The Utah Valley men’s basketball team has earned the No. 2 seed at next week’s 2023 Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament that will take place March 7-11 in Las Vegas.

Despite winning the 2022-23 WAC regular season title outright and beating Sam Houston in its head-to-head meeting, Utah Valley (24-7, 15-3 WAC, 6.964 points) will be the No. 2 seed due to the WAC’s Resume Seeding System. Sam Houston (24-6, 14-4 WAC, 6.977 points) will be the No. 1 seed.

Utah Valley will play on Thursday, March 9 at Orleans Arena against the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between No. 7 Tarleton and No. 10 UTRGV. Tip-off for Thursday’s quarterfinal game is set to tip-off at 6 p.m. (PT)

The winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal will advance to Friday’s semifinal match set for 8 p.m. PT. The championship game of the WAC Tournament will take place on Saturday, March 11 at 8:30 p.m. PT.

All preliminary round games of the 2023 Hercules Tires Basketball Tournament will air live on ESPN+, with the men’s championship game on March 11 airing live at 8:30 p.m. PT on ESPN2.

The WAC also announced its 2022-23 season awards with UVU sophomore Aziz Bandaogo being named Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Year while Wolverine head coach Mark Madsen was named Coach of the Year.

Bandaogo, Le’Tre Darthard were named to the WAC First Team and All-Defensive Team, while Trey Woodbury was also named to the WAC First Team.

Wolverine women’s basketball set to start WAC tournament

Utah Valley opens its 10th WAC Tournament as the No. 12 seed and will face No. 5 Utah Tech on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. The winner will face 4th-seeded California Baptist on Wednesday at 2 p.m. PT in the Orleans Arena.

The Wolverines (6-23) are 4-9 all-time in the WAC Tournament and are coming off of a semifinal appearance last season, where they lost to eventual champion Stephen F. Austin.

Utah Valley and Utah Tech will meet for the second straight time after the two wrapped up the regular season last Thursday in Orem. The Trailblazers won that contest, 71-59. UVU had four players score in double figures in the game, led by 14 points and 10 rebounds from Shay Fano.

Two UVU wrestlers earn NCAA tournament bids

Utah Valley’s Demetrius Romero and Evan Bockman made what was inevitable official, both will be returning to Tulsa in two weeks for the NCAA Championships. Both Wolverines punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships on the first day of the Big 12 Championships at the BOK Center.

The Wolverines bounced back in the evening after a tough opening session on Saturday. In addition to the two NCAA returners, 149-pounder Isaiah Delgado is poised to earn his first NCAA Championships berth, while Kase Mauger wrestled for seventh place at 125 pounds.

Wolverine baseball loses series at Portland

Utah Valley baseball split a Saturday doubleheader with Portland at Joe Etzel Field. Portland won the opener before UVU won a pitcher’s duel to take a 2-1 series lead. Garrett Broussard homered in game two, and the UVU pitching staff shutout the Pilots. It marks the second combined shutout of the year for the UVU pitching staff. UVU previously shutout UC Riverside 5-0 on Feb. 24 in Mesa.

“Our pitching and defense did a great job for the last 14 innings of the day. In tough conditions, we played hard and together all day. It was a good win for the team and another step forward to what we are working to build for the program,” said UVU head coach Eddie Smith.

Portland rallied in the series finale against the Wolverines on Sunday, holding on for a 7-5 win.

UVU softball surrenders late lead to Idaho State

After splitting two games on Saturday, Utah Valley dropped its final game at the Trailblazer Tournament to the Idaho State Bengals by a score of 8-6. After jumping out to a 6-1 lead through two innings, the Bengals scored seven unanswered runs to secure the win.

Jaeden Barajas hit a two-run home run in the first to get the Wolverines on the board. Utah Valley hung a four-spot in the bottom of the second to take a 6-1 lead. Taylor Wooten delivered the big blow in the inning with a two-RBI single to right.

But the Bengals answered back with a five-run fourth to take the lead and although UVU threatened late, they couldn’t find a way to get more runs.

Utah Valley will enjoy a week off before opening its home season against in-state rival Utah State on March 14. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT.

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