ARLINGTON – Wrapping up its challenging 2019-20 non-conference schedule Wednesday night, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (4-7) once again put forth a tremendous effort spearheaded by a season-high 27 points from Brian Warren, but the Mavericks dropped a 71-63 decision at Houston (6-2) inside the Fertitta Center.
 
Facing a preseason American Athletic Conference favorite on its home floor, UTA limited Houston – which throttled South Carolina by 20 on Sunday – to just 35.7 percent shooting in the 2nd half (10-28) to make the Cougars fight all night, but behind a +18 rebounding margin and a +14 edge in paint points, UH won its fourth in a row.
 
Warren poured in the most points any UTA player has scored this year with his game-best 27-point outing on 8-19 shooting, including a career-high-tying five 3-pointers and 6-8 from the free-throw line.
 
In his homecoming, Houston native David Azore reached double-figure points for the 10th-straight time with 13 while adding a team-best eight rebounds as he continued his brilliant and consistent sophomore campaign. Jabari Narcis rounded out the trio of double-figure scorers for the Mavs with 10, including his first 3-pointers since Thanksgiving Day.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UTA was without a pair of starters in TiAndre Jackson-Young (broken nose/concussion) and Coleman Sparling (lower leg injury) for the second-straight game, in addition to Patrick Mwamba who missed his sixth-consecutive contest with a broken foot. In total, that trio has been responsible for roughly 12 points and 10 rebounds per game this season.
 
That production could have come in handy for the Mavs, as in addition to the -8 margin on the scoreboard, UTA was out-rebounded by its widest margin of the year, 49-31. Houston – which came into the contest boasting the nation's 2nd-best rebounding margin at +11.7 – didn't capitalize offensively too much off that discrepancy as it held just a 14-11 edge in second-chance points, but the Cougars doubled-up the Mavs on the defensive glass, 34-17.
 
UTA never trailed by more than 13 at any point in the game, but also never got its deficit below five in the 2nd half aside from a half-opening 3-pointer from Warren which put the Mavs down just three for 20 seconds.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Nate Hinton led Houston with a double-double performance of 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Caleb Mills came off the bench to net 17. Those two would close as the lone double-figure scorers for UH, which finished at 44.6 percent (25-56) from the field for the game thanks in large part to a 53.6-percent clip (15-28) in the 1st half.
 
UTA – which was down to just an eight-man rotation – overcame 28.3-percent shooting (17-60) by going 21-27 (77.8 percent) from the free-throw line and committing a season-low five turnovers – four of which came in the 1st half and none in the final 15 minutes of the game. Conversely, UTA forced UH into 16 giveaways, finishing with a 14-5 edge in points off turnovers.
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"I'm pleased with our effort and how well we took care of the ball against an athletic team picked to win their league on their home floor. We didn't shoot it well, so we needed to make up for that in other ways, which we did by not turning it over and battling on the defensive end for the most part. We've got some good things from this tough non-conference schedule we can take into conference play, and we've got a week to prepare for that now."
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
Houston raced out to a blistering start and created a double-digit advantage just 4:33 in at 12-2 as Ogden used his first timeout. The advantage grew to as much as 12 a few moments later, 14-2, before Azore knocked down UTA's first field goal of the night on a 3-pointer at the 14:54 mark.
 
That triggered a 7-0 run, and following a 12-2 spurt by the Mavs – all of which came from Azore and Warren – UTA had pushed back within two, 16-14, midway through the stanza. The UH lead got back up to eight on a couple occasions thereafter, but a key moment in the opening 20 minutes came with UTA trailing 26-22 at the 5:20 mark when Warren was whistled for his second foul.
 
That sent the senior to the bench, and UH extended its cushion to 36-25 with Warren sitting. In the closing minute, Warren re-entered and helped trigger a five-point possession for the Mavs at the 46.6 mark – including another 3 of his own – to pull UTA within six, 36-30, at the half.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
Warren knocked down a 3-pointer on the first possession coming out of the locker room to get UTA to three, 36-33, but UH once again had a response and re-built a double-figure lead at 50-40.
 
Facing that 10-point deficit, UTA orchestrated a 5-0 run to cut its margin in half midway through the stanza before the Cougars counter-punched with a 5-0 stretch of their own to force the Mavs into a timeout at the 9:16 mark, trailing 55-45.
 
From there the UH lead grew back to 13 twice, the latest which came at 67-54 with 3+ minutes remaining. However, the Mavs didn't fold and showed their grit and resiliency by registering a 9-1 run over the ensuing two minutes to get their deficit down to just five, 68-63, before Houston was able to lock the game down from the charity stripe.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Ogden used his fourth-different starting lineup of the season with Warren, Sam Griffin, Jordan Phillips, Azore and Narcis. For Griffin, it was the true freshman's first collegiate start, and he finished with three points and a game-high two steals. Phillips added five points and four rebounds.
• Houston was the fourth of nine Division-I opponents for UTA in its non-conference schedule which played in the NCAA Tournament last year.
• Each of UTA's D-I non-league opponents reside in the top 150 of the KenPom rankings (including #25 Houston) as the Mavs have now played the 14th-hardest non-conference schedule in the nation.
• The meeting was the first between UTA and UH in nearly 20 years and only the second in the last 50 years.

NEXT UP
UTA begins Sun Belt Conference play next Thursday, Dec. 19, at Georgia State in a rematch of each of the last two SBC Tournament Final games. The Mavs complete the league-opening road swing two days later against Georgia Southern on Saturday, Dec. 21.
   
PURCHASE TICKETS
Season tickets start as low as $99, and tickets for all home games are available by visiting UTATickets.com, calling the UTA Box Office at (817) 272-9595 or by stopping by the College Park Center during regular business hours.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).