UTAH VALLEY TRAVELS TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO TAKE ON PEPPERDINE ON MONDAY NIGHT

• Utah Valley travels to Southern California this week for a pair of road games against Pepperdine and Long Beach State. The Wolverines will take on Pepperdine on Monday, Nov. 15 in Malibu in the first game of the SoCal Challenge. Tip off is set for 8 p.m. (MT).
   
• Utah Valley plays its first game in the SoCal Challenge, a new multi-team tournament which features the matchup in Malibu against Pepperdine on Nov. 15 and games at JSerra Pavilion in San Juan Capistrano, California on Nov. 22 against Idaho and Nov. 24 against either Cal Poly or Nicholls State.
   
• Fardaws Aimaq recorded a 25-point, 15-rebound double-double and Colby Leifson added a career-high 18 points to Utah Valley to an 82-48 win over Antelope Valley on Friday night in the team's home opener at the UCCU Center. Aimaq scored his game-high 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting, including a 3 of 4 mark at the charity stripe. Aimaq also pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds with one assist and a block. Leifson scored his career-high 18 points on 6 of 8 shooting from long range. Le'Tre Darthard was also in double figures with 12 points, connecting on four three-pointers. Darthard also had three rebounds and three assists. Blaze Nield dished out a career-high nine assists with five points, three steals, and a pair of rebounds. Connor Harding had six points with six rebounds, five assists, one block, and one steal.
   
• Utah Valley returns 10 players, including three starters from last year's squad that won a share of the WAC regular season title. Utah Valley went 11-11 overall and 9-4 in WAC play to claim just the second WAC title in team history. The team welcomes six new players to the team, including four transfers.
   
• The Wolverines welcome back reigning WAC Player of the Year and WAC Defensive Player of the Year Fardaws Aimaq. Aimaq became the first player in 40 years to average 15 or more rebounds per game last season as he averaged 15.0 boards, 13.9 points, and 1.7 blocks per game. In addition to his WAC Player of the Year and WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors, Aimaq was named to the NABC All-District First Team, the Lefty Driesell Defensive All-America Team, First Team All-WAC, WAC All-Defensive Team, WAC All-Newcomer Team. He also won the WAC's Joe Kearney Award, the Riley Wallace Award, and was named to the NetScouts All-International Team. Aimaq was also a finalist for the Lou Henson Player of the Year award.
   
• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Utah Valley center Fardaws Aimaq has been named to the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Watch List. Named after Class of 1995 Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor in its eighth year recognizes the top centers in men's college basketball.
   
• Fardaws Aimaq was named the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year by the media and Utah Valley was picked to finish fourth by the coaches and fifth by the media in the league's preseason polls. Aimaq was named to the preseason All-WAC first team and Trey Woodbury was selected to the preseason All-WAC second team in both the media and the coaches.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Monday night's game at Pepperdine will be streamed live on the WCC Network, which is available on the WCCsports.com/Watch. Al Epstein will be on the call. The game will also be broadcast over the air waves in Utah County game as Jim McCulloch, the radio Voice of the Wolverines, is in his 13th season with the team. 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 PEPPERDINE
Pepperdine enters Monday night's game with a 1-1 overall record. The team returns eight players and welcomes seven newcomers to a team that 15-12 last season and won the CBI Tournament. The Waves opened the season with an 82-63 loss at Rice. The team then opened its home slate on Friday night with a 65-60 win over Idaho State. In the win over Idaho State, senior guard Jade' Smith scored a game-high 17 points to go along with four assists and four rebounds. Junior forward Jan Zidek had 14 points, while graduate transfer forward Keith Fisher III recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Houston Mallette leads the team in scoring through two games, averaging 12.5 points a game, followed by Smith at 11.5, Zidek at 11.0, and freshman guard Mike Mitchell Jr., at 10.5 points a contest. Fisher III leads the team on the boards, pulling down 6.5 a game. As a team, Pepperdine averages 64.0 points while allowing opponents a 71.0 points per game average.

SERIES HISTORY VS. PEPPERDINE
Utah Valley and Pepperdine will meet up on the basketball hardwood for the third time on Monday night. The series is tied at 1-1 with each team winning on its home floor. The two teams will meet up for the first time in eight years. Utah Valley took a 67-63 overtime win in Orem on Dec. 1, 2012, while Pepperdine defeated the Wolverines, 58-53, in Malibu on Nov. 23, 2013.

All-Time Results vs. Pepperdine (1-1)
Nov. 23, 2013    Pepperdine def. Utah Valley, 58-53        Malibu, Calif.
Dec. 01, 2012    Utah Valley def. Pepperdine, 67-63 (OT)    Orem, Utah