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Orem
Forty minutes before the game, coach Mark Pope walked into the locker room and glimpsed the warm-up shirts — lime green, with a hint of camouflage — his Utah Valley University basketball players were wearing Thursday night as the school honored students with military backgrounds. He liked the look, but only if the shirts worked.
"If we don't win," Pope joked, "we gotta burn 'em."
The Wolverines won, so the shirts will be preserved after a night that ended with senior guard Marcel Davis' drive for a layup with 0.9 seconds left in a 74-72 victory over Chicago State at the UCCU Center.
Davis' finishing play came after UVU lost an 11-point lead in the second half and Chicago State had the ball in a tie game in the last minute, seeking its first Western Athletic Conference win of the season. Turns out, that was just part of the drama. Pope seemingly scripted everything Thursday, right down to the last-second shot and the exchange of water balloons that ensued as the Wolverines celebrated in the locker room.
Hoping to drive some interest in his program as a first-year coach, Pope allowed media access to his pregame, halftime and postgame speeches in the locker room. My biggest takeaway? Everything you hear about "halftime adjustments" is overstated.
With his team leading 31-28, Pope spent much of the 15-minute with his staff, while the players talked among themselves and just rested. His brief talk was interactive, as he asked the players what they thought they had done well or poorly in the first half — all basic stuff — as opposed to lecturing them.
"Our job is to make sure it's inside these guys," Pope said later. "So I like when my guys talk back to me. I like to ask them questions. Part of it is to see how much they heard us during timeouts … part of it is minimal halftime adjustments."
UVU responded by scoring the first eight points of the second half, but the visiting Cougars eventually caught up. Pope loves how his team battles, and the Wolverines have managed to go 11-15 (5-6 in the WAC) with a roster affected by injuries and the transition to a new coaching staff. With three transfers from four-year schools redshirting this season, UVU will be much better positioned in the coming years, when Pope promises, "This place is going to feel so different."
Even in its short-handed condition, the program is enjoying a healthy vibe. Former coach Dick Hunsaker built UVU from a junior college program to a WAC regular-season champion, with some residual effects of his old-school, demanding nature. Pope came from BYU after four years as an assistant coach, bringing a different approach.
"Day one, since [Pope] got here, there's been a whole new feeling," Davis said. "There's joy all around campus."
That certainly was true Thursday night, at least in this snapshot. UVU president Matthew Holland walked into the locker room with his wife, Paige, and said, "I heard there might be water balloons and a little bit of cussing, but we're here anyway."
And then Holland delivered his own shot, splashing Pope.
Holland told the players how major donors from the school's Presidents Circle attended the game, and he appreciated their performance in front of that audience: "You guys put on a show."
So did Pope, who managed to make it all feel authentic, even with cameras rolling. After the way everything played out Thursday, he promised to make "Media All-Access Night" an annual event — although he can't guarantee another dramatic ending like the one Davis provided. Such innovations are necessary to get attention, in a market where BYU overshadows everyone. UVU is averaging about 2,200 fans, with two home games remaining, including Saturday night's meeting with Missouri-Kansas City.
Those numbers should rise as Pope build his program. One other observation: In his pregame talks, Pope never said anything about how UVU's players needed to take Chicago State seriously, even though the Cougars arrived with an 0-10 conference record and were 0-14 on the road.
When I asked him about that, he smiled. "We're so limited … the one thing we don't have to worry about this year is our guys taking anybody for granted," Pope said.
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