Men’s basketball handled in opening exhibition

Dave Iba/UVU Review

A bit of a chill in the air, the sounds of constant squeaks on the floor and the echoing of screaming coaches throughout the McKay Events center can mean only one thing: Wolverine basketball has begun.

In the Wolverines opening exhibition game the Spartans of Trinity Western University came to Orem and made themselves right at home, handing UVU an astounding 77-58 loss on Nov. 3.

“It’s great to play an exhibition game and it’s great to play some games that we can learn from,” said head coach Dick Hunsaker,
“There are certainly a lot of things for us to review, a lot of great tape material, and I thought Trinity Western came out with a lot of energy and emotion.”

Offensively the Wolverines were out of rhythm right from the start, not posting a field goal until four minutes into the game. UVU shot 43 percent from the field for the game.

Going into halftime the score was tied at 35, but the Spartans came out firing in the second half, going on a 16-5 run right after the break and it was all TWU from that point on.

“They (Trinity Western) got out and they shot the ball extremely well,” said Hunsaker, “But they also shot extremely well with open shots.”

In the second half alone TWU shot 56 percent from the floor and 53 percent from beyond the arc, while the Wolverines shot a dismal 33 percent from the field and 20 percent from behind the three point line.

The contest was not all bad however.  Kevin Woods, who was out all last year with a torn ACL, led all Wolverines with 14 points on five-of-eight shooting, and Tyray Petty had 10 points and eight rebounds in just 28 minutes of play.

UVU will try and work out the kinks before they kick off their first regular season game as a Division-I school against Great West
Conference foe North Dakota State on Nov. 13.