Utah Valley University’s men’s basketball team will travel to Cedar City on Thursday to face Southern Utah University in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) matchup at the America First Event Center.
The Wolverines, with an overall record of 22-7 and a conference record of 12-4, are currently leading the WAC standings. They secured their latest win against Abilene Christian with a score of 74-67 last Saturday at the UCCU Center. With two games left in the regular season, Utah Valley holds a one-game lead over California Baptist as they aim for their second consecutive WAC regular-season title.
Jackson Holcombe, a redshirt sophomore forward for Utah Valley, leads the team by averaging 15.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. He also tops the team in steals (69), blocks (41), and double-doubles (8). Junior guard Trevan Leonhardt contributes 11.8 points per game along with a WAC-leading 5.9 assists and adds 5.3 rebounds per game. Tyler Hendricks matches Leonhardt’s scoring average at 11.8 points and leads Utah Valley with 60 three-pointers this season.
Southern Utah enters Thursday’s contest with a record of 10-19 overall and is 6-10 in conference play after beating Utah Tech 81-67 on Saturday in Cedar City. The Thunderbirds average 76.4 points per game while allowing opponents an average of 79.3 points, shooting nearly 46 percent from the field and making about one-third of their shots from behind the arc.
Elijah Duval is Southern Utah’s leading scorer with an average of 14.5 points and four rebounds per game, while Jaiden Feroah adds another strong presence inside with averages of 13.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and a team-high total of 49 blocks this season. Tanner Hayhurst also contributes double-digit scoring at an average of 10.7 points per game and has made more three-pointers than any other player on his team with a total of 53.
This will be the third meeting between the two teams this season; each side has won once so far—Utah Valley claimed an earlier victory at home by a score of 89-72 on January 8, while Southern Utah won their home fixture on January 21 by a margin of fourteen points.
Thursday’s game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., Mountain Time, streaming live on ESPN+. Radio coverage will be available through Wolverine Sports Network/ESPN The Fan, featuring play-by-play commentary from Jim McCulloch beginning with pregame coverage at six o’clock.
