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UVU head coach Todd Phillips and his staff watch the action during the WAC game against Southern Utah at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, March 1, 2025. They wore special “JST” shirts to honor Jeffrey Tolk, husband to UVU president Astrid Tuminez and a supporter of Wolverine athletics, who recently died.<\/p>\n
Courtesy UVU Athletics<\/p>\n
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UVU freshman Jackson Holcombe goes up for a dunk during the WAC game against Southern Utah at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, March 1, 2025.<\/p>\n
Courtesy UVU Athletics<\/p>\n
\u276e<\/a> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tUVU head coach Todd Phillips and his staff watch the action during the WAC game against Southern Utah at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, March 1, 2025. They wore special \u201cJST\u201d shirts to honor Jeffrey Tolk, husband to UVU president Astrid Tuminez and a supporter of Wolverine athletics, who recently died.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tUVU freshman Jackson Holcombe goes up for a dunk during the WAC game against Southern Utah at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, March 1, 2025.<\/p>\n \t\t\t The pecking order of men\u2019s college basketball means Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips and his staff are basically rebuilding their roster every season.<\/p>\n As a strong mid-major program, the Wolverines best players get raided by power conference teams and others chase the bag or more playing time. A successful season \u2014 UVU was 25-9 overall and 15-1 in the Western Athletic Conference last year, winning the regular season title \u2014 usually\u00a0 results in a lot of extra work for Phillips and his support staff on the recruiting trail.<\/p>\n \u201cOur main three guys (WAC Player of the Year Dominick Nelson, Tanner Toolson and Carter Welling) all got more than half a million dollars,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cI mean, you get a 10-times pay bump, we\u2019re all out the door.\u201d<\/p>\n Nelson (Iowa State), Toolson (TCU) and Welling (Clemson) are the biggest losses and Ethan Potter (Utah Tech), Cory Wells, Kylin Green and Osiris Grady are also gone. The main returners are junior point guard Trevan Leonhardt, sophomore forward Jackson Holcombe, senior forward Hayden Welling and graduate guard Noah Taitz.<\/p>\n UVU\u2019s 2025-26 roster is complete \u2014\u00a0 13 scholarship players, two walk-ons \u2014 and Phillips is happy with the lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got the roster done as quick as we ever have,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t really know how that happened. It\u2019s all about getting pieces and we got them all signed by the end of May, first week of June. It obviously hurts when someone leaves but we\u2019ve been doing this the past three or four years. You always make plans for the next group of guys. We wish Carter, Tanner and Dom would have stayed but we know where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n Holcombe, who averaged 5.3 points and 3.7 rebounds while playing 31 minutes per game off the bench last season, said the veterans can lead by example as the new players adjust.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the keys that made us successful last year is we would get big games from different guys,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need everyone in this locker room to work hard and depend on each other. We don\u2019t care who gets the credit. Our priority No. 1 is winning. That\u2019s our culture. Whatever it takes to do that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach Phillips does a great job of trusting players. He acknowledges our strengths and he\u2019s pretty vocal about that. He always puts us in the best position to be successful. Last year he really trusted us to play together.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillips likes to build around skilled and rangy post players, so that\u2019s where the roster takes shape for him.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s Isaac Davis (from Utah State),\u201d Phillips said. \u201cHe\u2019s 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds. He got some good minutes his freshman year and he\u2019s a guy who can make an impact right away. He\u2019s athletic and really a load down low. Then we got Isaac Hawkins (College of Southern Idaho), one of the top bigs in JUCO. He\u2019s 6-10, long and athletic. He needs to gain some weight but he\u2019s got a big-time motor.\u201d<\/p>\n UVU also secured a commitment from 6-11 center Joul Karram (University of Utah), who is playing with the Israeli U19 team this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited about our bigs,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cI always like guys after they\u2019ve had a year of college. They grow up and they blossom their sophomore year.