Men's basketball free falling

In Boise, Idaho for the season opener Utah Valley played to the bitter end before losing to Boise State in overtime 72-71. In the rematch Utah Valley lost control and after leading at halftime and fell 87-77.
It was Utah Valley's (3-7) fifth loss in a row and the team has as many losses as last year's team had all season.
Again Ryan Toolson led the way for the Wolverines with 22 points and Jordan Brady had a career high 20 to go with eight rebounds but the Wolverines were burned by turnovers and second-half 3-point shooting by the Broncos.
Reggie Larry led Boise State with 18 points and had a couple nice dunks in the second half. A half where Boise State shot 5-for-7 from behind the arc and 60 percent from the field.
Although Toolson had 22 points it came on just 5-for-16 shooting and 2-for-10 from 3-point range.
Teams know Toolson is a scorer and they buckle down on him defensively. Last David Heck and Matt Peterson could take some pressure off and score as well but this year Toolson is the major threat offensively for the Wolverines by far and although he is still getting his points it is coming on a lot more shots. He also played every minute of the game.
Toolson and Brady had little help offensively as Richard Troyer was 3-for-9 and 1-for-6 from 3-point range. Josh Olsen shot 1-for-8 and 0-for-3 from the 3-point line.
And as poor of an offensive game as several players had, the Wolverines were still in it if they would have held possesion and played a bit tighter defense. The Broncos shot 50 percent for the game to Utah Valley's 41 percent.

Other notes
Center Joe Walker was another Wolverine haveing a nice game shooting 4-for-5 from the field before exiting because of a hand injury. Walker came up holding his hand after a Wolverine foul. He stayed in the game for a few minutes but after he threw down a two-handed dunk midway through the second half he called for a sub and never came back in. Boise pulled away for good in what was a close ball game and led by six to 10 points until the end.

New floor, no good?
Utah Valley is 0-2 on the new floor it shares with the Flash. While there was many complaints about the old floor and all the dead spots at least the team was winning. Utah State was the team's only loss at home last year. This already two now.
The women's team will try its hand for the first time on the new floor on Saturday. Maybe they can do better after two straight losses.

Tough night for Wolverine basketball--Women suffer 1st loss and men drop 3rd straight

Women suffer first loss
Montana State guard Rebecca Mercer scored 30 points as the Bobcats handed Utah Valley an unexpected first loss 79-69.
With an in-state match-up pending this weekend against BYU the Wolverines (8-1) couldn't stay undefeated.
BYU (3-5) also lost today, to New Mexico State 54-52.
For Utah Valley Julie McMurray led the team with 18 points against the Bobcats. Robyn Fairbanks scored 17 and had 10 rebounds and Sandy Marvin scored 14 points in the loss.
Those three took most of the offense on their shoulders like normal but they usually have some pretty good help from Rebekah Peterson but she missed both of her field goals and scored just two points.
AS dissapointing as the loss is the season is still off to a great start. The team just has to make sure they don't into a similar slump they fell into last season.
After staring 10-1 in 2006 the women won just one game in their next 10 games.
Interestingly that 1-9 span started with a loss to BYU and their only win in that period was against Montana State.
They play two teams they lost to last year during that span this month also, Portland and Portland State, both at home.
It's hard to see this team going through anoter 1-9 period because of the experience and leaders on the team but they do play some tough games this month besides BYU. Of, course the toughest game of the season will be at Duke.
But potential is still there for the team's best record at Utah Valley.

Men drop third straight
Utah Valley got within three points in the second half but it just couldn't get over the deficit, which at one point was 15 in the first half, against Cal State Northridge of the Big West Conference.
With only three combined points from from Jordan Brady and Richard Troyer the team fell 76-64.
It doesn't get easier either for the men. On Friday they play UC Santa Barbara, a team picked to win the Big West.
It seems like coach Dick Hunsaker is trying to make something happen with the line up as freshman center Brian Anderson and guard Jabir Jinna got their first starts as a Wolverine. In a post game interview Hunsaker said Anderson played well but made some mistakes, as expected from the young guys.
This year's schedule gives Utah Valley a chance to see where it is at compared to so-called mid-major schools and so far it asn't been good.
Utah Valley will return home for a rematch against Boise State, UV lost in overtime to the Broncos in the season opener, Dec. 13 before hitting the road again.

0-2 not good, not bad

An 0-2 start for the men's basketball team isn't good of course but there are some positives.
First the schedule isn't kind with three straight road games. At Boise in the season opener the wolverines missed a chance to end the game in regulation and then couldn't climb back when the Broncos got up in OT. Ryan Toolson is still carrying the offense and it might have hurt them down three with 20 seconds because everyone knew who was going to try and take the final shot.
Against No. 12 Marquette Utah Valley led at halftime 34-32 but scored only 21 second-half points and Marquette won 66-55. Utah Valley should be good though. Last year Hunsaker talked about how hard the road is in college basketball but it's what Utah Valley has to go through.
Toolson and Jordan Brady are going to a pretty dynamic duo this season and Joe Walker brings length and excitement to the defense when players get beat.
The schedule eases after the road trip and Utah Valley should go on a nice win streak.