The hoops are up once again in the Burns Arena as the Utah Tech men’s basketball team blazes into the start of the 2025-26 season. This marks the team’s final year in the Western Athletic Conference before it enters the Big Sky Conference next season.
Last season, the team finished 7-26 overall and 2-11 in conference play, which earned them the last-place spot in the WAC. Despite that slide, they ended the season on a high note with a 72-65 win against Southern Utah University in the WAC tournament. That win sent the Trailblazers to play at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, where the season ended with a 57-74 loss to Utah Valley University.
This year, the team looks different due to players graduating or hitting the transfer portal, including starters Beon Riley, Noa Gonsalves and Hakim Byrd.
Notable returners include Madiba Owana, who earned WAC All Freshman Honors and started in 10 games, and Samuel “Tobi” Ariyibi, a senior communication studies major from Lagos, Nigeria, who averaged eight points and five rebounds per game for Utah Tech.
“My goal this year didn’t change from last year,” Ariyibi said. “It’s still to be effective [on the court]… Hopefully all the hard work [in the] summertime pays up.”
Ariyibi and Owana are two of only six returners from last year’s squad, and the only two who had consistent playing time, said head coach Jon Judkins. One goal of the offseason was to replace the graduating seniors and other players lost to the transfer portal.
“You [got to] look at the ones we lost,” Judkins said, specifically referencing graduates Byrd and Gonsalves. “We needed to find a point guard, [and] we needed to find a shooting guard.”
Judkins pointed out specific players whom he feels confident will contribute to the team’s success, including Boston Harker, a junior applied sociology major from Alberta, Canada.
Harker transferred from Garden City Community College in Kansas and hopes to bring a winning mindset to the team.
“[Utah Tech] wants to do what’s best for the players and the community and the program,” Harker said when asked about why he chose UT. “I just want to win.”
With new players comes the challenge of establishing a strong team culture, and Judkins said one of their main goals is to show up and compete every single day.
“We want to have a bunch of good guys, good students, good players, good people,” he said.
The team suited up for the first time Oct. 18 for an exhibition game against West Coast Baptist College Eagles, a team from Lancaster, California, and a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association. Judkins said he wanted to use this game to prepare for the Trailblazers’ first official game on Nov. 3 at the University of South Dakota.
Exhibition games give teams the chance to refine their skills in real-life game situations. Judkins emphasized the benefit of playing in these games because they allow him to see if the offensive and defensive schemes will be effective. These games do not count toward the team’s official record.
The Trailblazer defense smothered the Eagles and held them to only 21 points in the first half. Good ball movement and strong shooting performances led the Trailblazers to a win by a whopping 50 points, with 105-55 being the final score.
UT won’t return to the Burns Arena until Nov. 5, and the rest of their schedule can be found here.
