UTAH VALLEY HOST EXHIBITION GAME AGAINST THE COLLEGE OF IDAHO ON FRIDAY NIGHT
Before officially opening the season at home on Nov. 5 against Westminster, Utah Valley will host the College of Idaho on Friday night in a tune-up for the 2019-20 season at Lockhart Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Utah Valley returns just two starters and letterwinners from last year's squad that finished the season with a school-record 25 wins and a third-straight appearance at the College Basketball Invitational. Returning starters Isaiah White (8.5 ppg.) and TJ Washington (7.7 ppg.) are back after combining to score an average of 16.2 points per game last season. The Wolverines return just 21 percent of its scoring from a season ago.

Utah Valley welcomes 11 new players to its roster this season, including Brandon Averette, Casdon Jardine, and Cavit Ege Havsa, who each had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. The Wolverines have added five new transfers (JJ Overton, Emmanuel Olojakpoke, Brandon Morley, Jacob Heese, Trey Woodubry) to this year's roster. Fardaws Aimaq (Mercer) also joins the team but will have to sit out and redshirt this season. UVU welcomes two true freshmen to the team in Travis Wagstaff and Lewis Johnson.

The Wolverines were selected to finish sixth by both the media and the coaches in the WAC preseason polls. UVU received 133 points in the media poll to sixth. The Wolverines received 30 points in the coaches' poll to tie CSU Bakersfield for the sixth spot. NM State earned the top spot in both polls.

Junior transfer guard Brandon Averette earned preseason all-WAC second team honors by the media. Averette spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Oklahoma State where he played in 69 games over his two seasons with the Cowboys. He played in 36 games and made six starts for OSU during the 2017-18 season, leading the Cowboys in total assists (104) and assists per game (2.9). He also averaged 19.9 minutes, 6.3 points, 2.9 assists, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.6 steals per game during the 2017-18 season.

Mark Madsen enters his first season as the head coach of the Wolverines. The two-time NBA champion, former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach, and former Stanford University basketball star makes his debut season as a head coach. He is just the third head coach in UVU's Division I history. Madsen takes over the Utah Valley program after serving the past six seasons as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a two-time NBA champion as a player with the Lakers (2001 and 2002), and he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves for six seasons.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Friday's exhibition game against the College of Idaho will not be broadcast. UVU's official home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 5 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. The KSLtv app will be streaming all home UVU men's basketball games live. All home games will also be streamed live through the GoUVU YouTube channel, and on the GoUVU Facebook page. Tuesday night's game will also be broadcast over the radio waves as Jim McCulloch enters his 10th season as the voice of the Wolverines. The radio broadcast will be aired live on ESPN 960AM radio. A live stream of the radio broadcast will also be available at ESPN960Sports.com.

ABOUT COLLEGE OF IDAHO
Fresh off its second- straight trip to the NAIA Division II national semifinals last season, the College of Idaho was picked second in the Cascade Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Yotes step out of NAIA play this week to take on Utah State on Wednesday night before taking on Utah Valley on Friday night. C of I is an official 2-0 on the season after picking up an 89-80 win over Montana Western and a 90-84 victory against Montana Tech. The Yotes return eight players, including three starters from last year's national semifinal team that went 31-6 last season. Three-year starting guard Nate Bruneel opening his senior season with back-to-back big outings averaging 18 points and 4.5 rebounds in the two victories. Bruneel made 7-of-9 field goal attempts – including all six of his 2-point shots – in the win over Western, following it up with 21 points vs. Tech, his seventh career game with 20-or-more points. The College of Idaho is coached by Colby Blaine who enters his sixth overall season with the Yotes and second as head coach. He holds a 33-6 career record.

SERIES HISTORY VS. COLLEGE OF IDAHO
Utah Valley and the College of Idaho meet for the first time on the basketball hardwood on Friday night. Utah Valley holds an all-time 58-0 record against non-Division I programs.

UTAH VALLEY PICKED SIXTH BY COACHES AND MEDIA IN WAC 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.

BRANDON AVERETTE 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.

NEW FACES
Utah Valley welcomes 10 new players to its roster this season, including three players (Brandon Averette, Casdon Jardine, Cavit Ege Havsa) who had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. The Wolverines have added five new transfers (Jamison Overton, Emmanuel Olojakpoke, Brandon Morley, Jacob Heese, Trey Woodbury) to this year's roster. UVU welcomes two true freshmen to the team in Travis Wagstaff and Lewis Johnson. Manager turned player Bradley Kitchen also joins the roster with one year of eligibility.