2016-17 Quick Facts

ARLINGTON, Texas - Anticipation is high for the UT Arlington men's basketball team as its prepares to conduct its first official practice session Monday in advance of the 2016-17 season.

The Mavericks are picked by most college basketball observers as the preseason favorite in the Sun Belt Conference and will be looking to build on last year's 24-11 team that posted signature non-conference road victories at Ohio State and Memphis.

The team will conduct six weeks of practice prior to its Nov. 12 season opener, a 7:30 p.m. contest against Texas Southern that will serve as a signature event for the University's annual homecoming weekend.

Season, single game a specially-priced group ticket packages for every home game this season in College Park Center are available online at UTATickets.com, by calling (817) 272-9595 or by visiting the UTA Box Office between the hours of 9 a.m. -- 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"We are very excited to officially get started," said UTA head coach Scott Cross, in his 11th season in charge of the Mavericks program. "Our guys have been working extremely hard and we had a great summer. I think this team has a chance to be really, really special."

Following the season opener, UTA hits the road for away contests at Minnesota, Florida Gulf Coast and Arkansas during a five-day span. The non-league schedule also features games at Fordham, Texas, Saint Mary's, Bradley and Loyola Marymount.

Sun Belt Conference play begins on New Year's Eve with league newcomer Coastal Carolina visiting UTA's beautiful College Park Center.

"Having support at our home games is really important," said junior guard Erick Neal. "It is a great feeling to have strong support at home and it gives us an advantage knowing that we have the crowd behind us. Winning big games on the road gives us a lot of confidence. Having good support at home can give us that extra edge we need to be successful."

The Mavericks return all five starters and 10 letter winners from last season's team that went 24-11 and rated as high as 27th in the NCAA's ratings percentage index (RPI). Head Coach Scott Cross's team returns 87 percent of its scoring and 86 percent of its rebounding from last year's side that led the NCAA in average rebounds per game.

Neal emerged as one of the most exciting guards in the country with averages of 12.7 points and 6.2 assists per game. The Dallas native earned first team all-Sun Belt honors and was a second team all-district selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

The team will welcome the return of forward Kevin Hervey after the Arlington native suffered a knee injury midway through the season. Hervey averaged 18.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game through the first 16 games of the season, was named the Sun Belt player of the week twice and earned a spot on the watch list for the Lou Henson Award.

Several national basketball publications listed Hervey and Neal as first team preseason all-conference selections, while Hervey has received attention as the preseason league player of the year.

Senior guards Drew Charles and Jalen Jones started 34 of 35 games in the backcourt last season and combined to average 22 points and 8 rebounds per game. Forward Jorge Bilbao rounded out the starting lineup, averaging 6.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game as a starter in all 35 games.

In addition to returning so much starting experience, the rest of the squad includes players who saw action in a combined 137 games. Nathan Hawkins, Kaelon Wilson and Faith Pope played in 33, 33 and 34 games, respectively.

"Our team chemistry is good because we all have experience with each other from last year," said Jones. "We didn't finish how we wanted last year, so everyone is really looking forward to this season."