ARLINGTON – After opening its Sun Belt Conference schedule with four-straight road games, the UT Arlington men’s basketball team (6-6, 2-2) returns to the College Park Center for the first time in 24 days when the Mavericks host Louisiana (8-3, 2-2) Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. and 4 p.m.

KEY STORYLINES

• UTA is coming off a road sweep at ULM last weekend to even its Sun Belt record. On Saturday, the Mavs erased a four-point deficit (74-70) with 12 seconds remaining to win in regulation, 75-74 (more info later in this preview).
   
• This was the fourth-straight season UTA began Sun Belt play 0-2; however, in now three of the previous four years the Mavs have been 2-2 through four contests. The previous two times that has occurred, UTA reached the Sun Belt Tournament Final. In all three seasons, they have rebounded to claim double-figure conference victories.
   
• The CPC floor will be a welcome sight for the Mavs as they are the only team in the Sun Belt that has to begin each of the last two seasons with four-straight road league games.
   
• Louisiana (82) and UTA (80) own the 2nd- and 3rd-most Sun Belt wins since the Mavs joined the league in 2013-14, behind only Georgia State (91).

TWEETABLES

1) David Azore, Nicolas Elame and Lazaro Rojas all remain questionable for this weekend with leg injuries. The trio did not play in the two games last weekend; prior to that they were responsible for nearly 25 percent of UTA’s scoring and 30 percent of its rebounding totals on the year.

2) UTA has the following top-40 national rankings: steals per game (9.3, 15th), 3-pointers made (115, 18th), turnover margin (+4, 28th) and points per game (80.6, 36th).

3) Through four Sun Belt games, UTA ranks 2nd in the league in points per game (76.8), 3-pointers made per game (10.3), steals per game (9) and turnover margin (+4.5).

4) The Mavs have a different leader this season in points (Shahada Wells, 16.0), rebounds (Fredelin De La Cruz, 6.3), assists (Nicolas Elame, 3.0), 3-pointers made (Sam Griffin, 28) and blocks (Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, 2.3).

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

• Louisiana enters the weekend after splitting at home each of the last two weekends, claiming Friday wins and Saturday losses to Texas State and Little Rock.
   
• Cedric Russell leads a quartet of Louisiana double-figure scorers at 17 per game, followed by Mylik Wilson at 13.7. In Sun Belt games, Wilson is a perfect 12-12 from the free-throw line.
   
• Theo Akwuba is averaging a double-double on the season with 11.5 points and 10.6 rebounds. Akwuba ranks 2nd in the nation with 3.6 blocks per game, and his 39 total rejections are the 4th-most in the country. His five double-doubles are tied for the 12th-most nationally, and his 10.6 rebounding average is 13th among all D-I players.
   
• As a team, the Ragin’ Cajuns ranks 5th in the nation with 6.1 blocks per game and 6th overall in total blocks (67). In Sun Belt games, Louisiana is tied for 1st in the league in free-throw percentage (.800).
   
• Louisiana commits 16.9 turnovers per game (314th-worst nationally), while UTA is forcing opponents into 16.7 turnovers per contest (37th-best nationally).
   
• The last time Louisiana was at the College Park Center, Dou Gueye knocked down a contested, off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer off a full-court inbound with 2.7 seconds left to give the Cajuns a stunning 66-65 win on a sequence which landed at #1 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays for Jan. 30, 2020.

SUN BELT STANDINGS

West Division
Little Rock: 3-1 (7-4)
UT Arlington: 2-2 (6-6)
Louisiana: 2-2 (8-3)
ULM: 2-2 (4-7)
Texas State: 1-1 (7-4)
Arkansas State: 0-2 (3-6)

East Division
Coastal Carolina: 3-1 (9-2)
Appalachian State: 3-1 (9-4)
Georgia State: 1-1 (7-2)
Troy: 1-1 (6-5)
Georgia Southern: 1-3 (7-6)
South Alabama: 1-3 (7-6)

ULM RECAP

Down four points with 12 seconds to play, UTA completed an incredible regulation comeback to wrap up a weekend road sweep at ULM last Saturday, 75-74, in front of a mostly-stunned Fant-Ewing Coliseum audience.

UTA found itself down, 74-70, following a pair of free throws by Koreem Ozier at the 21-second mark. On the ensuing Maverick possession, Jordan Phillips drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to bring the visitors within one, 74-73, with 11.5 seconds left.

On the ensuing inbound pass, Davis Steelman got his hand on a dribble attempt up the court, and the ball re-directed to Shahada Wells at the top of the ULM 3-point arc. Wells gathered, and with 8 seconds showing took a couple dribbles before delivering a perfect bounce pass from the right elbow to the opposite low block, where Fredelin De La Cruz uncontested layed in the eventual game-winning points for the Mavs with under 6 seconds left.

With timeouts at its disposal, ULM elected to not stop the clock and pushed the ball into the frontcourt. That insurgence was met with a blockade by Phillips and Patrick Mwamba along the right sideline, and the Warhawks never got a shot attempt off.

BY THE NUMBERS

2: Mwamba is coming off back-to-back double-figure scoring games (12 & 10) for the first time in the redshirt sophomore’s career.

3: Griffin has posted three-straight games of exactly 18 points after opening Sun Belt play with a career-high 25 points. After averaging 9.6 points in eight non-conference games, Griffin is averaging a team-best 19.8 points in four Sun Belt contests.

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).

12: UTA has a nation-best (tied with Georgia Southern) 12 different players reach double-figure points in a game this season: Shahada Wells, David Azore, Patrick Mwamba, Nicolas Elame, Sam Griffin, Fredelin De La Cruz, Jordan Phillips, Brandyn Talbot, Lazaro Rojas, Grayson Carter, McKade Marquis and Davis Steelman.

90: The Mavs scored 90+ points in four-straight games between Dec. 11-Jan. 1. It marked the first time since the start of the 1992-93 season that UTA had scored 90+ in four-consecutive contests.

93: The 93 points UTA scored in a 102-93 setback at Little Rock on Jan. 1 were its most in a regulation loss since a 102-94 setback at Sam Houston State on Feb. 14, 2002.

95: UTA shot 95 percent (19-20) from the free-throw line on Jan. 1 at Little Rock, which at the time was the 8th-best by any team in the nation this year (minimum: 15 makes). Currently: tied for the 14th-best rate in the country this season.

TOP-10 RECORD PERFORMANCES

UTA closed its non-conference schedule by posting 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)

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: 809).

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).

RE-TWEETS

• 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.
   
• 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.

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 remain at home and once again face preseason league favorite and defending regular-season champion Little Rock for a pair of games next Friday and Saturday (Jan. 22-23) at 6 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

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).