UTAH VALLEY TRAVELS TO THE MILE HIGH CITY TO TAKE ON DENVER
Fresh off a 72-55 win in its season opener at home on Tuesday night, Utah Valley travels to the Mile High City to take on the University of Denver on Saturday afternoon at Magness Arena. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on Altitude TV and ESPN 960 AM radio.

Isaiah White scored a career-high 25 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds for his first career double-double to lead Utah Valley to a season-opening 72-55 win over Westminster on Tuesday night at the UCCU Center. The win marks the first official game and victory for the Wolverines under first-year head coach Mark Madsen.

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.

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 Timberwol

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Saturday afternoon's game at Denver will be broadcast live on the AltitudeTV and streamed live at AltitudeNow.com. Todd Romero will be handling the play-by-play duties, while former Denver Nugget Bill Hanzlik will be on the color commentary. The game will also be broadcast over the radio waves as Jim McCulloch enters his 10th season as the radio play-by-play personality. Jason Erickson 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 DENVER
Denver will open its home schedule against Utah Valley on Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers opened the 2019-20 seaason with a 74-63 setback at in-state rival Colorado State on Tuesday night. The Pioneers had four players score in double figures in the loss at CSU led by senior forward Ade Murkey's game-high 18 points. Murkey is now just 307 points away from becoming the 41st player in DU history to reach 1,000 points. Denver returns six letterwinners from last season's team that went 8-22. Denver welcomes seven new players to its roster, including four freshmen. Rodney Bilups returns for his fourth season with the team. He holds an all-time 39-52 record with the team.

SERIES HISTORY VS. DENVER
Saturday's matchup against Denver will mark the fourth time the two teams have met on the basketball hardwood. Utah Valley holds an all-time 2-1 advantage in the series. The Wolverines have won two straight over the Pioneers, including last season's 98-75 win in Orem. The last time the two teams met in Denver, UVU completed the biggest comeback in its history, erasing a 27-point first-half deficit to defeat the Pioneers 88-85.

All-Time Results vs. Denver (2-1)
Nov. 18, 2015    Denver def. Utah Valley, 75-62    Denver, Colo.
Nov. 23, 2016    Utah Valley def. Denver, 88-85    Denver, Colo.
Dec. 01, 2018    Utah Valley def. Denver, 98-75    Orem, Utah

UVU HOLDS NATIONS'S 12TH-BEST ACTIVE HOME WIN STREAK IN THE NATION
As of Nov. 7, Utah Valley currently holds the 12th-longest active home win streak in the nation at seven games. The Wolverines will look to extend their win streak against Ottawa in the team's next home game on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Tennessee holds the nation's longest active home win streak at 27 games.

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.

WHITE'S CAREER NIGHT LEADS UVU TO 72-55 WIN OVER WESTMINSTER IN SEASON OPENER
Isaiah White scored a career-high 25 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds for his first career double-double to lead Utah Valley to a season-opening 72-55 win over Westminster on Tuesday night at the UCCU Center.
 
The win marks the first official game and victory for the Wolverines under first-year head coach Mark Madsen.
 
Westminster jumped out to a 13-4 lead just six minutes into the game before the Wolverines bounced back with an 20-2 run over a seven-minute span to take a 26-17 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half.  Cavit Ege Havsa then knocked down a three as the shot clock expired with 2:50 remaining to give UVU a 29-19 advantage. The Wolverines would take a 35-26 lead into the break.
 
Brandon Averette got the Wolverines going in the second half scoring UVU's first 10 points, helping to extend UVU's lead to a 45-33 advantage with 15:15 to play. White then threw one down before knocking down back-to-back threes to extend UVU's lead, 53-36, with 13:50 to go. The Wolverines outscored Westminster the rest of the way to secure the 72-55 victory.
 
White scored his 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field, including three shots from long range. He also knocked down 4-of-5 free throws. White pulled down 13 rebounds to go along with three assists and a steal.
 
Averette was also in double figures with 16 points, connecting on 7-of-12 shots from the field. The junior guard also pulled down five rebounds with four assists and a steal. Trey Woodbury scored seven points, while Havsa and Casdon Jardine each had five.
 
Emmanuel Olojakpoke led the Wolverines with a game-high five blocks, which ranks 10th on UVU's all-time single game record list. He also had eight rebounds, one assist, and a steal.
 
As a team, UVU recorded a 42 percent clip from the field while limiting Westminster to a 36 percent mark. UVU outrebounded the Griffins 46-34. UVU got 40 points in the paint to Westminster's 22.