JONESBORO, Ark. – Entering Thursday night's game at Arkansas State, UT Arlington guard
Davis Steelman hadn't scored a point all season, but the seldom-used junior came off the bench to spearhead an impressive Maverick performance with a game-best 14 points as UTA (5-9, 1-2 Sun Belt) cruised to a 73-52 victory over the 10-win Red Wolves (10-5, 2-1 Sun Belt) inside First National Bank Arena.
A transfer from New Mexico Military Institute, Steelman had appeared in only five games and logged 16 total minutes in 2019, but quickly became the storyline in UTA's first game of 2020. He delivered seven points in the 1st half and added seven more in the 2nd while going 6-7 from the field, 2-2 from 3-point range, grabbing three rebounds and recording a steal in 25 minutes.
UTA received additional offensive support from
Jabari Narcis with his third double-double of the year thanks to 11 points and a game-best 10 rebounds.
David Azore reached double-figure points for the 13th-straight time with a 13-point performance to complement an extremely-balanced Maverick attack.
All nine UTA rotation players scored, and seven of those had six or more.
Radshad Davis just missed what would have been his second double-double of the season with nine points and nine rebounds, while
Brian Warren issued a game-high nine assists against just one turnover while netting seven points.
The Mavs shot a season-best 53 percent (31-59) from the field while limiting Arkansas State to its 2nd-worst performance of the season at 29 percent (16-56) – the first time all year UTA has held an opponent under 30 percent.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
UTA jumped to an early lead and was never threatened as the Mavs led for 38 minutes and 29 seconds of the contest, trailing for only 52 ticks – at 2-0 in the opening minute. The UTA lead got as large as 26 at one point in the 2nd half as the Mavs stopped a five-game losing streak.
The Mavs' motion offense was run to near perfect execution as they finished with an incredible 27 assists on those 31 made field goals (87 percent). Those 27 assists are the most in the
Chris Ogden era, and the Mavs committed only 13 turnovers.
Facing a -2 rebounding disparity at halftime (21-19), UTA completely dominated the glass in the 2nd half to the tune of a +11 margin (23-12) to never allow A-State to get back in the game. UTA concluded the game at +9 (42-33).
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"Everybody who played in that game tonight gave us big-time, big-time minutes. We had a really good offensive plan, our guys executed it and played hard defensively. It was a great way to start 2020, but now we've got to get ready for Little Rock on Saturday."
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
UTA raced out to a 17-5 lead not even seven minutes in following a perfect connection from Warren to Azore for a two-handed dunk by the redshirt sophomore.
Following Azore's second foul and departure to the bench at the 11:02 mark with UTA leading 19-8, the Mavs didn't skip a beat and their lead eventually grew to as much as 16 with 7+ minutes left following Steelman's first 3-pointer as a member of UTA to give the visitors a 28-12 lead.
The Mavs would take a 37-24 lead into the halftime break – their largest advantage against a Division-I opponent this year at intermission – thanks to 61-percent shooting (17-28) from the floor while holding A-State to just 25 percent (8-32). UTA assisted on an incredible 15 of its 17 1st-half field goals and registered 20 of their points from the paint.
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
Narcis set the tone on the offensive end to open the 2nd half, but following back-to-back 3-pointers from Azore at the 14-minute mark the Mavs held their largest lead of the night at that point at 21, 54-33.
After the margin got back down to 19, Steelman started a 7-0 run and Davis scored the next five to create the aforementioned 26-point edge, 61-35, at the 11:30 mark, and A-State couldn't get any closer than 18 the rest of the night.
THIS AND THAT
- Coleman Sparling did not travel with the team as he is battling the flu.
- UTA entered action having played the nation's 9th-hardest schedule, according to KenPom. Seven of the Mavs' nine losses had been by eight points or less, and five of those had come away from home against NET Quad 1 or 2 opponents.
- The Mavericks also started last season 4-9 and 0-2 in the Sun Belt before finishing the year 17-16 overall and 12-6 in the conference.
- Melo Eggleston was the lone A-State player to reach double-figure points with 10.
NEXT UP
Following 11 days in-between games for the holiday season, Thursday marked the first contest in a three-game-in-five-day stretch for UTA as the Mavericks will next head to Little Rock to face the Trojans on Saturday, Jan. 4, at 2 p.m. before returning to the College Park Center for their home Sun Belt opener on Monday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. against preseason league favorite South Alabama.
The Trojans overcame a double-figure 2nd-half deficit on Thursday at home to Texas State to carve out a 72-68 win to move to 9-5 overall and remain perfect at 3-0 in the Sun Belt.
Gallery: (1/2/2020) Men's Basketball @ Arkansas State
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.
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