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MBB Sun Belt Tournament 1st Round Coastal Carolina

Men's Basketball By: Jason MacBain (@JaBain)

@UTAMavsMBB Sun Belt Tournament 1st Round Infographic Preview: #10 Coastal Carolina

SUN BELT TOURNAMENT 1ST ROUND
#7 UT Arlington (14-17, 10-10 Sun Belt) vs. #10 Coastal Carolina (15-16, 8-12 Sun Belt)

March 7, 2020  ||  2 PM  ||  College Park Center  ||  Arlington, TX

For The Complete Set Of Infographic Game Notes, Click On The Image Above
2020 Sun Belt MBB Tournament Bracket

ABOUT THE MATCHUP
 

  • Coastal won both meetings with UTA this year: 82-77 on Jan. 11 at the CPC and 89-75 on Feb. 8 in Conway, S.C.
  • The Chanticleers also lead the league in rebound margin in conference games at +6.5 – more than four boards better than any other team.
  • UTA has the Sun Belt’s best 3-point defense in league games by limiting opponents to just 27.6 percent, while Coastal shoots a league-worst 29.9 percent from beyond the arc.

 

  • The Mavs also boast the league’s 2nd-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) in conference contests, while the Chants are last at 0.8. CCU also allows a league-worst 78.7 points per game in Sun Belt play.
  • CCU’s 13.6 offensive rebounds per game ranks 7th nationally; the Chants are also 14th in the country with 40.2 rebounds per game and check in with the nation’s 18th-highest scoring offense at 78.9.
  • DeVante’ Jones ranks 29th in the country with 5.8 assists per game and is 39th nationally at 86.2 percent from the free-throw line. Jones was named to the Sun Belt All-Conference Second Team.
Average RPIs Last 5 Years MBB

IN RARIFIED AIR
Only three players in UTA 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 has scored more points through his first two years than David Azore:

Brand: 979 Points
Azore: 707 Points & Counting
Neal: 622 Points
Hervey: 510 Points

PROTECTING THE ROCK
UTA committed a combined nine turnovers in two games on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 – four versus Louisiana and five against ULM. Combined with a five-turnover performance in the non-conference finale at Houston in December, UTA is one of just 13 schools in the nation with three games of five or fewer turnovers this season. Minnesota, Northwestern, Villanova and Saint Mary’s all have four such games.

In the previous nine seasons combined (2010-19), UTA had a total of just two games of five or fewer turnovers (a span of 306 games). The four-turnover performance against the Ragin’ Cajuns were the fewest in a game by the Mavs since at least 2010.

RECAPPING LOUISIANA
Louisiana executed a full-court inbound and knocked down a contested, off-balance 3-pointer as the buzzer expired on Jan. 30, sending UTA to a heartbreaking 66-65 loss. Coleman Sparling put UTA in front, 65-63, with 2.7 seconds remaining, but on the ensuing inbound Dou Gueye caught the pass, turned quickly and with 6-foot-9 Sparling’s hand in his face, threw up a 3-point attempt which hit nothing but net to give Louisiana the walk-off win. The shot landed at #1 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays for Jan. 30.

1,000 POINT CLUB
TiAndre Jackson-Young eclipsed 1,000 career points on Jan. 30 against Louisiana; on Jan. 18 at ULM, Radshad Davis reached 1,000 career points. Both players began their career at junior colleges for two seasons.

SHOCKING STEELMAN
UTA’s win over Arkansas State on Jan. 2 was spearheaded shockingly by junior walk-on Steelman. He came off the bench to score a game-high 14 points; Steelman had not scored a single point all season coming into the game. In five games previously he had played 16 minutes, grabbed one rebound and went 0-2 from the floor. At A-State, he played 25 minutes, grabbed three rebounds and went 6-7 from the floor. Steelman started the next four games following A-State.

On the other side of the ball against Gonzaga, Jabari Narcis – a 6-foot-9 forward – went a perfect 5-5 from 3-point range, tying for the best 3-point percentage performance in program history. Of players who have made at least five 3-pointers in a game, Narcis is now just the third player to go 5-5 or better, joining Scott Cross (5-5 vs. UTSA on Feb. 14, 1998) and Kevin Butler (7-7 at Idaho on Feb. 14, 2013).

In his initial ranking earlier this summer, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi installed UTA as the Sun Belt favorites in 2019-20. Andy Katz from the NCAA also predicted UTA to make the NCAA Tournament in his preseason bracket.

RE-TWEETS

1) UTA’s 64-62 win at Texas State on Jan. 25 represented the third-fewest points the Mavs have scored in a win since the 2014-15 season: 56-51 at Bradley (Dec. 16, 2016) and 61-58 at Coastal Carolina (Jan. 12, 2019).

2) For the first time since Louisiana and ULM became travel partners in 2015-16, UTA swept the Lafayette and Monroe road trip Jan. 16-18.

3) Against App State on Jan. 9, UTA won for the first time this season when having a worse field-goal percentage than its opponent (UTA: 40 percent, App State: 44 percent). It also marked the Mavs first win this year when scoring less than 70 points.

4) UTA issued 27 assists on 31 made field goals (87 percent) at Arkansas State. Those are the most assists since matching that total in a 105-89 win in the 2017 NIT at BYU.

4) Azore recorded his second double-double of the year with a career-high 33 points and season-best 12 rebounds at Georgia Southern. All 12 rebounds came on the defensive end – tied for the 10th-most in single-game program history.

6) Against Arkansas Tech on Nov. 24, Warren (15 points, career-high 12 assists) and Narcis (career-high 23 points, 11 rebounds) each recorded double-doubles – the first time that multiple UTA players have registered double-doubles in the same game in the Ogden era.

