UVU HOSTS LAMAR ON THURSDAY NIGHT AT UCCU CENTER
Utah Valley returns home to Orem after giving ninth-ranked Kentucky all it could handle on Monday night in Lexington. The Wolverines continue BBN Showcase play against Lamar on Thursday night at the UCCU Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Utah Valley returns to the UCCU Center after splitting a pair of road games last week, defeating UAB, 66-55, before coming up just short at No. 9 Kentucky, 82-74, on Monday night on national television. The Wolverines got to within one point, 67-66, with just 3:26 remaining at Rupp Arena, but would come up just short at Kentucky. TJ Washington led the Wolverines with a career-high 22 points, including a career-high five made threes, to go along with a team-high five assists and five rebounds. Trey Woodbury added 17 points on three shots from deep and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe and Overton also scored in double figures with 10 points.

Utah Valley continues to lead the nation in blocks with 39. The Wolverines also rank fourth in blocks per game at 7.8 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke ranks sixth nationally with 16 blocks and 15th in blocks per game at 3.2 a game. Brandon Morley ranks 27th nationally in blocks with 11.

The Wolverines currently hold the 11th-best active home win streak in the nation at eight games. The team will look to extend its win streak against Lamar on Nov. 21. Tennessee holds the nation's longest active home win streak at 28 games.

Junior transfer guard Brandon Averette was named College Sports Madness WAC Player of the Week for his play in a pair of wins over Ottawa and UAB last week. Over the two wins, Averette averaged 17.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks, 0.5 steals, and 0.5 assists. He shot a 53.8 percent (14-of-26) clip from the field and knocked down an impressive 4-of-7 shots from three-point range. He also was a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line.

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 and TJ Washington 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 Woodbury) 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.

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
Thursday night's game against Lamar will be broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network. Brandon Crow will be handling the play-by-play duties. 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. KSL TV will also stream the game on the KSL TV app. The game will also be broadcast over the radio waves as Jim McCulloch enters his 10th season as the Voice of the Wolverines. Josh Kallunki will be handling the color commentary duties on the radio. 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 LAMAR
Lamar, a member of the Southland Conference, has opened the season with a 3-1 record with all three of its wins coming at home. The Cardinals have defeated Champion Christian, Arlington Baptist, and Mount St. Mary's. The team's only blemish is a 66-56 loss at Duquesne. Lamar's game at Utah Valley is the first of a four-game road stretch that also includes road games at Kentucky, UAB, and Texas Southern. Sophomore Davion Buster scored a game-high 20 points and senior T.J. Atwood added 19 as Lamar cruised to a 76-61 victory over Mount St. Mary's Friday evening. Mount St. Mary's is a future opponent of UVU's. Atwood leads the team in scoring at 19.3 points a game, followed by Buster at 16.5 points a contest. The Cardinals are averaging 81.0 points per game while limiting opponents to a 57.0 points per game mark.

SERIES HISTORY VS. LAMAR
Thursday night's game against Lamar will mark the third time the two schools have met on the basketball hardwood. The all-time series is split at one game apiece with each team winning on its home floor. The last time the two teams met was on Feb. 9, 2009 with UVU taking a 71-55 win at the UCCU Center.

All-Time Results vs. Lamar (Series tied 1-1)
Feb. 09, 2009    Utah Valley def. Lamar, 71-55    Orem, Utah
Jan. 08, 2008    Lamar def. Utah Valley, 74-69    Beaumont, Texas

WASHINGTON FEATURED MONDAY NIGHT ON ESPN'S TOP-10 PLAYS
Utah Valley senior guard scored a career-high 22 points with five threes in Monday night's loss at No. 9 Kentucky. A shot fake from beyond the arc that made his opponent fly through the air, and then the drive and finish at the basket was featured as the No. 10 play on Monday night on ESPN SportsCenter's Top-10 plays of the night.

AVERETTE NAMED COLLEGE SPORTS MADNESS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley junior guard Brandon Averette has been named the College Sports Madness WAC Player of the Week for his performance in a pair of wins over Ottawa and UAB last week.
 
Averette scored 17 points in UVU's 101-70 win over Ottawa on Tuesday night at the UCCU Center. The Richardson, Texas native knocked down 7-of-9 shots from the field, including a 1-of-2 clip from beyond the arc. He was also a perfect 2-for-2 at the charity stripe and tallied a pair of blocks.
 
