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Mark Madsen’s UVU Wolverines fall short in WAC tournament, will play New Mexico in NIT

‘We want to win a championship,’ says Mark Madsen, the men’s basketball coach

Utah Valley University head men’s basketball coach Mark Madsen gives instruction to his team.

Utah Valley University head men’s basketball coach Mark Madsen gives instruction to his team during a game. UVU will play in the National Invitational Tournament against New Mexico on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

UVU Athletics


Mark Madsen’s UVU Wolverines fall short in WAC tournament, will play New Mexico in NIT

‘We want to win a championship,’ says Mark Madsen, the men’s basketball coach

Utah Valley University head men’s basketball coach Mark Madsen gives instruction to his team.

Utah Valley University head men’s basketball coach Mark Madsen gives instruction to his team during a game. UVU will play in the National Invitational Tournament against New Mexico on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

UVU Athletics

After falling short in the Western Athletic Conference tournament, head coach Mark Madsen’s Utah Valley University men’s basketball team has accepted a bid to play in the 32-team National Invitational Tournament.

The Wolverines, a squad that finished 25-8 and won the WAC regular season title, will play at New Mexico on Wednesday, March 15. The game is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. The winner will face the winner of Colorado and Seton Hall.

Madsen, the WAC Coach of the Year, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“We’ll take a day or two to cool off, process what happened tonight, and learn from it,” Madsen told KSL.com. “I’ll make adjustments as a head coach that will help put our guys in a better situation to finish off games like this.

“We absolutely are going to play in the NIT, and we want to win a championship. We need some time to decompress, and then we’ll be back at it working.”

UVU lost to Southern Utah, 89-88, in the WAC semifinals on Friday, March 10, after holding a double-digit lead in the second half.

This will be Utah Valley’s second appearance in the NIT. The first appearance came in a loss at California in 2014.

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