STILLWATER, Okla. – Facing an Oklahoma State team loaded with talent and receiving votes in the national polls, the UT Arlington men's basketball team ran into a buzzsaw Tuesday night in the season opener for both teams inside Gallagher-Iba Arena as the Cowboys ran away with an 88-45 victory over a Mavericks side full of new players.
 
Oklahoma State – which had a questionable postseason ban upheld by the NCAA last Wednesday – came out with plenty of aggression and locked down on UTA, racing out to a 20-3 start as the Mavs began the night just 1-8 from the floor with six turnovers in the opening 8+ minutes. A few minutes later the OSU advantage grew to 20, and the Cowboys led by at least that margin the rest of the night.
 
Pedro Castro led UTA with nine points in his official return to the Mavs after spending a redshirt season and redshirt freshman year with UTA from 2017-19. Playing in his first collegiate game, true freshman Montez Young Jr. posted six points – a total matched by David Azore and Shemar Wilson, who was also playing his initial game with the Mavs.
 
Javon Levi recorded his 600th career assist late in the 1st half when he fed a cutting Young Jr. along the baseline for a layup. That helper moved Levi – a grad transfer from UT Rio Grande Valley also playing his first game with UTA – into a category joined by only two other active players in the nation with 600+ career assists. The 5-11 guard led UTA with five rebounds and also tallied four points.
 
OSU – which returned three of its top-four scorers and added four high-major transfers, including one of the best centers in the nation and a McDonald's All-American – was led by Moussa Cisse, who is on the Watch List for the Center of the Year Award, with 17 points and nine rebounds in only 17 minutes.
 
Playing its first of eight NCAA Tournament opponents in its non-conference schedule, UTA connected at just a 38-percent rate (20-53) from the floor against the Pokes, including only a 10-percent clip (2-20) from 3-point range.
 
BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• The Mavs did have seven blocked shots against the athletic Cowboys: three from Castro and two each from Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu and Patrick Mwamba.
• After shooting 22 percent (6-27) from the floor in the 1st half, UTA went 54 percent (14-26) in the 2nd half to out-shoot OSU in that stanza (49 percent).
• Levi – who had 244 career steals entering Tuesday – added three more against OSU and ranks 5th among active players nationally.
• Ten different Mavs scored in the game.
• Bryce Thompson, a former Kansas standout and McDonald's All-American tallied 14 points for the Cowboys. The team's leading returning scorer in Avery Anderson III netted 13, and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe matched that number.

QUOTABLE
"We ran into a veteran, tough team that has a chip on its shoulder, and they dominated in every phase of the game tonight," said UTA head coach Greg Young, who was coaching his first-career Division-I game. "Credit goes to Oklahoma State – they were absolutely the best team on the floor tonight and I wish them luck moving forward. We just weren't good enough in any phase, but I'm not going to lose confidence in what we're doing.
 
"One game doesn't make the season, and we're going to get better because of tonight," Young continued. "We look forward to having everyone at the College Park Center Saturday night for Homecoming."
 
THIS AND THAT

• Oklahoma State claimed a narrow 75-68 win in Arlington last year – the first game of a 1-for-2 home-and-home series as UTA is also scheduled to return to Stillwater in 2022-23.
• The Cowboys were just the sixth opponent that UTA has opened a season against in back-to-back years, and three of those are current Big 12 Conference members.
• This is the first time the Mavs have lost consecutive season openers since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 campaigns at TCU and versus Miami.
• This was UTA's first time opening a season on the road since an 86-75 win at Bradley on Nov. 14, 2014.
• The 14 points UTA scored in the 1st half were tied for its 3rd fewest in any half in program history (8 at SMU in 1989, 12 at Kentucky in 2014).
• The 45 total points rank as the 12th fewest in a single game in program history.
• Before the opening tipoff, Azore made one free throw following an administrative technical being issued to OSU related to a scorebook error. He made it, giving UTA a 1-0 lead – its lone edge of the contest.

NEXT UP
UTA will welcome Mary Hardin-Baylor to the College Park Center on Saturday for the 2021-22 home opener as part of Homecoming. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., and tickets are still available at UTATickets.com.

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).