#2 UTAH VALLEY SET TO TAKE ON #7 KANSAS CITY ON THURSDAY NIGHT AT WAC TOURNAMENT IN LAS VEGAS
Utah Valley wrapped up regular season play with a 76-61 win over CSU Bakersfield on Saturday night to secure a second place finish in the WAC. The Wolverines have earned the No. 2 seed at this week's WAC Tournament, where the team will take on seventh-seeded Kansas City on Thursday in a quarterfinal matchup at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. (PT)/7 p.m. (MT).

Utah Valley's Jake Toolson has been named the Western Athletic Conference men's basketball Player of the Year, while Wyatt Lowell has earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors, the league office announced on Tuesday.  Toolson becomes the first player in UVU history to earn WAC Player of the Year honors, while Lowell is the first UVU player to receive the league's Freshman of the Year honor.

The Wolverines wrapped up regular season play on Saturday night with a 76-61 win over CSU Bakersfield. UVU seniors Conner Toolson and Ben Nakwaasah combined for 33 points in the senior night victory. Conner Toolson scored his 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 4-of-8 clip from long range. He also dished out three assists and pulled down a pair of rebounds. Jake Toolson and Ben Nakwaasah also scored in double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Toolson scored his 13 points on a 4-of-8 clip from the field, including a pair of threes. He also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists. Nakwaasah knocked down four shots from the field for his 11 points. The senior guard also dished out five assists with one steal.

With its win over CSU Bakersfield on Saturday night, Utah Valley has tied a school record with 23 wins this season, matching last season's win total. It marks the first time in school history that the team has won 20-plus games in back-to-back seasons.

Conner Toolson became just the eighth player in UVU history to score 1,000 points. The senior guard knocked down a shot from long range with 14:38 remaining in the second half against Sam Houston State on Dec. 22 to reach the 1,000-point mark. He is now fifth on the all-time scoring list with 1,181 points.

According to data provided by Sports-Reference.com, Jake Toolson is the only player in the country that has played in 20 or more games while shooting better than 55 percent from the field (55.9 percent), 45 percent from three-point range (48.5 percent), and 85 percent from the free throw line (86.9 percent). Such a season has only been accomplished 20 times since 1992. Of that group, only 10 players in that group scored over 300 total points in a season. Toolson is one of those 10 players. The junior guard is in rare company.

As of March 11, Utah Valley holds one of the top shooting percentages in the country as the Wolverines rank 16th nationally in field-goal percentage with a 48.5 percent clip from the floor. UVU also ranks 11th in the country in three-point field goal percentage at 39.1 percent. Jake Toolson ranks 44th nationally with a 55.9 percent field goal mark and 26th nationally from charity stripe as he holds an 86.9 free throw percentage. According to KenPom.com, Toolson holds the nation's sixth-best true shooting percentage (70.3) in the nation.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Thursday night's game against Kansas City will be broadcast live on ESPN+, which is available at ESPNplus.com. Mychal Clanton and Sed Bonner will be on the call. Rachel Vigil will handle the sideline reporting duties. The game will also be broadcast over the radio waves as Jim McCulloch, the Voice of the Wolverines, is in his ninth season with the team. 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.

WAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Utah Valley makes its sixth appearance at the WAC Tournament this week. The Wolverines hold an all-time 3-5 record at the tournament. UVU's three wins at the tournament were a 83-63 win over UTRGV in the quarterfinals of the 2013 tournament, a 65-53 quarterfinal win over No. 5 Seattle U in the 2017 tournament, and an 81-74 victory over CSU Bakersfield in the quarterfinals of the 2018 tourney. UVU has earned the No. 2 seed for a second straight year.

All-Time Results at WAC Tournament (3-5)
March 13, 2014    #1 Utah Valley 83, #8 UTRGV 63    Quarterfinals - Las Vegas, Nevada
March 14, 2014    #5 Idaho 74, #1 Utah Valley 69    Semifinals - Las Vegas, Nevada
March 12, 2015    #4 Bakersfield 55, #5 Utah Valley 40    Quarterfinals - Las Vegas, Nevada
March 10, 2016    #5 UMKC 80, #4 Utah Valley 78    Quarterfinals - Las Vegas, Nevada
March 09, 2017    #4 Utah Valley 65, #5 Seattle U 53    Quarterfinals - Las Vegas, Nevada
March 10, 2017    #1 CSU Bakersfield 81, #4 Utah Valley 80 (4OT)    Semifinals - Las Vegas, Nevada
March 08, 2018    #2 Utah Valley 81, #7 CSU Bakersfield 74    Quarterfinals - Las Vegas, Nevada
March 09, 2018    #3 Grand Canyon 75, #2 Utah Valley 60    Semifinals - Las Vegas, Nevada