\u201d<\/p>\n Losing Nelson and Toolson on the guard line required an influx of talented wing players. One of those newcomers is Tyler Hendricks (UCF), a 6-6 combo guard who came on late in the season for the Knights. He\u2019s the twin brother of current Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks.<\/p>\n Former Skyridge guard Brayden Housley was at Southern Utah and Utah State before opting to join the Wolverines. He\u2019s a 6-4 guard who is strong and can shoot and handle the ball.<\/p>\n UVU also signed AJ Riggs, a guard who played in the JUCO national championship two seasons ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve got a pretty good steal in him,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cHe has a high motor and really shoots it. He was one of the top JC kids in the country two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Sherman Witherspoon (Frank Phillips College) is another JUCO combo guard who will have an opportunity to grow in the Wolverines\u2019 system. UVU signed former Corner Canyon star guard Jaxon Roberts in 2023 and he has returned from a church mission to Spain.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll have more depth and we\u2019ll be more athletic than last year,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cThe biggest thing for me is we\u2019ve got to find the way that these guys fit together. That\u2019s the secret sauce and our strength last year. Identifying roles is going to be big for us. They need to be great at one or two things and then expand from that.\u201d<\/p>\n Another burden of a good mid-major program is being caught in limbo when it comes to scheduling.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the heart of it,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cWe\u2019re probably three-quarters of the way done. We\u2019ve got to schedule a couple of \u2018buy games\u2019 with some power four programs. You really have to set up a good schedule to be successful.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo years ago we were 33rd in strength of schedule but last year, it was more doable. We don\u2019t have any exciting in-state games but we do have one at the Delta Center that\u2019s pretty much done. We tried to schedule ten teams out of the Big 12, but they wouldn\u2019t play us.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with a big roster turnover, Phillips expects his team to be in the thick of things in the WAC, the program\u2019s last season in the league before moving to the Big West in 2026-27.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are huge expectations from our school and community,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cYou keep learning and growing. Guys get comfortable with their positions and with each other. We\u2019ve got to get the pieces to fit together and that\u2019s the biggest thing for us to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n Addition and Subtraction<\/p>\n Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips and his staff have rebuilt a roster than won the Western Athletic Conference regular season title last season. The new roster includes seven returners and nine newcomers.<\/p>\n Left the program (11)<\/p>\n Dominick Nelson 6-5 Jr. G (Iowa State)<\/p>\n Carter Welling 6-10 So. F (Clemson)<\/p>\n Tanner Toolson 6-5 R-So. (TCU)<\/p>\n Ethan Potter 6-8 Jr. F (Utah Tech)<\/p>\n Osiris Grady 6-9 So. F (UC Riverside)<\/p>\n Kylin Green 6-0 Jr. G (Houston Christian)<\/p>\n Dylan Metoyer 6-1 Fr. G (Howard)<\/p>\n Cory Wells 6-7 Gr. F (out of eligibility)<\/p>\n Andre Johnson Jr. 6-4 Jr. G<\/p>\n Jake Nadauld 6-3 Fr. G<\/p>\n Majer Sullivan 6-8 Jr. C<\/p>\n Returning to the program (6)<\/p>\n Jackson Holcombe 6-7 R-So. F (5.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg)<\/p>\n Noah Taitz 6-4 Gr. G (2.7 ppg, 41% 3s)<\/p>\n Trevan Leonhardt 6-4 R-Jr. G (5.8 ppg, 5.2 apg)<\/p>\n Hayden Welling 6-9 Sr. C (4.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg)<\/p>\n Tyler Weaver 6-7 R-Fr. (redshirt)<\/p>\n Tyler Medaris 6-7 R-Fr. (redshirt)<\/p>\n New to the program (9)<\/p>\n Isaac Davis 6-8 So. F (Utah State transfer)<\/p>\n Jaxon Roberts 6-2 Fr G (Corner Canyon, returned missionary)<\/p>\n Sherman Weatherspoon IV 6-3 Jr. G (Frank Phillips College transfer)<\/p>\n AJ Riggs 6-3 So. G (Fort Lewis College transfer)<\/p>\n Braden Housley 6-4 R-So. G (Utah State transfer)<\/p>\n Tyler Hendricks 6-6 R-Jr. G\/F (UCF transfer)<\/p>\n Isaac Hawkins 6-10 Jr\/ F (CSI transfer)<\/p>\n AJ Dixon 6-5 R-Fr. G (Western Illinois transfer)<\/p>\n Joul Karram 6-11 So. C (University of Utah transfer)<\/p>\n
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