• Utah Valley travels to the Sunshine State to play in the Jacksonville Classic at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. The Wolverines will open the Classic against Sun Belt foe Southern Miss on Sunday at 10 a.m. (MT). UVU will then play either Cornell or Cal State Fullerton on Monday.
   
• Drake Allen scored a team-high 12 points with six rebounds to lead Utah Valley in a 62-45 setback to Charlotte on Wednesday night at Halton Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game marks the first loss of the season for the Wolverines.
   
• Jaden McClanahan recorded an 11-point, 13-rebound double-double and Trevin Dorius scored a team-high 16 points with eight rebounds to lead Utah Valley to a 79-73 overtime road win over Sam Houston on Nov. 9 in Huntsville, Texas. Five Wolverines reached double digit scoring against the Bearkats led by Dorius' 16. K'mani Doughty had 15 points, Caleb Stone-Carrawell scored 13, McClanahan had 11, and Nate Tshimanga helped with 10 points.
   
• Utah Valley returns two letterwinners from last year's team that won a school-record 28 games, won a WAC regular season title, and made a run to the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Ethan Potter (1.8 ppg., 2.5 rpg.) and Jaden McClanahan (2.2 ppg., 0.9 apg.) are the lone returning players that saw action last season. Head coach Todd Phillips welcomes 11 newcomers to the team, including seven transfers and four true freshmen.
   
• Utah Valley University guard Drake Allen has been named to the Preseason All-WAC team as voted on by the league's head coaches.  Allen, a transfer from Southern Utah, heads into his junior season after a stellar sophomore campaign for the Thunderbirds during the 2022-23 season. He played all 37 games while averaging 11.0 points, 3.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals a game last year. He shot nearly 50 percent from the field (151-of-303) and knocked down 27 threes during the season. Allen was named to the WAC All-Newcomer team for his efforts during the 2022-23 season.
   
• Utah Valley welcomes 11 new players to the squad, including seven transfers in K'mani Doughty (New Orleans), Drake Allen (Southern Utah), Tanner Toolson (BYU), Simon Akena (McCook CC), Nate Tshimanga (Troy), Caleb Stone-Carrawell (Austin Peay), and Trevin Dorius (Utah State). UVU also welcomes true freshmen Jackson Holcombe, Osiris Grady (4-star), Peter Amakasu, and McCaden Adams.
   
• Utah Valley was picked to finish fourth by the coaches and eighth by the media in the WAC preseason polls.
   
• Todd Phillips enters his first season as the head coach of the Utah Valley basketball team.  Phillips is no stranger to UVU as he spent the past four seasons as an associate head coach/assistant coach under previous head coach Mark Madsen. Phillips helped UVU to two WAC regular season titles (2020-21, 2022-23) and an impressive 70-51 record, including 48 wins over the last two seasons.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Sunday's game against Southern Miss in the Jacksonville Classic will be broadcast live on Pass The Ball Live Media, which is available at PassTheBallLive.com. Viewers will be required to pay a subscription fee to view the live stream.  The game will also be broadcast over the air waves in Utah County with Jim McCulloch on the call. The radio broadcast will be aired live on ESPN 960 AM radio with a live stream available at ESPN960sports.com. Brice Larson will host the pregame/halftime/postgame show  for the game on ESPN 960 AM. 

ABOUT SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss enters Sunday''s game against Utah Valley with a 2-1 overall record. The team opened the season at home with a 64-42 win over William Carey. The team then dropped a 72-54 decision on the road at Akron in the MAC-SBC Challenge. The Golden Eagles then picked up a 76-45 win at home over Xavier (La.) on Wednesday night. Southern Miss forced Xavier (La.) into 23 turnovers and outrebounded the Gold Rush 50-31 in the win. Cobie Montgomery and Donovan Ivory led Southern Miss with 11 points apiece. Montgomery also had a team-high seven rebounds in the win. Austin Crowley leads the team in scoring at 15.0 points a game, followed by Ivory at 11.3 points a contest. Ivory and Victor Iwuakor lead the team on the boards, each pulling down 6.7 rebounds a contest. As a team, Southern Miss averages 64.67 points a game while holding opponents a 53.0 points per game average. 

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE GOLDEN EAGLES, SUN BELT CONFERENCE
Utah Valley and Southern Miss will meet up on the basketball hardwood for the first time on Sunday. The Wolverines hold an all-time 8-8 record against the Sun Belt Conference.

UTAH VALLEY OPENS JACKSONVILLE CLASSIC PLAY AGAINST SOUTHERN MISS.
Utah Valley will be one of the eight teams that will be participating in the Jacksonville Classic, Nov. 19 and 20, at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. The Wolverines will be in the Bay Bracket along with Southern Miss, Cornell, and Cal State Fullerton. The Coast Bracket will feature Charlotte, UCF, South Dakota State, and George Mason. UVU will take on Southern Miss in the Jacksonville Classic opener on Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. MT. Fans can follow the Jacksonville Classic on social media (@JaxClassicMBB) for schedule announcements and travel information.