LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The UT Arlington men’s basketball team will take its three-game winning streak into the start of Sun Belt Conference play at the defending regular-season champion this weekend when the Mavericks (4-4) face Little Rock (4-3) for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 1 & 2, at 4 p.m. each day.

KEY STORYLINES

Sun Belt Conference officials announced the original 18-game league schedule on Oct. 1; however, that was adjusted on Oct. 29 when the league switched to a divisional slate to mitigate travel associated with COVID-19. For UTA in the West Division, that means the Mavericks will play Little Rock, Arkansas State, Louisiana and ULM four times each – twice at home and twice on the road on consecutive Fridays and Saturdays. UTA and Texas State will play twice – once at home on a Thursday and two days later on a Saturday in San Marcos. No Saturday games are permitted to start later than 4 p.m. local time to accommodate return travel.

UTA owns the 2nd-most wins against Sun Belt opponents (78) since joining the league in 2013-14 (Georgia State: 90; Louisiana: 78). UTA and Georgia Southern are the only two Sun Belt teams to have posted six-straight years of double-figure league victories. The Mavs went 9-9 in SBC action in their first year in the conference, and since then have posted at least 10 Sun Belt wins in every season.

TWEETABLES

1) This will be the second-straight year that UTA will begin Sun Belt play with four-straight road games – the only school in the conference that has been dealt that hand.

2) UTA is 3-4 all-time in Sun Belt openers, with the last win coming in 2016-17. The Mavs have started league play 0-2 each of the last three seasons, but have won 10+ conference games each of those years and reached the Sun Belt Tournament Final twice (2018, 2019).

3) The Mavs have posted consecutive games of 100+ points for only the second time since 1993: 105 vs. Austin College (Jan. 30, 2007) and 110 at Texas State (Feb. 3, 2007).

4) UTA ranks 11th in the nation in rebounds per game (44.1) and 20th in the country in steals per game (9.5).

5) The Mavs have a different leader in points (Shahada Wells, 14.6), rebounds (Fredelin De La Cruz, 7.6), assists (Nicolas Elame, 3.3), blocks (Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, 4.0) and free-throw percentage (Sam Griffin, 91.7).

SCOUTING LITTLE ROCK

• Little Rock claimed the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship last year with a 15-5 league record. However, UTA defeated the Trojans in Arlington, 76-65, and only lost by three in Little Rock, 92-89, when a last-second 3-point attempt from Brian Warren rimmed in and out.
   
• The Trojans were installed as the Sun Belt West Division preseason favorites with 140 points (the most of any of the 12 teams in the league) and nine 1st-place votes.
   
• Little Rock began its season by playing four neutral-site games at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center between Nov. 25-Dec. 3 before hosting a pair of games in Little Rock and rounding out its non-conference schedule on Dec. 21 with the first true road game of the year at Missouri State.
   
• Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year Ruot Monyyong and fellow First Team member Markquis Nowell both rank 9th nationally with four double-doubles each. Nowell leads Little Rock in scoring (17 per game) and assists (8.9 – 3rd in the nation), while Monyyong is averaging 10.4 points and a team-best 8.9 rebounds. Nowell also ranks 13th nationally with 2.7 steals per contest.
   
• Nikola Maric averages 15.4 points and 7.1 rebounds – both ranking as the 2nd-best on the Trojans.

TOP-10 RECORD PERFORMANCES

UTA is coming off back-to-back games in which it posted several top-10 program records following wins of 117-53 over Howard Payne (Dec. 22) and 109-48 versus Dallas Christian (Dec. 17).

Howard Payne

• Points: 117 – Tied for the 9th-most in any game, tied for the 7th-most in a regulation 40-minute contest and the most in any game since 1998 (record: 154).
• Double-Figure Scorers: 8 – Tied for the most ever, with the only other occurrence coming on Dec. 7, 1981, against Texas Wesleyan.
• Final Margin: +64 – The 3rd-largest all-time and biggest since 1991.
  • 69 (154-85) vs. Huston-Tillotson (Nov. 29, 1990)
  • 66 (130-64) vs. Huston-Tillotson (Nov. 28, 1991)
• Field Goals Made: 46 – The 8th-most all-time and most since 1991.
• 3-Pointers Made: 16 – Tied for the 2nd-most along with a performance at Texas State in 1991; fell one shy of tying the all-time mark of 17 against Bradley in 2015 (attempted: 42 – tied for the most all-time).
• Assists: 31 – Tied for the 4th-most and the most since 1991 (record: 34).
• Rebound Margin: +30 (61-31) – Tied for the 7th-largest along with a performance on Dec. 11 against Hardin-Simmons (record: 36 on two occasions).
• 1st-Half Points: 67 (67-25) – The 3rd-most in any 1st half.
  • 78 vs. University of Dallas (Dec. 8, 1990)
  • 69 vs. Austin College (Dec. 13, 1966)

Dallas Christian

• Final Margin: +61 – The 4th-largest all-time.
• Rebound Margin: +29 (55-26) – The 9th-largest differential ever.
• Free-Throw Percentage: 85.2 (23-27) – The 8th-best (minimum 20 makes).
• Points: 109 – The 3rd-most this century.
  • 111 vs. Howard Payne (Nov. 13, 2013)
  • 110 @ Texas State (Feb. 3, 2007)

BY THE NUMBERS

1: UTA’s 75-68 setback to Oklahoma State was its first season-opening loss since 2013-14, and only its second year-opening defeat since 2005-06.

