On Wednesday, Oct. 16, Utah Valley men’s and women’s basketball hosted its annual media day, offering an inside look at what’s in store for the Men’s 2024-25 basketball season.
Todd Phillips, head coach of the men’s basketball team, led the Wolverines to a 16-16 overall record and an 11-9 mark in WAC play during his first season as head coach in the 2023-24 basketball season.
Through the offseason, the Wolverines have added plenty of talent to the roster after losing some key pieces to the team last year Drake Allen to Utah State and Caleb Stone-Carawell who led Utah Valley in scoring.
“It’s kind of an interesting thing losing those top scorers, a little scary”, Phillips said. “I think what we have this year is bench scoring with the depth we have coming off the bench.”
Utah Valley has brought in a total of seven, out-of-state transfers from the transfer portal including Andre Johnson Jr., Majer Sullivan, Cory Wells, Kaylin Green, Dominick Nelson, and the two Welling brothers Carter and Hayden.
The most transfer portal additions Utah Valley has ever had.
“I really like our length and athleticism with the new pieces we’ve added,” Phillips said. “I think we have a lot of diversity with our team, we have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things.”
Although the team has only a few returning starters, their experience will be crucial to Utah Valley’s success.
Tanner Toolson, a 6’5” sophomore who averaged over 10 points and three rebounds the previous year, should continue to see a large role as a scorer and be a main contributor to their offensive production this year.
Ethan Potter, through the first 15 games of the season averaged just under 10 minutes a game equating to just 2.9 points a game. It wasn’t until Mid-season February that Potter started to be that featured scorer on the court. In the last 15 games of the year, Potter averaged 28.5 minutes per game, scoring at an efficient 54% from the field while averaging 15.5 ppg.
Potter is expected to be a top contributor to this team’s success down the road.
Osirus Grady, another young start on the team, who was a standout freshman on this team the previous year, will add even more skill and consistency to the lineup.
“Obviously Tanner will be a much better player this year with his scoring,” Phillips said. “Grady will also be improved, and I think Potter’s consistency will help us out a lot.”
With the season nearing the corner, Utah Valley will put their talent to show in the season opener against Western Colorado, on Monday, Nov. 4 @6:00p.m. MT.
This game will be played at the UCCU center and also can be streamed on ESPN+.
