UTAH VALLEY HOSTS WAC LEADER NEW MEXICO STATE ON THURSDAY NIGHT AT UCCU CENTER
After opening the WAC season with  three straight road games, Utah Valley will open its WAC home slate on Thursday night against defending WAC champion New Mexico State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. (MT) at the UCCU Center.

Utah Valley has played 11 of its last 15 games on the road, traveling over 10,000 miles through the air in the process. The Wolverines have played 12 of their 18 games on the road this season. UVU opened WAC play with three straight road games. The Wolverines now host New Mexico State in its first home game since a Dec. 28 matchup against Antelope Valley.

Utah Valley was unable to recover from a slow start as it dropped an 83-50 decision on the road at Seattle U on Saturday night at the Redhawk Center. The Wolverines shot season-lows from the field and from beyond the arc, finishing 13 of 52 from the floor and 3 of 20 from beyond the arc. UVU connected on 21 of 25 from the free throw line but was outrebounded 38-34 by the Redhawks. Jamison Overton was the only Wolverines in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Averette and Trey Woodbury chipped in nine points each and Emmanuel Olojakpoke added a couple of blocks.

As of Jan. 14, Utah Valley ranks eighth in the nation in blocks with 100 swats. The Wolverines also rank 18th nationally in blocks per game at 5.6 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke ranks 10th nationally with 49 blocks. He also ranks 20th in blocks per game at 2.76. With 47 blocks already this season, 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 played nine games this season that have been decided by six points or less. UVU won two of those games--a six-point 68-62 win at North Dakota State and a two-point 69-67 win at Wyoming.  The Wolverines have dropped seven of its 11 losses this season by just six points or less. UVU has dropped five of its last nine games by five points or less, including a three-point loss at Mount St. Mary's, a five-point loss to Weber State, a one-point loss at Southern Utah, a three-point loss at Long Beach State, and a five-point setback at Kansas City. In six of UVU's 11 losses, the Wolverines had a lead/tie in the last five minutes of the game. At Kentucky, UVU was down by just one point with three minutes to play.

Junior forward Isaiah White leads the Wolverines in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Junior guard Brandon Averette is second at 13.1 points a game, followed by TJ Washington at 12.9 and Casdon Jardine at 11.2. White also leads the team on the boards at 8.5 rebounds per game, while Emmanuel Olojakpoke leads the WAC and ranks eighth in the nation with 49 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
Thursday night's game against New Mexico State will be the WAC Spotlight Game of the Week and will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Mychal Clanton and Sed Bonner will handle the play-by-play and analyst duties. The WAC's Rachel Vigil will be the network's sideline reporter. 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 NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State enters Thursday's game with a 12-6 overall record and a perfect 3-0 mark in WAC play. The Aggies opened league play with an 86-71 win at California Baptist before sweeping a pair of games last week against Chicago State and Kansas City. NMSU's Jabari Rice earned WAC Player of the Week honors after scoring 14 points in the team's 93-54 win over Chicago State. He then recorded a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in the Aggies' 74-71 win against Kansas City. New Mexico State has now won 21 straight WAC games dating back to last season. The Aggies have won 18 straight WAC regular season games, which is just two shy of tying the WAC record of 20 set by Utah during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. Senior guard Trevelin Queen leads the team in scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 14.8 points and 5.7 boards per game. Rice also averages double figures at 12.4 points per game. NM State ranks 24th nationally in scoring defense, limiting opponents to just 60.6 points per game. The team also ranks 28th in rebound margin at 7.2.

SERIES HISTORY VS. NM STATE
Utah Valley and New Mexico State meet up on the basketball hardwood for the 13th time on Thursday night. NM State leads the all-time series 9-3. New Mexico State swept the season series last season, defeating the Wolverines 83-78 in Orem and 84-77 in Las Cruces. UVU's last win over the Aggies was an 86-79 victory in Orem on Feb. 15, 2018. The Wolverines hold an all-time 2-4 record against NM State in games played at the UCCU Center.

