Pac-12
Trey Woodbury and Utah Valley picked up a win over a Pac-12 foe for the second straight year. Courtesy UVU Athletics.

MBB: Woodbury, Utah Valley Get Win Over Pac-12 Foe Once Again

Thursday marks the day when Utah Valley got its first Power 5 win of the 2021-22 season. Fardaws Aimaq and the Wolverines knocked off Pac-12 foe Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena on Dec. 21, 2021.

Well, 364 days later, Utah Valley got another win over a Pac-12 foe.

Trey Woodbury has a team-high 24 points as Utah Valley led for nearly 33 minutes in a 77-72 win at Oregon on Wednesday night.

Along with his 24 points, Trey Woodbury also had nine rebounds and six assists. Justin Harmon and Tim Ceaser each had 13 points for the Wolverines.

For the second straight year, Utah Valley picked up a win over a Pac-12 foe. And in the process, picked up a Quad 1 win as Oregon was at 56 in the NET.

“I was proud of our players,” said Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen. “I was really proud of the way they played and competed. We made big plays when we had to make big plays.”

After Oregon took an 8-4 lead with 15:47 to play, the Wolverines went on an 11-2 run to take a 15-10 lead with 11:58 left in the first half.

And the Wolverines never trailed again.

A 10-0 run over a 90-second span pushed the lead to 28-18 with 6:23 to play.

And then Trey Woodbury sparked another 11-2 run to push the lead to 17 right before the break.

Justin Harmon’s 3-pointer with 36 seconds to play capped the run as Utah Valley lead 41-24 at halftime.

It is a mystery what Oregon head coach Dana Altman said at halftime. But, something clicked. The Ducks attacked the glass after halftime. Especially on the offensive side of the floor. And Utah Valley really had troubles corralling a defensive rebound. The Ducks had 17 second-half offensive boards. And it is what got Oregon back into the game.

Add in that Quincy Guerrier decided to hit some shots, and the Ducks had Utah Valley on the ropes.

Tahj Small’s jumper with 11:47 to play gave Utah Valley a 56-40 lead.

But after the under 8 media timeout, Guerrier took over for the Ducks. Seven straight points from Oregon’s senior forward capped off with a 3-pointer cut he deficit to four with 5:51 to play.

However, Le’Tre Darthard answered on the other end with a teardrop floater in the lane. And three possessions later, after Oregon cut the deficit to four once again, Darthard hit arguably the biggest shot of the game.

Darthard’s corner 3-pointer pushed the lead back to seven with under four minutes to play.

After five straight points from Guerrier cut the deficit to two with 1:22 to play, Trey Woodbury responded with a jumper.

And Utah Valley finished out the night going 6-7 from the charity stripe to seal the big road win to end non-conference play.

“Le’Tre (Darthard) came up with a huge three in the corner and Trey Wood came up with a huge pull-up jumper on a side out-of-bounds play,” Madsen said. “You have to give Oregon a lot of credit. They pounded us on the glass. We got into foul trouble and Ethan Potter stepped into the game and did a really nice job.”

And Madsen is right…that Oregon pounded Utah Valley on the glass. The Pac-12 Ducks held a 53-36 advantage on the glass. 22 of those 53 rebounds came on the offensive glass and led to 23 second-chance points. 17 of those offensive boards came in the second half.

Part of that was that Utah Valley was in foul trouble all night. Forwards Tim Ceaser and Tim Fuller each fouled out. Aziz Bandaogo had to be careful as he played with four fouls for most of the second half.

Either way, Utah Valley did what it needed to do: hit shots, managed runs, and took care of the basketball on the road. The Wolverines committed just nine turnovers on the night.

Utah Valley improves to 9-4 overall and now has seven days before opening WAC play. The Wolverines host Sam Houston at the UCCU Center on Dec. 29.

About the author

Kyle McDonald

Love everything about WAC Hoops so decided I wanted to write more about it and cover this amazing conference that just keeps getting better. Follow us on Twitter @wachoopsdigest for information, game analysis and much more.

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