UVU HOSTS WESTMINSTER ON TUESDAY NIGHT IN SEASON OPENER
Head coach Mark Madsen will officialy make his coaching debut for Utah Valley as the Wolverines open the 2019-20 season at home against Westminster College on Tuesday night at the UCCU Center. 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
Tuesday's season opener against Westminster will be broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network. Brandon Crow will be handling the play-by-play duties, while former UVU player Holton Hunsaker will be 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. 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 ninth season as the radio play-by-play personality. 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 WESTMINSTER
Westminster is an NCAA Division II member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Griffins are entering their second full year of full Division II status.. The team joined the RMAC in 2015. The Griffins were recently picked to finish 11th in the 16-team RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Westminster finished the 2018-19 season with a 10-16 overall record and an 8-14 mark in RMAC play to finish 12th. The Griffins return nine players from last year's team. The squad has added two freshmen and six transfers to the team. Westminster's sophomore guard Brandon Warr and junior guard Alec Monson were selected as players to watch in the RMAC this year.  Westminster is coached by long-time Salt Lake Community College head coach Norm Parrish. He holds a 61-41 record in three seasons at Westminster.

SERIES HISTORY VS. WESTMINSTER
Tuesday's matchup against Westminster will mark the second time the two teams have met during a regular season contest. The two teams have played one exhibition contest with UVU winning, 79-67, at the UCCU Center on Nov. 5, 2007. Tuesday's game will count as an exhibition for Westminster, but will count as a regular season game for UVU. The two teams mets in UVU's season opener at the UCCU Center last season with the Wolverines taking a 96-71win.

All-Time Results vs. Westminster (2-0)
Nov. 5, 2007    Utah Valley def. Westminster, 79-67        Orem, Utah (Exhibition)
Nov. 6, 2018    Utah Valley def. Westminster, 96-71        Orem, Utah

UVU HOLDS NATIONS'S 14-BEST ACTIVE HOME WIN STREAK IN THE NATION
Utah Valley currently holds the fifth-longest active home win streak in the nation at six games. The Wolverines look to extend their win streak against Westminster in the team's home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Buffalo holds the nation's longest active home win streak at 26 games.
    
UVU'S HOME WIN STREAK ENDS AT 22, WOLVERINES 27-2 AT HOME OVER LAST TWO SEASONS
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 30-2 record at home over the last two seasons. Utah Valley holds an all-time 179-47 (79.2 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 last season. Over the past two seasons, UVU holds a 30-2 record at the UCCU Center.

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
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)        

UTAH VALLEY PICKED SIXTH BY COACHES AND MEDIA IN WAC PRESEASON POLL
Utah Valley was selected to finish sixth by both the media and the coaches in the WAC preseason polls released at the annual WAC Basketball Preview and Media Day. New Mexico State was picked to win the league in both polls. The Aggies received all available eight first place votes from the coaches and all 28 of the first place votes from the media.
 
In the coaches' poll, Grand Canyon was picked to finish second with Seattle U third and UT Rio Grande Valley fourth. California Baptist was fifth, followed by CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley tied for sixth, Kansas City in eighth, and Chicago State ninth.
 
On the media side, Grand Canyon was second, followed by Seattle U in third. UTRGV was picked fourth, followed by California Baptist in fifth and Utah Valley in sixth. CSU Bakersfield was selected seventh, Kansas City eighth, and Chicago State ninth.

BRANDON AVERETTE NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM
Utah Valley 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.
 
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 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.

THREE-POINT STREAKING
Utah Valley has now hit a three-point field goal in 132 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.