JAKE TOOLSON NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR, LOWELL EARNS WAC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR HONORS
Utah Valley's Jake Toolson has been named the Western Athletic Conference men's basketball Player of the Year, while Wyatt Lowell has earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors, the league office announced on Tuesday. Toolson (Gilbert, Arizona) becomes the first player in UVU history to earn WAC Player of the Year honors, while Lowell (Gilbert, Arizona) is the first UVU player to receive the league's Freshman of the Year honor.

Toolson was named the WAC Player of the Year after posting five games with 20 or more points in WAC play. During league play, he ranked third in the WAC in three-point percentage (47.4), free throw percentage (87.3), and three-pointers per game (2.3). He also ranked fourth in both scoring (16.7) and field goal percentage (54.0) and sixth in minutes per game (33.8). Toolson was named WAC Player of the Week once this season. Toolson was also named to the All-WAC First Team.

The junior guard is the only player in the nation that has played in 20 or more games while shooting better than 55 percent from the field (56.1 percent), 45 percent from three-point range (48.5 percent), and 85 percent from the free throw line (86.5 percent). Such a season has only been accomplished 20 times since 1992. Of that group, only 10 players in that group scored over 300 total points in a season. Toolson is one of those 10 players. He ranks 26th in the nation at the free throw line (86.9) and 44th nationally in field goal percentage (55.9).

Toolson is the first player from UVU to earn the WAC's top honor. His uncle, Danny Ainge (BYU), won the award in 1989. Other notable previous WAC Player of the Year honorees include Tim Hardaway (UTEP, '89), Keith Van Horn (Utah, '95, '96, '97), Andre Miller (Utah, '99), Nick Fazekas (Nevada, '05, '06, '07), and Pascal Siakam (NM State, 2016).

ABOUT KANSAS CITY
Kansas City enters Thursday night's game against the Wolverines with an 11-20 overall record. The 'Roos snapped a four game skid with a 76-61 road win at Chicago State on Saturday. The team wrapped up WAC play with a 6-10 record and finished in a tie for seventh place with Seattle U. Junior guard Xavier Bishop leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points a game. Junior guard Rob Whitfield and sophomore guard Brandon McKissic also average double digits at 11.1 and 10.8 points per game, respectively. Sophomore guard Marvin Nesbitt Jr. leads the team on the boards, pulling down a team-best 4.4 rebounds a game. As a team, UMKC averages 69.5 points per game while allowing opponents a 73.2 points per game average. The 'Roos are averaging 8.1 threes a game on a 35.9 percent clip. UMKC holds an all-time 3-5 record at the WAC Tournament.

SERIES HISTORY VS. KANSAS CITY
Utah Valley and Kansas City meet up on the basketball hardwood for the 20th time on Thursday night. It will be the second time that the two teams have met at the WAC Tournament with the 'Roos taking an 80-78 win over the Wolverines in the quarterfinals in 2016. UVU holds a 12-8 all-time advantage in the series dating back to 2005. The two teams split the two-game WAC series last year with each team winning on its home floor. The Wolverines defeated the Roos in game one of the two-game series in Kansas City, 75-67, on Jan. 24. UVU is the only WAC team to defeat UMKC in Kansas City this season. The Wolverines hold an all-time 7-2 record against UMKC in games played at the UCCU Center. UMKC's last win in Orem came on Jan. 31, 2015 when the Roos took a 66-59 victory.

Last Five Results vs. Kansas City (UVU leads 12-8)
Feb. 23, 2019    Utah Valley def. Kansas City, 79-67    Orem, Utah
Jan. 24, 2019    Utah Valley def. Kansas City, 75-67    Kansas City, Missouri
Feb. 10, 2018    Kansas City def. Utah Valley, 77-70    Kansas City, Missouri
Jan 11, 2018    Utah Valley def. Kansas City, 95-59    Orem, Utah
Feb. 09, 2017    Kansas City def. Utah Valley, 84-76    Kansas City, Missouri