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OREM — In what will be a preview of a quarterfinal matchup in next week's Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament in Las Vegas, UVU will host Seattle University on Saturday night in the final regular-season game for both teams.
"It's going to be a great game," UVU head coach Mark Pope said. "It's uniquely kind of suited where we play them the last game of the regular season and we play them the first game of the tournament. It's really a two-game series and in all reality, only one of those games matter, but you want to win them both."
The Wolverines are coming off back-to-back road wins at New Mexico State and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, while Seattle earned a split with a win at UTRGV and a blowout loss at New Mexico State.
"They have a lot of strengths," Pope said. "From a tactical standpoint, this 3-2 zone has just befuddled us. We haven't found great answers to it. It really keeps them in a position where they can guard the 3-point line and they're always protected at the rim. Those are the two things we do well. We get to the rim and we get open 3-point shots and it's been really hard for us to manufacture that against them."
Seattle has won three-straight games against UVU, including a 63-50 win on Feb. 4 at Key Arena in Seattle. It was one of a handful of games that UVU either wasn't in or wasn't leading in the second half. The Wolverines went 3 of 26 from beyond the arc in the loss and shot just 29 percent from the field. Their 50 points were the lowest total of the season for UVU, with the previous low being 60 points in a 66-60 loss at UTSA on Dec. 21.
"They have mismatches," Pope said. "Last game, they exploited (Brendan) Westendorf in the post. They exploited (Matej) Kavas in the post. And they exploited (William) Powell off the bounce. Those things hurt us and we got to solve those things."
What UVU hopes to continue is its hot shooting from the previous weekend. The Wolverines shot 55 percent from the field and went 9 of 20 from 3-point land in an 84-72 win that snapped New Mexico State's 40-game conference home win streak on Feb. 23. UVU followed that up with an impressive 88-68 win at UTRGV on Feb. 25 during which the Wolverines, once again, shot 55 percent from the field.
"I really like where our guys are," Pope said. "With the exception of Bakersfield here, I think we've been getting better. I don't think it's an awakening for us. We're just a work in progress. If you take away three minutes against Grand Canyon, we win that game. If you change the last two minutes at Bakersfield, we really have a chance to win that game. New Mexico State here, you take away the last three minutes and we have a chance to win that game."
"It's a huge part of why I'm so proud of this team, because they've gone through that really tough stretch in league (play) where, at any moment, a lesser group would have said, 'This is not going to work.' These guys did the opposite; they kept believing and kept fighting themselves to believe and they had great results on this recent road trip. Now we just have to back it up."
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT on Saturday at the UCCU Center in Orem.
Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs. He is a communication major at UVU and will graduate in the spring of 2017. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias
