UVU TAKES ON DIXIE STATE IN EXHIBITION GAME ON TUESDAY NIGHT AT UCCU CENTER
Before officially opening the season at home on Tuesday, Nov. 6 against Westminster, Utah Valley will host former junior college Scenic West Athletic Conference rival Dixie State on Tuesday night at the UCCU Center. Prior to UVU making the jump to Division I, the Wolverines played junior college basketball in the SWAC from 1984-2003. Dixie State played in the SWAC from 1984-2006. Tuesday night's game is free to the public.

Utah Valley returns just four letterwinners, including two starters from last year's squad that finished the season with a school-record 23 wins and a second-straight appearance at the College Basketball Invitational. Preseason All-WAC honorees Connor Toolson (12.1 ppg.) and Jake Toolson (10.9 ppg.) are back after combining to score an average of 23.0 points per game last season. The Wolverines return just 36 percent of its scoring from a season ago. Ben Nakwaasah (4.8 ppg.) and Richard Hayward (1.3 ppg.) also return this season.

Utah Valley welcomes seven new players to its roster this season, including one player (Baylee Steele) who had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. The Wolverines have added four new transfers (Isaiah White, TJ Washington, Connor MacDougall, and Baylee Steele) to this year's roster. Brandon Averette (Oklahoma State), Casdon Jardine (Boise State), and Ege Havsa (Fordham) also join the team but will have to sit out and redshirt this season. UVU welcomes three true freshmen to the team in Wyatt Lowell, Drew Cotton, and Cache Fields.

The Wolverines were selected to finish third by the media and fourth by the coaches in the WAC preseason poll. UVU received 162 points in the media poll to finish third behind No. 1 NM State and No. 2 Grand Canyon. The Wolverines received 43 points in the coaches' poll to fall just behind Seattle U in third at 45 points. NM State earned the top spot in the coaches' poll, followed by Grand Canyon in second.

Mark Pope enters his fourth season as the head coach of the Wolverines. He recently signed a new six-year contract after continuing to take the Wolverines to new heights last season. He led the team to a school-record 23 wins during the 2017-18 season and a second-straight trip to a national postseason tournament, where his team hosted its first-ever national postseason tournament game. He also helped UVU to its first top-100 finish in school history in both the Ken Pom and RPI rankings. Under his direction, the Wolverines compiled a school-record 16-1 home mark last season, including 14-straight home wins--the fifth-best active home win streak in the nation. His team held the nation's fifth-ranked home court advantage in the nation last season according to KenPom.com. Five of his players earned all-WAC honors last season and his team continues to excel in the classroom as he holds one of the top team GPAs in the country. Utah Valley scored more points than any UVU team ever in program history last season. His teams have broken the single season scoring record in each of his three seasons at UVU.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tuesday's exhibition game against Dixie State will not be broadcast. UVU's official home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 6 against Westminster will be broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network with Brandon Crow handling the play-by-play duties and former UVU player Holton Hunsaker on the color commentary. The WAC Digital Network is available at WACdigitalNetwork.com. The network is also available on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku TV. UVU will also send the feed out on its YouTube channel. Jim McCulloch enters his ninth season as the radio play-by-play personality. He will be back on the radio airwaves on 960 AM ESPN radio.

ABOUT DIXIE STATE
Dixie State is an NCAA Division II member of the PacWest Conference. The Trailblazers jumped up from the junior college ranks to the Division II level in 2006. Dixie State was a long-time junior college rival of Utah Valley's in the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) from 1984 to 2003. UVU made the jump straight from the junior college level to NCAA Division I in 2003. Dixie State returns five total letter winners, all seniors, from last season's record-breaking 23-7 squad  that swept both the PACWest regular season and tournament titles in its final season in the league. The team has made eight NCAA Division II Men's Basketball tournament appearance in the last nine seasons. Dixie State was picked to finish fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll. Dixie State also welcomes 10 new players to his program for this upcoming 2018-19 campaign. DSU's five returning seniors include Julien Ducree (5.3 ppg.), Quincy Mathews (4.5 ppg.), Austin Montgomery (5.9 ppg.), Dub Price (5.5 ppg.), and guard Wade Miller (3.8 ppg.). The Trailblazers are coached by six-time PacWest Conference Coach of the Year Jon Judkins, who begins his 14th season with the team where he has compiled a 244-177 overall record, including a 224-105 mark during DSU's NCAA Division II era.

SERIES HISTORY VS. DIXIE STATE
Utah Valley and Dixie State have never played a regular season game since the Wolverines jumped to Division I in 2003. The two teams have played two exhibition contests with UVU winning both of those games. UVU won the last contest, 81-70, at the UCCU Center last season on Nov. 1, 2017. The first exhibition game against UVU on Nov. 1  2006 was Dixie State's first game as a Division II school.

All-Time Results vs. Dixie State (2-0)
Nov. 1, 2006    Utah Valley def. Dixie State, 74-47    Orem, Utah (Exhibition)
Nov. 1, 2017    Utah Valley def. Dixie State, 81-70    Orem, Utah (Exhibition)

LAST MEETING VS. DIXIE STATE (11/1/20017)
Behind a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double from Akolda Manyang in his Wolverine debut, the Utah Valley University men's basketball team earned an 81-70 win in an exhibition game against Dixie State on Wednesday night at the UCCU Center.
 
The victory marked UVU's final tune-up before the regular-season opener on the road against No. 4/5  Kentucky and consensus No. 1 Duke.
 
