Jan. 31, 2007

Orem, UT- The Utah Valley State men's basketball team begins a three-game home stand on Thursday when its hosts New Jersey Institute of Technology. Tip off is at 7 p.m. in the McKay Center and the game can be heard live on 1400 KSTAR. This is the first ever meeting between the two schools.

The Wolverines are 13-7 and coming off a road trip where they defeated South Dakota State 66-54 and lost 61-53 at North Dakota State. In the win over South Dakota State, Jordan Brady had a career high 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Ryan Toolson leads Utah Valley in scoring at 13.2 points a game. David Heck is second in scoring at 12.9 points and second on the team in rebounding at five boards a game. Brady is the Wolverines top rebounder at 5.7 a contest.

Utah Valley is getting recognition by Division I coaches through out the country in the Collegeinsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll. The Wolverines are currently ranked 42nd out of 209 Mid-Major schools. UV has received votes in the poll for five out of the last seven weeks.

New Jersey Institute of Technology is 3-16 and in its first season of Division I competition. Its wins are over Manhattan, Rider and Longwood.

Clayton Barker leads the Highlanders in scoring at 12.7 points a game while Kraig Peters is averaging 11.5 points a game. Nesho Milosevic is averaging a team-best 6.7 boards a game.

Milosevic has been named the Division I Independent Newcomer of the Week three times this year. NJIT is averaging 56.6 points a game and shooting 39 percent from the field.

"New Jersey Institute of Technology is a fundamentally sound team," Utah Valley State coach Dick Hunsaker said. "They are well-coached and well-disciplined. They have excellent scorers in Barker and Peters. We'll have to put together and energized effort against them."

Utah Valley hosts IPFW on Saturday at 7 p.m. IPFW, North Dakota State and South Dakota State will join the Mid-Continent Conference next year. All students get in free with ID.