11/27/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2013
UT Arlington (2-5) at Texas (5-1)
Friday | 7 p.m. CT
Frank Erwin Center (Austin)
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 970 AM
TV: Longhorn Network with Paul Sunderland and Reid Gettys on the call.
RADIO: Game will be aired on 970 AM with pregame show beginning at 6:40 p.m. CT. Tip is 7 p.m. Jimmy Christopher is calling the action on the UTA Mavericks Radio Network.
LIVE STATS: Live stats are available through texassports.com.
SERIES: Texas leads series 8-0. Teams last met Dec. 1, 2012, with Texas winning 70-54.
ABOUT TEXAS: Texas beat DePaul 77-59 Tuesday night in the consolation game of the CBE Classic to improve to 5-1, the Longhorns best start to a campaign since the 2010-11 season.
QUOTABLE: "I am really excited about the opportunity to play the Longhorns on Friday. Coach Barnes is one of the best coaches in the country and has had sustained success over his career at Texas. His teams are always very disciplined and great on the defensive end of the floor. Texas has a very big, physical basketball team, and they are coming off of a huge 18-point win over DePaul." -- UT Arlington coach Scott Cross.
QUOTABLE II: "We have been working really hard to improve our defense over the last few days. We have been getting back to the basics, and I am confident that we will see an improvement on the defensive end of the floor. I feel like our players are starting to buy in to the importance of doing the 'little things' that win basketball games. This team is going to be very good once they get it all figured out." -- Cross.
LAST TIME OUT: UT Arlington finished its three-game road trip with a hard-fought 74-69 loss Saturday night to Eastern Michigan at the Convocation Center. Seniors Brandon Edwards and Reger Dowell once again led the way for the Mavericks. Edward had his fourth consecutive double-double and fifth of the season with a career-high 30 points and 13 rebounds. Dowell hit 20 points for the seventh straight game with 22.
20-20 VISION: Senior G Reger Dowell is 12th nationally in scoring at 24.6 points per game. Dowell scored a career-high 35 (tied for 20th in UTA history) vs. HPU and has scored at least 20 in all seven games. The last UT Arlington player to score at least 30 was Marquez Haynes (32 points) on Feb. 6, 2010. Dowell averaged 22.7 points on last week's three-game road trip.
MEGATRON: Senior F Brandon Edwards is 22th nationally in rebounding at 11.1 per game. He has five double-doubles this season, including four games in a row. He began season 17th on UTA's all-time rebounding list and is now up to ninth. Edwards also scored a career-high 30 points at Eastern Michigan.
ONE TO BEAT: Scott Cross is second all-time in wins at UTA with 124. Eddie McCarter (162 from 1993-2006) is the leader. Cross passed Bob "Snake" LeGrande (122) on Nov. 12 vs. Samford.
STARTING SLOW: UT Arlington's 2-5 start is the worst in Cross' eight years as head coach. The last time the Mavericks started 2-5 was the 2000-01 season under McCarter.
BUSY, BUSY: UTA has packed quite a few games into a small space already this season. The Mavericks have played a stretch of three games in four days (Nov. 12-15) and three games in five days (Nov. 19-23).
SPREADING THE WEALTH: At least four Mavs scored double figures in four games this season: Boise State (4), Samford (5), Howard Payne (4) and Robert Morris (5).
CENTER ROULETTE: Cross has used three starting lineups through seven games. Dowell, Edwards, junior G Lonnie McClanahan and junior F Vincent Dillard have started all seven games. The center position has seen three different starters: junior Stuart Lagerson (4 starts), freshman Jorge Bilbao (2) and junior Anthony Walker.
TRIPLE DIGITS: UTA's 111 points vs. Howard Payne (11/13) were most since 124 vs. Sam Houston State (12/28/98) and tied for 18th all-time in school history.
SCORING BIG: UTA scored at least 87 in the first three games. The last time UTA had such a stretch was four in a row from Dec. 1-11, 1992: 91 (Concordia-Lutheran), 121 (Schreiner), 105 (Sul Ross State), 95 (Gonzaga).
ROADIES: UTA 23-13 in its last 36 road/neutral-site games, but 0-4 this season away from home.
GROOVY 70s: Since the start of 2009-10, UTA is 52-20 when scoring at least 70 & 30-6 when scoring at least 80. UTA is 2-4 when scoring at least 70 this season.
MAVERICK DEBUTS: Six players made their UTA debuts at Boise State: Dowell, McClanahan, Dillard, Bilbao, F Brandon Williams and G Courtney Austin. Four of the five starters at Boise State didn't play at UTA in 2012-13: Dowell, McClanahan, Dillard and Lagerson, who redshirted last season.
