TULSA, Okla. – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (1-4) couldn't maintain a torrid offensive start on Friday at Tulsa (1-2) as the Mavericks suffered a 79-64 setback to the Golden Hurricane inside the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
UTA made nine of its first 11 field-goal attempts (82 percent) and held a 32-25 lead following 13 minutes of action, but after that the Mavs were out-scored 54-32 and connected on just 14-43 attempts (33 percent).
Sam Griffin paced UTA with 13 points, while
David Azore finished as the Mavs only other double-figure scorer with 11. UTA – which closed the game on a 10-0 run over the final three minutes – did have 12 different players score.
UTA's leading scorer
Shahada Wells played just 10 minutes and scored only three points. The junior transfer guard had led (or tied) the Mavs in scoring in each of the first four games of the year, and came in averaging 17.8 points per contest.
Playing its fifth game – four of which were away from home – in 10 days to open the season, UTA finished the day shooting 43 percent (23-54) from the field, while Tulsa connected at a 50-percent rate (32-64).
PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
UTA got off to a blistering offensive pace, knocking down six of its first seven attempts from the floor – and had eight different players score in the opening eight minutes – en route to what would become its largest lead of the game, 32-25, with seven minutes remaining.
However, the Mavs' offense went cool over the ensuing handful of minutes, allowing the Golden Hurricane to orchestrate an 8-0 run and claim a 33-32 edge before Griffin stopped that with an acrobatic finish in which he was also fouled.
Tulsa ended up carrying a 40-37 advantage into the halftime break as after UTA began the afternoon 9-of-11 from the field it finished the 1st half going 4-of-18 as the Golden Hurricane closed the period on an extended 15-5 run over seven minutes.
That run by the hosts – playing their first home game of the young season – extended into the 2nd half as the Maverick offense remained cold, and Tulsa eventually pushed the cushion all the way to its largest of the day, 79-54, in the closing minutes.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Redshirt sophomore Grayson Carter entered the game with three career 3-pointers; he made two 3s in the 1st half.
- Freshman Brandyn Talbot scored his first career points on a 3-pointer late in the 2nd half.
- UTA was out-rebounded, 41-28.
- The Mavs committed a season-high 16 turnovers.
- Brandon Rachal led Tulsa with 19 points. Elijah Joiner added 14 points to go along with seven rebounds, and Darien Jackson closed in on a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
THIS AND THAT
- No spectators were permitted at the game, as will be the case for all Tulsa home games at the Reynolds Center through at least Dec. 19.
- Tulsa was UTA's fourth opponent already this year which won at least 20 games a season ago and/or finished in the top 100 of the NET (21 wins & 78 NET).
- The Golden Hurricane finished 21-10 last season and 13-5 in the American Athletic Conference to share the league's regular-season championship with Cincinnati and Houston.
- Tulsa head coach Frank Haith was an assistant coach at Texas from 2001-04; UTA head coach Chris Ogden played for the Longhorns from 1999-03, helping lead UT to the Final Four in 2003 as a captain.
- This was the third-straight season that the Mavericks and Golden Hurricane have played each other (UTA win last year, 73-59). Ironically, the two programs – separated by only about 4-and-a-half hours – went more than 40 years between their first meeting (1966) and second meeting (2008).
NEXT UP
UTA will finally have a chance to collect themselves with a scheduled week between games. The Mavs are slated to return to the court next Friday, Dec. 11, at 6 p.m. against Hardin-Simmons from the College Park Center.
FOLLOW ALONG
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