# 2016–17 Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball team represented Utah Valley University in the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wolverines, led by second-year head coach Mark Pope, played their home games at the UCCU Center in Orem, Utah as members of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 17–17, 6–8 in WAC play to finish in fifth place. They defeated Seattle in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament before losing in the semifinals to Cal State Bakersfield. They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Georgia Southern and Rice before losing in the semifinals to Wyoming.

## Previous season

The Wolverines finished the 2015–16 season 12–18, 6–8 in WAC play to finish in fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament to UMKC.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Marcel Davis | 0 | G | 6'2" | 180 | Senior | American Fork, UT | Graduated |
| Hayes Garrity | 1 | G | 6'1" | 185 | RS Junior | Beaverton, OR | Graduate transferred to Idaho State |
| Jaden Jackson | 2 | G | 6'2" | 185 | Senior | Salt Lake City, UT | Graduated |
| Darrious Hamilton | 4 | F | 6'9" | 245 | Senior | San Antonio, TX | Graduated |
| Jordan Poydras | 10 | G | 6'3" | 185 | Senior | Los Angeles, CA | Graduated |
| Konner Frey | 11 | G | 6'5" | 210 | Junior | Bountiful, UT | Walk-on; graduate transferred to Montana State |
| Cory Cardwell | 14 | G | 6'2" | 180 | Senior | Riverton, UT | Graduated |
| Josh Pollard | 15 | G | 6'5" | 200 | Sophomore | Orem, UT | Walk-on; didn't return |
| Alex Carr | 24 | G | 6'3" | 200 | Senior | Birmingham, AL | Graduated |
| Tyler Ott | 25 | G | 6'5" | 200 | Sophomore | St. George, UT | Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons |
| Dayon Goodman | 33 | F | 6'7" | 220 | Sophomore | Salt Lake City, UT | Transferred to Westminster |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Conner Toolson | 10 | G | 6'3" | 190 | Sophomore | Highland, UT | Junior college transferred from Salt Lake CC |
| Kenneth Ogbe | 25 | G | 6'6" | 194 | Senior | Ehingen, Germany | Transferred from Utah. Under NCAA transfer rules, Ogbe will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have one year of remaining eligibility. |
| Jake Toolson | | G | 6'5" | 205 | Junior | Gilbert, AZ | Transferred from BYU. Under NCAA transfer rules, Toolson will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |

### Recruiting class of 2016

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Joonas Tahvanainen SF | Helsinki, Finland | HBA-Marsky | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Aug 19, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Jared Stutzman SG | Idaho Falls, ID | Bonneville High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 16, 2016. ||||||