7) Warren’s 12 assists were the most by a Mav since Erick Neal issued 13 against UT Dallas on Nov. 27, 2017.

8) Under Ogden, UTA is 27-10 when scoring at least 68 points (12-8 this year).

9) UTA shot just 23.4 percent (15-64) from the field at #14 Oregon on Nov. 17 – the worst performance in program history.

10) With its 84-50 victory over UT Dallas on Nov. 5, UTA has now won six-straight season openers.

11) UTA made 15 3-pointers (15-37) against UTD, tying for the 3rd-most in a game in program history (all-time record: 17 vs. Bradley on Dec. 8, 2015). The Mavs also made 15 3s at South Alabama this past February.

12) UTA has had three games of 24+ assists this year: 24 against Arkansas Tech, 25 versus UT Dallas and 27 at Arkansas State.

13) The 50 points UTD scored were the fewest allowed by UTA since Rice tallied just 49 on Nov. 29, 2017.

14) UTA started 2-0 for the third-straight year; in each of the previous two seasons the Mavs have gone on to play in the Sun Belt Tournament Final.

15) For just the second time in program history, UTA held its first two opponents of a season both under 60 points. The only other time that had occurred was the 1987-88 season; it’s never been done three-straight times to commence a year.

16) UTA’s 50 points at App State on Feb. 6 were its 2nd-fewest in a Sun Belt game in program history (fewest: 49 versus Georgia State on Feb. 27, 2014) and its fewest ever in a road Sun Belt game.

17) The 89 points UTA scored in its 92-89 loss at Little Rock on Jan. 4 were the most in a loss since Feb. 14, 2015, at South Alabama (97-91). It represented the most points UTA has scored and allowed in a game this year.

SINGLE-SEASON TOP-10 RECORDS

In head coach Chris Ogden’s first season at the helm of the Mavericks in 2018-19, UTA secured several top-10 all-time single-season program marks:

Best 3 Point Percentage Defense Single Season
Single Season Top 10 Records
Chris Ogden Coach of the Year
Ogden NABC All-District
Ogden Coach of the Year Finalist
Ogden Mid Major Finalist

In his first season as a head coach in 2018-19, Chris Ogden garnered the following noteworthy honors and awards:


Sun Belt Coach of the Year: Just the third UTA coach to ever win a conference Coach of the Year award, joining Bob LeGrand (1981, Southland Conference) and Scott Cross (2012, Southland Conference; 2017, Sun Belt Conference).

NABC District 24 Coach of the Year: Consists of all Sun Belt Conference members.

Hugh Durham Award Finalist: Presented annually to the nation’s top mid-major coach.

Joe B. Hall Award Finalist: Given annually to the top first-year head coach in D-I.

UTA posted a -0.6 scoring margin last year, but still managed to secure a winning record at 17-16. It’s the first time since 1999-00 that a UTA team has had a winning record (15-12) with a negative scoring margin (-2.1).

Over the last 12 years, UTA has finished with a positive scoring margin 10 times; in the first 48 years of the program, that occurred just eight times.
CPC Facility

KEY RULE CHANGES
 

Among a plethora of major rule changes for men’s college basketball in 2019-20 are the following noteworthy items: 

1) Increase the 3-point line to FIBA distance: 22 feet and 1 ¾ inches. 
2) Reset the shot clock to 20 seconds on an offensive rebound in the front court. 
3) Permit the head coach to call live-ball timeouts during the last two minutes of a game. 
4) Basket interference/goaltending can be reviewed in the last two minutes of a game.

Flags MBB

UTA has players from five different foreign countries on the 2019-20 roster – a total which surpasses the amount of different states (four) represented on the team. The Mavs’ multi-cultural roster features players from Belgium, Bahamas, Congo, France and Trinidad & Tobago; states: Indiana, Florida, Texas and Washington.

Patrick Mwamba NBA Academy Posed

One of those foreign players for UTA is sophomore Patrick Mwamba, who is a product of the NBA Academy Africa.

NBA Academies, a network of elite basketball training centers around the world, include educational development for top male and female prospects from outside the U.S. and mark the NBA’s signature elite player development initiative. The initiative exposes elite prospects to NBA-level coaching, facilities and competition and provides a global framework for them to maximize their success.

Mwamba is one of 12 male NBA Academies graduates who are attending, or have committed to, D-I schools, and he is just one of two NBA Academy Africa products:

  1. Oumar Ballo (NBA Latin America Academy; Mali; Gonzaga)
  2. Francisco Caffaro (NBA Global Academy; Argentina; Virginia)
  3. Hunter Clarke (NBA Global Academy; Australia; Montana)
  4. Alex Ducas (NBA Global Academy; Australia; St. Mary’s)
  5. Francisco Farabello (NBA Academy Latin America; Argentina; TCU)
  6. Anyang Garang (NBA Global Academy; Uganda; Oklahoma)
  7. Timothy Ighoefe (NBA Academy Africa; Nigeria; Georgetown)
  8. Hyunjung Lee (NBA Global Academy; South Korea; Davidson)
  9. Patrick Mwamba (NBA Academy Africa; Congo; UT Arlington)
  10. Jermaine Miranda Perez (NBA Academy Latin America; Puerto Rico; Hofstra)
  11. Jonathan Tchatchoua (NBA Global Academy; Cameroon; Baylor)
  12. Kurt-Curry Wegscheider (NBA Academy Africa; Central Africa Republic; New Mexico)
After having the least amount of returning points in the nation last year (3.2 percent; 87 of 2,640), UTA returns 67 percent (1,527 of 2,284) of its scoring this season. Additionally, the Mavs bring back 67 percent (822 of 1,237) of their rebounding and 65 percent (272 of 421) of their assists.