# 2022–23 Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball team

The 2022–23 Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball team represented Utah Valley University in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wolverines, led by fourth-year head coach Mark Madsen, played their home games at the UCCU Center in Orem, Utah, and competed as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). They finished with an overall record of 24–7, 15–3 in WAC play, to finish in first place. In the 2023 WAC tournament, they defeated Tarleton in the quarterfinals before losing to Southern Utah in the semifinals the following day. As the conference leader who didn't win their tournament, they were offered an automatic bid to play in the NIT. They defeated New Mexico, Colorado, and Cincinnati to reach the semifinal round (their first time advancing to semifinals), where they finally fell to UAB in overtime, 86–88. With a final record of 28–9, the 2022–23 season marked the Wolverine's most successful season to date as a D-I program.
On March 29, 2023, head coach Mark Madsen announced that he would be departing Utah Valley to become the head coach at California.

## Previous season

The Wolverines finished the 2021–22 season 20–12, 10–8 in Western Athletic Conference play to finish in seventh place. As the Number 7 seed in the WAC Tournament, they defeated number 10 seed Chicago State 69–47 in the first round. In the second round, UVU lost to number 6 seed Abilene Christian 74–82.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Position | Height | Year | Reason for departure |
| Fardaws Aimaq | C | 6'11" | Junior | Transfer to Texas Tech |
| Connor Harding | G | 6'6" | Senior | Graduation |
| Trey Farrer | F | 6'9" | Junior | Transfer to Westminster |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Position | Height | Year | Previous school |
| Tahj Small | G | 6'5" | Senior | Tarleton State |
| Aziz Bandaogo | C | 7'0" | Sophomore | Akron |
| Cam Alford | G | 6'1" | Junior | John A. Logan College |
| Cache Fields | G | 6'6" | Junior | Gavilan College |

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 7, 2022* 7:00 pm, MW Network | | at Utah State | L 58–75 | 0–1 | Smith Spectrum (7,430) Logan, UT |
| Nov 9, 2022* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Western Colorado | W 91–64 | 1–1 | UCCU Center (1,449) Orem, UT |
| Nov 12, 2022* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Northern Arizona Native American Heritage Game | W 73–69 | 2–1 | UCCU Center (2,034) Orem, UT |
| Nov 15, 2022* 5:00 pm, ACCN | | at Wake Forest Jamaica Classic campus site game | L 65–68 $^{OT}$ | 2–2 | LJVM Coliseum (5,694) Winston-Salem, NC |
| Nov 18, 2022* 5:00 pm, HBCUgo | | vs. Morgan State Jamaica Classic | L 72–73 $^{OT}$ | 2–3 | Montego Bay Convention Centre (5,307) Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| Nov 20, 2022* 5:30 pm, HBCUgo | | vs. Green Bay Jamaica Classic | W 79–56 | 3–3 | Montego Bay Convention Centre (5,128) Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| Nov 26, 2022* 2:00 pm, MW Network | | at Boise State | L 69–87 | 3–4 | ExtraMile Arena (8,544) Boise, ID |
| Dec 3, 2022* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Long Beach State | W 88–78 | 4–4 | UCCU Center (1,389) Orem, UT |
| Dec 7, 2022* 7:00 pm, BYUtv | | at BYU UCCU Crosstown Clash | W 75–60 | 5–4 | Marriott Center (13,925) Provo, UT |
| Dec 10, 2022* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Northern Arizona | W 80–75 $^{OT}$ | 6–4 | Walkup Skydome (676) Flagstaff, AZ |
| Dec 13, 2022* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | SAGU American Indian College | W 100–54 | 7–4 | UCCU Center (1,427) Orem, UT |
| Dec 16, 2022* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Antelope Valley | W 80–54 | 8–4 | UCCU Center (1,141) Orem, UT |
| Dec 20, 2022* 8:30 pm, P12N | | at Oregon | W 77–72 | 9–4 | Matthew Knight Arena (5,064) Eugene, OR |
| WAC regular season ||||||
| Dec 29, 2022 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Sam Houston | W 80–64 | 10–4 (1–0) | UCCU Center (1,911) Orem, UT |
| Dec 31, 2022 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Utah Tech Old Hammer Rivalry | W 71–60 | 11–4 (2–0) | UCCU Center (2,463) Orem, UT |
| Jan 5, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at UT Arlington | W 72–64 | 12–4 (3–0) | College Park Center (1,017) Arlington, TX |
| Jan 7, 2023 5:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at UTRGV | W 75–61 | 13–4 (4–0) | UTRGV Fieldhouse (517) Edinburg, TX |
| Jan 11, 2023 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Cal Baptist | W 71–67 | 14–4 (5–0) | CBU Events Center (2,611) Riverside, CA |
| Jan 14, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Seattle U | L 80–85 | 14–5 (5–1) | UCCU Center (2,976) Orem, UT |
| Jan 18, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Abilene Christian | W 84–54 | 15–5 (6–1) | UCCU Center (2,827) Orem, UT |
| Jan 21, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Grand Canyon | W 76–74 | 16–5 (7–1) | GCU Arena (7,007) Phoenix, AZ |
| Jan 26, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Southern Utah | L 67–79 | 16–6 (7–2) | America First Event Center (4,013) Cedar City, UT |
| Jan 28, 2023 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | New Mexico State | W 77–72 | 17–6 (8–2) | UCCU Center (2,915) Orem, UT |
| Feb 2, 2023 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Utah Tech | W 76–69 | 18–6 (9–2) | Burns Arena (2,424) St. George, UT |
| Feb 8, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Cal Baptist | W 71–55 | 19–6 (10–2) | UCCU Center (1,886) Orem, UT |
| Feb 11, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Southern Utah | W 90–83 | 20–6 (11–2) | UCCU Center (5,168) Orem, UT |
| Feb 18, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Seattle U | W 67–58 | 21–6 (12–2) | Redhawk Center (999) Seattle, WA |
| Feb 23, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Tarleton | L 58–77 | 21–7 (12–3) | Wisdom Gym (2,017) Stephenville, TX |
| Feb 25, 2023 5:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Abilene Christian | W 66–62 | 22–7 (13–3) | Moody Coliseum (1,951) Abilene, TX |
| Mar 1, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | UT Arlington | W 78–59 | 23–7 (14–3) | UCCU Center (2,574) Orem, UT |
| Mar 3, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Stephen F. Austin | W 113–69 | 24–7 (15–3) | UCCU Center (2,267) Orem, UT |
| WAC tournament ||||||
| Mar 9, 2023 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (7) Tarleton Quarterfinals | W 72–58 | 25–7 | Orleans Arena Paradise, NV |
| Mar 10, 2023 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (3) Southern Utah Semifinals | L 88–89 | 25–8 | Orleans Arena (3,003) Paradise, NV |
| NIT ||||||
| Mar 15, 2023* 8:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at (2) New Mexico First Round – Rutgers Bracket | W 83–69 | 26–8 | The Pit (6,803) Albuquerque, NM |
| Mar 19, 2023* 7:30 p.m., ESPNU | | at (3) Colorado Second Round – Rutgers Bracket | W 81–69 | 27–8 | CU Events Center (3,964) Boulder, CO |
| Mar 22, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | (4) Cincinnati Quarterfinals – Rutgers Bracket | W 74–68 | 28–8 | UCCU Center (5,289) Orem, UT |
| March 28, 2023 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 | | vs. (4) UAB Semifinals | L 86–88 $^{OT}$ | 28–9 | Orleans Arena (2,931) Paradise, NV |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain. ||||||