ARLINGTON – Entering a season filled with excitement and new life, the UT Arlington men's basketball team tips off its highly-anticipated 2018-19 campaign on Tuesday night at the College Park Center against UT Tyler at 7 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG
Tickets start at just $8 and can be purchased at UTATickets.com. The contest – like all UTA home games this year – will be streamed on ESPN+ with Ron Thulin and Robert Gill on the call. Additionally,
Josh Sours will have the call on the radio at KEXB 620 AM and via the TuneIn App.
TWEETABLES – 5 Things To Know In Less Than 260 Characters
1) UTA has won its last four season openers, dating back to a 2013-14 setback at Boise State. That loss was the only season-opening defeat for the Mavericks since 2005-06, having gone 11-1 in their last 12 openers.
2) The Mavericks went 21-13 overall last year (10-8 in the Sun Belt), finishing 112th in the RPI and reaching the Sun Belt Championship Final for the first time in their five years in the league.
3) Chris Ogden was named UTA's new head coach, replacing Scott Cross, this past April; it will be his first-ever game as a head coach.
4) UTA has posted three-straight 20-win seasons. In the 59-year history of the program, the Mavs have only had seven 20-win campaigns, and five of them have come in the last 10 years since 2007-08.
5) The Mavs enter 2018-19 with 12 newcomers, having lost their top-9 scorers from a season ago (eight seniors; one transfer). The only teams in the nation with more newcomers than UTA are Chattanooga and Detroit Mercy, both with 13.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
This will be the sixth all-time meeting between UT Tyler and UTA, with the Mavericks having won the previous five contests all by double figures.
UT Tyler, a Division-III member of the American Southwest Conference, went 18-9 overall last year and finished 10-8 in its league.
While the contest will count toward UTA's official record and statistics, the game will be an exhibition for UT Tyler. It's the first of two such contests for the Patriots against Division-I opponents to start as the year as UT Tyler will also play at Incarnate Word on Saturday.
SERIES HISTORY -- UTA Leads, 5-0
Date Location W/L Score
12/22/04 Arlington W 95-81
12/22/05 Arlington W 87-72
11/11/06 Arlington W 87-59
11/25/08 Arlington W 99-67
11/16/10 Arlington W 96-56
A WHOLE NEW CREW
UTA lost its top-9 scorers and only returns two letterwinners from last year's team (three total letterwinners; one did not play because of an injury in 2017-18), and just one of those two was a scholarship player (
DJ Bryant). The Mavericks had eight seniors graduate and one junior who transferred which accounted for the top-9 scorers not returning in 2018-19.
UTA enters 2018-19 having lost its top-9 scorers from a season ago, but also welcomes 12 talented, and in many cases experienced, newcomers. UTA returns just 3.2% of its points from a season ago – the lowest percentage of any team in the nation. The Mavericks also return only 4% of their rebounds and 11% of their assists from last year.
However, seven of those newcomers are junior transfers who have a proven record of success at the collegiate level previously. Those seven junior newcomers have combined to score 4,009 points, grab 1,788 rebounds and issue 749 assists over their first two years.
Least % of Points Returning From 2017-18
1) UT Arlington 3.2% (87 of 2,640)
2) Mount St. Mary's 4.4%
3) UNC Asheville 5.5%
4) Idaho 6.9%
5) Oakland 8.6%
6) Middle Tennessee 10.2%
7) Chattanooga 10.5%
8) Wichita State 12.1%
9) Duke 13.8%
Least Career Points Returning (At Current School)
1) Mount St. Mary's 103
2) UT Arlington 130 (DJ Bryant: 85; Scott Muirhead: 41; Patrick Binzer: 4)
3) UNC Asheville 141
4) Chattanooga 241
5) Middle Tennessee 329
Idaho 329
Least Starts Returning From 2017-18
1) Idaho 0
2) Mount St. Mary's 1
3) Wichita State 4
4) UNC Asheville 5
5) UT Arlington 7 (All DJ Bryant)
Duke 7
Fewest Returning Letterwinners
1 - Chattanooga
2 - UNC Asheville
2 - Drake
3 - UT Arlington
3 - Baylor
3 - Nicholls
3 - Duquesne
3 - Milwaukee
3 - Detroit Mercy
3 - Little Rock
Fewest Returning Minutes From 2017-18
1) Mount Saint Mary's 7%
2) UT Arlington 7.9%
UNC Asheville 7.9%
4) Idaho 10.6%
5) Wichita State 11.2%
6) Middle Tennessee 15.2%
7) Chattanooga 15.24%
8) Oakland 16.5%
9) Drake 17.4%
Teams With Zero Scholarship Seniors
Virginia
North Florida
UT Arlington
Duquesne
Cal State Northridge
ON THE RISE – 20-WIN SEASONS
UTA has posted seven 20-win seasons in its 59-year program history, but five of those have come in the last 10 years – including three in a row.