With both teams struggling to get into an early rhythm offensively, Jonas Tahvanainen completed a four-point play and Ben Nakwaasah earned a three-point play to get things going for UVU.
 
Despite suffering some early foul trouble of its own, Utah Valley was able to get to the foul line, hitting 11-of-14 from the stripe in the first half, including a 4-4 mark from Hayden Schenck.
 
With just under three minutes to play and the Wolverines holding a 32-31 lead, Dixie State used a 12-2 run to take a 44-33 lead into halftime. Kyler Nielson led DSU in the first half with 11 points while Conner Toolson led the first-half attack for UVU with seven points and an assist.
 
Facing a double-digit deficit coming out of the half, Utah Valley stepped up its defensive effort and used a steal and block from Manyang to spark an 11-1 run and pull within one point. A basket from Isaac Neilson on the next possession gave UVU a one-point lead, its first since the 5:17 mark in the first half.
 
After a three-pointer from Dixie State gave the Trailblazers a one-point lead, The Wolverines reeled off a 9-0 run capped by a three from Nakwaasah to give UVU a 64-56 lead. Two electric dunks from Manyang in a one-minute span then pushed the lead to double digits with 5:14 to go. The Utah Valley lead would grow to as much as 15.
 
In addition to his double-double, Manyang recorded three blocks and a steal on the defensive end of the floor. Toolson and Randolph each pitched in 14 points apiece on the night, and Nakwaasah contributed 11 points in his UVU debut.

UVU HOLDS NATIONS'S FIFTH-BEST ACTIVE HOME WIN STREAK IN THE NATION
Utah Valley won a school-record 16 games at home last season, finishing the 2017-18 campaign with a school-record 16-1 record at home, surpassing the previous record of 14-1 set by the 2006-07 team. Utah Valley currently holds the fifth-longest active home win streak in the nation at 14 games. The Wolverines will look to extend their win streak against Westminster in the team's home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

UVU TO CELEBRATE NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE NIGHT FOR HOME OPENER AGAINST WESTMINSTER
November is Native American Heritage month and so in a combined effort to celebrate the month, Utah Valley will be sponsoring Native American Heritage night at its home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 5 against Westminster.

UTAH VALLEY PICKED THIRD BY MEDIA, FOURTH BY COACHES IN PRESEASON POLL
Utah Valley was selected to finish third by the media and fourth by the coaches in the WAC preseason polls released prior to the season at the annual WAC Basketball Preview and Media Day at the Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport Convention Center.

New Mexico State was picked to win the league in both polls. The Aggies received seven of the nine available first place votes from the coaches and 22 of the 24 first place votes from the media.
 
In the coaches' poll, Grand Canyon was picked to finish second with Seattle U third and Utah Valley fourth. CSU Bakersfield was fifth, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley in sixth, Kansas City seventh, California Baptist eighth, and Chicago State ninth.
 
On the media side, Grand Canyon received two first place votes and was picked second. Utah Valley was selected third, followed by Seattle U in fourth, and CSU Bakersfield in fifth. UT Rio Grande Valley was picked sixth, Kansas City seventh, California Baptist eighth, and Chicago State ninth.

CONNER TOOLSON, JAKE TOOLSON NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM
Utah Valley senior guard Conner Toolson earned preseason all-WAC first team honors by both the media and coaches. Toolson returns to the team after averaging 12.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game last season. He led the WAC with 53 steals and also ranked third in three-point field goals made (75) and fifth in three-point field goal percentage (40.3). Toolson earned second team all-WAC honors in 2018.
 
Jake Toolson received preseason all-WAC second team honors by both the media and the coaches. The junior guard averaged 11.2 points and 4.7 rebounds last season. He ranked third in the WAC with an 84.6 percent clip from the free throw line and was seventh in the league with a 50.4 percent mark from the field. Toolson was named to the WAC All-Newcomer team last season.
 
SCHENCK GRADUATES WITH MBA - TEAM HOLDS ONE OF BEST TEAM GPAs IN THE COUNTRY
For a second-straight season, UVU will have a player on its roster that has already graduated with both their undergraduate degrees and graduate degree. Senior guard Hayden Schenck graduated with his MBA at UVU this past summer. Zach Nelson and Kenneth Ogbe each earned their MBAs prior to the start of last season. Under head coach Mark Pope, Utah Valley basketball players hold a perfect pass-fail rate. Every single player under his guidance has passed each and every class taken over the past two seasons. For a second-straight season, UVU finished with one of the best team GPAs in the country at 3.38.

HOME SWEET UCCU CENTER
Utah Valley holds an all-time 167-46 (78 percent) record in 13 seasons at the UCCU Center. The Wolverines are averaging 12.5 wins a season at the UCCU Center. UVU finished play at home last season with a school-record 16-1 record. The team holds the nation's fifth-best active home win streak in the country at 14 games.

NEW FACES
Utah Valley welcomes seven new players to its roster this season, including one player (Baylee Steele) who had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. The Wolverines have added four new transfers (Isaiah White, TJ Washington, Connor MacDougall, and Baylee Steele) to this year's roster. Brandon Averette (Oklahoma State), Casdon Jardine (Boise State), and Ege Havsa (Fordham) also join the team but will have to sit out and redshirt this season. UVU welcomes three true freshmen to the team in Wyatt Lowell, Drew Cotton, and Cache Fields.