Wildcats Dig Deep Hole In First Half Against Utah State

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – It was a tale of two halves for Weber State in a 76-67 loss to Utah State in the Beehive Classic at Vivint SmartHome Arena.

The first half was well, forgettable. The Wildcats shot a lowly 35.7 percent from the field. On just 10 field goals made, they only managed to have two assists at halftime.

.@CoachRandyRahe after the game in the @UtahEyeCenters Coach’s Corner. #WeAreWeber pic.twitter.com/cGtoUri3Vu

— WeberStateMBB 🏀 (@WeberStateMBB) December 9, 2018

“I was disappointed in our first half,” said head coach Randy Rahe. “I thought our first half, we didn’t have the energy that we were looking for. I just didn’t think we had the energy and the juice that first half that we’ve been playing with. Against a really good Utah State team that has a bunch of veterans, you better have that energy and juice.”

Halftime at the Beehive Classic

Utah State leads Weber State 39-27.#WeAreWeber #BigSkyMBB

— WeberStateMBB 🏀 (@WeberStateMBB) December 8, 2018

Center Zach Braxton agreed with his coach that the Wildcats came out a bit sluggish against the Aggies.

“It was our offensive pace,” explained Braxton. “If you have good pace on offense, you’re sharing the ball, the ball’s going to go in.”

After a fiery halftime speech, the contents of which Rahe said wouldn’t be appropriate to share with the media, the Wildcats turned it on.

They shot much better at a 43.8 percent clip and distributed the ball a bit more.

“The second half, I thought we competed really hard,” said Rahe. “I thought we got our juice back and our energy back and we started to play the way we can play. You just can’t dig a hole like that against a really great Utah State team.”

Next up for the Wildcats is a home contest against another in-state rival in Utah Valley next Saturday at 7 p.m.