ARLINGTON – Coming off an impressive win on Tuesday night, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (1-0) looks to cap off a strong season-opening week on Saturday as part of the university's Homecoming Weekend when the Mavericks battle another premier mid-major opponent in Northern Iowa (1-0) at the College Park Center at 7 p.m.
 
TICKET INFO
Fans will receive a ticket to both the men's game and the women's game against Jackson State at 2:30 p.m. Ticket pricing starts at just $8 total for both games; the men's game is reserved seating while the women's contest is general-admission seating. To secure your seat, visit UTATickets.com.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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. Furthermore, for updates and behind-the-scenes photos and videos, be sure to follow @UTA_MBB on Twitter and @UTA_Hoops on Instagram.
 
HOMECOMING ACTIVITIES
As part of Homecoming, UTA will have a plethora of events taking place all weekend, including a street festival, party on the plaza, parade and pep rally all in the vicinity of the CPC leading up to tipoff. For a complete list of events – and discounted ticket packages to both games for alumni – visit UTA.edu/Homecoming.
 
TWEETABLES – 5 Things To Know In Less Than 260 Characters
1) UTA opened its season with a 90-66 win on Tuesday over UT Tyler, the Mavericks' fifth-straight season-opening win and 12th in the last 13 years. The 90 points were the second-most in a season opener for UTA since 1994 (99 vs. East Texas Baptist in 2011).
2) Of those 90 points, 82 came from players who did not play for the Mavericks last season. Redshirt junior transfer Edric Dennis led all five starters reaching double-figure points with 20.
3) Chris Ogden won his first career game with the Mavs' victory. Of UTA's now eight all-time head coaches, he's just the fourth (joining Tom Tinker in 1959, Eddie McCarter in 1992 and Scott Cross in 2006) to win their UTA debut.
4) 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.
5) 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.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
This will be the backend of a home-and-home series between UT Arlington and Northern Iowa which started last December in Cedar Falls with the Panthers claiming a tightly-contested 62-58 decision.
 
UNI opened its season on Tuesday as well, defeating Division-II Bemidji State, 97-51. The Panthers were picked to finish 5th in the always-competitive Missouri Valley Conference; last season, UNI lost by just four points, 54-50, in the MVC Tournament semifinals to eventual Final Four Cinderella Loyola Chicago.
 
Since 2004, UNI has made seven NCAA Tournament appearances, winning four games this decade in March Madness, including a trip to the 2010 Sweet Sixteen after stunning top-seeded Kansas in the Second Round. As a 5 seed in 2015, the Panthers defeated 12th-seeded Wyoming in the First Round, and they followed it up with another First-Round win in 2016, 75-72, over 6th-seeded Texas before battling 3rd-seeded Texas A&M to double overtime (92-88 loss) in the Second Round.
 
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 welcome 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 3+ seasons (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19), UTA owns the 2nd-most wins of the 23 Division-I schools in the state of Texas:
 
1) Stephen F. Austin: 76-28
2) UT Arlington: 73-33
    SMU: 73-26
4) Houston: 70-29
5) Baylor: 68-36
6) Texas A&M: 67-37
7) Texas Tech: 65-37
8) Sam Houston State:  62-44
9) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: 61-38
10) Texas Southern: 58-47
      TCU: 58-48
12) Texas State: 52-48
13) Texas: 51-50
14) Lamar: 50-48
15) UTEP: 46-51
16) Abilene Christian: 43-50
      Rice: 43-56
18) North Texas: 41-60
19) Houston Baptist: 40-57
20) UTSA: 39-62
21) Incarnate Word: 36-51
      Prairie View A&M: 36-62
23) UTRGV: 34-62
 
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).
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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-I 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 as it welcomes Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday, Nov. 16, for a 7 p.m. tipoff.