Men’s Sports
Jabari Rice at the buzzer. That’s the phrase that ended the game between Utah Valley and New Mexico State at the Pan American Center. The NMSU sophomore guard saved the day in what would have been a sensational win for UVU on the road. The final score on Saturday, Feb. 15 was 84-82.
Going into this game, UVU had won a whopping 15 straight games over UTRGV. The last time the Vaqueros were able to knock off the Wolverines was a two-point win in January of 2013 in Edinburg.
The two day 36-hole event was held at St. George’s Sunbrook Golf Club on a 6,781-yard, par-72 course. Local teams included Southern Utah, Utah State and Weber State; individuals were also sent from Brigham Young and Utah. UVU also competed against Air Force, Creighton, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Seattle, Stetson, Western Illinois and Youngstown State.
“They’ve got it all.” “It was easy for them to get there.” “They don’t have to work as hard now.” “They’re athletes so they probably don’t focus much on school anyways.” Those are phrases often associated with student athletes. If you know Utah Valley University athletes, you’d know it’d be hard for those phrases to fit them — especially UVU wrestlers Koy Wilkinson, a junior, and Chase Trussell, a freshman.
Despite their 1-9 team record entering the dual, the Wolverines have four wrestlers ranked in the national top-25, with sophomore Tate Orndorff ranked fourth in the heavyweight division. The team suffered their 10th loss of the season in a 20-15 contest, but UVU’s ranked wrestlers continued their dominant seasons as all four won their respective matches.
After dropping both a home dual the weekend prior to No. 22 Stanford University, and a quick turnaround road dual at Wyoming University two days later, Utah Valley attempted to rebound in a Big 12 matchup. It was on Thursday night, Jan. 30 that the Wolverines dropped yet another dual this time to the Air Force Academy in a 22-14 thriller.
If one were to peer through the gates of UCCU Ballpark today, they would likely see bulldozers tearing up the outfield grass and molding the underlying soil into 8-foot tall mounds — not what one might expect from a field set to host Wolverine home games in a month. A new artificial playing surface will be installed prior to UVU’s home opener on Tuesday, March 10, but the current state of the ballpark seems to mirror a transitioning team with high aspirations.
Boise State hosted Utah Valley University and several other local teams at their annual Ed Jacoby indoor track meet on Jan. 24-25. The meet was by far the biggest so far for the Wolverines as they competed against 20 other teams. The Wolverines —who performed well over the weekend — showed that they’ll be able to compete as a complete team to potentially win the WAC championship next month.
The victory for UVU in Phoenix was a rather big one, having lost their previous five games at GCU. UVU’s last win at GCU Arena prior to Saturday night came on Feb. 6, 2014, when they won 68-79. However, the ‘Lopes still hold a now 10-6 all-time series record over UVU.
The Utah Valley men’s basketball team took to the road again to take on the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, California. The Roadrunners came into the…
Following a home loss to New Mexico State Thursday, Jan. 16, the Utah Valley men’s basketball team played host to the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros on Saturday, Jan. 18. The Wolverines entered play hoping to end their three-game losing streak and pick up a win against the 6-11 Vaqueros.
Lynch recently finished up his final cross country season in 2019, a year where he dominated statistically. He ended the WAC season repeating in the 8K race at the WAC Championships and took home WAC Men’s Athlete of the Year honors for the second consecutive season. His victory helped the men’s team win the championship for the fifth time in seven years.
Anyone who has followed Utah Valley athletics this season knows that the men’s basketball team has a completely new look. The departure of head coach Mark Pope to Brigham Young University and the subsequent transfers of three players that followed him — as well as graduated seniors and other transfers — left many open positions on the roster.
The Redhawks took advantage of the Wolverines’ lack of perimeter shooting early on as they took a 10-1 lead in the first four minutes of play. Back-to-back fast break scores by SU put them up by 17 points with 11 minutes left — UVU wouldn’t get within 17 points the rest of the game.
Following a big win at Chicago State in their WAC opener, the Utah Valley men’s basketball team traveled to Kansas City to take on the Kansas City ‘Roos on Saturday, Jan. 4. UMKC came into the game undefeated in the Swinney Center, having won all five games played in their home arena. The Wolverines were unable to overcome a slow start to the night and fell to the ‘Roos, 68-63.
