BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Down by 20 in the 2nd half, the new-look UT Arlington men's basketball team (3-2) trimmed its deficit to just a single point in the closing minutes, but a late run by an Indiana team receiving votes in the national polls propelled the Hoosiers (4-1) to a 78-64 win Tuesday night at Assembly Hall.
 
Trailing by 17 at halftime, UTA got down by 20, 48-28, two minutes into the 2nd half before mounting its comeback effort. Over the next 12 minutes, UTA – which features the fewest amount of returning points from last season of any team in the country and the third-most newcomers of any Division-I club – outscored Indiana, 32-13, to make it a one-point game at 61-60 with 6:30 left.
 
The IU lead got back to five, but UTA again had a response and the Mavs had the contest as a one-possession game with under five minutes to play against an IU side which is the second team out of the top-25 polls this week and picked to finish 3rd in the Big Ten. However, a closing 13-2 run by the Hoosiers created the final margin.
  Edric Dennis came off the bench to lead a diverse offensive attack for the Mavs with 19 points – 13 of which came in the 2nd half. Making his Indiana homecoming, Brian Warren netted 14, while Radshad Davis tallied 12 and David Azore finished with 10. Jabari Narcis gave the Mavs a huge spark off the bench and down low in the paint with seven points and a team-leading seven rebounds.
 
UTA – which at one point in the 2nd half made its comeback despite having an 11-1 fouls discrepancy against it, and never got to the bonus either half – shot 51.6 percent from the floor (16-31) in the 2nd half after connecting at only a 32-percent clip (8-25) in the 1st half. The Mavs also committed just five turnovers in the final 20minutes compared with 13 in the first 20 to aid in the spirited comeback run.
 
HEAD COACH CHRIS OGDEN
"We battled back but we just dug too big of a hole. Once we got it down to one, we just didn't make the plays you need to make on the road against a very good Big Ten team. I'm proud of my guys; I think we can learn a lot from this, but at the end of the day we just gave them the ball too much off turnovers."
 
CLOSER LOOK AT THE BOX SCORE
IU converted UTA's 18 turnovers into 15 points, but the Mavericks converted 18 Hoosiers' turnovers into 12 points … Davis added six rebounds for UTA; after IU grabbed the first seven rebounds of the game, the Hoosiers only finished with a 33-25 edge on the glass … UTA continued its strong free-throw shooting to begin the year by connecting on 8 of 10 attempts … Juwan Morgan recorded a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds for Indiana … Justin Smith netted 13 and Romeo Langford – the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week – scored 16 and grabbed eight rebounds … the Hoosiers shot 54.5 percent (30-55) from the floor, but UTA limited IU to 16.7-percent from 3-point range (2-12) … Indiana out-scored UTA in the paint, 52-26.
 
INSIDE THE 2ND-HALF RUN
The 48-28 IU lead was cut to 10, 49-39, in a little over three minutes following a Narcis offensive rebound and putback which prompted a Hoosiers' timeout. That timeout paused the Mavericks' comeback momentarily as IU went back in front by 12, 59-47, before the Mavs clipped off a 13-2 run over the next four minutes – capped by a Dennis 3-pointer – to pull UTA within 61-60 with 6:30 left.
 
FIRST-HALF RECAP
Indiana's lead hovered around 10 most of the opening half before the Hoosiers used a 9-0 run late in the stanza to turn a 28-20 lead at the 6-minute mark into a 37-20 edge in the closing minute which ultimately resulted in a 39-22 halftime advantage for the Hoosiers.
 
UTA failed to capitalize in the first 20 minutes as the Hoosiers left the door open for the Mavericks with 13 turnovers. However, the Mavs committed 13 giveaways of their own and shot just 32 percent (8-25) from the floor and 1-12 from 3-point range in the opening frame while allowing IU to shoot 53.3 percent (16-30) from the field and tally 28 points in the paint.
 
THIS AND THAT
Indiana is the second team out of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week with 74 votes … UTA's lone win over a Big Ten team came three years ago to the day – Nov. 20, 2015 – at Ohio State … in an ode to many connections Ogden has with former legendary IU coach Bobby Knight, he wore a UTA-themed blue sweater … attendance was announced as 11,957.
 
HOMECOMING
Indianapolis native Warren had more than 30 friends and family in attendance as Bloomington is about an hour from the state's capital. Warren entered the contest as UTA's leading scorer and assist man and had posted three-straight game-high scoring performances. He and DJ Bryant tied for the team lead with three assists.
 
HARDWOOD SHOWCASE
The game was part of a multiple-team event (MTE) called the Hardwood Showcase, and features UTA, Indiana, Arkansas, Montana State, UC Davis and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Each team will play – or already has played – four others from the group of six this month.
 
NEXT UP
As part of that Hardwood Showcase, the Mavs remain on the road and fly to Arkansas to battle the Razorbacks on Friday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.