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OREM — Do you remember Nov. 26, 2016? BYU fans might remember that day as the day when the BYU men's basketball team suffered its worst home loss ever.
Do you remember the name of the team that defeated the Cougars on that night? If not, here is a reminder. It was the Wolverines of Utah Valley.
Former Cougar Isaac Neilson went to Provo and scored 26 points on his former team, and Brandon Randolph was one rebound away from a triple-double to help the Wolverines earn a 114-101 victory over the Cougars. It was the biggest win in UVU men's basketball history, its first-ever victory over BYU, and it was the most points ever scored by an opponent in the Marriott Center.
It was about this time that UVU became the talk of the town. The Wolverines helped their cause by almost knocking off Pac-12 foes Washington State and the University of Utah. Sports writers were declaring that it was time to take notice of the Wolverines and that they could play with anyone.
Fast forward to Feb. 10.
UVU (10-13, 2-6) is coming off its third-straight loss in WAC play, this time an 84-76 setback to UMKC. The loss to the 'Roos was also the fourth straight road setback. UVU has won just one road game since beating BYU and that was at UC Riverside, 73-64, on Dec. 28.
"We're not playing very well and we have to figure out and we will," UVU head coach Mark Pope said. "We're not in a great place right now, which happens to a lot of teams. I'm not worried about our record in conference or anything like that. I'm worried how we're playing, and so we probably need to be more aggressive to the rim. We need to play faster...We need to be more aggressive and we have our work cut out for us just trying to rediscover ourselves."
Although Pope said his team isn't playing well right now, there are some things to note. The 6-12 record since beating BYU doesn't show that of the 12 losses, UVU has been in every game late except for one or two. The Wolverines led at Utah by three with just over two minutes to play and were up by one with seven seconds to play against Utah State before two free throws by Shane Rector sealed the win for the Aggies.
Against conference leader New Mexico State, UVU led for most of the game, including a four-point lead with just over two minutes left but couldn't finish.
"(We're) just stuck in this mosh pit for six weeks now and hopefully, we will work our way out of it," Pope said. "We will see. I like my team a lot. I didn't think we would be stuck here for this long. I think that's what I'm most surprised about. We just gotta feel our way through it ... I think our guys are still pretty confident, still feel like we have a chance at a really good year."
UVU looks to break out of the sludge Saturday when the Wolverines travel to Chicago State for a 1 p.m. MT tipoff. The Cougars picked up their first and only conference win of the season against UVU on Jan. 12.
Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs and the Utah Valley University Wolverines. He is a communication major at UVU and will graduate in the spring of 2017. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias
