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OREM — On a cold and snowy night, the Utah Valley University men’s basketball team turned up the heat inside the UCCU Center as it shot 57 percent from the field on the way to a 102-63 blowout win over Antelope Valley.
“We’re really pleased with the game,” UVU head coach Mark Pope said. “We’re really pleased to be done with the nonconference, and we’re so excited to start conference.”
Conner Toolson hit seven 3-pointers and Telly Davenport scored a career-high 21 points to pace a Wolverine attack that was desperately needed after struggling in an 83-69 loss to UC Davis on Saturday night.
“Coach told me that going into the game I was going to get a lot of minutes,” Davenport said. “He told me he wanted me to be aggressive and attack the rim. So I just tried to go out there and do that.”
UVU jumped out to an 18-0 lead just four minutes into the ballgame and never looked back. Toolson and Jordan Poydras both hit two 3-pointers during the run. Poydras finished the night with 13 points and was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.
After jumping out to the big lead, the Wolverines coasted to the big win over the Marauders.
True freshman Jared Stutzman had just his second game in double figures since UVU defeated BYU on Nov. 26 as he finished with 16 points on just five shots.
It was a win that Pope said was much-needed before opening up the conference slate at Grand Canyon on Saturday night.
“Certainly, we’re not going to walk into any gyms and be intimidated,” Pope said. “There’s a new pressure that comes with being in conference, a heightened pressure and intensity … we expect it to be a sold out gym and wild and crazy and for them to play great. That’s what we expect.”
Grand Canyon sits at 9-6 and UVU at 8-7. The Lopes beat Arizona State of the Pac-12 and nearly upset ninth-ranked Louisville on Dec. 3. UVU opened the season with a loss at fifth-ranked Gonzaga but followed it up with four straight wins, including coming from 27 points down to win 88-85 at Denver University and then a 114-100 win over crosstown foe BYU.
However, slow starts have doomed the Wolverines in December as they lost six of their last 10 games and fell behind by double digits in all of those losses.
“I would love to get up 50-2,” Pope said. “We’ll see how this game unfolds. If we don’t get off to a great start I don’t think we’re going to go sideways and if we get off to a great start I don’t think they’re going to be like ‘ah, we can relax.’ I think we’re battle-tested that way, and it’s going to be a really hard game.” 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
