Preview: Oregon State WBB versus Utah Valley

After a closer than anticipated season opener, Oregon State welcomes Utah Valley to Gil Coliseum for their second game of the young season. The game tips off on November 15th at 6 PM. You can listen to the game online here. Let’s take a closer look at the Wolverines.

Utah Valley Wolverines (0-2)

The Wolverines are led by a couple of preseason All-WAC selections in guards Taylor Christensen and Mariah Seals. An interesting footnote is that last year’s leading rebounder from the WAC, center Sam Lubcke, is no longer listed on the roster despite being selected to the preseason All-WAC team as well. There was no formal announcement made from the school, but, apparently, Lubcke is now playing professionally in Turkey.

Utah Valley has gotten off to a rough start as they dropped their first contest to Weber State, 75-57, and then fell last night at Portland, 71-64, in overtime. Christensen and Seals lead the team in scoring so far at 14.5 and 13 points per game respectively. While the Wolverines have a couple of quality scores, they have only shot 35% as a team so far this season.

The Wolverines lack height as well as they have just two players listed over six feet (the tallest is 6’2’’) and one of their best players, Seals, stands at just 5’3’’. They are also quite young in the front court as there is only 3 collective years of college experience among four players.

Prediction

Between the height difference, the lack of front court depth for Utah Valley, and the fact that they’re playing their second road game in as many nights, expect Oregon State to run away with this one.