UTAH VALLEY HOSTS CALIFORNIA BAPTIST ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT UCCU CENTER
Fresh off a thrilling 73-69 road win at Grand Canyon on Saturday night, Utah Valley returns home to take on California Baptist on Wednesday night at the UCCU Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. (MT)

Utah Valley used a late second-half surge to knock off Grand Canyon, 73-69, on the road on Saturday night in Phoenix. The win was the Wolverines first win in GCU Arena since 2014 when UVU won the WAC regular-season championship. TJ Washington led the charge with 24 points on 4 of 9 shooting from deep, to go along with four assists. Jardine notched his third double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and a team-leading 13 rebounds. Isaiah White chipped in 10 points and Emmanuel Olojakpoke blocked another four shots. Averette added eight points, six rebounds, and a game-high six assists.

Isaiah White's 18 rebounds against CSU Bakersfield on Jan. 23 are tied for the second most in school history and the most since Baylee Steele recorded 19 rebounds against BYU back on Nov. 9, 2018.
 
As of Jan. 27, Utah Valley ranks sixth in the nation in total blocks with 122 swats. The Wolverines also rank 15th nationally in blocks per game at 5.5 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke ranks sixth nationally with 63 blocks. He also ranks 13th in blocks per game at 2.86. With 63 blocks already this season, Olojakpoke is nine blocks away from breaking the all-time UVU single season blocks record of 71 set by Akolda Manyang during the 2017-18 season.

Utah Valley has played 12 games this season that have been decided by six points or less. UVU has won four of those games--a six-point 68-62 win at North Dakota State, a two-point 69-67 win at Wyoming, a two-point win over UTRGV, and a four-point win at Grand Canyon.  The Wolverines have dropped eight of its 13 losses this season by just six points or less. UVU has dropped six of its last 12 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, a five-point setback at Kansas City, and a one-point loss at CSU Bakersfield. In seven of UVU's 13 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 14.0 points per game. Senior TJ Washington is second at 13.8 points a game, followed by Brandon Averette at 11.9 and Casdon Jardine at 10.4. White also leads the team on the boards at 9.1 rebounds per game, while Emmanuel Olojakpoke leads the WAC and ranks sixth in the nation with 63 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
Wednesday night's game against California Baptist will be broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network (WACsports.com/Watch). Brandon Crow will be handling the play-by-play duties, while former UVU player Ben Aird will be on the color commentary. 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 CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
California Baptist enters Wednesday night's game with a 14-6 overall record and a 4-2 mark in WAC play. CBU has played 15 of its 20 games at home this season. The Lancers hold a 3-2 road record.  The team split a pair of home games last week, defeating Chicago State, 85-53, before taking a 67-57 loss to Kansas City. Redshirt junior guard Ferron Flavors Jr. led the Lancers with a game-high 19 points in the loss to Kansas City. Junior guard Milan Acquaah finished with 14 points and redshirt senior Zach Pirog was also in double figures with 12 points. Acquaah leads the team in scoring at 18.0 points a game, followed by Flavors Jr. at 14.4 and redshirt senior guard Brandon Boyd (Idaho State transfer) at 11.2 points per game. As a team, CBU is averagin 80.2 points a game while limiting opponents to a 69.5 points a contest.

SERIES HISTORY VS. CBU
Utah Valley and California Baptist will meet up on the basketball hardwood for just the third time on Wednesday night. The game marks the second time the two teams have met in Orem. UVU swept the first two games between the two programs last season, defeating CBU 79-62 at home before picking up a 64-63 win in Riverside.

All-time Results vs. CBU (UVU leads 2-0)
Jan. 30, 2019    Utah Valley def. California Baptist, 79-62        Orem, Utah
March 2, 2019    Utah Valley def. California Baptist, 64-63        Riverside, California