ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team will play its scheduled penultimate non-conference game of the season on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 6 p.m. against Dallas Christian College inside the College Park Center.
 
The game was just announced on Tuesday. Due to the quick turnaround time, in addition to staffing and infrastructure conflicts due to the university's virtual commencement also on Thursday night, the following will take place:
 

• The contest will be closed to all spectators (including media) except those on the player/team pass lists.
• The game can be heard on 620 AM and streaming online; however, there will not be a video broadcast (ESPN+).
• Fans can also follow the action on live stats and on the official Twitter account of the program @UTAMavsMBB.

 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
UTA and Dallas Christian have never before met on the hardwood. DCC is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and is located in Farmers Branch.
 
The Crusaders have already played 11 games this year, but eight of those have been classified as exhibitions due to the opponents being Division-I or NAIA members. DCC has played D-I teams Sam Houston State, McNeese State and Tarleton State, and are scheduled to face Abilene Christian and UTRGV after the holiday break. The Crusaders are officially 2-1 on the year; they have dropped those eight D-I and NAIA matchups by an average of 53 points.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UTA is coming off a wire-to-wire 91-66 win over Hardin-Simmons on Friday night. A balanced Maverick offensive attack was led by five double-figure scorers and two more who came up a point shy of reaching that mark as the Mavericks used a 59-point 1st half to run away from the Cowboys.
 
Fredelin De La Cruz cruised to his second double-double of the year with season bests of 15 points and 15 rebounds. The junior had 10 points and 10 rebounds at the under-8 media timeout of the 1st half in only eight minutes of action before settling for the first 15-rebound outing by a Mav since Andres Ibarguen pulled down that many against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 7, 2019.
 
Sophomore Sam Griffin netted 14 points, classmate Nicolas Elame matched a career high with 12 points, freshman Brandyn Talbot tallied a season-best 12 points and redshirt senior Lazaro Rojas registered a career-establishing 11 points to round out the quintet of double-figure scorers for UTA.
 
Davis Steelman and Jordan Phillips just missed giving the Mavs seven in double-figure scoring as they both recorded nine points. The seven double-figure scorers would have been only the fourth such occurrence in program history (all-time record: eight versus Texas Wesleyan on Dec. 7, 1981).
 
The Mavs did all of that while resting five players – including their two leading scorers: Shahada Wells (14.8 ppg) and David Azore (12 ppg) – along with Patrick Mwamba, Grayson Carter and Carson Bischoff.
 
All 10 of UTA's dressed players appeared in the 1st half, with nine of them scoring. UTA got off to a blistering start en route to a 28-point halftime lead which grew to as much as 38 in the 2nd half.
 
THIS AND THAT FROM LAST TIME OUT

• The 91 points were the most in a regulation game in the Chris Ogden era (3rd season), and were tied for the most in any game during his tenure (91 versus ULM in double overtime on Feb. 23, 2019).
• The Mavs set season highs in assists (19), free-throw percentage (.714), points, rebounds (53), field-goal percentage (.500) and 3-point percentage (.500).
• UTA posted a +30 rebound margin (53-23), representing the 7th-largest differential in single-game program history (record: +36 twice in 1990 and 1992). It's just the third time this century UTA has secured a +30 or better rebound margin in a game.

 
CHALLENGING START
UTA played five games in 10 days to open the 2020-21 season between Nov. 25 and Dec. 4; only one D-I team in the nation played more games in the first 10 days of the year than the Mavs, and that was San Francisco with six.
 
Making things even more challenging for UTA was that four of those five games came against opponents which won 20 games a season ago and/or finished in the top 100 of the NET (Oklahoma State: 64 NET; Louisiana Tech: 22 wins & 87 NET; Arkansas: 20 wins & 43 NET; Tulsa: 21 wins & 78 NET).
 
SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS
Earlier this month, UTA and Oral Roberts announced that they had agreed to delay the start of their home-and-home series by a year to 2021-22; the two teams were scheduled to play in Tulsa this Saturday, Dec. 19.
 
NEXT UP
The Mavericks are slated to round out the 2020 calendar year against Howard Payne at the College Park Center on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 6 p.m. Fans will be permitted at that game, and all scheduled future Mav home games this season.
 
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).