UTAH VALLEY TRAVELS DOWN I-15 TO FACE SOUTHERN UTAH ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Utah Valley will play its fourth road game in its last five contests as the team travels down I-15 to Cedar City to take on in-state rival Southern Utah on Saturday afternoon at the America First Event Center. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

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

UVU most recently dropped a 72-67 decision to Weber State on Wednesday night in Orem. TJ Washington scored 18 points and Trey Woodbury added 14 in the loss. Casdon Jardine was also in double figures with 10 points. Emmanuel Olojakpoke pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with eight points and six blocks. The six blocks ties him for fourth on the all-time UVU single game blocks list.

As of Dec. 5, Utah Valley ranks third in the nation in blocks with 60. The Wolverines also rank 14th nationally in blocks per game at 6.0 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke is fifth nationally with 32 blocks. He also ranks 10th in blocks per game at 3.2. 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 15.8 points, which ranks fourth in the WAC. Junior guard Brandon Averette follows closely behind at 12.0 points a game. Brandon Morely ranks seventh in the league in rebounding at 5.9 boards a game, while Emmanuel Olojakpoke leads the WAC and ranks second fifth in the nation with 32 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's game at Southern Utah will be broadcast live on www.Pluto.TV (Channel 536). The game will also be broadcast over the radio waves as Jim McCulloch enters his 10th season as the Voice of the Wolverines. 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 SOUTHERN UTAH
Southern Utah enters Saturday's game with a 4-4 overall record. SUU is a perfect 2-0 at home this season. Saturday's game will mark SUU's first home game of the season against a Division I opponent. The team most recently dropped a 61-51 decision at Loyola Marymount on Sunday. Junior guard John Knight III led the Thunderbirds with 13 points in the loss at LMU. Knight III leads the team in scoring this season at 12.6 points per game. Redshirt senior forward Dwayne Morgan, redshirt senior forward Cameron Oluyitan, and redshirt junior guard Jakolby Long also average double figures at 11.8, 11.0, and 10.3 points per game, respectively. As a team, SUU averages 78.5 points per game while limiting opponents to a 63.0 points per game average. The T-Birds average just over 42 rebounds a game, which ranks 19th nationally. The team ranks ninth in the country in defensive rebounds per game at 31.0 a game. SUU holds a rebound margin of 10.5 which is 10th in the nation.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SOUTHERN UTAH
Utah Valley (4-6) and Southern Utah (4-4) will meet up on the basketball hardwood for the eighth time on Saturday. It will mark the fourth time that the two teams have met up in Cedar City. UVU leads the all-time series, 4-2. The Wolverines also hold a 2-1 advantage in game played in Cedar City. UVU has won four of the last five games, including an 85-75 win over the Thunderbirds during the last matchup in Cedar City on Nov. 22, 2014. SUU won the most recent game between the two teams, taking a 68-54 win in Orem on Dec. 5, 2015.

All-Time Results vs. Southern Utah (UVU leads series, 4-2)
Nov. 29, 2006    Southern Utah def. Utah Valley, 68-60    Cedar City, Utah
Dec. 22, 2006    Utah Valley def. Southern Utah, 64-55    Orem, Utah
Dec. 15, 2007    Utah Valley def. Southern Utah, 91-88    Cedar City, Utah
Dec. 20, 2008    Utah Valley def. Southern Utah, 78-72    Orem, Utah
Nov. 22, 2014    Utah Valley def. Southern Utah, 85-75    Cedar City, Utah
Dec. 05, 2015    Southern Utah def. Utah Valley, 68-54    Orem, Utah

LAST TIME VS. SOUTHERN UTAH (Dec. 5, 2015 - UCCU Center - Orem, UT)
OREM, Utah—Marcel Davis scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Utah Valley University men's basketball team in a 68-54 loss to in-state rival Southern Utah Saturday night at the UCCU Center.
 
The loss drops the Wolverines to 2-6 on the season while Southern Utah improves to 2-5.
 
"It is frustrating but its not disheartening," said Utah Valley head coach Mark Pope. "We played poorly but Marcel Davis had a big time night and Andrew Bastien played well tonight. I couldn't be more excited about the future of our program but this was a very poor performance. We have to right the ship and we have to play better and we will."
 
Utah Valley got off to a good start, taking an early 7-2 lead. The Wolverines led by as many as eight points on two occasions in the first half before SUU cut the UVU lead to four points, 26-22, at the half.  SUU took just its second lead of the game, 46-45, with 7:38 to play. The Thunderbirds then finished the game with a 19-4 run, which included 13 made free throws through the final five minutes to secure the win.
 Davis scored his career-high 28 points on an impressive 11-of-15 clip from the field, including a 4-of-6 mark from beyond the arc. The senior guard also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
 
Andrew Bastien pulled down a game-high nine rebounds while recording a career-high seven blocks. The seven blocks ties him with Ben Aird (2012) for the second-most blocks ever recorded in a single game in UVU history.
 
The Wolverines shot 36.5 percent from the field compared to SUU's 36.4 percent clip. Utah Valley also out-rebounded the T-Birds 40-38.
 
James McGee led Southern Utah with 24 points, while Casey Oliverson was also in double figures with 13.

UVU RANKS THIRD IN THE NATION IN BLOCKS
As of Dec. 5, Utah Valley ranks third in the nation in blocks with 60. The Wolverines also rank 14th nationally in blocks per game at 6.0 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke is fifth nationally with 32 blocks. He also ranks 10th in blocks per game at 3.2. 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.