UTAH VALLEY TRAVELS TO EMERALD CITY TO TAKE ON SEATTLE U
After opening the WAC season with a split on the road last week, Utah Valley will continue league play on the road as the team travels to the Emerald City to take on Seattle U on Saturday night at the Redhawk Center. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. MT

Utah Valley has played 10 of its last 14 games on the road, traveling over 10,000 miles through the air in the process. The Wolverines have played 11 of their 17 games on the road this season. UVU will complete a three-game road swing to open WAC play against Seattle U on Saturday night.

Five Wolverines scored in double figures as Utah Valley pulled away from Chicago State, 94-73, to start WAC play on Thursday night in the Windy City. Casdon Jardine led the Wolverines with 18 points on 7-of-10 from the field, hitting 4-of-5 from deep to go along with eight rebounds. Brandon Averette also chipped in 18 points on a pair of threes and a couple steals. Isaiah White poured in 16 points and a team high nine rebounds and TJ Washington scored 14 points to go along with a game-high eight assists. Jamison Overton was the other Wolverine in double figures with 12 points and Emmanuel Olojakpoke added a pair of blocks.

As of Jan. 8, Utah Valley ranks fifth in the nation in blocks with 96 swats. The Wolverines also rank 15th nationally in blocks per game at 5.6 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke ranks seventh nationally with 47 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 lost seven of its 10 games this season by just six points or less. UVU has dropped five of its last eight 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.

Junior forward Isaiah White leads the Wolverines in scoring at 15.8 points per game, which ranks third in the WAC. Senior guard TJ Washington is second at 13.5 points a game, followed by Brandon Averette at 13.4 and Casdon Jardine at 11.2. White also leads the team on the boards at 8.9 rebounds per game, while Emmanuel Olojakpoke leads the WAC and ranks seventh in the nation with 47 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 at Seattle U will be broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network. The network is also available on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku TV. 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 SEATTLE U
Seattle U enters Saturday's game with an 8-9 overall record and a 1-1 mark in WAC play. The Redhawks opened WAC play last week with a road split, dropping a 90-86 triple overtime game before defeating Chicago State, 86-54. In the win at Chicago State, the Redhawks dropped in a season-high 14 threes and also knocked down 20-for-22 from the charity stripe. SU ranks 23rd nationally at the free throw line with a 76.7 percent clip. Mattia Da Campo led the Redhawks with a career-high 18 points to go along with eight rebounds. Terrell Brown and Delante Jones added 14 points each while Rip Economou chipped in nine points on three three-pointers.Brown leads the team in scoring at 20.3 points per game. Morgan Means and Myles Carter also average double figures at 10.8 and 10.0 points per game, respectively. As a team, Seattle U averages 72.19 points while allowing opponents a 72.25 points per game average.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SEATTLE U
Utah Valley and Seattle U meet up on the basketball hardwood for the 20th time on Saturday night. UVU leads the all-time series, 10-9. Utah Valley has won five of the last six meetings, including a 77-68 victory in the two team's last meeting on Feb. 26 in Seattle. UVU swept the regular season two-game series last season with an 88-78 win in Orem and the 77-68 victory in Seattle. Utah Valley holds an all-time 3-6 record against the Redhawks in games played in the Emerald City. Seattle U's last win against UVU was a 55-54 win in Seattle on Feb. 3, 2018.

Last Five Results vs. Seattle U (UVU leads series, 10-9)
02/26/2019    Utah Valley def. Seattle U, 77-68    Seattle, Wash.
01/12/2019    Utah Valley def. Seattle U, 88-78    Orem, Utah
03/03/2018    Utah Valley def. Seattle U, 73-47    Orem, Utah
02/03/2018    Seattle U def. Utah Valley, 55-54    Seattle, Wash.
03/09/2017    Utah Valley def. Seattle U, 65-53    Las Vegas, Nevada

WOLVERINES FALL IN FINAL MINUTE AT KANSAS CITY
Utah Valley's second half surge fell short in a 68-63 loss on the road at Kansas City. The Wolverines fell behind by 16 points in the second half before regaining the lead in the final minute but were outscored 7-0 to end the game. The loss drops UVU to 7-10 on the season, including 1-1 in conference play. The Roos improve to 9-7 on the year and 2-0 in WAC play with the win.  

Casdon Jardine hit a three to open the game before Kansas City surged ahead with a 21-4 run to take a commanding 21-7 lead with 10:07 to go in the opening half. The Wolverines scored the next six points to cut into the lead, making it 21-13 8:39 to go in the half. Both teams battled back and forth and Isaiah White hit a jumper to bring the score to 30-19 at the half.  
 
Emmanuel Olojapoke hammered home a dunk to start off the second half but the Roos responded with a 11-4 run to extend its lead to 41-25 with 16:18 to go in the game. TJ Washington and Jardine led a furious Wolverine come back as it went on an 18-4 run to cut the lead to 45-43 with 9:54 remaining in the second half. Both teams exchanged buckets before Washington hit a pair of free throws with 3:40 remaining to give the Wolverines its first lead, 57-56, since the opening minute of the game. Olojapoke extended the lead to 61-58 before a Kansas City and-one tied the game again with under two minutes to go. White hit the go-ahead layup with 1:20 to go to give Utah Valley its final lead of the game, but the Wolverines would go scoreless in the final minute. The Roos scored the game's final seven points to come away with the 68-63 win.
 
The Wolverines shot just 19-of-55 from the field, including 21.1 percent from beyond the arc. The Wolverines knocked down 21-of-26 free throws and outrebounded the Roos 37-34. UVU added eight steals and seven blocks but were hindered by 18 turnovers.
 
Averette led five Wolverines in double figures with 16 points on a pair of threes to go along with four rebounds. Washington added 13 points and Isaiah chipped in 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Jardine and Olojapoke added 10 points apiece and Olojapoke blocked three more shots.

UP UP AND AWAY
Utah Valley has played 10 of its last 14 games on the road, traveling over 10,000 miles through the air in the process. The Wolverines have played 10 of their 16 games on the road this season. UVU opens WAC wraps up a three-game road swing to open WAC at Seattle U on Saturday night.

CLOSE CALLS
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 10 losses this season by just six points or less. UVU has dropped five of its last eight 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 10 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.

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 21-of-22 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 FIFTH NATIONALLY IN BLOCKS
As of Jan. 8, Utah Valley ranks fifth in the nation in blocks with 96 swats. The Wolverines also rank 15th nationally in blocks per game at 5.6 a contest. Individually, Emmanuel Olojakpoke ranks seventh nationally with 47 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 196 career assists at UVU, which moves him into a tie for ninth on UVU's all-time career individual assists chart. Washington is just 47 assists away from moving into the eighth spot. Emmanuel Olojakpoke moved into the 10th spot on UVU's all-time career blocks chart. He currently has 47 blocks and is now just two blocks away from moving into the ninth spot and just three away from eighth.

THREE-POINT STREAKING
Utah Valley has now hit a three-point field goal in 149 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.