Year Record Postseason
2016-17 27-9 NIT
2015-16 24-11 CIT
2011-12 24-9 NIT
2017-18 21-13 ----
2007-08 21-12 NCAA
1990-91 20-9 ----
1980-81 20-8 NIT
MOST WINS IN TEXAS
Over the last three seasons (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18), UTA owns the 2nd-most wins of the 23 Division-I schools in the state of Texas:
1) Stephen F. Austin: 74-28
2) UT Arlington: 72-33
SMU: 72-26
4) Houston: 70-29
5) Baylor: 68-35
6) Texas A&M: 66-37
7) Texas Tech: 64-37
8) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: 60-38
Sam Houston State: 60-44
10) Texas Southern: 57-47
TCU: 57-48
12) Texas State: 52-48
13) Texas: 50-50
14) Lamar: 49-48
15) UTEP: 45-51
16) Abilene Christian: 42-50
Rice: 42-56
18) Houston Baptist: 40-56
North Texas: 40-60
20) UTSA: 39-61
21) Incarnate Word: 36-50
Prairie View A&M: 36-62
23) UTRGV: 33-62
NON-CONFERENCE STRENGTH
UTA will play a challenging non-conference schedule to prepare for the Sun Belt slate. Of its 12 Division-I non-league opponents, nine had a .500 or better record last year, six participated in the postseason in 2017-18 and five finished in the top 100 of the RPI (not including UC Davis which finished at 101).
Marquee Games (2017-18 Record | RPI | Postseason | Misc)
Nov. 10 vs. Northern Iowa | 16-16
Nov. 18 vs. UC Davis | 22-11 | 101 | NIT | Big West Regular Season Champions
Nov. 20 @ Indiana | 16-15 | RV In 2018-19 Preseason Polls
Nov. 23 @ Arkansas | 23-12 | 34 | NCAA
Nov. 27 @ Tulsa | 19-12 | 89
Dec. 4 @ Missouri | 20-13 | 49 | NCAA | RV In 2018-19 Preseason Polls
Dec. 8 @ North Texas | 20-18 | CBI Champions
Dec. 18 @ Gonzaga | 32-5 | 22 | NCAA | Sweet Sixteen | #3 In 2018-19 Preseason Polls
Dec. 28 @ Texas | 19-15 | 52 | NCAA | RV In 2018-19 Preseason Polls
UTA's four 2018 NCAA Tournament opponents on its schedule puts the Mavericks in top-flight competition. The only teams in the nation who will play more than four teams which went to the NCAA Tournament last year in their 2018-19 non-conference schedule are: North Carolina (6), Florida (6), Kansas (5), Kentucky (5), Creighton (5), Northeastern (5) and Canisius (5).
PLANT YOUR FLAG – 2018-19 UTA Men's Basketball Motto
"Plant Your Flag represents you being you. Being proud of where you came from and representing that – standing up for something. It doesn't matter what it is. Claim something. And then play for it."
–
Chris Ogden
Teams With The Most Foreign-Born Players
10 – Saint Mary's
7 – Fairfield
6 – Bradley
5 – UT Arlington
5 – TCU
5 – Virginia
3 – Creighton
As part of the foreign-born players, below are the teams with the most continents represented on their roster:
5 – Maine
5 – Virginia
4 – UT Arlington
4 – Bradley
4 – Illinois-Chicago
4 – UNLV
4 – Oklahoma
4 – Portland
4 – Sacramento State
4 – Tulane
4 – Utah State
From NBA Academy Africa To UTA
NBA Academies, a network of elite basketball training centers around the world, include educational development for top male and female prospects from outside the U.S. and mark the NBA's signature elite player development initiative. The initiative exposes elite prospects to NBA-level coaching, facilities and competition and provides a global framework for them to maximize their success.
Five NBA Academy graduates have committed to D-1 schools in addition to UTA freshman
Patrick Mwamba (NBA Academy Africa):
Three men from The NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia:
- Francisco Caffaro (Argentina): Virginia
- Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (Cameroon): UNLV
- Francisco Farabello (Argentina): TCU (for 2019-20 school year)
One woman from the NBA Academies Women's Program camp in Mexico City:
- Karla Martinez (Mexico): University of San Diego
SUN BELT SUCCESS
Since joining the Sun Belt Conference for the 2013-14 season, UTA has finished no worse than 5th place in the regular-season standings in the 12-team league. In 2016-17, the Mavericks won their first-ever SBC Regular Season Championship, and last season they were the preseason favorites to repeat. This year, UTA – due largely to its large roster turnover – was predicted to finish 11th in the SBC.
Sun Belt Strategic Men's Basketball Scheduling Plan
With the goal of improving the NCAA Tournament seeding for the Sun Belt's automatic qualifier, in addition to enhancing the resume of other teams to secure at-large berths, the following changes have been implemented beginning in the 2019-20 season:
Sun Belt teams will reserve two dates in the non-conference portion of their schedule to play against peer conference opponents. Each team will have one home opponent and one away opponent from this scheduling alliance.
In the next major portion of the strategic plan is centered around a 20-game smart schedule. The conference will split into two divisions (East: Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, South Alabama and Troy; West: Little Rock, Arkansas State, Louisiana, ULM, UTA and Texas State). Each team will play a 16-game schedule with five home and five away games played against divisional opponents and three home and three away games against non-divisional opponents. Based on the resulting standings of those 16 games, teams will then be placed in four pods - Pod A (#1, #2, #3), Pod B (#4, #5, #6), Pod C (#7, #8, #9) and Pod D (#10, #11, #12). Each team will play the other two pod members once home and once away for the final four games of the 20-game schedule. The regular season conference champion will be awarded based on the results of the full 20-game conference schedule.
NEXT UP
UTA remains at the CPC for Homecoming on Saturday night as the Mavs take on perennial mid-major power Northern Iowa at 7 p.m.
