Jan. 8, 2011
Final Stats
Thibodaux, La. - Turnovers were the story of the afternoon for the UT Arlington men's basketball team as they dropped their Southland Conference season opener 66-48 at Nicholls.
The Mavericks, who have struggled with turnovers at times this season, had a season-high 31 Saturday as they ended the game with more miscues than field goal attempts (29). That total was tied for the 10th-highest in school history and was the most in a game since January of 2004.
"You are not going to win games when you turn the ball over that many times," UTA head coach Scott Cross said. "This game was our worst one of the year and the most disappointing."
The turnovers started with the onset of the game as the Mavericks had 20 in the first half and at the end of the first half the Mavs were down 32-17.
There was more of the same in the second half, as the Nicholls defense continued to give UTA problems as they found it difficult not only to score but to run its offense.
"They got after us defensively today," Cross said. "They pressured us on the perimeter and took us out of what we wanted to do. We tried to get the ball into the post, but they took that away from us. You have to give them credit."
The Mavericks did shoot a season-high 62.1% but were just 18-of-29 from the field as most of their possessions ended in turnovers. The 48 points and 18 field goals and were both season-lows but the 29 field goal attempts was as school record for the fewest in a game. The previous low was 31 on Jan. 6, 1968 against Arkansas State.
"It seemed every possession ended in a turnover or a layup for us," Cross said.
UTA was 3-of-11 from 3-point range and was once again unable to get to the foul line as they made 9-of-14.
Nicholls took advantage of all of the turnovers as they turned those 31 miscues into 32 points and finished the game shooting 54.5% from the field. The Colonels motion offense well all afternoon as they had 18 assists on their 24 field goals.
Following an early tie, Nicholls went on a 12-0 run and never led by less than 10 points for the remainder of the game and led by as much as 21 in the second half. UTA never led at any point in the game.
LaMarcus Reed led UT Arlington with 15 points and a team best five rebounds. Bradley Gay scored nine points, all of which came in the second half.
Anatoly Bose, the eighth-leading scorer in the nation, had 22 to pace the Colonels while Fred Hunter added 18 points and a team-high five rebounds as they defeated UTA for the third consecutive time.
The loss was the Mavericks seventh in their last eight games dropped them to 6-8 on the season. Nicholls is now 7-5. UTA plays its next game at Sam Houston State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (KVCE 1160 AM).
