Jan. 2, 2010
Final Stats
By Josh Bowe for utamavs.com
ARLINGTON - Texas - Armani Williams likes to shoot. That's no secret. The freshman guard has attempted 57 shots this season, 47 of them being three pointers.
What might have surprised Maverick fans Saturday night at Texas Hall was the freshman guard's all-around game.
"There was a lot of open spaces and I saw it and I went in and attacked," Williams, freshman guard, said.
Williams finished with 23 points and shot 4-for-7 from long range as UT Arlington (6-5) held off a feisty UT Dallas team 72-64. Williams also collected five rebounds and dished out four assists.
Williams previous career high was 15 points against Texas Wesleyan. The Elgin, Ill., native has primarily done his damage behind the three point arc, but tonight Williams flashed an all around game to the delight of coach Scott Cross.
"Armani was great tonight. He started the game he took a shot we don't advice and we talked to him about it," Cross said. "From that point forward he took great shots and he was very good defensively."
Williams' offensive effort was much needed, because senior guard and leading scorer Marquez Haynes started the game 0-for-6 from the field. Senior guard Brandon Long also struggled going 4-for-12 from the field.
Williams understood it was the rare night when neither leading scorers were on top of their game.
"I feel that I can be a good contributor," Williams said. "They don't have a lot of off games, but when they're not going as good as they can go, I can be there."
UT Dallas (7-3) used a precise motion offense to give UTA's defense fits in the first half. Multiple Comet defenders found themselves open with back door cuts and when the Mavs shut that off, Comet senior guard Jared Fleming knocked down open three's.
The Mavericks only lead 38-36 at the end of the first half. Cross liked his teams defensive adjustments in the second half that limited the Comets to 34.4 percent shooting.
"I think obviously our intensity picked up just a tad," Cross said. "We were a little bit more conscious of staying between the basket and our man so we didn't get backdoor quite as much."
In fact, it didn't look like the Mavs made any adjustments at all early in the second half. The Comets took their only lead of the game, 45-44, after Flemming hit his third three pointer.
But then senior forward JD Davis threw down a missed lay-up by Long and got the foul called. Davis' rim rocking three-point play put the Mavs up 47-45 and up for the rest of the night, as Cross mixed up his defenses and Williams continued to score down the stretch.
"I was pleased that our guys were resilient enough," Cross said. "A win is a win, I'll take them anyway I can get them."
MAVERICKS NOTES:
HAYNES HAS TO SCORE
Marquez Haynes started off the game shooting 0-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from the charity stripe. That being said, a number of other Mavs have tried to pick up the load but it is always hard to keep a lead when your leading scorer starts off the game cold.
ALLEY-OOP... OR NOT...
UTA tried three alley-oops in the first half. None of them have resulted in points. Instead, three careless turnovers have occurred. Maybe they are running it to try and encourage a dormant crowd that has more cheering from the UT Dallas fans.
WILLIAMS SIGHTING
Armani Williams is touted by coach Cross as the best shooter on the roster. Williams came through scoring 23 points on 6 of 11 shooting. For the season he is only shooting 35% but made 55% tonight.
TURNOVERS
Turnovers are bad. In a slow possession game, turnovers are worse. The Mavs committed 18 turnovers, 8 more than their season average. It UTD played very good defense you could attribute the lost possessions to that, but the majority were unforced errors and errant passes.
STAT O' THE NIGHT
23. Armani Williams scored his career high in points tonight. With Trey Parker, LaMarcus Reed, and Tommy Moffitt out for one week, two weeks, and four to six weeks respectively, Williams will have to bring his sharp shooting from the gym to the court. Tonight was a good time to start taking confident shots from beyond the arc.
