Feb. 27, 2009

UT ARLINGTON GAME NOTES

ARLINGTON, Tx. - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS The UTA Mavericks come into today's game 15-11 overall and 8-5 in Southland Conference play...the Mavs are 2 games behind Sam Houston State who are 10-3 in SLC play...UTA had their season-high 5-game winning streak stopped Wednesday with a 75-64 loss at Lamar...even after that loss to the Cardinals, the Mavs are 11-5 in their last 16 games...the Mavericks have 8 conference wins this season which is the most since 2006-07 when they also had 8.

COVERAGE The game can heard throughout the Dallas/Ft. Worth area on KHYI - 95.3 The Range with Pete Tenney calling the action...it will also be available on the internet at khyi.com and radio.uta.edu...Gametracker is also available via utamavs.com.

UTA - SHSU SERIES This is the 51st meeting between the schools...SHS leads the series 31-19 but the Mavericks lead the series 13-10 in games played in Arlington...the Mavericks have lost the last 4 regular season meetings between the schools with their last such win coming on 1/25/07 (78-65 in Arlington)...UTA defeated the Bearkats 72-66 in the semifinals of last year's SLC Tournament.

THIS SEASON'S PREVIOUS MEETING - SAM HOUSTON STATE 78, UT ARLINGTON 74 Ashton Mitchell made seven free throws late and scored 14 points to lead Sam Houston State to a 78-74 victory over UTA. Drae Murray scored 14 points for the Bearkats (9-8, 3-1 Southland), Corey Allmond added 12 and Barkley Falkner scored 10 points to go along with 13 rebounds. The game was tied eight times and the lead changed nine. Marquez Haynes led the Mavericks (10-8, 3-2) with 26 points, Anthony Vereen scored 20 and Roge'r Guignard added 14. Sam Houston State outscored the Mavericks 32-20 in bench points, but lost the points in the paint battle, 32-10.

MAVERICKS HEAD COACH Scott Cross Scott Cross is in his 3rd season as the head coach at UT Arlington...he has a career coaching record of 49-40 (.551)...he has a career SLC regular season record of 23-22 and 3-1 in the conference tournament...he has a career record of 2-4 vs. Sam Houston State...Cross led the Mavericks to their first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2008 after winning the Southland Conference Tournament...in 2008 he led his team to a school-record 21 victories and his team completed a school record 17-game home winning streak (3 games in `07 and the first 14 of `08)...a 1998 graduate of UT Arlington, Cross was a 2-time Academic All-American at his alma mater where he lettered 3 times from 1995-98.

ALL-AROUND PERFORMANCES Anthony Vereen is the ONLY player in the Southland Conference to be in the top 10 in scoring (2nd, 17.2), rebounding 10th, 6.7), FG% (3rd, 56.7), FT% (9th, 77.7) and defensive rebounds (T10th, 4.6)...Marquez Haynes is the ONLY player in the Southland Conference to appear in the list of leaders in scoring (5th, 15.7), rebounding (23rd, 5.2) and assists (9th, 3.5)...the Mavericks are also the only team in the conference to have 3 players among the top 10 in assists with Roge'r Guignard at 7th, Jeremy Smith 9th and Haynes 10th...UTA is the only conference school to have 2 players in the top 10 in rebounding in Tommy Moffitt (7th, 6.8) and Vereen (10th, 6.7).

TEXAS HALL HAS BEEN GOOD FOR THE MAVS The Mavericks are playing just their 10th home game of the season...they are 8-1 at Texas Hall this season...over the last 2 seasons the Mavs are now 22-4 at Texas Hall.

DAY TRIPPIN' Today's game is the 6th daytime contest of the season...the Mavs are 3-2 in afternoon games which includes winning its last 3 daytime starts...including today, the Mavs play one more day game - next Saturday vs. TAMU-CC..

NEW HOME FOR MAVERICKS The UT System Board of Regents approved funding for UTA's Special Events Center on Feb. 12...the new home of the Mavericks men's, women's basketball and volleyball teams is expected to open for the 2012-13 season...the new arena is expected to seat 6,650 for basketball.

SO FAR SO GOOD AGAINST OTHER SIDE OF THE CONFERENCE The Mavericks are 5-0 against teams from the SLC East Division...UTA plays at Nicholls Wednesday to complete its schedule against those teams...5 of the Mavs final 9 conference games are against the East Division teams.

LAST GAME - LAMAR 75, UT ARLINGTON 64 Anthony Miles scored 24 points and Brandon McThay added 20 to lead Lamar to a 75-64 victory over Texas-Arlington on Wednesday. Lamar (15-12, 6-7 Southland) led by as many as 14 in the second half. Miles was 11-of-18 from the field and 2-of-4 at the free-throw line. McThay made three 3-pointers and all but one of his 10 free throws. Jay Brown scored 14 points off the bench and pulled down eight rebounds for the Cardinals. Marquez Haynes led the Mavericks (15-11, 8-5) with 16 points while Anthony Vereen added 15 and Roge'r Guignard scored 12. Vereen and Haynes each had nine rebounds. Lamar led 37-31 at the half.

