And who could blame them.

Weber State men’s basketball, trying to endure the loss of two senior starters to health conditions or injury, still can’t string together enough plays to get back into the win column. The latest setback: an 80-77 defeat to Sacramento State, who broke a seven-game losing streak to claim only the third win the Hornets have ever had in Ogden, and to knot the two teams in a tie for last place with four games left.

Vartiainen had just completed his best game of college basketball, getting enough shot volume to really get going on the way to a career-high 24 points on a 6-of-12 performance from the 3-point line. But to him, the issues for the 9-19 Wildcats — sinking to 3-11 in the Big Sky and setting the table for what’s close to becoming the worst conference campaign in the program’s history — remain the same.

Blaise Threatt was his usual great self (20 points, six rebounds, eight assists, three steals, 8-of-13 shooting) and Vartiainen lit up like the sharpshooter WSU knows he can be. But every big shot of Vartiainen’s was eventually countered, with Weber unable to disrupt senior big man Jacob Holt and Sacramento State enough to find a victory.

Abigail Triplett, WSU Athletics

“We’re a couple stops away from winning the game,” Vartiainen said. “It’s … having the mental toughness, the toughness to get the last stop, get the last rebound, which will help us go to the other end, have confidence there and make a shot.

“We let them get going too much and really never got a handle of things, which is the reason we lost.”

Indeed, the Wildcats have built a resume that currently stacks up as the program’s worst defensive season going back to 1996-97 when Ken Pomeroy’s statistics begin — a contrast to several recent seasons. Using defensive efficiency (which is another way to label how efficient opposing offenses are against you), Weber State is ranked 317th in the country after Thursday’s loss. Only a few times has the program even flirted with dropping into the 300s nationally, one of them the similarly injury-filled season of 2019-20.

Only 21 teams in the country are giving up a higher 3-point percentage to Division I opponents, and WSU struggles to run teams off the line or defend to a lower percentage in the paint, as well. Including Sacramento State’s final-minutes barrage in WSU’s road win last month, the last-place Hornets shot 20 of 35 from the 3-point line over the last 43 minutes of basketball between the teams.

That’s how in many games, the Wildcats are in close battles but ultimately get done in by large runs like the 14-0 rally Sac State claimed early in the contest.

Holt exemplified one of WSU’s struggles in recent years: staying stout defensively against a center who can step out and shoot from behind the arc. With this iteration of this year’s team, Weber gets too lost in rotations too often.

“It’s toughness and being aware of who you’re guarding. We let them get off to a hot start in the beginning and gave the other players on their team the confidence to do the same thing,” Vartiainen said.

To their credit, Weber State — who is playing more underclassmen than anyone in the Big Sky — doesn’t give up and hasn’t lost its fight.

Just the game prior, WSU held a second-half lead at first-place Montana in a game WSU slowed the pace but was ultimately done in by not being able to get buckets down the stretch. The next time out, Weber tried to speed the game up again like it had in a win over Northern Arizona but suffered on the defensive end.

Whether competing at the top of the conference to the final week or sitting at the bottom, head coach Eric Duft says there’s only one way to play.

“Come back and try to be better the next day,” Duft said. “Regardless of what sport you’re coaching or what level you’re at, that’s the only way to do it.”

Perhaps buoyed by recent performances from Northern Arizona and Idaho State in the conference tournament, in Vartiainen’s eyes, there’s no reason to pack it in. Perhaps it’s false optimism, but there’s really no other way to approach it for these Wildcats.

“We’ve not lost anything yet. We’re at the bottom of the table but still, there’s still games to be played and games to be won,” Vartiainen said. “If we win the right games and kind of get going … we’re not giving up. We’re not giving up on the season. We’re going to keep working and keep trying our best to get that goal that we have in mind.”

With the kind of history you don’t want staring you in the face, Duft says his team’s made of the right stuff while acknowledging the young group’s tiny margin for error.

“I think that’s been real positive is, every day we come over here and these guys are ready to work. They’re coachable, they look you straight in the eye, they have a great spirit about them, they have great energy,” Duft said. “It’s hard. Guys, this (losing) isn’t any fun, we all know it.

“We have high-character guys in our program. I don’t worry about them coming over and not giving an effort. We may not play great or we may make too many mistakes but it’s not going to be because they’re not locked in. … As long as we have that, we’ll keep putting ourselves in position.”

After the latest setback to a bad team dropped WSU’s home record to 1-9 against Division I opponents, it’s hard to envision the next Wildcats victory. As competitive as WSU is on most nights, like Vartiainen said, there’s not been enough toughness to close games.

“You’ve just got to keep hammering it out,” Duft said.