NEW ORLEANS – On the eve of the Sun Belt Men's Basketball Tournament opening-round games, conference officials unveiled the league's postseason awards Monday with UT Arlington's Chris Ogden being named Coach of the Year and Brian Warren tabbed to the All-Conference Team.
 
In his first year at the helm of the program, Ogden guided the Mavericks to a 2nd-place finish in the SBC after being predicted to finish 2nd-to-last (11th place) in the preseason poll, finishing the regular season with a 12-6 league record. Junior transfer Warren was selected to the SBC Third Team after leading UTA in scoring (15.3 ppg) and assists (3.6 apg), and hitting three shots in conference play which forced overtime or double overtime that the Mavs won to help guide them to the #2 seed and triple bye to the semifinals.
 
"Congratulations to Kip (Warren's middle name which he typically goes by). The award and recognition is extremely well-deserved, well-earned and a result of all his hard work," said Ogden. "All the thanks and congrats go to our players and staff; my honor is not an individual award – it wouldn't even be possible without all the dedication and effort from our guys, and it's tremendous recognition for our program as a whole."
 
In his first year as a Mav, Warren finished the regular season 12th in the league in scoring, 5th in free-throw percentage (.800), 9th in assists and 15th in field-goal percentage (.406). The guard was named the SBC Co-Player of the Week on Feb. 4 and eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark in a contest at now-#1 Gonzaga in December.
 
The 5-9 lefty posted two 30+ point games in conference action, highlighted by a career-high 33 against ULM – a victory which spearheaded UTA's four-game winning streak entering the SBC Tournament. He had 23 games of double-figure points during the campaign, including six which were 20 or more.
 
All told this year, Warren has made four shots which have forced overtime or double overtime, and then went on to make the go-ahead/eventual game-winning free throws twice. He hit the game-tying layup with 3 seconds remaining to force overtime at Cal Poly in December, and then hit the game-winning free throws in overtime. At Texas State last month, Warren made the game-tying jumper to force overtime with 14 seconds left, extended the game to double overtime with another jumper with 14 seconds remaining and converted the go-ahead free throws with the game tied in the second extra session. Finally, against ULM a few weeks later, he forced double overtime on a 3-pointer.
 
After playing the 7th-hardest non-conference schedule in the nation, UTA came out of its non-league docket 4-9 and then dropped its first two Sun Belt games at home to fall to 4-11 on the year. However, behind Ogden's leadership, the Mavs concluded the regular season above .500 with a 16-15 record.
 
Entering this season, UTA returned just 3.2 percent of its scoring – the fewest by any Division-I team in the nation. The Mavs had just 87 of 2,640 points back from its 2017-18 roster, including just one scholarship player in DJ Bryant. UTA lost its top-9 scorers (eight seniors; one transfer) from last year, but Ogden molded a group of newcomers – of which UTA had 12 at the start of the year, the 3rd-most in the country – together as 97 percent (2,090 of 2,153) of the Mavs' points this year have come from players who didn't suit up for UTA last season.
 
In conference games, UTA led the league in field-goal percentage defense (.409), rebounds per game (38.4) and rebound margin (+3.8); the Mavs finished 2nd in points per game allowed (69), free-throw percentage (.752), scoring margin (+4.1) and assists per game (14.6).
 
The Mavericks storm into the Sun Belt Tournament this week winners of four straight and have the #2 seed, receiving a bye all the way to the semifinals on Saturday – avoiding Tuesday's opening-round campus games, Thursday's second round at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans and Friday's quarterfinal round.
 
Georgia State won the regular-season title outright with a 13-5 record to secure the #1 seed, while UTA, Georgia Southern and Texas State all finished 2nd with 12-6 marks. UTA went 3-1 against the Eagles and Bobcats, GS went 2-2 and TXST went 1-3 to post the #2, #3 and #4 seeds, respectively.
 
The Mavs will tip off their semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. Central on Saturday. Click here to view the complete tournament bracket.
 
2018-19 SUN BELT MEN'S BASKETBALL POSTSEASON HONORS
First Team
Tookie Brown, Georgia Southern (Sr., G, Madison, Ga.)
D'Marcus Simonds, Georgia State (Jr., G, Gainesville, Ga.)
JaKeenan Gant, Louisiana (Sr., F, Springfield, Ga.)
Daishon Smith, ULM (Sr., G, Jacksonville, Fla.)
Nijal Pearson, Texas State (Jr., G, Beaumont, Texas)
 
Second Team
Ronshad Shabazz, Appalachian State (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.)
Rayjon Tucker, Little Rock (Jr., G, Charlotte, N.C.)
Ty Cockfield II, Arkansas State (Sr., G, Gainesville, Ga.)
Zac Cuthbertson, Coastal Carolina (Sr., F, New Bern, N.C.)
Josh Ajayi, South Alabama (Jr., F, El Monte, Calif.)
 
Third Team
Quan Jackson, Georgia Southern (So., G, Tallahassee, Fla.)
Michael Ertel, ULM (So., G, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Trhae Mitchell, South Alabama (Jr., F, Austell, Ga.)
Brian Warren, UTA (Jr., G, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Tre'Larenz Nottingham, Texas State (Sr., G, Moreno Valley, Calif.)
 
Player of the Year
Tookie Brown, Georgia Southern (Sr., G, Madison, Ga.)
 
Defensive Player of the Year
JaKeenan Gant, Louisiana (Sr., F, Springfield, Ga.)
 
Freshman of the Year
DeVante Jones, Coastal Carolina (Fr., G, New Orleans, La.)
 
Newcomer of the Year
Daishon Smith, ULM (Sr., G, Jacksonville, Fla.)
 
Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year
Chris Ogden, UTA
 
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).