2: With a 72-60 loss at Arkansas on Dec. 2 and a 79-64 setback at Tula on Dec. 4, it marked just the second time in the Chris Ogden era that the Mavs have lost consecutive games by 10+ points (five-straight from Nov. 20-Dec. 4 in 2018).

4: Four of UTA’s first five games this season came against opponents which won 20+ games last year and/or finished in the top 100 of the NET: Oklahoma State (64 NET), Arkansas (20 Wins & 43 NET), Louisiana Tech (22 Wins & 87 NET) and Tulsa (21 Wins & 78 NET).

5: UTA played five games in the first 10 days of the season; the only team in the country to play more games during that time was San Francisco with six (several teams tied with five).

6: The Mavs held Arkansas to only six points over the final 10 minutes of their game on Dec. 2, but couldn’t capitalize offensively en route to the aforementioned 72-60 loss in Fayetteville.

11: UTA has already had 11 different players reach double-figure points in a game – surpassing last year’s total (9) in only eight games: Shahada Wells, David Azore, Patrick Mwamba, Nicolas Elame, Sam Griffin, Fredelin De La Cruz, Jordan Phillips, Brandyn Talbot, Lazaro Rojas, Grayson Carter and McKade Marquis. The Mavs almost have 12 such players as Davis Steelman tallied nine points against Hardin-Simmons.

NEWCOMER DIVERSITY

UTA has seven newcomers on its roster this year, and in a unique twist each class is represented:

Freshmen: Brandyn Talbot, Antonio Romanelli
Sophomore: Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu
Juniors: Shahada Wells, Fredelin De La Cruz, Carson Bischoff
Senior: Lazaro Rojas

The Mavs are one of only 14 teams in the nation to have a newcomer in each class: California Baptist, East Tennessee State, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Hawaii, Montana State, New Mexico State, Oral Roberts, Portland State, Seattle, SIU Edwardsville, Weber State and Wichita State.

GLOBAL IMPACT

The UTA roster this year is represented by seven different countries, five different continents and three different states: Nigeria and Congo (Africa), Canada and Dominican Republic (North America), Brazil (South America), France (Europe) and Australia; Texas, Utah and Florida. The seven different countries represented are tied for the 2nd-most of any team in the nation (Maine, 8). While he lists his hometown as Mesquite, Texas, Akobundu-Ehiogu was born in Nigeria and lived there until he was 13.

CLOSING IN ON 1,000

Redshirt junior David Azore began this season with 718 career points – well on pace to become only the 26th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone (currently: 793).

Only three players in program history have scored more than 1,500 career points: Willie Brand (1,907 from 1987-91), Kevin Hervey (1,783 from 2014-18) and Erick Neal (1,557 from 2014-18). Among those three players, only one had scored more points through his first two years than Azore:

Brand: 979 Points
Azore: 718 Points
Neal: 622 Points
Hervey: 510 Points

AMONG THE NATION’S BEST

UTA finished in the top-40 in the nation in four key statistical categories last season: assist-to-turnover ratio (16th, 1.3), defensive 3-point percentage (20th, 29.6), fewest turnovers per game (29th, 11.2) and assists per game (35th, 14.9).

SCHEDULE ALTERATIONS

Like every team’s non-conference schedule, UTA’s was drastically impacted and ended up significantly different than it was originally. The non-league docket featured eight contests – four at home, one at a neutral site and three on the road. Each of those games were drivable and regionally located. In early December, UTA and Oral Roberts mutually agreed to delay the start of their home-and-home series by one season to 2021-22 (were scheduled to play at ORU on Dec. 19).

UTA played five games in 10 days to open the season, including two Power-5 teams (vs. Oklahoma State, @ Arkansas) and three opponents which won at least 20 games a season ago (@ Louisiana Tech, @ Arkansas, @ Tulsa).

HARD-LUCK LOSSES

After playing the nation’s 7th-hardest non-conference strength of schedule in 2018-19, UTA played the 3rd-most difficult non-league slate in 2019-20. Through that extremely-challenging slate and the Sun Belt schedule, the Mavericks remained extremely competitive despite finishing 14-18 overall and 10-10 in the Sun Belt. Among those notable accomplishments:

• Six Losses By One Possession – Three Points Or Less
   
• Three Losses By One Point – Tied For The Most In Single-Season Program History
  • Also occurred in 1974-75, 1977-78, 1982-83 and 1987-88.
  • All three setbacks came at the buzzer or in the final 4 seconds as the opponent hit a game-winning shot: Furman (58-57; floater with 3.8 seconds left), Louisiana (66-65; 3-pointer at the buzzer) and Coastal Carolina (63-62; jumper at the buzzer).
     