VEREEN, GUIGNARD MAKING THEIR MARK IN THE UTA RECORD BOOKS Earlier this season Anthony Vereen and Roge'r Guignard each passed the 1,000-career point mark...Vereen is now 3rd with 1,391 points (Steven Thomas is 2nd at 1,411) while Guignard now has 1,087 career points which is 12th on the all-time list (Mack Callier is 11th at 1,111)...Vereen is one of 18 UTA players to have at least 500 rebounds and has 572 career boards (9th)...he is just the 9th player in school history to have 1000 points and 500 rebounds...Guignard has 284 career assists and is 9th on the UTA all-time list...he is just the 4th player in school history to have 1,000 points and 270 assists.

ONLY ONE IN THESE FOUR The Mavericks are the only team in the Southland Conference to be ranked in the top 3 in scoring (78.1, 2nd), field goal percentage (47.2%, 2nd), 3-point field goal percentage (35.0%, 3rd) and free throw percentage (74.1%, 1st).

WINS BY LARGE MARGINS; LOSSES BY SMALL MARGINS The Mavericks have posted double-digit wins in 7 of the last 10 wins (only exception were the 2 wins vs. UTSA and at SELA)...10 of the Mavericks 15 wins have been by at least 10 points...UTA average winning margin is 13.1 ppg...6 of UTA's 11 losses this season have come by 4 points or less...UTA's 11-point loss at Lamar was only the 3rd double-digit loss...6 of the last 11 games have been decided by 7 points or less.

WINS AND LOSSES There are some notable differences in the Mavericks wins and losses...the opponents are shooting 40% from the field and 30.2% from 3-point range in UTA wins but those numbers increase to 49.3% and 37.4% in the Mavs losses...rebounding also tells the story as the Mavs average 39.9 pg in the victories but just 32.0 in the losses...in the wins the Mavs are averaging 82.7 points per game but in the losses that average drops to 71.8 a contest.

TEAM NOTES The Mavericks were held to a season-low 64 points at Lamar...that was only the 2nd time in SLC play they have been held under 70 points (67 vs. SFA)...prior to the Lamar game, the Mavs had scored at least 74 points in 15 of the previous 17 contests...UTA is 9-0 when scoring 80 or more points and 17-3 when doing so dating back to last year...UTA's conference scoring average of 79.4 is first the Southland and its overall scoring average of 78.1 ppg is 2nd.

UTA recorded a season-low 33.3% (18-54) FG% at Lamar after shooting a season-high 57.9% (33-57) vs. UCA...it was the first time the Mavs have shot under 40% in a game this season...UTA has outshot its opponent in 13 of the last 16 games and have lost the 3 in which they did not (at TSU, at TAMU-CC and at Lamar)...the Mavs have shot 50% or better 10 times in `08-'09 and have won all of those games...UTA has won 14 of its last 15 games dating back to last year in which they have shot at least 50% from the field...the Mavs are 2nd in the Southland Conference at 47.2% from the field.

UTA made just 7-22 (31.8%) 3-pointers at Lamar after shooting 39.4% in the 2 previous games...the Mavs have shot 40% or better from long range in just 2 of the last 8 games...Mavs are 2-3 when shooting less than 30% from 3-point range...the team is 3-2 when they make at least 10 3's and 7-3 dating back to last year when doing so...the Mavericks average 7.0 3's per game which is 4th in the Southland.

After 2 games under 70% at the line, the Mavs made 21-24 at Lamar (87.5%)...the Mavericks have shot at least 75% in 7 of the last 9 games...last year UTA shot just 65.5 from the line but are shooting 74.1% which is first in the Southland.

The Mavs have outrebounded their opponent by the same +1 margin in each of the last 2 losses...UTA has outrebounded its last 7 and 14 of their last 16 opponents (Mavs lost the 2 games they did not - at SHS and vs. TSU)...UTA's margin on the season is +1.8.

The Mavericks rank second in all (15.5) and in conference (15.5) games in assists...the Mavs had a season-low 7 at Lamar which is the only time under 10 all season.

UTA had averaged just 12.3 turnovers in the previous 4 games before having 15 at Lamar...UTA is 3rd in fewest turnovers in the Southland at 13.8...the Mavericks have at least 6 steals in 6 of the last 8 games...the Mavs have 21 blocks in the last 4 games including a season-high 6 in each of the last 2 games...the Mavericks are 8-2 when holding opponents to less than 70 points...last year the team was 17-1 when doing so...UTA has played 8 games decided by 3 points or less (3-5)...last year UTA was 2-2 in games decided by 3 points or less and 7-1 in games decided by 20 or more.