Tarleton State, Utah Valley meet in conference play

Tarleton State (3-7, 0-4) vs. Utah Valley (5-6, 3-0)

UCCU Events Center, Orem, Utah; Friday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: WAC foes meet as Tarleton State matches up against Utah Valley. Tarleton State blew out Howard Payne by 60 at home on Monday, while Utah Valley is coming off of a 96-78 road loss on Saturday to St. John's.

BIG MEN ON CAMPUS: Utah Valley's Fardaws Aimaq has averaged 16.8 points and 14.9 rebounds while Trey Woodbury has put up 16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists. For the Texans, Montre' Gipson has averaged 17.2 points and 4.1 rebounds while Tahj Small has put up 10.2 points and 6.4 rebounds.

STEPPING IT UP: The Wolverines have scored 83.7 points per game and allowed 73 points per game in conference play thus far. Those are both nice improvements over the 64.3 points scored and 83 points given up per game to non-conference foes.MIGHTY MONTRE': Gipson has connected on 53.6 percent of the 28 3-pointers he's attempted and has gone 6 for 10 over the last three games. He's also made 84.8 percent of his foul shots this season.

SLIPPING AT 59: Tarleton State is 0-7 when it allows at least 59 points and 3-0 when it holds opponents to less than 59.

PERFECT WHEN: Utah Valley is a sterling 5-0 when its defense holds opponents to a field goal percentage of 41.3 percent or less. The Wolverines are 0-6 when they let opponents to shoot any better than that.

DID YOU KNOW: The Tarleton State defense has forced opponents into turnovers on an impressive 27.7 percent of all possessions, which ranks the Texans second among Division I teams. Utah Valley has turned the ball over on 21 percent of its possessions (ranking the Wolverines 260th, nationally).

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