Utah Tech Basketball faces Utah Valley with tournament seeding and momentum at stake

Utah Tech basketball will finish its home schedule with an immediate measuring stick: a Saturday night meeting with top-seeded Utah Valley that can shape how both teams carry momentum into next week’s WAC Tournament. As of 4: 08 p. m. ET Friday, the matchup is set for Burns Arena in St. George, Utah, with both teams entering on contrasting league résumés.

Utah Tech Trailblazers close Burns Arena slate after Jusaun Holt’s 28-point game

For Utah Tech, Saturday represents the final home game of the season at Burns Arena. Utah Tech enters the matchup with a 6–11 record in Western Athletic Conference play in one set of team notes, while another game capsule lists the Trailblazers at 18–13 overall and 11–6 in the WAC heading into Saturday’s contest.

Utah Tech is coming off an 81–67 loss to Southern Utah in which Jusaun Holt scored 28 points. The game also arrives with a clear home-court note: Utah Tech is 11–2 on its home floor, and it averages 76. 1 points while outscoring opponents by 2. 4 points per game.

Utah Tech’s recent form is also captured in its last-10-games line: 8–2, averaging 76. 3 points, 31. 1 rebounds, 14. 1 assists, 6. 0 steals, and 2. 5 blocks per game while shooting 48. 9% from the field. Over that same stretch, its opponents have averaged 74. 3 points per game.

Utah Valley Wolverines arrive as WAC champions, chasing continuity into Las Vegas

Utah Valley’s immediate change is already locked in: the Wolverines have secured the No. 1 seed for next week’s WAC Tournament in Las Vegas and a bye into the tournament semifinals. That places added emphasis on Saturday as a tune-up and a chance to extend the run that clinched the regular-season title.

Utah Valley enters Saturday at 23–7 overall and 13–4 in WAC play after a win over Southern Utah earlier in the week that secured its second straight WAC regular-season championship. The program has won back-to-back WAC titles under head coach Todd Phillips, who is a finalist for the 2025–26 Hugh Durham Award.

Utah Valley’s profile is built around efficiency and category leadership. The team ranks among national leaders in assists, steals, field-goal percentage, blocks, and scoring margin, and it leads the WAC in assists per game, blocks per game, field-goal percentage, and scoring defense.

Individually, redshirt sophomore forward Jackson Holcombe leads Utah Valley in scoring at 15. 4 points per game and rebounds at 7. 2 per game, and he has 69 steals and 41 blocks. Holcombe recently set a Utah Valley single-season record with 69 steals and has been named to the Lou Henson Award Watch List.

On the perimeter, redshirt junior guard Trevan Leonhardt has 179 assists this season, breaking his own single-season school record after previously setting the mark at 178 last year. Leonhardt also ranks second all-time in Utah Valley history in career assists and career steals.

Old Hammer Rivalry adds a third WAC meeting, with a recent Utah Tech win

The game is framed as the Old Hammer Rivalry and will be the teams’ third meeting this season in WAC play. Utah Tech won the last matchup 81–77 on Feb. 13, with Chance Trujillo scoring 14 points to help lead the Trailblazers.

Saturday’s listed start time varies across previews: one sets tipoff for 7 p. m. local time in St. George, while another lists Saturday at 9 p. m. ET. Either way, the matchup pairs a Utah Valley team that averages 80. 5 points and outscores opponents by 12. 8 points per game against a Utah Tech team that averages 76. 1 points and has been strong at home.

One stylistic marker in the game notes centers on the 3-point line. Utah Tech averages 7. 8 made 3-pointers per game, while Utah Valley allows 6. 5 made 3s per game. Utah Valley averages 6. 6 made 3-pointers per game, while Utah Tech allows 6. 0 per game.

Additional individual leaders cited in the matchup capsule include Ethan Potter, who is averaging 16 points and 7. 9 rebounds for Utah Tech, and Trujillo, who is averaging 3. 2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games. For Utah Valley beyond Holcombe, Isaac Davis is averaging 15. 0 points over the last 10 games.

Still, the clearest consequence sits beyond Saturday’s final score: Utah Valley is already positioned as the WAC’s top seed with a semifinal bye in Las Vegas, while Utah Tech basketball uses the final Burns Arena date to test its recent form against the league’s regular-season champion. If Utah Valley’s efficiency markers hold in St. George, the Wolverines carry that profile into the WAC Tournament semifinal round next week in Las Vegas; if Utah Tech repeats its Feb. 13 result, it does so by beating the WAC’s top seed for a second time in league play.