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A new head coach, renewed rivalries and a regional televised appearance on Fox Sports Southwest against Texas, highlight the 2006-07 UT Arlington men's basketball schedule which was released today.
First-year head coach Scott Cross returns two starters from last year's team, including junior point guard Rodrick Epps. The Richardson, Texas, native takes over the reins from departed senior Brady Dawkins and leads eight returning letterwinners into the 2006-07 season.
The Mavericks, coming off of a 14-16 season in '05-06, open their campaign at home hosting UT Tyler on Nov. 11, before traveling to take on local rivals, North Texas on Nov. 15, and TCU on Nov. 18.
UT Arlington will then play UT Pan American in a home-and-home series, hosting the Broncs on Nov. 21, and then traveling to Edinburg on Nov. 27. The Mavericks close out November with a home game versus Austin College on the Nov. 30.
In December, UT Arlington will hit the road for five-straight games. The Mavericks travel to the Midwest to play both Illinois State (Dec. 2) and Western Illinois (Dec. 4). After almost two weeks off, UT Arlington travels to Norman to take on the tradition-rich Sooners of Oklahoma on Dec. 16. After a quick turnaround, the Mavericks travel to Los Angeles to face UC-Riverside on Dec. 20. From there, they will fly to Houston and face Texas Southern on Nov. 20th. A home game versus UT Dallas on Dec. 30 closes out the fall semester.
On Jan. 2, UT Arlington will match up against NCAA Regional Finalist, Texas. The game will be televised regionally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7 p.m. and will be the Mavericks' last non-conference game. The Longhorns have advanced to eight-straight NCAA tournaments.
New to the Southland Conference this season will be divisional play and the addition of Central Arkansas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. There will be two six-team divisions. The West division will comprise of Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, UT Arlington and UT San Antonio. The East division will consist of Central Arkansas, Lamar, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana. The Mavericks will play two games each versus their divisional opponents and one game versus the other division.
The Mavericks open conference play with Central Arkansas at Texas Hall on Jan. 4. They follow that with a game against reigning SLC Champ Northwestern State on Jan. 6. Lamar (Feb. 8) will be the only other Eastern Division to visit Texas Hall. UT Arlington will have road games at Nicholls State (Jan. 11), Southeastern Louisiana (Jan. 13) and McNeese State (Feb. 10).
UT Arlington will close out the regular season with two home games versus Stephen F. Austin (Feb. 24) and Texas State (March 3).
This year's conference tournament format has changed. For the previous five seasons the tournament has had the higher seed host each game. This season all tournament games will be played at the Campbell Center in Aldine, Texas, a suburb of Houston, on March 8-11. The top eight teams will compete and be held along with the SLC Women's Tournament.
