Utah Valley (7-4) at Hawaii (6-2) GAME INFORMATION
Live Video: Big West TV (Kanoa Leahey/Artie Wilson)
Radio: ESPN 960 AM (Jim McCulloch/Jason Erickson)
Radio Webcast: espn960sports.com
Live Stats Link: Hawaii StatBroadcast
 

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OPENING TIP
After opening the season with what is likely the toughest 24 hours in basketball history with road losses at Kentucky and Duke, Utah Valley has rebounded to win seven of its last nine games, improving its record to 7-4 overall. The Wolverines most recently picked up a 106-44 win over Bethesda on Thursday night at the UCCU Center. UVU now travels to the island of Oahu to take on the University of Hawai'i. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. HT/8 p.m. MT.

Zach Nelson shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, including a 3-of-3 clip from three-point range, to lead Utah Valley to its 106-44 win over Bethesda on Thursday night at the UCCU Center. Nelson's perfect shooting night produced 18 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Jake Toolson scored a game-high 19 points, and Conner Toolson finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Akolda Manyang ended his night with 11 points and eight rebounds.

All five of UVU's starters are averaging double figure scoring this season led by Akolda Manyang's 15.3 points per game. Kenneth Ogbe ranks second on the team at 13.4 points, while Jake Toolson is third at 13.2 points a contest. Conner Toolson averages 11.7 points and Brandon Randolph comes in at 10.5 points per game.

Utah Valley has now played four teams that won their conference tournaments last season and made trips to the NCAA Tournament, including Kentucky (SEC Tournament), Duke (ACC Tournament), UC Davis (Big West Tournament), and North Dakota (Big Sky Tournament). The Wolverines went 2-2 with wins over UC Davis and North Dakota.

UVU opened the season with what might just be the toughest 24 hours ever played in college basketball history as the Wolverines took on No. 4/5 Kentucky and No. 1 Duke on back-to-back nights to open the season. The Wolverines dropped a 73-63 decision at Kentucky before falling 99-69 at Duke. UVU has since won seven of its last nine games.

UVU welcomed a record 7,574 fans through the UCCU Center doors on Nov. 29 against BYU in the program's first-ever sold out game. The 7,574 fans breaks the previous record of 7,124 set against Utah State on Dec. 18, 2010.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Sunday night's game will be streamed live on Big West TV at BigWest.tv. The game will also be broadcast on the air waves at ESPN 960 AM radio with Jim McCulloch handling the play-by-play duties. A live stream of the radio broadcast will be available through ESPN960sports.com and also through the ESPN 960 app, which is available for both iPhone and Android.

ABOUT HAWAI'I
Hawai'i enters Sunday night's matchup against the Wolverines with a 6-2 overall record. The team has played seven of its eight games in the confines of its home court, the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors have won six of its seven at home this season, including a pair of double-digit wins over Prairie View A&M and UH Hilo to begin its current homestand. The team's lone setback at home this season was a 67-54 loss to Nevada on Nov. 24. Redshirt freshman Drew Buggs was the leading scorer in both those games which included a season-high 17 points against Prairie View A&M. Senior forward Mike Thomas leads the Rainbow Warriors in both scoring and rebounding at 13.1 points and 6.9 boards a game. Senior forward Jonathan Gibson also averages double figures at 10.1 points a contest. He ranks second on the team on the boards at 5.9 rebounds per game. Hawaii averages 73.8 points per game while limiting opponents to a 70.4 per game average.

SERIES HISTORY VS. HAWAI'I, BIG WEST
Utah Valley and Hawai'i meet up on the basketball hardwood for the first time on Sunday night. The game against UH marks the third of five games against teams from the Big West Conference this season. UVU defeated reigning Big West champion UC Davis on Nov. 18. The team then dropped a 91-83 decision at Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 9. UVU is 4-8 all-time against teams from the Big West.

NELSON'S PERFECT NIGHT LEADS UTAH VALLEY TO 104-66 WIN OVER BETHESDA
Zach Nelson shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, including a 3-of-3 clip from three-point range, to lead Utah Valley to a 106-44 win over Bethesda on Thursday night at the UCCU Center.

Every player that saw minutes for UVU scored, including Mckay Johnson who notched the first points of his Wolverine career. Utah Valley set a new school record for made field goals in a game with 43, and set a record for most points scored in a home game with 106. The 106 points are also a UCCU Center record, topping the previous high of 103. The 62-point victory was the third largest in school history. UVU's 35 assists are also a school record over the previous record of 29.
 
The Wolverine defense got off to a solid start as Jake Toolson and Akolda Manyang combined for three blocks in the first two minutes of the game. On the offensive end, a pair of dunks from Manyang helped fuel a 9-2 run to open the night for UVU.
 
In his first start of the season, Nelson opened the game by hitting two threes and finishing a three-point play to help Utah Valley jump out to a 22-5 lead midway through the opening half of play. Nelson also added two assists during the opening stretch.
 
An 18-0 run over a six-minute stretch helped the Wolverines to take a 45-23 lead into the break. Bethesda went on a short 7-0 run to narrow the gap slightly. Nelson led UVU in scoring on the half by adding four more points to his total for 13 in the half on a perfect 5-of-5 clip from the field.
 
Jake Toolson added 11 points for Utah Valley and pitched in four rebounds. The Wolverines were balanced on the boards in the first half as seven of the eight players that saw time in the period grabbed four or more rebounds. Brandon Randolph led the way with seven rebounds in addition to six points and four assists. Manyang finished the half with three blocks.
 
