Utah Valley Heads To San Francisco For First Round Of NIT

Mar 17, 2025, 1:06 PM | Updated: 1:19 pm

KSL Sports

OREM, Utah- The Utah Valley Wolverines have had an exciting and historic season that included a run in WAC regular season and conference tournament play that gave them a shot at their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Unfortunately, the Wolverines fell just short of their ultimate goal, losing to Grand Canyon last Saturday in the WAC Tournament Final, but their campaign is not quite over.

Utah Valley will continue postseason play in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) as part of the 32-team field and will have a chance to avenge 2023’s Final Four loss to UAB in the same tournament. This year, the Wolverines will open NIT play on the road against San Francisco out of the WCC.

𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝐵𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 🔥

UVU faces San Francisco in the first round on March 19 at 8 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. MT on ESPNU.#GoUVU | #ValleyForged pic.twitter.com/WtJCccVMS7

— UVU Men’s Basketball (@UVUmbb) March 17, 2025

Utah Valley In The 2025 NIT

The Wolverines are the lowest-seeded team in their region of the bracket, taking on the No. 1-seeded San Francisco Dons. Other teams in the region include San Jose State, Loyola Chicago, St. Bonaventure, Kent State, Stanford, and CSUN.

The Final Four and NIT Championship Game will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 1 and April 3.

She's a beaut 🥲

Who do we have cutting down the nets in Indy? #NIT2025 pic.twitter.com/Xn4eaX1dar

— NIT (@NITMBB) March 17, 2025

The San Francisco Dons

The San Francisco Dons are coming off their fourth consecutive season with 20 or more wins. They finished third in a strong two-bid WCC behind NCAA Tournament participants Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga.

The Dons were on the outer edge of the bubble through the last few weeks of the regular season but crept further away as the conference tournament approached. San Francisco defeated Washington State in the quarterfinals of the WCC Tournament before falling to Gonzaga in the semis, who were the eventual champions.

San Francisco is 4-9 in Quad 1/2 games with their lone Quad 1 win being against Saint Mary’s at home. The Dons sit at 64 in the NET rankings, surrounded by teams like Iowa and North Texas.

San Francisco’s leading scorer is Malik Thomas who averages 19.3 points per game and shoots nearly 40% from three-point range.

Tanner Toolson’s Importance To Utah Valley March Run

Tanner Toolson will be coming off his best performance of the season against Grand Canyon in the WAC Championship game. Despite the loss, Toolson put up 28 points, including six three-pointers, and was the player that kept the Wolverines in the game.

Toolson is the engine that makes the UVU offense go, averaging 13.3 points per game, but he has been streaky throughout the season. Several times throughout the season, Tanner has had a poor stretch of two or three games before an offensive explosion for 20+ points.

However, when he is able to turn it on, he is lethal, specifically from outside. While he has shot 35.9% from three-point range, which is middle of the road in college basketball, in his five 20+ point performances, his percentage jumps to 57.1%, showing Toolsons ability to get hot from long range.

San Francisco will be the highest-ranked opponent that Utah Valley has played all year by a pretty large margin, and Toolson’s performance is going to be key to their success against the Dons.