## Radio broadcasts and streams

All Wolverines games will air on KOVO, AKA ESPN 960 Sports. Games will be streamed online through ESPN 960's webpage as well as at Utah Valley's Stretch Internet feed.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/07/2016* 7:00 pm | | Western State | W 113–87 | | UCCU Center (1,123) Orem, UT |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 8:00 pm, RTNW | | at No. 14 Gonzaga | L 69–92 | 0–1 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 11/16/2016* 7:00 pm | | Idaho State | W 82–72 | 1–1 | UCCU Center (6,117) Orem, UT |
| 11/19/2016* 7:00 pm | | Benedictine (Mesa) Homecoming | W 86–52 | 2–1 | UCCU Center (1,140) Orem, UT |
| 11/23/2016* 7:00 pm | | at Denver | W 88–85 | 3–1 | Magness Arena (1,377) Denver, CO |
| 11/26/2016* 7:00 pm, BYUtv | | at BYU Old Oquirrh Bucket | W 114–101 | 4–1 | Marriott Center (16,003) Provo, UT |
| 11/30/2016* 8:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington State | L 76–83 | 4–2 | Beasley Coliseum (2,314) Pullman, WA |
| 12/03/2016* 7:30 pm | | UTSA | W 75–71 | 5–2 | UCCU Center (1,676) Orem, UT |
| 12/06/2016* 6:00 pm, P12N | | at Utah Old Oquirrh Bucket | L 80–87 | 5–3 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (12,457) Salt Lake City, UT |
| 12/10/2016* 7:00 pm | | Utah State Old Oquirrh Bucket | L 79–80 $^{OT}$ | 5–4 | UCCU Center (6,792) Orem, UT |
| 12/17/2016* 7:00 pm, KJZZ | | at Weber State Old Oquirrh Bucket | L 85–93 | 5–5 | Dee Events Center (8,212) Ogden, UT |
| 12/21/2016* 7:30 pm | | at UTSA | L 60–66 | 5–6 | Covocation Center (753) San Antonio, TX |
| 12/23/2017* 7:00 pm | | Montana Tech | W 72–47 | 6–6 | UCCU Center (1,014) Orem, UT |
| 12/28/2016* 8:00 pm | | at UC Riverside | W 73–64 | 7–6 | The SRC (495) Riverside, CA |
| 12/31/2016* 3:00 pm | | at UC Davis | L 69–83 | 7–7 | The Pavilion (787) Davis, CA |
| 01/02/2017* 7:00 pm | | Antelope Valley | W 102–62 | 8–7 | UCCU Center (609) Orem, UT |
| WAC regular season ||||||
| 01/07/2017 7:00 pm | | at Grand Canyon | L 72–82 | 8–8 (0–1) | GCU Arena (6,933) Phoenix, AZ |
| 01/12/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Chicago State | L 61–70 | 8–9 (0–2) | UCCU Center (1,467) Orem, UT |
| 01/14/2017 7:00 pm | | UMKC | W 86–76 | 9–9 (1–2) | UCCU Center (1,823) Orem, UT |
| 01/21/2017 8:00 pm, ASN | | at Cal State Bakersfield | L 65–68 | 9–10 (1–3) | Icardo Center (3,497) Bakersfield, CA |
| 01/26/2017 7:00 pm | | Texas–Rio Grande Valley | W 92–81 | 10–10 (2–3) | UCCU Center (1,347) Orem, UT |
| 01/28/2017 7:00 pm | | New Mexico State | L 69–74 | 10–11 (2–4) | UCCU Center (6,246) Orem, UT |
| 02/04/2017 8:00 pm, ASN | | at Seattle | L 50–63 | 10–12 (2–5) | KeyArena (2,104) Seattle, WA |
| 02/09/2017 7:00 pm | | at UMKC | L 76–84 | 10–13 (2–6) | Municipal Auditorium (1,277) Kansas City, MO |
| 02/11/2017 1:05 pm | | at Chicago State | W 87–54 | 11–13 (3–6) | Jones Convention Center (973) Chicago, IL |
| 02/16/2017 7:00 pm | | Cal State Bakersfield | L 71–80 | 11–14 (3–7) | UCCU Center (1,255) Orem, UT |
| 02/18/2017 7:00 pm | | Grand Canyon | L 71–77 | 11–15 (3–8) | UCCU Center (3,265) Orem, UT |
| 02/23/2017 7:00 pm | | at New Mexico State | W 84–72 | 12–15 (4–8) | Pan American Center (4,151) Las Cruces, NM |
| 02/25/2017 6:00 pm | | at Texas–Rio Grande Valley | W 88–68 | 13–15 (5–8) | UTRGV Fieldhouse (1,465) Edinburg, TX |
| 03/04/2017 7:00 pm | | Seattle | W 61–54 | 14–15 (6–8) | UCCU Center (5,467) Orem, UT |
| WAC tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2017 3:00 pm | (4) | vs. (5) Seattle Quarterfinals | W 65–53 | 15–15 | Orleans Arena (1,854) Paradise, NV |
| 03/10/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (4) | vs. (1) Cal State Bakersfield Semifinals | L 80–81 $^{4OT}$ | 15–16 | Orleans Arena (2,190) Paradise, NV |
| CBI ||||||
| 03/15/2017* 5:00 pm | | at Georgia Southern First Round | W 74–49 | 16–16 | Hanner Fieldhouse (603) Statesboro, GA |
| 03/20/2017* 6:00 pm | | at Rice Quarterfinals | W 85–79 | 17–16 | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,584) Houston, TX |
| 03/22/2017* 7:00 pm | | at Wyoming Semifinals | L 68–74 | 17–17 | Arena-Auditorium (2,577) Laramie, WY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time Source. ||||||