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OREM — BYU and Utah Valley University will play a four-game men's basketball series beginning Nov. 13 in Provo, the Wolverines' athletic department announced Monday.
The Cougars and Wolverines will play for the first time since 2003, the year UVU began its transition to NCAA Division I, this fall at the Marriott Center. The two squads will play the first game between the schools at the UCCU Center in Orem on Nov. 29, 2017, with two more games on the east end of the University Parkway series Nov. 11, 2016, and Nov. 9, 2018.
"This series has been a long time coming," UVU athletic director Vince Otuopal said in a statement. "BYU is an excellent program with national respect and this series will be great for the fans, the community, and the state of Utah."
The two schools last met Nov. 29, 2003, an 84-65 BYU win in Provo over a then-UVSC squad that featured current Phoenix Suns guard Ronnie Price.
New UVU coach Mark Pope begins his first season in the Western Athletic Conference this fall after three years at BYU. When the former NBA player was introduced in Orem, he mentioned the possibility of adding a series against his former mentor Dave Rose and the Cougars.
"There's interest in trying to make it work," Pope said in March. "I have such a love for coach Rose, for BYU and for the staff there that personally. I figure it would be of great worth. We'll see how it works; sometimes scheduling is really complicated, but there is certainly motivation to see if that works as a possibility."
Pope also stressed the importance of the game in the Utah County community, as well as UVU students, many of whom grew up in the shadow of BYU.
"I know it would be very good for this valley to have that game," Pope added. "It's a fun game, and it's going to be a hard game for us. But it's a game that will be engaged in the community and really engage the student body."
