The last time the Utah Valley Wolverines played a game in the state of North Carolina, there was a lot of offense. Remember that? It was on Nov. 15, 2022 when Utah Valley nearly knocked off Wake Forest in a 68-65 overtime thriller.
For the second straight year, Utah Valley traveled to the state of North Carolina for a basketball game. Unfortunately, for the Wolverines, the offense must have missed the flight.
Utah Valley shot just 34 percent from the field and the Charlotte 49ers took advantage.
Dishon Jackson had a game-high 16 points to lead Charlotte to a 62-45 win over the Wolverines on Tuesday night at Halton Arena.
Ig Milicic Jr., Lu’c Patterson and Nik Graves were also in double figures for the 49ers with 15, 13, and 11 points, respectively.
But, this game was about Utah Valley and its lack of offense.
To put this in perspective…it was a 41-39 ball game with just over nine minutes to play.
And Utah Valley had a chance to tie the ball game at 41. However, Trevin Dorius, in tonight’s narrative, missed a layup. Dorius got the offensive rebound and missed the put back.
That is where the second half changed. The Wolverines went over five minutes without points at that juncture. And Charlotte went on a 10-0 run. Caleb Stone-Carrawell’s bucket with 3:54 left broke the scoring drought.
However, it was too little too late.
Jaden McClanahan hit a pair of free throws with 2:24 to play. Those were the final points of the night for the Wolverines.
So, a total of seven minutes and 48 seconds without points.
What might make the Wolverines even more upset is that it wasn’t like Charlotte was shooting the lights out.
In fact, the 49ers shot just 40 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from 3-point range.
It was simply a matter of a lack of offense for the Wolverines. Layups, jumpers, 3-pointer. And yes, even a missed dunk that Drake Allen was shocked didn’t go down.
Utah Valley was 3-16 from 3-point range. To go along with the struggles from the perimeter, Utah Valley was also 6-11 from the free throw line.
“There were just some things we did that weren’t acceptable,” Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips said. “That we gotta be way better at. It’s a process.
Phillips also said in his postgame comments on ESPN960 that Trevin Dorius was playing through an illness.
“He probably spent more time in the locker room than on the bench. Gutsy performance by him. We needed him tonight.”
Drake Allen led Utah Valley with 12 points. Caleb Stone-Carrawell finished with 10 points. Trevin Dorius had 8 points and 8 rebounds while playing through a sickness.
Offense was hard to come by on Tuesday night. For Utah Valley’s sake, perhaps going to a warmer climate in St. Augustine, Florida will help the Wolverines warm up.
Sitting at 2-1, Utah Valley takes on Southern Miss on Sunday in the Jacksonville Class.
“it’s a process,” Phillips said. “We have to learn and grow from these situations and get better.”
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