Last Five Results vs. NM State (NMSU leads series, 9-3)
02/14/2019    New Mexico State def. Utah Valley, 84-77        Las Cruces, N.M.
01/19/2019    New Mexico State def. Utah Valley, 83-78        Orem, Utah
02/15/2018    Utah Valley def. New Mexico State, 86-79        Orem, Utah
01/20/2018    New Mexico State def. Utah Valley, 86-59        Las Cruces, N.M.
02/23/2017    Utah Valley def. New Mexico State, 84-72        Las Cruces, N.M.

UP UP AND AWAY
Utah Valley has played 11 of its last 15 games on the road, traveling over 10,000 miles through the air in the process. The Wolverines have played 12 of their 18 games on the road this season. UVU opened WAC play with three straight road games. The Wolverines will host New Mexico State in its first home game since a Dec. 28 matchup against Antelope Valley.

LIVING ON THE EDGE
Utah Valley has played nine games this season that have been decided by six points or less. UVU won two of those games--a six-point 68-62 win at North Dakota State and a two-point 69-67 win at Wyoming.  The Wolverines have dropped seven of its 11 losses this season by just six points or less. UVU has dropped five of its last nine games by five points or less, including a three-point loss at Mount St. Mary's, a five-point loss to Weber State, a one-point loss at Southern Utah, a three-point loss at Long Beach State, and a five-point setback at Kansas City. In six of UVU's 11 losses, the Wolverines had a lead/tie in the last five minutes of the game. At Kentucky, UVU was down by just one point with three minutes to play.

THE OLO JA POKEY, THAT'S WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT
Utah Valley senior forward Emmanuel Olojakpoke is one of the nation's leaders in total blocks at 49. His 49 blocks already ranks fifth on the UVU single season record chart. He is on track to break Akolda Manyang's record of 71 set during the 2017-18 season. Olojakpoke currently holds the best single season field goal percentage mark in UVU history at 71.7 percent. He has knocked down 38 of 53 shots this season. The mark would break Connor MacDougall's record of 68.3 percent set during the 2018-19 season.

NEARLY PERFECT AT THE LINE
Utah Valley sophomore guard Trey Woodbury was a perfect 19-for-19 at the free throw line this season until missing his first shot at the line against Northern Arizona on Saturday night. He has now knocked down 25-of-26 shots at the charity stripe. The UVU record for consecutive free throws made is 41. Woodbury currently ranks second on UVU's single season free throw percentage chart at 96.2 percent. He is just behind Ryan Toolson's (1996-99, 06-7) mark of 97 percent, which is the all-time single season individual UVU record.

UVU RANKS EIGHTH NATIONALLY IN BLOCKS
As of Jan. 14, Utah Valley ranks eighth in the nation in blocks with 100 swats. The Wolverines also rank 18th nationally in blocks per game at 5.6 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke ranks 10th nationally with 49 blocks. He also ranks 20th in blocks per game at 2.76. With 47 blocks already this season, 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.

WASHINGTON, OLOJAKPOKE MOVE INTO TOP-10 UVU CAREER CHARTS
TJ Washington entered the top-10 on Utah Valley's all-time assist leaders chart. Washington now has 188 career assists at UVU, which moves past Ben Nakwaasah and into the No. 9 spot on the chart. Emmanuel Olojakpoke moved into a tie for the ninth spot on UVU's all-time career blocks chart. He currently has 49 blocks and is now just one block away from moving into a tie with Andrew Bastien for the eighth spot.

THREE-POINT STREAKING
Utah Valley has now hit a three-point field goal in 150 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.

UTAH VALLEY HAS WON 34 OF ITS LAST 39 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 32-5 (86.4 percent) record at home since a win over Seattle U on March 4, 2017. Utah Valley holds an all-time 184-50 (78.6 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 3-3 at home this season.