Men's Basketball 12/20/2019 3:20:00 PM By: Jason MacBain (@JaBain)

@UTAMavsMBB Game 13 Infographic Preview: Georgia Southern

GAME 13
UT Arlington (4-8, 0-1 Sun Belt) @ Georgia Southern (7-4, 1-0 Sun Belt)

December 21, 2019 || 12 PM (CST) || Hanner Fieldhouse || Statesboro, GA

For The Complete Set Of Infographic Game Notes, Click On The Image Above

ABOUT THE MATCHUP

The contest is a rematch of last year’s Sun Belt Tournament Semifinal, which was won by UTA, 67-58. The Mavs also claimed a victory in Statesboro last season, 72-67.
Ike Smith leads a quintet of double-figure scorers for Georgia Southern at 15.2 per game. As a team, the Eagles average 79.6 points per game – the 42nd most in the nation.

Georgia Southern opened league play Thursday by overcoming a 15-point 1st-half deficit and an eight-point deficit with 6:30 remaining to defeat Texas State, 67-64. The Eagles were picked 3rd in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll, right behind UTA.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL

After being predicted to finish 2nd-to-last (11th place) in the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Poll in 2018-19, UTA has been picked to finish 2nd in 2019-20 in voting conducted by the league’s head coaches.

The Mavericks shattered those expectations last year by finishing in a tie for 2nd with a 12-6 Sun Belt record; that nine-spot improvement from preseason to final regular-season finish was tied for the best in the nation along with Siena, which was picked 11th in the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) and finished in a four-way tie for 2nd.

UTA has reached the Sun Belt Tournament Final each of the last two seasons, losing in the championship game both times to Georgia State.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE SUCCESS

Since joining the Sun Belt for the 2013-14 season, UTA is the only team in the league to finish in the top-5 of the regular-season standings every year. In 2016-17, the Mavericks won their first-ever SBC Regular Season Championship, and in 2017-18 they were the preseason favorites to repeat. Last year, UTA – due largely to a nearly entirely new roster – was predicted to finish 11th in the SBC, but exceeded all outsiders’ expectations with a 2nd-place showing. The Mavs have been picked 2nd in the 2019-20 Preseason Sun Belt Poll by the league’s head coaches.

On the other side of the ball against Gonzaga, Jabari Narcis – a 6-foot-9 forward – went a perfect 5-5 from 3-point range, tying for the best 3-point percentage performance in program history. Of players who have made at least five 3-pointers in a game, Narcis is now just the third player to go 5-5 or better, joining Scott Cross (5-5 vs. UTSA on Feb. 14, 1998) and Kevin Butler (7-7 at Idaho on Feb. 14, 2013).

In his initial ranking earlier this summer, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi installed UTA as the Sun Belt favorites in 2019-20. Andy Katz from the NCAA also predicted UTA to make the NCAA Tournament in his preseason bracket.

RE-TWEETS

1) The Mavs shot a season-high 51.9 percent from the floor on Thanksgiving Day at Elon and finished with a season-best +11 rebounding margin (38-27) in a 77-67 win.

2) Against Arkansas Tech on Nov. 24, Warren (15 points, career-high 12 assists) and Narcis (career-high 23 points, 11 rebounds) each recorded double-doubles – the first time that multiple UTA players have registered double-doubles in the same game in the Ogden era.

3) Warren’s 12 assists were the most by a Mav since Erick Neal issued 13 against UT Dallas on Nov. 27, 2017.

4) Under Ogden, UTA is 19-5 when scoring at least 68 points (4-3 this year).

5) UTA shot just 23.4 percent (15-64) from the field at #14 Oregon on Nov. 17 – the worst performance in program history.

6) With its 84-50 victory over UT Dallas on Nov. 5, UTA has now won six-straight season openers.

7) UTA made 15 3-pointers (15-37) against UTD, tying for the 3rd-most in a game in program history (all-time record: 17 vs. Bradley on Dec. 8, 2015). The Mavs also made 15 3s at South Alabama this past February.

8) The Mavs issued 25 assists against UTD – the most in the Chris Ogden era (previous: 24 vs. Appalachian State on Feb. 9).

9) The 50 points UTD scored were the fewest allowed by UTA since Rice tallied just 49 on Nov. 29, 2017.

10) UTA started 2-0 for the third-straight year; in each of the previous two seasons the Mavs have gone on to play in the Sun Belt Tournament Final.

11) For just the second time in program history, UTA held its first two opponents of a season both under 60 points. The only other time that had occurred was the 1987-88 season; it’s never been done three-straight times to commence a year.

After being named to the Sun Belt Third Team and Sun Belt All-Tournament Team in his initial season as a Maverick, Brian Warren has landed on the Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team. The senior led UTA in scoring (15.4), assists (3.6), steals (1.2) and minutes played (29.8) last year, in addition to grabbing 2.6 rebounds.

Warren made four shots which forced overtime or double overtime, and converted the go-ahead/eventual game-winning free throws twice. He ranked 8th in the Sun Belt in assists, 7th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7) and 5th in free-throw percentage (.805). The Indianapolis native eclipsed the 20-point mark eight times during the year and poured in 30+ points twice, including a career-high 33 versus ULM in late February. All told, Warren’s 507 total points rank tied as the 17th-most in single-season program history.

Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team
Quan Jackson, Georgia Southern (R-Jr., G, Tallahassee, Fla.)
Josh Ajayi, South Alabama (R-Sr., F, El Monte, Calif.)
Trhae Mitchell, South Alabama (R-Sr., F, Austell, Ga.)
Brian Warren, UTA (Sr., G, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Nijal Pearson, Texas State (Sr., G, Beaumont, Texas)

SINGLE-SEASON TOP-10 RECORDS

In head coach Chris Ogden’s first season at the helm of the Mavericks in 2018-19, UTA secured several top-10 all-time single-season program marks:

Best 3 Point Percentage Defense Single Season

In his first season as a head coach in 2018-19, Chris Ogden garnered the following noteworthy honors and awards:

Sun Belt Coach of the Year: Just the third UTA coach to ever win a conference Coach of the Year award, joining Bob LeGrand (1981, Southland Conference) and Scott Cross (2012, Southland Conference; 2017, Sun Belt Conference).

NABC District 24 Coach of the Year: Consists of all Sun Belt Conference members.

Hugh Durham Award Finalist: Presented annually to the nation’s top mid-major coach.

Joe B. Hall Award Finalist: Given annually to the top first-year head coach in D-I.

UTA posted a -0.6 scoring margin last year, but still managed to secure a winning record at 17-16. It’s the first time since 1999-00 that a UTA team has had a winning record (15-12) with a negative scoring margin (-2.1).

Over the last 12 years, UTA has finished with a positive scoring margin 10 times; in the first 48 years of the program, that occurred just eight times.

POINTS IN A TWO-YEAR CAREER

After posting 507 points in his first season as a Mav in 2018-19, Warren is on pace to potentially establish the all-time program record for points in a two-year UTA career. Only two players in program history who have spent just two seasons with UTA have scored at least 1,000 points:

1) Marquez Haynes: 1,174 (2008-10)

2) Eddie Stallings: 1,007 (1967-69)

Warren Currently: 664

Warren needs to average 15.9 points over 31 regular-season games to reach 1,000 in his UTA career and join Haynes and Stallings as the only players to ever accomplish the feat in program history.

THE ONLY ONE

David Azore had two games of 11+ defensive rebounds last year as a redshirt freshman: 13 at Texas State and 11 at Appalachian State. He is the first freshman in UTA history to secure multiple games of 11+ defensive rebounds. Those totals rank tied as the 5th- and 19th-most in single-game program history, with the all-time record being 14 held by a quartet of players.

KEY RULE CHANGES

Among a plethora of major rule changes for men’s college basketball in 2019-20 are the following noteworthy items:

1) Increase the 3-point line to FIBA distance: 22 feet and 1 ¾ inches.
2) Reset the shot clock to 20 seconds on an offensive rebound in the front court.
3) Permit the head coach to call live-ball timeouts during the last two minutes of a game.
4) Basket interference/goaltending can be reviewed in the last two minutes of a game.

UTA has players from five different foreign countries on the 2019-20 roster – a total which surpasses the amount of different states (four) represented on the team. The Mavs’ multi-cultural roster features players from Belgium, Bahamas, Congo, France and Trinidad & Tobago; states: Indiana, Florida, Texas and Washington.

One of those foreign players for UTA is sophomore Patrick Mwamba, who is a product of the NBA Academy Africa.

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.

Mwamba is one of 12 male NBA Academies graduates who are attending, or have committed to, D-I schools, and he is just one of two NBA Academy Africa products:

Oumar Ballo (NBA Latin America Academy; Mali; Gonzaga)
Francisco Caffaro (NBA Global Academy; Argentina; Virginia)
Hunter Clarke (NBA Global Academy; Australia; Montana)
Alex Ducas (NBA Global Academy; Australia; St. Mary’s)
Francisco Farabello (NBA Academy Latin America; Argentina; TCU)
Anyang Garang (NBA Global Academy; Uganda; Oklahoma)
Timothy Ighoefe (NBA Academy Africa; Nigeria; Georgetown)
Hyunjung Lee (NBA Global Academy; South Korea; Davidson)
Patrick Mwamba (NBA Academy Africa; Congo; UT Arlington)
Jermaine Miranda Perez (NBA Academy Latin America; Puerto Rico; Hofstra)
Jonathan Tchatchoua (NBA Global Academy; Cameroon; Baylor)
Kurt-Curry Wegscheider (NBA Academy Africa; Central Africa Republic; New Mexico)

After having the least amount of returning points in the nation last year (3.2 percent; 87 of 2,640), UTA returns 67 percent (1,527 of 2,284) of its scoring this season. Additionally, the Mavs bring back 67 percent (822 of 1,237) of their rebounding and 65 percent (272 of 421) of their assists.

For the first time in program history, UTA will have a regular season home game broadcast on national television as the Mavericks’ 2019-20 finale at the College Park Center against rival Texas State will be shown live on ESPN2. To accommodate the move to ESPN2, the game will now take place on Friday, Feb. 28, at 8 p.m. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 29, at 5 p.m.

During UTA’s run to the NIT quarterfinals in 2017, the Mavericks had a pair of those games at the CPC air nationally on ESPNU, but this will be the first time a regular-season game at the CPC will be broadcast to the country. UTA’s version of Friday Night Lights will take on even more significance as – in addition to airing on ESPN2 – the game will serve as Senior Night as it will be the final home regular-season contest of the year.