• Fresh off a win over California Baptist on Thursday night, Utah Valley (7-7, 2-1) continues WAC play at home against in-state foe Southern Utah (5-9, 0-3) on Saturday afternoon at the UCCU Center. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
   
• Drake Allen scored a team-high 17 points and Trevin Dorius recorded a 12-point, 15-rebound double-double to lead Utah Valley to a 65-58 win over WAC foe California Baptist on Thursday night at the UCCU Center. Jaden McClanahan was also in double figures with 10 points, while Nate Tshimanga pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds.
   
• Utah Valley's three-point streak came to an end on Thursday night as the Wolverines went 0 for 8 from long range in the 65-58 win over California Baptist. Utah Valley had knocked down a three-point field goal in 266 straight games.
   
• Utah Valley has suffered just two losses over the last two seasons in the comfy confines of the UCCU Center. The Wolverines have won 22 of their last 24 games at home. 
   
• Utah Valley is only one of six teams in the nation that returned players with a total of zero starts from the 2022-23 season. UVU has 11 new players this season, including seven transfers. The only returning players that saw time last season are Jaden McClanahan and Ethan Potter and neither started a game last season.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Saturday's game against Southern Utah will be broadcast live on ESPN+, which is available on the ESPN app and on ESPNplus.com. Brandon Crow and Brice Larson will be on the call for the ESPN+ broadcast. 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 UTAH
Southern Utah enters Saturday's game against Utah Valley with an 5-9 overall record. The team is looking for its first WAC win of the season as the Thunderbirds enter Saturday's contest with a 0-3 league record. The team also seeks its first road win of the season as SUU holds a 0-7 record on the road this season. SUU had won two straight games before taking a 96-75 road loss to Grand Canyon on Thursday night in Cedar City. Sophomore forward Parsa Fallah led SUU with 24 points against GCU, knocking down 10 of 13 shots from the field, including a 2 of 3 mark from long range. Fallah also had seven rebounds on the night. Redshirt freshman guard Braden Housley had 15 points with eight rebounds in the loss. Junior guard Dominique Ford leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points a game, followed by Fallah at 14.8 points a contest. Housley and redshirt senior guard Zion Young also average double figures at 13.7 and 12.9 points per game, respectively. Fallah leads the team on the boards, pulling down 6.3 rebounds a game. As a team, Utah Valley averaged 77.79 points a game while allowing opponents a 78.64 points per game average. SUU is coached by Rob Jeter who is in his first season with the Thunderbirds. Jeter previously coached three seasons at Western Illinois and prior to that spent 11 seasons at Milwaukee.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE THUNDERBIRDS
Utah Valley and Southern Utah will meet for the 13th time on the basketball hardwood. The last time the two teams played in Orem, Utah Valley broke a five-game skid to the Thunderbirds on Feb. 11, taking a 90-83 win at the UCCU Center. However, UVU has a bad taste in its mouth from the last meeting between the two teams on March 11, 2023 in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas. In that game, UVU had built a 23-point lead with 15:42 to play before SUU made an epic comeback to defeat the Wolverines, 89-88, to advance to the WAC championship game. SUU owns a 7-5 all-time series lead over UVU and has won six of the last seven contests. UVU holds an all-time 3-2 record over SUU in games played in Orem.

LAST TIME vs. SUU: Southern Utah 89, Utah Valley 88 (3/10/23 at Las Vegas, Nevada)
Trey Woodbury scored a season-high 29 points and became the ninth player in Utah Valley history to reach the 1,000-point mark to lead Utah Valley in an 89-88 setback to in-state foe Southern Utah in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on March 10, 2023.

UCCU CENTER MAGIC
Utah Valley holds an impressive 74-17 (81.3%) record at home since a win over Seattle U on March 4, 2017. The Wolverines hold an all-time 225-63 (78.1%) record as the team is in its 21st season at the UCCU Center. The Wolverines are averaging 10.9 wins a season on their home hardwood. UVU finished 14-1 at home last season. The team has won 22 of its last 24 games at home and 30 of its last 34 at the UCCU Center. Utah Valley's 14 wins at home during the 2022-23 season tied the program record for home wins in a season with the 2006-07, 2011-12, and 2018-19 seasons. UVU is 5-1 at home this season.