• 13 Of The 18 Losses Were By Eight Points Or Less
  • One of those was to then-#8 Gonzaga, 72-66, as UTA led for 16 minutes and held the Bulldogs to their worst field-goal percentage (39.1 percent) in 99 games – since Feb. 20, 2016, against Saint Mary’s.
     
• Of UTA’s Nine Division-I Non-Conference Opponents, Eight Of Them Finished In Either 1st Or 2nd Place In Their Respective League
  • Tulsa: T-1st, American; UTA Won, 73-59
  • Nevada: 2nd, Mountain West; UTA Lost, 80-73
  • Oregon: 1st, Pac 12; UTA Lost, 67-47
  • Gonzaga: 1st, West Coast; UTA Lost, 72-66
  • Furman: 2nd, Southern; UTA Lost, 58-57
  • North Texas: 1st, Conference USA; UTA Lost, 77-66
  • UC Santa Barbara: 2nd, Big West; UTA Lost, 72-68
  • Houston: T-1st, American; UTA Lost, 71-63

LOCKING IN ON D

UTA set the single-season program record for defensive 3-point percentage last year, limiting opponents to just 29.6 percent from beyond the arc – breaking the previous record of 29.8 percent set in 2018-19.

Additionally, the Mavs have produced two of the better single seasons on the defensive side of the ball in program history under Ogden’s guidance.

UTA held opponents to 68.4 points per game in 2019-20 – the 4th-fewest in program history; that came on the heels of a 69.8 point-per-game average in 2018-19 – the 8th-best in program history.

In terms of opponent field-goal percentage, UTA limited foes to only 41.2 percent last year – tied for the 5th-lowest in program history; in 2018-19, the Mavs held opponents to 42.3 percent – the 7th-best in program history.

RE-TWEETS

• UTA owns the 2nd-most wins against Sun Belt opponents (78) since joining the league in 2013-14 (Georgia State: 90; Louisiana: 78).
   
• UTA finished in 7th place in the Sun Belt regular-season standings last year with a 10-10 record – the first time since joining the league in 2013-14 that it did not finish in the top-5 of the conference (was the only team in the league to have accomplished that feat).
   
• The Mavs have a pair of current 15-game winning streaks: Houston Baptist (1980-2014) and Texas Wesleyan (1984-2009).

SUSTAINED SUCCESS

Despite finishing last year with a 14-18 record, UTA still posted the 2nd-highest NET Ranking (formerly the RPI) in the Sun Belt at #129 – behind only Texas State at #120. To further demonstrate the Mavs’ consistency over the last six years, since 2014-15 (its second season in the league) UTA has the 2nd-best average NET/RPI among all Sun Belt teams at #121 (Georgia State: #119).

SUN BELT SUCCESS

UTA and Georgia Southern are the only two Sun Belt Conference teams to have posted six-straight years of double-figure league victories. The Mavs went 9-9 in SBC action in their first year in the conference in 2013-14, and since then have posted at least 10 Sun Belt wins in every season.

FREE-THROW EMPHASIS

In each of his first two seasons at the helm of the Mavs, Chris Ogden has placed an emphasis on free-throw shooting. Last year, UTA connected at a 74.8 percent clip from the free-throw line – the 4th-best percentage in single-season program history. In 2018-19, the Mavs went 74.1 percent from the charity stripe – the 6th-best percentage in single-season program history.

Those are two of only six seasons of 74+ percent from the free-throw line in the 61-year history of the program.

YOUNG NAMED TOP ASSISTANT COACH

Longtime UTA associate head coach Greg Young has been named the top assistant coach in the Sun Belt Conference, as unveiled by Stadium’s Jeff Goodman.

Young, who is entering his 12th season with UTA in 2020-21, was voted as the top assistant coach in the Sun Belt by his peers as Goodman polled at least 20 coaches in the conference.

Since joining UTA in 2009-10, Young has helped guide the Mavericks to a 207-152 record (.577) and advanced to the postseason four times: 2012 NIT, 2013 CIT, 2016 CIT and 2017 NIT. 

He has been a member of two regular-season championship teams – 2012 Southland Conference and 2017 Sun Belt – in addition to reaching the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Final in 2013 and the Sun Belt Tournament Final in both 2018 and 2019.

NET CHANGES

Prior to this season, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee announced that the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) will be changed to increase accuracy and simplify it by reducing a five-component metric to just two. The remaining factors include the Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home, as well as an adjusted net efficiency rating.

The adjusted efficiency is a team’s net efficiency, adjusted for strength of opponent and location (home/away/neutral) across all games played. For example, a given efficiency value (net points per 100 possessions) against stronger opposition rates higher than the same efficiency against lesser opponents and having a certain efficiency on the road rates higher than the same efficiency at home.

No longer will the NET use winning percentage, adjusted winning percentage and scoring margin.

NEXT UP

UTA will head back on the road to Monroe, La., to face ULM next weekend, Jan. 8-9, for a 6 p.m. tipoff on Friday and a 4 p.m. start on Saturday. The Warhawks are 2-5 on the season entering this weekend’s series versus Arkansas State.

FOLLOW ALONG

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