UVU men’s basketball road trips provide building block for athletic program | News, Sports, Jobs

It had been a frustrating afternoon for the UVU men’s basketball team on Saturday.

The Wolverines had played well on the road in Corvallis, Oregon, against a big, physical Oregon State team. UVU built an early lead only to see the Beavers get hot in the second half and come back.

The visitors had a couple of chances to tie the game in the final seconds, but one shot rimmed out, another got blocked (on a play that might have been goaltending) and a final 3-pointer at the buzzer came up short as Oregon State held on for the 74-71 win.

“They are big and physical,” Wolverine head coach Todd Phillips said. “All year they have pounded it inside and at times I thought we handled it really well. At times we didn’t. We’ve got to be better.”

But as they got off the bus and made their way onto the plane in Eugene, Oregon, to head back to Utah, the UVU players and coaches were greeted by applause from a flight full of Wolverine supporters.

“It was pretty cool to see that,” UVU senior guard Jaden McClanahan said.

While that moment may have lifted the spirits of the UVU squad, it didn’t come as a surprise.

During the game, the 150 Wolverine fans had certainly made their presence known in the relatively quiet, sparsely-filled Gill Coliseum. The announced attendance was 2,867 but the UVU contingent was some of the most vocal at the game.

“It was great,” Phillips said. “They put some of them up in the rafters, which opponents do, but we could hear our fans. It’s great for our guys to hear that and feed off of that a little bit. They feel the support and I think they play harder because of it.”

McClanahan grinned as he talked about being on the floor and listening to the cheers when his team scored or made a good defensive play.

“It was great,” McClanahan said. “Bringing our fans and traveling like this makes it feel like we are at home. While I was playing and we did something good, I was hearing our crowd. That’s great to be on the road and have that support, for sure.”

As UVU athletic director Jared Sumsion looked at the green-clad groups — some of which were near the UVU bench with others on the second level of the arena, he couldn’t help but remember other similar trips in years past and how great it is to see such support for the Wolverines.

“Our group of charter fans can sometimes drown out the noise of an entire an entire arena,” Sumsion said. “It’s fun. I remember a couple years ago when we were at Kentucky. I think we were up by four with like two minutes left or something, and from the rafters where they put our fans I could hear ‘UVU! UVU!’ The players hear that and it motivates them.”

Although it was just a one-day trip, it was an outing that UVU put significant time in planning and executing to make it the best experience possible for everyone involved.

“Our institutional advancement team puts in many, many hours just organizing a trip like this,” Sumsion said. “We’re very fortunate that UVU has an aviation department that helps us organize the trip including getting us better rates on charter flights and help take care of all the little details just to get the flight going. Then there are 150 people who are all very important to the entire university so it’s important to make sure that all their needs are taken care of and that they have a have a good time.”

The emphasis on getting the details right could be seen from the start as the UVU group gathered at the Provo Airport around 8 a.m., were treated to a continental breakfast and received a snack box, drinks and a small gift bag as they boarded the charter flight to Oregon.

It was overcast and drizzly when the plane touched down in Eugene and loaded on charter buses for the 45-minute drive to Corvallis, but the Wolverine supporters were in good spirits as they posed for a group photo, checked out the food delivery robots that look like automated rolling coolers cruising the sidewalks of the Oregon State campus, then enjoyed lunch together at the Corvallis Museum.

“We’ve really only had automatic qualifiers the NCAA tournament for 10 years,” Sumsion told the group. “To be able to be here and to see what has been established in a short amount of time, it’s amazing to see us accelerate to who we are now and who we’re trying to become.

“The foundation is still being laid but we’re ready. We’ve got the plans and we’re building on that foundation now. It’s really, really fun to be a part of a progressive athletic department that’s not okay with mediocre. We’re trying to put ourselves on the map and really help our university have more national recognition. As an alum myself, it just brings me great pride to be able to be a little part of that.”

Last year’s big trip was to Wake Forest and previously UVU previously went to places like Kentucky and Duke. Although all of those games resulted in losses for the Wolverines, the team has proven it can compete with big-budget opponents like the Demon Deacons and the Beavers.

“Every time we’ve done this, our teams have given their best effort and we’ve been really, really close,” Sumsion said. “The team really responds when we put a put in an even a bigger effort on their behalf. We love to see it all come together with a big team and group effort.”

This is McClanahan’s fourth year at UVU, so he’s seen the program grow and get more attention. He sees trips like this help the athletes see the backing of the university community.

“I feel like it helps us play better,” McClanahan said. “We always say that when we are on the road it’s just the guys in the locker room but having the fans come out is even better. These last two trips, you want the wins but just having the fans there definitely boosts us. I feel like if our fans had been closer, we probably would’ve taken over their crowd.”

The bottom line is that the Wolverine athletic department is carving out its own niche in Utah’s college sports community and individuals like those who were on the trip play an enormous role in making that happen.

“These fans are not just giving of their time and talents and their treasure to UVU, but they’re really putting their heart and soul and helping to will our team on to victory,” Sumsion said. “It just means the world to me because I remember the days where we were begging people to come to games and support us. Now they’ve got their own Wolverine clothes and they’re coming to all the games and supporting us financially. It’s almost a full-circle effort when you get to see it come to fruition on it on a game like today.”

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