JONESBORO, Ark. – The UT Arlington men’s basketball team will head back on the road to face Arkansas State this weekend for a pair of matchups. The Mavericks and Red Wolves will face off on Friday at 6 p.m. before wrapping up the set with a 4 p.m. tipoff on Saturday inside First National Bank Arena.

KEY STORYLINES

• UTA (8-8, 4-4) enters the weekend tied with Little Rock for 3rd place in the Sun Belt West Division at 4-4 in conference play – just one game back in the win column of Texas State (5-1) and Louisiana (5-3). Arkansas State (5-8, 2-4) resides in 4th place; the Red Wolves and Bobcats had their series in San Marcos earlier this month postponed due to COVID.
   
• Of UTA’s first eight Sun Belt games, six have come against either Little Rock (four) or Louisiana (two) – the two teams picked ahead of the Mavs in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll.
   
• Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu has emerged as a key contributor for UTA since the walk-on was cleared in mid-December. In only eight games played, Akobundu-Ehiogu has blocked 27 shots – the 30th-most in the nation. However, his 3.38 blocks-per-game average would be the 4th-best in the country if he qualified (must have appeared in 75 percent of UTA’s games this season).
   
• UTA got one of its former starters back last weekend as Nicolas Elame (7.6 PPG, 4 RPG, 2.9 APG) returned from a leg injury after missing the previous four games. However, David Azore (11.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.1 APG) and Lazaro Rojas (4.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG) remain doubtful for both games this weekend with their own leg injuries. Those two have missed the last seven games and six games, respectively. 

TWEETABLES

1) UTA ranks 11th nationally in total steals (138) and 19th in the country in 3-pointers made (148). Individually, Shahada Wells is 21st in the nation in steals per game (2.3) and Fredelin De La Cruz is 34th in offensive rebounds per game (3.2).

2) Wells had seven steals last Friday against Little Rock – tied for the 3rd-most by any player in the nation this year (tied for the 2nd-most against a Division-I opponent). It’s also tied for the 3rd-most in single-game program history.

3) In Sun Belt games, UTA leads the league in free-throw percentage (78.9) and is 2nd in both blocks per game (4.9) and turnover margin (+2.9).

4) The Mavs have won games this year when scoring in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 100s and 110s.

5) UTA is 8-0 this year when leading at the half and 0-8 when trailing at the break.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

• While UTA has not had a single game this season impacted by COVID, Arkansas State has been on the complete opposite end with eight games postponed or canceled.
   
• Arkansas State has either swept (at ULM) or been swept (vs. ULM, @ Louisiana) in its first three weekend series. The weekend set at Texas State scheduled for Jan. 8-9 will attempt to be made up (one game) in San Marcos on Feb. 16.
   
• The Red Wolves lead the Sun Belt in conference games in rebound margin (+7.7) and are 2nd in rebounds per game (38.2).
   
• Leading that charge is Norchad Omier, who is averaging 12.2 rebounds per game in Sun Belt contests, good for 2nd in the league. Omier is the only D-I true freshman averaging a double-double this season (13 PPG, 11.8 RPG); he has grabbed 10+ rebounds in 10-straight games.
   
• Marquis Eaton paces the Sun Belt in assist-to-turnover ratio in league games (2.5), and ranks 2nd in the conference with 5.5 assists per outing.

SUN BELT STANDINGS

West Division
Texas State: 5-1 (11-4)
Louisiana: 5-3 (11-4)
UT Arlington: 4-4 (8-8)
Little Rock: 4-4 (8-7)
Arkansas State: 2-4 (5-8)
ULM: 2-6 (4-11)

East Division
Appalachian State: 6-2 (12-5)
Coastal Carolina: 5-2 (11-3)
Georgia Southern: 4-4 (10-7)
Georgia State: 2-3 (8-4)
South Alabama: 3-5 (9-8)
Troy: 1-5 (6-9)

BY THE NUMBERS

1: UTA posted a single-game program record 12 blocks in its 91-86 win over Louisiana on Jan. 15 – the first double-digit performance ever against a D-I opponent

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: Jordan Phillips landed at #5 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays for Jan. 15 after an and-1 dunk.

10: 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 had 12 different players reach double-figure points in a game this season, tied for the 2nd-most in the nation: 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 21st-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).

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 return home and welcome ULM to the College Park Center next weekend for a pair of games Feb. 5 (6 p.m.) and Feb. 6 (4 p.m.).

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).