Averette followed up his performance against Ottawa with an 18-point, four-rebound effort in UVU's 66-55 road win at UAB on Friday night. He connected on seven shots from the field, including three shots from long range. He also tallied one assist and a steal in the win.
 
On the week, Averette averaged 17.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks, 0.5 steals, and 0.5 assists. He shot a 53.8 percent (14-of-26) clip from the field and knocked down an impressive 4-of-7 shots from three-point range. He also was a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line.
 
UVU THE ONLY TEAM IN THE WAC WITH UPWARD TREND THIS SEASON
Utah Valley is the only team in the WAC to have improved its KenPom.com ranking since the start of the season. The Wolverines started the season ranked 198 and have now improved that ranking by 20 spots up to 178. Every other team in the WAC has seen its ranking from he beginning of the year trend in the opposite direction.

UVU LEADS NATION IN BLOCKS
As of Nov. 20, Utah Valley leads the nation with 39 blocks this season. The Wolverines also rank third in the nation in blocks per game at 7.9 a game. Emmanuel Olojakpoke ranks sixth nationally with 16 blocks. He also ranks 15th in the nation in blocks per game at 3.2 a contest. Brandon Moreley ranks 27th in the nation with 11 blocks.

National Block Leaders
1.    39    Utah Valley
2.    35    UNC Greensboro
3.    34    Harvard
4.    33    Stony Brook
4.    33    Central Arkansas
4.    33    Marshall
7.    23    FIU
7.    32    Auburn
9.    31    Morgan State
10.    30    George Mason
10.    30    Washington

BBN SHOWCASE
Utah Valley's win at UAB and loss at No. 9 Kentucky were the first two of four games to be played as part of the BBN Showcase, which is a multi-team event. UVU will also play at home against Lamar (Nov. 21), and at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 26).

BLOCK PARTY
Utah Valley's 11 blocks in its 72-55 win over Westminster is the second-most blocks in a single game in UVU history. Brandon Morley and Emmanuel Olojakpoke each had five blocks, which ranks 10th on the UVU individual single game record charts. The 11 blocks are the most blocks in a single game since UVU recorded 11 blocks in a win over Chicago State on Jan. 12, 2017. The all-time UVU single game record for blocks is 12 set by the 2012-13 team in a win over NJIT on Jan. 5, 2013.

UVU HOLDS NATIONS'S 11TH-BEST ACTIVE HOME WIN STREAK IN THE NATION
As of Nov. 20, Utah Valley currently holds the 11th-longest active home win streak in the nation at eight games. The Wolverines will look to extend their win streak against Lamar in the team's next home game on Nov. 21. Tennessee holds the nation's longest active home win streak at 28 games.

UTAH VALLEY HAS WON 33 OF ITS LAST 35 GAMES AT HOME
Utah Valley won a school-record 22 straight games at home dating from a win over UTSA on Nov. 29, 2017 to a win over UTRGV on Jan. 17, 2019.  The previous UVU home win streak record was 17 games, which was set from the 2004-05 season to the 2005-06 season. UVU holds an impressive 32-2 (94.1 percent) record at home since a win over Seattle U on March 4, 2017. Utah Valley holds an all-time 182-47 (79.5 percent) record in 13 seasons at the UCCU Center. The Wolverines are averaging 13.7 wins a season on their home hardwood. UVU finished the 2018-19 season with a school-record 16-1 mark. The team went 14-1 at home during the 2017-18 season. UVU is a perfect 2-0 at home this season.

UVU HOLDS BEST RECORD AMONG DIVISION I TEAMS IN THE STATE OF UTAH OVER THE PAST TWO SEASONS
Utah Valley holds the best record among Division I teams in the state of Utah over the past two seasons.

In-State School Records over Last Two Seasons (2017-18 & 2018-19)
1.    Utah Valley    48-21  (.696)
2.    Utah State    45-24  (.652)
3.    BYU        43-24  (.641)
4.    Utah        40-26  (.606)
5.    Weber State    38-26  (.593)
6.    Southern Utah    30-36  (.454)        

HOME SWEET UCCU CENTER
Utah Valley holds an all-time 183-47 (79.5 percent) record in 13 seasons at the UCCU Center. The Wolverines are averaging 13.9 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 11th-best active home win streak in the country at eight games.

THREE-POINT STREAKING
Utah Valley has now hit a three-point field goal in 137 straight games. The last time UVU played in a game without hitting a shot from beyond the arc was on Feb. 7, 2015 at Seattle U.