UTAH VALLEY HOSTS NORTHERN ARIZONA ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT UCCU CENTER
After playing four of its last five games on the road, Utah Valley returns to Orem to host Big Sky Conference foe Northern Arizona on Saturday night at the UCCU Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

The Wolverines have played six of their last eight games on the road, traveling nearly 9,000 miles through the air in the process. The Wolverines have dropped four straight with setbacks at Mount St. Mary's, at Colorado State, at home to Weber State, and at Southern Utah. UVU's last win was a 68-62 over reigning Summit League Tournament champion North Dakota State on Nov. 23 in Fargo.

Utah Valley dropped its fourth-straight game in a thriller to Southern Utah, 73-72, in Cedar City. The Wolverines took the lead with 14 seconds to go before the Thunderbirds converted the game-winning layup with eight seconds left. UVU drops to 4-7 on the season as SUU improves to 5-4 on the year. Trey Woodbury led the team with 19 points, extending his streak of made free throws to 17 in the process. Washington added 14 points on a pair of threes and Averette chipped in 11 points and a team high five assists. Morley pulled down a team high eight rebounds and Jamison Overton swiped three steals and a pair of blocks.

As of Dec. 11, Utah Valley ranks tied for second in the nation in blocks with 67. The Wolverines also rank 12th nationally in blocks per game at 6.1 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke is tied for sixth nationally with 33 blocks. He also ranks tied for 12th in blocks per game at 3.0. Olojakpoke is on track to break the all-time UVU single season blocks record of 72 set by Akolda Manyang during the 2017-18 season.

Senior guard TJ Washington leads the Wolverines in scoring at 15.6 points, which ranks fifth in the WAC. Junior guard Brandon Averette follows at 11.9 points a game. Brandon Morely ranks sixth in the league in rebounding at 6.1 boards a game, while Emmanuel Olojakpoke leads the WAC and ranks sixth in the nation with 33 blocks this 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
Saturday night's game against Northern Arizona 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 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 NORTHERN ARIZONA
Northern Arizona enters Saturday's game with a 4-2 overall record. The team holds a 0-1 record on the road this season after taking a 91-52 setback at nationally-ranked Arizona in its season opener. Since then, NAU has played five straight at home, going 4-1. Saturday night's game marks the first of five-straight road games for the Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks most recently picked up a 73-65 win over Omaha on Dec. 8.  NAU used a 35-10 run in the first half to secure the win. Sophomore guard Cameron Shelton led NAU with a game-high 20 points in the win, while three others scored in double figures. Redshirt sophomore guard Luke Avdalovic leads the team in scoring at 15.6 points per game, followed by Shelton at 13.0 points per game. Nineteen of Avdalovic's 24 made shots this season have come from beyond the arc. Senior forward Brooks Debisschop leads the team on the boards, pulling down 8.4 rebounds per game. As a team, NAU is averaging 78.4 points a game, while limiting opponents to a 67.2 points per game mark. The Lumberjacks average 9.4 threes per game at a 37.3 percent clip.

SERIES HISTORY VS. NORTHERN ARIZONA
Utah Valley (4-7) and Northern Arizona (4-2) will meet up on the basketball hardwood for the fourth time on Saturday night. UVU leads the all-time series 2-1. It will mark just the second time that the two teams have met up in Orem. The Wolverines defeated Northern Arizona, 68-62,  in Orem on Nov. 14, 2008 in the only game ever played between the two teams at the UCCU Center. UVU defeated the Lumberjacks, 98-78, last year in Flagstaff.

All-Time Results vs. Northern Arizona (UVU leads series 2-1)
Nov. 14, 2008    Utah Valley def. Northern Arizona, 68-62    Orem, Utah
Dec. 06, 2008    Northern Arizona def. Utah Valley, 64-63    Flagstaff, Ariz.
Dec. 08, 2018    Utah Valley def. Northern Arizona, 98-78    Flagstaff, Ariz.

UP UP AND AWAY
The Wolverines have played seven of their 11 games on the road this season. During those seven road games, UVU has traveled an estimated 9,500 miles through the air in just one month. The Wolverines will travel an estimated 22,000 miles through the friendly skies this season.

SOOOOO CLOSE!
Utah Valley has dropped seven games this season. Four of those seven losses have been by just six points or less. UVU has dropped three of its last four games by five points or less, including a three point loss at Mount St. Mary's, a five point loss to Weber State, and a one point loss at Southern Utah.

PERFECT AT THE LINE
Utah Valley sophomore guard Trey Woodbury is perfect at the free throw line this season. He has knocked down a perfect 17-of-17 shots at the charity stripe. The UVU record is 41 straight free throws made, set by Jake Toolson last season and Holton Hunsaker during the 2011-12 season.

UVU RANKS SECOND IN THE NATION IN BLOCKS
As of Dec. 11, Utah Valley ranks tied for second in the nation in blocks with 67. The Wolverines also rank 12th nationally in blocks per game at 6.1 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke is tied for sixth nationally with 33 blocks. He also ranks tied for 12th in blocks per game at 3.0. Olojakpoke is on track to break the all-time UVU single season blocks record of 72 set by Akolda Manyang during the 2017-18 season.

UTAH VALLEY HAS WON 33 OF ITS LAST 37 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 32-3 (91.4 percent) record at home since a win over Seattle U on March 4, 2017. Utah Valley holds an all-time 182-48 (79.1 percent) record in its 14th season this season 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 2-1 at home this season.

THREE-POINT STREAKING
Utah Valley has now hit a three-point field goal in 143 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.

HOME SWEET UCCU CENTER
Utah Valley holds an all-time 183-49 (78.8 percent) record in its 14th season 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.

UTAH VALLEY WINS SUMMIT LEAGUE/WAC CHALLENGE GAME FOR SECOND-STRAIGHT SEASON
With its 68-62 win at North Dakota State on Nov. 23, Utah Valley claimed a win in the Summit League/WAC Challenge for a second straight season. Utah Valley defeated Denver in last season's Summit League/WAC Challenge matchup. The WAC won the first-ever Summit League/WAC Challenge by finishing with a 6-3 record against the Summit League last season. The Summit League leads this season's Challenge, 3-2.