UVU men’s basketball settles on preseason schedule
Jay Drowns, UVU Marketing
Utah Valley players celebrate with the WAC regular-season title trophy after defeating UT Arlington at the UCCU Center in Orem on March 1, 2023.The Utah Valley men’s basketball team has released its 2023-24 schedule, which features games against Weber State, Oregon State, Utah and Boise State.
“We’ve put together a challenging schedule against some really good teams,” Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips said. “We have a tough road schedule against teams that made it to the postseason last year. We also have some great home games at the UCCU Center.”
The Wolverines will open the season at home against Carroll College on Nov. 6. The team then heads out on the road to take on former WAC foe Sam Houston on Nov. 9 in the team’s first game of the WAC/Conference USA Challenge.
The Wolverines will then travel to North Carolina for a game against American Conference opponent Charlotte. The 49ers won the College Basketball Invitational last season. Utah Valley will travel straight from Charlotte to St. Augustine, Florida to take part in the Jacksonville Classic, Nov. 19-20, at Flagler College. UVU’s opponents are still to be determined but the Wolverines will be playing in the Bay Bracket with Cal State Fullerton, Southern Miss., and Cornell.
UVU returns to the UCCU Center to play Western Colorado on Nov. 24 as a final tune-up before opening WAC play against Seattle U on Nov. 29 in Orem. The Wolverines then continue league play at Utah Tech on Dec. 2.
The team steps back into non-conference play to host in-state rival Weber State on Dec. 5 at the UCCU Center before traveling to Oregon State on Dec. 9 and Utah on Dec. 16 for a pair of Pac-12 games. UVU then hosts Liberty on Dec. 20 as part of the WAC/CUSA Challenge. Liberty went 27-9 last season and earned a spot in last season’s National Invitation Tournament.
The Wolverines will travel to the City of Trees to wrap up non-conference play at Boise State on Dec. 29. The Broncos went 24-10 last year and earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Utah Valley will then continue its WAC schedule, playing home and road games against each of the 10 WAC schools.
Phillips enters his first season at the helm of the Wolverine program. He returns two players that saw significant time on the floor during the 2022-23 season, including Ethan Potter (1.8 ppg., 2.5 rpg.) and Jaden McClanahan (2.2 ppg., 0.9 apg). Phillips welcomes nine newcomers to the team, including seven transfers and two freshmen.
Utah Valley just returned from a 10-day international trip to Italy where the team went a perfect 3-0 with wins in Milan, Florence, and Rome.
