Men's Basketball | 1/9/2026 1:30:00 PM

Game #18
Who | Utah Tech (9-8, 2-1 WAC) at Utah Valley (13-4, 3-1 WAC)
When | Saturday, Jan. 10 – 2 p.m.
Where | UCCU Center – Orem, Utah
Broadcast | ESPN+ / 99.5 FM The Fan Sports Network
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers

SCOUTING THE UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES
Utah Valley is 13-4 on the season and sits atop the WAC along with the Trailblazers, UT Arlington and Abilene Christian.

The Wolverines are coming off a 89-72 win at home over Southern Utah on Thursday night and a perfect 8-0 at home this season.

Utah Valley opened WAC play at home with a 73-66 win at home over California Baptist and also topped Tarleton State on the road, 91-85 on New Year's Day.

Coming off a 25-9 overall record in 2024-25, the Wolverines won the WAC regular season mark with a 15-1 mark and advanced to the finals of the WAC Tournament falling to Grand Canyon & fell in the first round of the NIT to San Francisco.

Utah Valley leads the WAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.36), assists per game (20.3), blocks per game (5.9), field goal percentage (52.3), field goal percentage defense (39.8), scoring margin (15.9), scoring offense (82.9) & three point percentage (35.9).

The Wolverines are also second in the WAC in rebounds per game (38.76) and scoring defense (67.1).

Redshirt sophomore guard Jackson Holcombe leads the WAC in field goal percentage (59.6), second in rebounds per game (7.3) & blocks per game (1.41) and third in points per game (16.7).

Preseason All-WAC selection Trevan Leonhardt leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.25) & assists per game (6.4), third in steals per game (1.88) and fourth in minutes per game (32:24).   

SERIES HISTORY VS. UTAH VALLEY
This will be the Trailblazers and Wolverines 12th meeting with UVU leading the all-time series, 8-3.

The Wolverines have won four straight over the Trailblazers with Utah Tech's last win over the Wolverines coming on Dec. 2, 2023 with a 65-53 victory.

The two teams last met in the quarterfinals of the 2025 WAC Tournament wih the top seed Wolverines defeating the Trailblazers, 74-57.

The Trailblazers are 1-5 in six meetings in Orem with a 93-89 win on Feb. 13, 2021.    

LAST TIME OUT AT CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
The Trailblazers saw their hot start to WAC play come to an end on Thursday night falling 84-72 at California Baptist at the Fowler Events Center.

Utah Tech saw four Trailblazers finish in double figures led by the sixth 20-point performance of the season by Ethan Potter.

The senior forward added a team-high nine rebounds, including a season-best six offensive boards, and added three assists.

Noah Bolanga added 17 points, six rebounds & a pair of assists while playing a team-leading 38 minutes.

Chance Trujillo and Tanner Davis tallied 13 points and 12 points, respectively.

The Trailblazers shot 48.1 percent (26-54) from the field, 33.3 percent (6-18) from three-point range and 77.8 percent (14-18) from the free throw line.

With the Lancers winning 40-31 at half, a layup by Potter two minutes into the second half kept the Trailblazers within five (45-40) before seven straight points for the Lances pushed CBU ahead, 52-40.

A layup from Davis and three points from Potter ended the CBU run making it 52-45, but a 10-2 run from the Lancers extended the CBU lead to 62-47 midway through the half.

With the Lancers continuing to lead by double digits, the Trailblazers kept clawing at the deficit cutting it down to nine (71-62) after a layup by Davis with 3:32 to play.

That was as close as the Trailblazers could get in the final minutes as the Lancers made a pair of field goals and three free throws in the final two minutes to hand the Trailblazers their first WAC loss this season.

SURPASSING 2024-25 WIN TOTAL
The Trailblazers are going for the 10th win of the season on Saturday having already surpassed the seven wins they tallied in 2024-25.

With one more win, it will be the fourth time in the Trailblazers six seasons in Division I they will have double digit wins joining 14 in 2022-23, 13 in 2021-22 and 11 in & 2023-24.

POTTER RETURNS TO UCCU CENTER
Potter will make his return to the UCCU Center on Saturday after playing his first three seasons at Utah Valley from 2022-25.

In 80 games with the Wolverines, Potter made 18 starts while scoring 459 points, grabbed 293 rebounds and dished out 40 assists.

He added 45 blocks, 21 steals, shot 57.7 percent (191-331) from the field & 76.6 percent (72-94) from the free throw line.

WHERE THE TRAILBLAZERS RANK IN THE WAC/NCAA IN 2025-26
Utah Tech comes into Saturday's game leading the WAC in three pointers made per game (7.8) & three point attempts per game (24.2), & turnovers per game (12.8). 

UT is second in assist/turnover ratio (1.11), field goal percentage (47.5) & three point percentage defense (29.9).

The Trailblazers are third in scoring offense (78.2) and fourth in assists per game (14.3) & free throw percentage (72.1).

Individually, Potter leads the WAC in rebounds per game (7.5), is second in field goal percentage (58.2) & fourth in points per game (16.3).

Trujillo ranks third in minutes per game (32:32) while Bolanga leads the conference in three point attempts (103), is fifth in minutes per game (31:52) and seventh in rebounds per game (5.9).

Holt ranks fourth in blocks per game (1.13) and Tanner Davis is fifth with 29 steals.

BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
The Trailblazers have had a balanced scoring attack all season with six contests seeing UT tally five or more double figure contests - South Dakota (5), Bethesda (6), Manhattan (5), Nobel (5), Justice (5) & Southern Utah (5).

Potter has registered double digits in 15 of the Trailblazers' 17 contests this season and has topped 20 or more points in six games.

Bolanga sits second with 11 double figure contests followed by nine from Holt & Davis, seven from Trujillo and six by Owona.

IN ALL NINE WINS
The Trailblazers have found a pair of commonalities, leading at half & shooting 40 percent or better from the field, in all nine of its wins this season.

In eight of Utah Tech's wins, the Trailblazers have shot a better field goal percentage than their opponents, taken more than three pointers, dished out more assists and had less turnovers than their opponents.

ELITE COMPANY
Head coach Jon Judkins is in his 21st season at Utah Tech sporting a 347-237 (.594) overall record and a 327-225 (.592) mark in NCAA play.

Only eight current Division I coaches have been at their schools longer - Greg Kampe (42nd season at Oakland), Tom Izzo (31-Michigan St.), Mark Few (27-Gonzaga), James Jones (27-Yale), Randy Bennett (27-Saint Mary's), Scott Drew (23-Baylor), Bill Self (23-Kansas) & Gary Manchel (23-Mercyhurst).

WAC FOR ONE MORE SEASON
The 2025-26 campaign will mark an end of an era as Utah Tech will compete as a member of the Western Athletic Conference for the sixth, and final, season. The Trailblazers joined the WAC in 2020-21 during the first year of the program's NCAA Division I transition. 

GOING "BIG" IN 2026
On June 25, 2025, Utah Tech announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference beginning on July 1, 2026. 

Starting in the 2026-27 season, 14 of the Trailblazers' 17 sports will compete under the Big Sky Conference banner.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers are back home next week to host UT Arlington (10-5, 2-1 WAC) on Thursday night and Tarleton State (11-6, 2-2 WAC) on Saturday.