ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team unofficially tipped off its 2021-22 season with an exhibition victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State, 68-64, inside the College Park Center Monday night in front of nearly 1,300 spectators.
Trailing 62-58 with under five minutes to play, the Mavericks used an 8-0 run to take a 66-62 lead with less than two minutes left and held on against a strong team with its top-5 scorers back from a season ago.
QUOTABLE
"I knew this was going to be a hard game when we scheduled it, and that's why I wanted to play it. They're a veteran group and gave us everything we could handle, so kudos to Southeastern. But I'm proud of the way our guys responded to make some clutch plays on both ends of the court in the closing minutes to pull out a win."
-- UTA Head Coach Greg Young
STARTING LINEUP
UTA started three graduate students (
Javon Levi,
David Azore and
Pedro Castro) to go along with a pair of third-year sophomores in
Nicolas Elame and
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
An NCAA Division-II member, Southeastern – where Dennis Rodman played from 1983-86 – was picked to finish 4th in the Great American Conference Preseason Poll. East Central, another member of the GAC, was picked to finish 7th in the league, and a week ago narrowly lost at #15 Arkansas in an exhibition contest, 77-74.
NEXT UP
The Mavs' regular season officially begins next Tuesday, Nov. 9, at Oklahoma State with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Gallery: (11-1-2021) Exhibition vs. Southeastern Oklahoma State
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).
