OREM, Utah – UT Arlington men's basketball (12-5, 4-1 WAC) remains on the road to take on Utah Valley (14-4, 4-1 WAC) on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT at the UCCU Center in a battle for the top spot in the WAC. The game will be broadcast live on
ESPN+ and can be heard live on the Varsity Network App with Will Conerly on the call.
The Mavericks are coming off of four straight wins, including a gritty 56-52 win at Utah Tech on Thursday night, while Utah Valley was idle on Thursday, and the Wolverines have won two consecutive games, having beaten Utah Tech 92-76 their last time out, on Saturday, Jan. 10, in Orem.
The Wolverines are led by third-year head coach Todd Phillips, who is Utah Valley's winningest first-year coach in program history. The Wolverines are 55-29 under Phillips in two-and-a-half seasons. Prior to his time as head coach, Phillips spent four seasons on staff under former head coach and current Cal head coach Mark Madsen, and before that spent eight seasons at the helm of Salt Lake Community College, where he compiled a 205-58 record.
Utah Valley is led by redshirt sophomore guard Jackson Holcombe, who is averaging a team-high 16.1 ppg and 7.2 rpg. Redshirt junior guard/forward Tyler Hendricks is averaging 12.5 ppg and 4.3 rpg and redshirt junior guard Trevan Leonhardt is scoring 11.3 ppg and pulling down 5.2 rpg thus far for the Wolverines.
Saturday's meeting between UTA and Utah Valley will be the ninth all-time, with the teams having split the eight previous contests. Utah Valley swept the series last year, beating the Mavs on Jan. 16, 85-83 in overtime in Arlington and doing so 94-73 in Orem on Feb. 6.
For the Mavs, forward
Raysean Seamster, who was a preseason All-WAC selection by the league's head coaches scored a team-high 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds on Thursday night in the win at Utah Tech. He is averaging 13.6 ppg and a team-high 6.5 rpg. Fellow senior
Marcell McCreary had just seven points last time out, but has been on a tear lately for the Mavericks. He is averaging a team-best 14.2 ppg and 5.1 rpg this season.
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