ARLINGTON – Looking to bounce back from a road Sun Belt Conference weekend in which the UT Arlington men's basketball team (12-14, 8-5 SBC) dropped a pair of games by eight total points, the Mavericks return to the College Park Center on Thursday for a pivotal matchup with Louisiana (15-10, 6-6 SBC) beginning at 7 p.m.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Tickets are still available and can be secured in advance by logging on to UTATickets.com by clicking this link.
 
The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ by clicking here with Ron Thulin and Mike Petersen on the call. The Voice of the Mavericks Josh Sours will have the call on the radio at KEXB 620 AM and streaming via the TuneIn App and iHeartRadio. Furthermore, for updates and behind-the-scenes photos and videos from not only this game, but all season, be sure to follow @UTA_MBB on Twitter and @UTA_Hoops on Instagram.
 
WHAT TO KNOW
The extremely-popular Hardline afternoon show on The Ticket (1310 AM/96.7 FM) will be broadcasting live inside the College Park Center from 3-7 p.m. In partnership with eSix Sportswear, special packages were available which will allow UTA students with a valid Mav ID and fans into the arena to watch the broadcast beginning at 3:30 p.m., but doors will open to those without an advance ticket starting at 6 p.m.
 
Additionally, eSix Sportswear is giving fans the opportunity to win $10,000 at the game by making a half-court shot.
 
WHERE THINGS STAND
Despite dropping a 56-52 contest at Little Rock and an 83-79 decision at Arkansas State last weekend, UTA still sits in a tie for 3rd place in the SBC standings with Georgia Southern at 8-5. Georgia State (9-4) and Texas State (10-3) occupy the top-2 positions in the league standings. If the season ended today, the Mavericks would have the #3 seed in the conference tournament as UTA split its season series with Georgia Southern, but have the tiebreaker over the Eagles due to being 1-0 versus Texas State while GS went 1-1.
 
The top-2 seeds receive byes all the way to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals; the 3-4 seeds get byes to the quarterfinals and the 5-6 seeds automatically advance to the second round. Seeds 7-10 will play in opening-round games hosted on the campuses of the #7 and #8 seeds, with the winners of those contests advancing to New Orleans. The bottom-2 teams do not qualify for the tournament.
 
TWEETABLES – 5 Things To Know In 260 Characters Or Less
1) UTA has won its last four home games all by double figures or nine points. Those four victories have come by an average of 12 points per game.
2) The 79 points UTA scored in its loss at Arkansas State on Feb. 16 were the most in a defeat in almost exactly one year. On Feb. 17, 2018, UTA dropped a 100-79 decision to Louisiana – the last loss for the Mavs before they rattled off five-straight wins to reach the SBC Tournament Final.
3) At 8-5, this is tied for UTA's second-best start through 13 games of an SBC season. The 2016-17 club, which won the SBC Regular Season Championship with a 14-4 league mark, was 10-3 through its first 13 contests.
4) Helping aid in UTA's league turnaround is that the Mavs are averaging just 12.7 turnovers per game in SBC play (15.9 in the non-conference), issuing 14.1 assists per game (10.5 non-conference) and grabbing 39.2 rebounds per game (37.6 non-conference).
5) The Mavs rank 15th nationally in 3-point percentage defense (29.7). Only two opponents (Tulsa, 55.6 percent; Arkansas State, 51.9 percent) have shot better than 42 percent against the Mavs this year.
 
Bonus Tweet
Through UTA's first 26 games, head coach Chris Ogden has utilized 13 different starting lineups – the 2nd-most such starting 5 combinations in the nation to this point (UT Martin: 16).
 
SUN BELT STATS
In a testament to the statement 'defense wins championships,' UTA (1st, 68 points per game allowed) and Texas State (2nd, 68.2) rank as two-best defensive teams in the SBC, and currently occupy two of the top-three seeds in the tournament. However, offensively, UTA (12th, 71.2) and Texas State (11th, 72.3 points per game) rank as the two lowest-scoring teams in league play.
 
