last year Nakken only played double-digit minutes twice, 19 at Montana and 14 vs. Montana Western.

Bengal Bites
- Idaho State is 3-0 this season when hitting 11 3-pointers or more in a game.
- In the last 10 seasons the most road games ISU has won is five in  2005-06.
- This year Geno Luzcando has scored in double figures in eight of the last 10 games and in every game but four.