A 16-0 run that began just minutes into the second half aided UVU in putting the game away early. The Wolverines also pulled off runs of 14-1 and 11-2 later in the half.
 
Nelson's perfect shooting night produced 18 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Jake Toolson scored a game-high 19 points, and Conner Toolson finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Manyang ended his night with 11 points and eight rebounds.
 
As a team, Utah Valley won the battle on the glass 61-22 and forced 16 turnovers on eight steals. The Wolverines also outshot Bethesda on the night with a 57.1 percent clip compared to a 25.8 percent mark for the Flames.

BROTHERLY LOVE
Redshirt sophomore guard McKay Johnson is brothers with Hawai'i senior forward Gibson Johnson. The pair, along with UVU sophomore guard Conner Toolson were members of the Salt Lake Community College team that won the junior college national championship in 2016.

SUNDAY'S GAME WILL FEATURE THREE OF THE OLDEST PLAYERS IN NCAA DIVISION I
Utah Valley has two of the oldest players in NCAA Division I basketball. Utah Valley graduate student Zach Nelson is the third-oldest player in the nation at 25 years, 143 days, while Isaac Neilson ranks fourth on the NCAA Division I senior citizens list at 24 years, 352 days old. Sam Houston State's Josh Boutte is the oldest player in the nation at 25 years, 307 days. Hawaii's Gibson Johnson ranks second at 25 years, 273 days. Both Nelson and Neilson served LDS Church missions and had redshirt seasons.

Oldest Players in NCAA Division I Basketball
1.    Josh Boutte, Sam Houston State    25 years, 307 days
2.    Gibson Johnson, Hawaii    25 years, 273 days
3.    Zach Nelson, UVU    25 years, 143 days
4.    Isaac Neilson, UVU    24 years, 352 days
5.     Kyle Brown, Cornell    24 years, 345 days
6.    Ron Patterson, IUPUI    24 years, 296 days

NUMEROUS RECORDS FALL IN WIN OVER BETHESDA
A numbers of records were broken in Utah Valley's 106-44 win over Bethesda on Thursday night at the UCCU Center. Every player that saw minutes for UVU scored, including Mckay Johnson who notched the first points of his Wolverine career. Utah Valley set a new school record for made field goals in a game with 43, and set a record for most points scored in a home game with 106. The 106 points are also a UCCU Center record, topping the previous high of 103. The 62-point victory was the third largest in school history. UVU's 35 assists are also a school record over the previous record of 29.

UVU ONE OF JUST TWO TEAMS IN THE COUNTRY TO HAVE ALL FIVE STARTERS AVERAGE DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING
Utah Valley is one of just two teams in the nation to have all five of its starters averaging double figure scoring this season. Akolda Manyang leads the way at 15.3 points a game, followed by Kenneth Ogbe at 13.4 points, Jake Toolson at 13.2 points, Conner Toolson at 11.7 points, and Brandon Randolph at 10.5 points a contest. The five starters average a combined 64.1 points per game. As a team, UVU averages 81.3 points per game. The five starters are responsible for 78 percent of the team's points.

THREE-POINT STREAKING
Utah Valley has now hit a three-point field goal in 109 straight games. The last time UVU played in a game without hitting a shot from beyond the arc was on Feb. 27, 2014 against New Mexico State.

SECOND-BEST RPI IN THE WAC
As of Dec. 16, Utah Valley's RPI is 73 according to WarrenNolan.com. UVU sits four spots ahead of BYU at No. 77 and eight spots ahead of Georgia at No. 81. The Wolverines have the best non-conference RPI win of the season with its victory over No. 33 UC Davis.  The Wolverines hold the second-best RPI in the WAC as the team sits just behind CSU Bakersfield (71). UVU is ahead of New Mexico State (107), Kansas City (180), Grand Canyon (205), Seattle U (233), UTRGV (280), and Chicago State (296).  The WAC's conference RPI currently sits at No. 15, ahead of Conference USA (16),  Summitt League (17), Big Sky (18), Southern (19), and Ohio Valley (20).

LEADING THE WAC, NATIONAL RANKINGS
As of Dec. 16, Utah Valley leads the WAC in 11 statistical categories, including assists per game (16.5), blocks per game (4.5), defensive rebounds per game (29.64), fewest fouls (179), field goal percentage (49.6), personal fouls per game (16.3), rebound margin (10.9), scoring offense (81.3), blocks (50), rebounds (465), and rebounds per game (42.27). Nationally, UVU ranks seventh in rebound margin (10.9), 12th in total rebounds (465), and 12th in rebounds per game (42.27).

MANYANG AMONG NATIONAL STAT LEADERS
As of Dec. 16, Akolda Manyang ranks in the top-50 nationally in six statistical categories. Manyang ranks ninth in total blocks (32), 13th in field goal percentage (67.0), 15th in total rebounds (105), 15th in blocks per game (2.91), 39th in rebounds per game (9.5), and 43rd in offensive rebounds per game (3.18).

FIVE NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS ON THIS SEASON'S SLATE
Utah Valley will play five teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season. In fact, the team plays five teams that won their conference tournaments last year. Kentucky won the SEC Tournament, Duke won the ACC Tournament, UC Davis won the Big West Tournament, North Dakota won the Big Sky Tournament, and New Mexico State won the WAC Tournament. UVU has already played four of those teams this season, three of which were on the road. UVU fell to Kentucky (63-73) and Duke (69-99) on back-to-back nights. The team then defeated UC Davis at home, 80-71, in the Wolverines' home opener before getting past North Dakota, 83-75, in overtime on the road.