Despite averaging the fewest points in SBC games, UTA has the conference's 3rd-best scoring margin (+3.2) in league contests. Additionally, while the Mavericks also rank last in league games in field-goal percentage (40.7), UTA is 1st in the SBC in field-goal percentage defense (41.3), 1st in rebounds per game (39.2) and 1st in total assists (183).
 
UTA was picked 11th in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll, and its current 3rd-place standing represents the largest increase (+8) among all 12 league members. Texas State (+7: 8th to 1st) and Coastal Carolina (+5: 10th to 5th) are the only others who are close. Since joining the Sun Belt in 2013-14, UTA has won 64 league regular-season games, and is the only program to finish in the top 5 of the conference standings every year. Only Louisiana (67) and Georgia State (73) have more league wins in that time.
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA
Louisiana won the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship with a 16-2 record last year, advancing to play in the NIT before finishing 27-7 on the year.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns were predicted to finish 2nd in the SBC Preseason Poll this year (tied with Georgia Southern) behind last year's tournament champion, Georgia State.
 
Louisiana leads the league in scoring offense in conference games at 82.6 points per game, and ranks 2nd in free-throw percentage (.762) and assists per game (14.3).
 
JaKeenan Gant is the only Division-I player averaging 20 points (21), eight rebounds (8.3) and three blocks (3.0) per game this season. Gant has a conference-leading 10 doubles-doubles on the year.
 
LOCKING IN ON D
In 12 of UTA's first 13 SBC games, the Mavs have held a top-10 scorer in the conference below his season scoring average:
 
1) Ty Cockfield (ASU): 21.8 (16 & 27 vs. UTA)
5) Rayjon Tucker (LR): 20.1 (15 & 11)
6) D'Marcus Simonds (GSU): 19 (15 & 1)
7) Nigal Pearson (TXST): 18.5 (15)
8) Zac Cuthbertson (CCU): 18.4 (17 & 5)
9) Ronshad Shabazz (APP): 18.2 (16 & 15)
10) Tookie Brown (GS): 17.5 (4 & 11)
 
Gant ranks 4th in the conference in scoring with the aforementioned 21 per game, giving the Mavs another opportunity to hold a top-10 scorer below his average on Thursday.
 
Additionally, UTA has held 11 of 13 SBC opponents below their conference scoring average.
 
Included in that stretch was UTA limiting two opponents (Coastal Carolina, 58; Arkansas State, 59) below 60 points – just the third time in program history the Mavs have held consecutive Sun Belt foes under 60 points.
 
The previous occurrences:
Jan. 18 & 23, 2014: Texas State (48), Troy (56)
Jan. 19 & 22, 2015: Texas State (55), ULM (57)
 
1,000 POINT MILESTONE
Edric Dennis eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark at Little Rock last Thursday, and enters this Thursday's game with 1,009. The junior scored 272 points at Hill Junior College as a freshman, tallied 406 as a sophomore at Jackson State and has 331 with UTA this season. He is the second UTA player to reach the mark this year as Brian Warren did so at Gonzaga in December.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Following a pair of game-extending shots as part of a career-high scoring performance, Brian Warren was named the league's Player of the Week on Feb. 4, sharing the honor with Coastal Carolina's Zac Cuthbertson.
 
Warren poured in a career-best 30 points, but it was eight key points which helped lead UTA to an impressive 84-77 double-overtime win at Texas State Saturday, silencing the largest crowd in Strahan Arena history. Warren forced overtime and double overtime with shots in the closing 20 seconds of each period, and then hit the go-ahead free throws in double overtime.
 
BATTLE TESTED
ESPN recently published an article detailing the toughest non-conference schedules in the country this year, of which UTA ranked the 7th-most difficult; click here to read the full article (note: ESPN+ subscription required).
 
At the time of the non-conference schedule concluding, UTA played an incredible seven Quadrant 1 (Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75) non-league opponents, based on the NET report (NCAA's new RPI), and all seven of those came on the road – the most in the nation.
 
