(Arlington, Texas – Oct. 16, 2023) The 2023-24 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball preseason poll was released Monday night, with the conference's coaches picking Utah Tech to finish 11^th. The team's ranking put them five points behind Southern Utah and UTRGV, who were tied at ninth with 26 points.
 
"I thought that's where the other coaches might vote us at as we welcomed 10 new players into our program. We're excited because we feel that we've got a good chance to do some damage in this conference and be better than that," Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "We're underdogs - we've got nothing to lose - and we're going to go out there and beat some teams.
 
"We're excited for the challenge, we're excited that people feel that way in our conference, and we can't wait to get started and prove them wrong."
 
Utah Tech is coming off a 2022-23 season that saw the team finish 14-19, earning a berth into the 2023 Hercules Tires WAC Men's Basketball Tournament. The team made some noise in the tournament, knocking off sixth-seeded Stephen F. Austin in the first round, 80-76, before falling to SUU, 76-75, in the second round.
 
The roster was completely overhauled in the offseason after a number of players graduated and left the program. However, Coach Judkins' squad returns two key starters from last year, with Noa Gonsalves and Tanner Christensen entering their junior seasons.
 
Gonsalves averaged 8.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in the 2022-23 campaign, shooting 42.3% from the field and 41.1% from deep. He finished in double-figures for scoring 13 times, including a career-high 24 points in an 89-76 victory over New Mexico State on Jan. 21.
 
Christensen was the team's leading rebounder last season after grabbing 7.0 per game, combining that work on the glass with 9.5 points and 1.6 assists while shooting 56.7% from the field. The 6-10 forward/center scored a career-high 26 points against Washington on Nov. 14 while posting four games of 20-plus points.
 
Utah Tech welcomed 10 new additions to the program this offseason which included a combination of both transfers and high school players.
 
Beon Riley comes to St. George after playing his first three seasons at Hawaii where he made 65 total appearances; the Chula Vista, Calif., native averaged 4.6 points per game last season while serving as the Rainbow Warriors' sixth man.
 
Jaylen Searles, a 6-8 forward who last played at Southeastern Community College in Burlington, Iowa, also signed the dotted line after posting 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season. He led the team with 2.0 steals per game while earning First Team All-Region 11 honors and being named an All-American.
 
Trey Hall (Evansville), Sammy Howlin (Fullerton College), Unisa Turay (Scottsdale Community College), David Elliott (Garden City Community College) and Larry Olayinka (Garden City Community College) all transferred into the program while Aric Demings (Desoto, Texas), Angelo Kambala (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Tennessee Rainwater (Davenport, Wash.) joined from the prep ranks.
 
Trailblazer men's basketball is set to tipoff its regular season on Nov. 8, hitting the road to face Santa Clara.