ARLINGTON – Jordan Phillips registered his first career double-double, and the UT Arlington men's basketball team turned in one of its best defensive performances of the season on Saturday en route to a 66-61 win over Little Rock inside the College Park Center.
 
Making his first start since New Year's Day at Little Rock, Phillips recorded 16 points – two shy of matching his career high – and added a career-best 10 rebounds in a season-high 33 minutes to set the tone for the Mavericks.
 
That tone extended to the defensive side as the junior made a key block in the closing moments to help preserve the win. Inside of 30 seconds with UTA holding a 64-59 lead, Phillips – after he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw on the other end – got back and rejected a layup attempt by Markquis Nowell.
 
Had that effort fallen, it would have pulled Little Rock within three points. Instead, the block allowed Phillips to corral his 10th board, and the possession eventually yielded two Nicolas Elame free throws as the Mavs snapped a mini two-game losing streak.
 
While Phillips registered 16 points, it was Sam Griffin finishing as the high man for the Mavs with 17. Shahada Wells also crept into double figures for now the 14th time in 15 games with 11 points.
 
The Phillips block encapsulated the day for the Mavs as 61 points and 33-percent field-goal shooting allowed (20-61) both represented season lows permitted by UTA against a Division-I opponent; the 24 percent from 3-point range (6-25) it limited Little Rock to was its 2nd-best versus a D-I foe.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• UTA improves to 8-8 overall and 4-4 in Sun Belt play, while Little Rock falls to 8-7 and 4-4 in league action.
• UTA was again without Sun Belt Preseason Second Team selection David Azore (11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds) for the seventh-straight game with a leg injury. Additionally, Lazaro Rojas (4.4 points, 3.3 rebounds) also missed his sixth-consecutive game with a leg injury.
• Making his first collegiate start, Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu scored five points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots for the Mavs – incredibly the fifth time in only eight games played that the walk-on has rejected 3+ shots.
• In his second game back from a leg injury, Elame finished with eight points and four assists.
• Wells distributed a game-high five assists as UTA had 18 assists on its 25 made field goals against just 10 turnovers – tied for its 2nd-fewest in Sun Belt play this year.
• UTA shot 42 percent from the floor (25-60), 33 percent from beyond the arc (8-24) and 73 percent from the charity stripe (8-11).
• Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year Ruot Monyyong failed to record his seventh-straight double-double for Little Rock, but still grabbed an amazing 19 rebounds to go along with nine points.
• Nowell came off the bench to tally a game-high 19 points, while Nikola Maric was the lone other Little Rock player in double-figure points with 13.
• With the additions of Phillips and Akobundu-Ehiogu into the starting lineup, this represented the seventh different starting group for the Mavs this season, and first since Jan. 2.

 
PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
Both teams got off to slow starts offensively, but the Mavs broke open a 7-7 tie with a 7-0 run over two minutes to take a 14-7 lead at the 12:30 mark following a Davis Steelman jumper. The UTA advantage grew to double figures a couple minutes later on a Griffin 3-pointer to make it a 19-9 cushion at the midway point of the 1st half.
 
After Little Rock got its deficit down to five on several occasions after that – the latest of which was 26-21 at the 4-minute mark – UTA responded with another 7-0 spurt over two minutes to take its largest lead of the day, 33-21, before the Mavs settled for a 36-26 halftime lead.
 
Little Rock scored the first six points out of the halftime break on a pair of 3-pointers to make it a 36-32 scoreline, and from there the two sides alternated buckets as the UTA lead fluctuated between four and nine points.
 
The latest four-point lead came with less than eight minutes showing, 50-46, but UTA again responded – this time on a Phillips 3-pointer – to spearhead an extended 8-2 push for the hosts to create 10-point breathing room at 58-48 with under four minutes before Little Rock tried to mount its comeback.
 
THIS AND THAT

• After getting swept its first Sun Belt weekend at Little Rock, then sweeping ULM on the road the following weekend, UTA has now split its last two home weekend sets against Louisiana and the Trojans.
• Little Rock claimed the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship last year with a 15-5 league record, and were installed as the preseason favorites this season.
• This was the fourth meeting between UTA and Little Rock in the first 23 days of the conference season. The two teams will not play again in the regular season; the only other potential matchup this year would take place in the Sun Belt Tournament.
• Fredelin De La Cruz did not play (coach's decision); he had previously been the only player on the team to have started all 15 games.

 
NEXT UP
UTA will return to the road and travel to Jonesboro for a pair of contests at Arkansas State next Friday and Saturday (Jan. 29-30) 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).