RE-TWEETS
1) UTA opened its season with a 90-66 win on Nov. 6 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) UTA started the year 3-1; four of the five times this decade that the Mavericks have commenced a season 3-1 it has resulted in a postseason and/or 20-win campaign.
3) The Mavericks went 21-13 overall last year (10-8 in the Sun Belt), finishing 112th in the RPI and reaching the Sun Belt Tournament Final for the first time in their five years in the league.
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.
5) UTA secured some solid early-season showings as the revamped Mavs own victories over perennially-strong mid-major Northern Iowa and a UC Davis team which returns four starters from a Big West Regular Season Championship and NIT appearance.
6) Of the 1,763 points UTA has scored this year 1,704 (96.7 percent) are from players who did not play for the Mavs last season.
7) The 45 points UTA scored at Missouri on Dec. 4 were its fewest since tallying 44 at then-#1 Kentucky in 2014, and were tied for the 6th-fewest all-time in a road game.
8) UTA posted season highs in steals versus D-I opponents in consecutive December games: 10 at #8 Gonzaga and 12 at Cal Poly.
9) UTA's four non-conference wins are the fewest in a season since recording three during the 2002-03 campaign; however, that team went on to finish 16-13 overall after going 13-7 in Southland Conference action.
10) UTA shot a season-high 48.3 percent from the floor at Appalachian State, and followed it up with a season-best 11 3-pointers at Coastal Carolina, culminated by a Radshad Davis game-winning triple with 1.9 seconds remaining.
11) UTA has started 2-2 in Sun Belt play in four of the last five years, but went on to finish .500 or better in the conference each of those seasons – including last year's 10-8 mark and a regular-season championship 14-4 performance in 2016-17.
12) UTA shot 87.2 percent (34-39) from the free-throw line versus Little Rock – tied for the 5th-best percentage in single game program history (minimum 20 made). Dennis contributed 15 of those (15-17) – tied for the 9th-most makes in program history.
13) At Georgia State, UTA lost for the first time this year (now 11-2) when scoring at least 68 points. The Mavs erased a 16-point deficit to take the lead, took a four-point lead in the 2nd half, but couldn't hold on late.
14) UTA posted a +18 rebound margin (48-30) at Georgia State – its largest positive rebounding differential in a loss in any game since at least 2011-12. The Mavs pulled down a season-high 21 offensive boards.
15) After not shooting better than 45 percent from the floor in any of its first 15 games, UTA has eclipsed that mark in three of its last 11 outings, including a 47.5 clip at Texas State – which entered the game leading the SBC in scoring defense in league action.
16) UTA held Coastal Carolina to a season-low 22.6 percent from the floor on Feb. 7 in a 74-54 win – the Mavs' largest margin of victory against a Division-I opponent this year (previous: App State, 10). CCU came into the game averaging 79 points per game in SBC play.
17) Andres Ibarguen pulled down 15 rebounds – tied for the 2nd-most by any SBC player in a game this year – and added 12 points for the second double-double of his season against Coastal.
18) UTA shot a season-high 47.6 percent (10-21) from 3-point range versus Appalachian State on Feb. 9 It was just the second time this year the Mavs have made double-digit 3s in a game (11 at Coastal Carolina).
19) After winning its first nine D-I games by just 66 total points, UTA has won its last two by 30 points: 20 versus Coastal Carolina and 10 opposite App State.
 
NEXT UP
UTA remains at home to face ULM on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m.
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
In an effort to enhance public safety and the fan experience, for all UTA men's and women's home games this season the College Park Center will implement a clear-bag policy. All purses, containers, backpacks or anything larger than a small clutch bag are prohibited, and items must be placed in a clear tote bag not to exceed 12" x 6" x 12". For more information, fans are encouraged to visit UTAMavs.com/BasketballGameday.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
To secure tickets for upcoming games and find out about additional gameday procedures, log on to UTATickets.com. Additionally, for updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTA_MBB) and Instagram (@UTA_Hoops).