Utah Valley Secures Perfect Home Record In Win Over SUU

Mar 1, 2025, 4:22 PM | Updated: 4:23 pm

Photo courtesy of Utah Valley Basketball on X.

KSL Sports

OREM, Utah- Going into Saturday, Utah Valley Wolverines had won 15 of their last 16 games following a dramatic late comeback versus Seattle U last Saturday, and now with a week of rest, they have the chance to extend their lead in the WAC standings against in-state rival Southern Utah.

While it has been a lackluster campaign for the Thunderbirds, Southern Utah is fighting to avoid the play-in-round of the WAC tournament, and only have a few games to climb to at least seventh place in the standings to do it.

While both teams were playing with post-season implications on the line, there are also in-state bragging rights up for grabs.

It’s our 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐘 presented by Intermountain Health!

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— UVU Men’s Basketball (@UVUmbb) March 1, 2025

Utah Valley vs Southern Utah

In their first meeting just two weeks ago, the Thunderbirds gave the Wolverines all they could handle. It came down to the wire, but Utah Valley was able to hold on and beat Southern Utah in Ceader City 70-68. While it was close the last time out between these two teams, it was a completely different story to start the game in Orem.

The Utah Valley defense came to play early as they didn’t allow Southern Utah to score a field goal until more than five minutes into the game. By the time the Thunderbirds scored their first basket, Utah Valley had already mounted a seven-point lead.

The Wolverines continued to build on the momentum, going on another 9-0 run in the middle of the half. Part of that stretch was a highlight reel-worthy poster dunk by Cory Wells, which gave Utah Valley their first double-digit lead.

Cory Wells just put that man on a poster 🚀💥#GoUVU | #ValleyForged | #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/JkUXY5iuqD

— UVU Men’s Basketball (@UVUmbb) March 1, 2025

That play was a microcosm of how the rest of the half, and the game, would go for Southern Utah. Following the dunk, Utah Valley outscored the Thunderbirds by 17 to close out the half, carrying a 28-point lead into the locker room.

The second half was much of the same with the Wolverines maintaining and building on their gargantuan lead. Utah Valley continued to pour it on, eventually leading by as many as 43 toward the end of the game.

The Wolverines eclipsed the 100-point mard for the second time this season, but the first in conference play, steamrolling the Southern Utah Thunderbirds by a score of 100-59.

The win was Utah Valley’s 12th at home this season, securing their perfect record at the UCCS Center during the 2024-2025 season.

Utah Valley In The Stat Sheet

It was a good day if you were wearing white and green as six different Wolverines notched double-digit point totals on Saturday afternoon.

Tanner Toolson and Dominick Nelson led the way with 17 points each. Toolson shot an uber-efficient 7-10 from the field, including two three-pointers. Nelson’s approach was different in that his aggressiveness at the rim got him to the free throw line where he was a perfect 6-6.

The score also gave Utah Valley to go deep into their bench and spread out minutes. 11 players saw the floor and each of them played at least 10 minutes.

As a team, the Wolverines shot 60% from the field and 43.8% from three-point range, making them nearly unbeatable with that kind of efficiency.

Next For The Utah Valley Wolverines

The Wolverines’ final two games will each come don’t the road in Texas.

First, Utah Valley will visit Abilene Christian on Thursday, March 6 at 6:00 p.m. MT before wrapping up the regular season one week from today against Tarleton State at 6:00 p.m. MT. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.

If Utah Valley is able to take care of business in their final two games, they will secure the No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.