It’s certainly been a season to remember for the Utah Valley men’s basketball team, even if it came up short of it lofty NCAA tournament goal.

The Wolverines have the 2022-23 outright regular-season WAC title to put in their trophy case as well as a 25-8 record, which ties for the most wins in a season in school history.

Now UVU is gunning to break through to Win No. 26, although it won’t be easy.

The Wolverines are making their second-ever appearance at the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) where UVU will play New Mexico in the first round on Wednesday night in Albuquerque (8 p.m. MT, ESPN-plus).

To set a new record for wins in a season, the Wolverines will have to get past a Lobo squad that went 22-11 overall and 15-4 at the Pit. New Mexico was sixth in the Mountain West with an 8-10 record.

UVU faces a pair of daunting tasks.

The first is to defeat the Lobos, a team that ranked 20th in KenPom offensive efficiency and at one point was the nation’s last undefeated team when it was 14-0.

The second is to overcome the disappointment of the heartbreaking semifinal loss to Southern Utah in the WAC semifinals last week, which might be an even bigger challenge than the first task.

It’s hard to blame any team for having a difficult time rallying after seeing a 23-point second-half lead disappear, giving up a stunning 4-point play with five seconds left and then having a game-winning layup roll around the rim and fall out.

But that’s what head coach Mark Madsen and the Wolverines need to do if they are going to find a way to keep their season going.

And there is a reason to be optimistic.

UVU is a team with a solid nucleus of veterans, guys like Trey Woodbury, Le’Tre Darthard, Tim Fuller, Blaze Nield and Justin Harmon. They’ve faced tough losses before.

Just look at what the Wolverines did this winter after defeats:

• 75-58 loss at Utah State followed by a 91-64 home win over Western Colorado
• 68-65 OT loss at Wake Forest followed by a 73-72 OT loss to Morgan State at Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic
• 73-72 OT loss to Morgan State at Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic followed by a 79-56 win over Green Bay
• 87-69 loss at Boise State followed by an 88-78 home win over Long Beach State
• 85-80 home loss to Seattle followed by an 84-54 home win over Abilene Christian
• 79-67 loss at Southern Utah followed by a 77-72 home win over New Mexico State
• 77-58 loss at Tarleton followed by a 66-62 win at Abilene Christian

Only once during the year did UVU lose two consecutive games and both of those were in overtime back in November. Usually the Wolverines trounced their next opponent.

That shows that this UVU squad has had the maturity to put defeats behind them and focus on the game at hand.

But can they do that in the postseason?

That’s what the Wolverines have to show when they take the floor to face the Lobos.

On Tuesday UVU added some postseason accolades to their lengthy list of awards from the 2022-23 season.

Madsen was named the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District VIII and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 6 Coach of the Year, while sophomore center Aziz Bandaogo and junior guard Le’Tre Darthard received USBWA All-District honors. Bandaogo and senior guard Trey Woodbury were recognized as NABC All-District players.

The USBWA honors are based on voting from its national membership, which has selected All-District teams since the 1956-57 season, its founding year.

Utah Valley was one of only fifteen teams in the country to have two players selected to one of the All-District teams. It is the first time in UVU history that two players have been selected to the USBWA All-District team.

The All-District honors are voted on by NABC-member coaches across NCAA Division I. Utah Valley is a member of NABC District 6, which includes teams from the Western Athletic Conference and the Big Sky Conference.

Madsen led Utah Valley to the 2022-23 WAC regular season championship, marking his second WAC title over the past three seasons at UVU. He guided Utah Valley to a second straight 20-win season with a 25-8 overall record and an impressive 15-3 record in WAC play. His team hit the 20-win mark faster than any team in UVU history during the program’s full Division I status era.

Madsen is also a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award.

According to the press release, “Bandaogo and Darthard are just the fourth and fifth players in UVU history to earn USBWA All-District honors, joining Ronnie Price (2004-05), Akolda Manyang (2017-18), and Fardaws Aimaq (2021-22).

“Bandaogo, from Senegal, ranks in the top-15 nationally in six different national statistical categories. He ranks third in the country in blocks (98), fifth in blocks per game (2.97), seventh in rebounds (337), 11th in defensive rebounds per game (7.36), 11th in rebounds per game (10.2), and 14th in double-doubles (15). Bandaogo was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. He also earned First Team All-WAC honors. Bandaogo is also a finalist for the 2023 Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year award.

“Darthard, from Denton, Texas, earns All-District honors after leading the Wolverines in scoring at 14.2 points per game. He also led the team with 64 shots from long range. Darthard leads the WAC at the free throw line with an 89.7 percent (122-136) mark, which also ranks him 11th nationally. He made 31 straight free throws during the season, which was just 10 away from the UVU record of 41. Darthard scored a career-high 31 points in a win over Southern Utah where he knocked down 16 of 17 shots at the free throw line. He also knocked down a career-high seven threes in a win over Long Beach State, which is the third-most ever recorded in a game in UVU history.

“Woodbury, from Las Vegas, averages 13.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists this season. He recently became just the third UVU player to record a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists in UVU’s outright WAC-clinching win over Stephen F. Austin. Woodbury became just the ninth Utah Valley player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark and now ranks eighth on UVU’s all-time career scoring list with 1,019 points.”

The USBWA District VIII Player of the Year was Utah State guard Steven Ashworth, a former Lone Peak star.

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