March 14, 2014

Final Stats

NEW ORLEANS - The season ended for No. 6 UT Arlington with Friday night's 91-85 loss to third-seeded UL Lafayette in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championship.

The Mavericks finished their first season in the Sun Belt at 15-17 overall. UT Arlington went 9-9 in conference during the regular season to tie for fifth and reached the quarterfinals after Thursday's first-round win over UL Monroe.

The Mavericks fought back from an early double-digit deficit and were within striking distance for much of the game, but the constantly-attacking Rajin' Cajuns (21-11) did enough to finish off a three-game season sweep of UTA.

Four seniors - forward Brandon Edwards, and guards Reger Dowell, Shaquille White-Miller and Kyle McElvain - played their final games at UTA. Edwards scored 22 and grabbed 11 rebounds, Dowell added 25 points and White-Miller dished out six assists. Junior guard Jamel Outler paced the Mavericks with a career-high 26 points.

Dowell and Edwards each knocked down 3-pointer early, as the teams went into the first media timeout tied 8-8. The Rajin' Cajuns began to separate soon after, opening up a 25-13 lead to force a timeout out of UT Arlington coach Scott Cross.

Turnovers were an issue in the early deficit. The Mavericks began taking better care of the ball, clamping down defensively and shots started to fall. An 18-8 run fueled by Outler's aggressiveness cut ULL's lead to 40-39 with three minutes left in the half.

The Cajuns knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and went into the locker room up 46-41. Outler had 14 points at the break on 3-4 shooting, including 2-3 from beyond the arc, and 6-7 at the line. Edwards scored 11 and Dowell added nine points.

UL Lafayette extended its lead to 65-51 before the Mavericks responded with a 7-0 run going into a media timeout. The Cajuns scored the next five points out of the stoppage to go up 12 (70-58).

UT Arlington wasn't done. A reverse layup from Outler made it 70-62 with eight minutes left. Edwards followed with a 3-pointer, leaving the Mavericks down just five points. UTA would get even closer in the final minute.

Outler drained a 3-pointer get within 85-78 with 53 seconds left. The Mavericks were down 85-80 after forcing a ULL turnover on the ensuing possession, followed by Dowell hitting two free throws with 29 seconds remaining.

Dowell nailed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, cutting the Cajuns' lead to 87-83. That's as close as UTA would get. UL Lafayette locked down its trip to the SBC semifinals at the line.

NOTES: Tipoff was delayed about an hour and 20 minutes after the Arkansas State-UALR game preceding UTA-ULL went into four overtimes.

UT Arlington Quotes
Opening Statement from Head Coach Scott Cross: "This is always the toughest day of the year when you season ends. We were hoping to live to fight another day, but unfortunately that didn't happen. I thought our guys did compete. Give UL Lafayette a ton of credit, they shot the ball extremely well. Shawn Long was incredible tonight. Our guys competed and we played well offensively. We weren't quite good enough defensively. We game up too many and-ones.

"I'm really proud of my four seniors, especially this guy beside me, Brandon Edwards. He's been part of the most successful four-year stretch probably in the history of UT Arlington basketball. He's been a big part of that and had a double-double tonight, which he does pretty much every game. I'm just really proud of what he's done for the program."

Question for Head Coach Scott Cross: Question...Do you think your team played about as well as they could of tonight against UL Lafayette? "Offensively, we played really well. I thought we maybe could have done a better job of taking it one more dribble and trying to take it into Long's body. It seemed like we were jumping way too early and it was almost like a volleyball where we were just throwing it up and letting them spike it on us. I thought we should have took it one more dribble and got into his body because he was sitting in that center circle and obviously that's why he had five blocks.

"Defense has been our Achilles heel pretty much all season long. Our guys just aren't active enough. We don't move around. We don't have enough intensity or communication. The team's over the last few years have been great defensively. This is the first team that's really struggled. We haven't changed anything. It's the same scheme, it's the same system. It's just guys aren't as active, so I wish that was different, but a lot of times with this team, if we are hitting shots, we are better defensively. If we start struggling at times throughout the game, we drop defensively."

Question for Head Coach Scott Cross: Question... This being your first season in the Sun Belt and advancing to the quarterfinals, what can you take away from this experience as you move forward? "I think our guys just have to realize how strong the league is and we have to work even harder between now and next year and be prepared, because a team like Louisiana-Lafayette has a ton of guys returning. They are a very young basketball team and are going to be even better next year. We are going to have to really step it up so we can compete for a championship next year."

Question for Player Brandon Edwards: Question... What are your thoughts on how the game played out tonight? "It was a tough loss for us. You never want your season to end like this. I wish we could have played tomorrow, but we just have to brush it off and have our younger guys focus on getting better next year."

Question for Player Brandon Edwards: Question... What is one thing you could change in the game if you could go back and do so? "Me personally, I needed to be more aggressive rebounding and on the defensive end. Our communication was up and down all night. Sometimes we were talking, sometimes we weren't. I just wish we could go back and be more consistent through the whole game."

Question for Player Jamel Outler: Question... What has worked well recently to help you score more recently? "I was just out there playing my game. My teammates had confidence in me. I was just trying to get my seniors some more games. That was the only thing on my mind."