UTAH VALLEY TO PLAY NICHOLLS STATE FOR SOCAL CHALLENGE SAND BRACKET TITLE ON WEDNESDAY 

• After picking up an 83-45 win over Idaho on Monday, Utah Valley moves on to play Nicholls State in the championship game of the Sand Bracket on Wednesday at the SoCal Challenge in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. (MT).
   
• Wednesday's game at the SoCal Challenge will be streamed live on FloHoops.com. Fans can also listen to the games live on ESPN 960 AM radio, which is streamed at ESPN960Sports.com.
   
• Fardaws Aimaq notched another double-double as Utah Valley dominated Idaho from start to finish, 83-45, on Monday in the SoCal Challenge. UVU extends its winning streak to four games and is off to its best start to a season since the 2015-16 campaign. Aimaq led the Wolverines with 14 points to go along with 16 rebounds. Harding scored 14 points, on 6 of 10 shooting and 2 of 3 from deep, to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Blaze Nield had seven points and a team-high five assists and Fuller chipped in a career-high 11 points, on 5 of 6 shooting, and four rebounds. Harmon tallied 10 points off the bench to go along with five rebounds, while Tim Ceaser collected a season-high eight rebounds.
   
• Fardaws Aimaq was named both the Lute Olson National Player of the Week and WAC Player of the Week on Monday after leading the Wolverines to a pair of overtime road wins last week against Pepperdine and Long Beach State. The redshirt sophomore opened the week with a career-high 34 points, adding 14 rebounds, in an 86-74 overtime win at Pepperdine. He then added 25 points to go with 16 rebounds in an 84-78 overtime win at Long Beach State. On the week, he averaged 29.5 points per game and 15.0 rebounds per game, adding three blocks, two steals and a pair of assists.\
   
• Fardaws Aimaq leads the Wolverines in both scoring (22.6 ppg.) and rebounding (13.2 rpg.) through five games. As of Nov. 21, Big Maple ranks fourth  nationally in scoring and sixth in rebounding. He is connecting on an impressive 59.2 percent clip from the floor. Connor Harding and Justin Harmon also average double figures at 11.8 and 10.8 points per game. Blaze Nield leads the team in assists at 4.8 a game.
   
• 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.
   
• Mark Madsen enters his third season as the head coach of the Wolverines. The two-time NBA champion, former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach, and former Stanford basketball star went 11-11 during his second season with UVU and helped the team to just its second WAC regular season title, and its first championship since 2014. He is just the third head coach in UVU's Division I history. Madsen took  over the Utah Valley program last season 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 played for the Minnesota Timberwolves for six seasons. Madsen received a five-year extension on his contract in the offseason.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Utah Valley's games in Southern California at the SoCal Challenge will be streamed live on FloHoops, which is available at FloHoops.com. Andrew Haynes will be on the call, while Bill Herenda will handle the analyst duties. 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 12th 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 NICHOLLS
Nicholls State enters Wednesday's game against UVU with a 4-2 overall record. The team won its SoCal Challenge opener over Cal Poly in overtime, 75-72. The team holds wins over Northern Iowa, Carver College (twice), and Cal Poly. The Colonels have losses to Baylor and TCU, both on the road. Fifth year guard Ty Gordon scored a game-high 24 points and sophomore guard Jalen White hit two big threes in overtime to lead the Colonels to a 75-72 win over Cal Poly on Monday to advance to Wednesday's SoCal Championship game against Utah Valley. Gordon leads Nicholls in scoring at 18.5 points a game. Senior guard Latrell Jones also averages double figures at 10.8 points a contest. Sophomore guard Pierce Spencer leads the team on the boards, pulling down 5.7 rebounds a game. The Colonels average 8.8 threes a game on a 35.3 percent clip. Nicholls averages 78.0 points a game while limiting opponents to a 63.0 points per game average.

SERIES HISTORY VS. NICHOLLS
Utah Valley and Nicholls State will meet up on the basketball hardwood for the first time on Wednesday afternoon.