ARLINGTON – For the first time in nearly two weeks, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (2-5) takes to the court when the Mavericks welcome Lamar (2-7) to the College Park Center for a 2 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, Dec. 11.
 

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UT Arlington Game Notes  ///  Lamar Game Notes ///  Digital Game Program

   
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA has played the 6th-hardest schedule of any team in the nation to this point. Every single Division-I opponent the Mavs have played this year is ranked in the top 105 in the NET, with the lone exception being UC Santa Barbara (#156). UTA is one of only six teams in the country that has not yet played a Quad 4 game (Alabama, Texas Southern, Northern Iowa, North Florida and Prairie View A&M).
   
• The Mavs were scheduled to face Nevada (#149 – Quad 3 opponent at home) this past Tuesday, Dec. 7; however, that contest was canceled due to COVID protocols within the Wolf Pack program.
   
• Despite not having Nicolas Elame (7.6 ppg) nor Lazaro Rojas (4 ppg, 2,8 rpg) due to injuries, UTA picked up a big 70-62 win last time out on Nov. 29 at UC Santa Barbara – the preseason Big West Conference favorites who went to the NCAA Tournament last year.
   
• UTA's win at UCSB (ranked #93 at the time by KenPom) was its first road non-conference win over a KenPom top-100 team since the Mavs took down BYU (then #73) on Nov. 18, 2018.

TWEETABLES
1) Incredibly, Lamar will be the first – and only – D-I opponent UTA will play in its non-conference schedule this year which did not compete in the NCAA Tournament last season (more info later).
 
2) In the win over UCSB, UTA set season bests in points allowed (62), fewest turnovers (11), turnovers forced (18), fewest 3-pointers allowed (three), opponent 3-point percentage (21.4) and free throws made (19).
 
3) Leading that free throw charge for UTA was Jack Hoiberg, who went a perfect 9-9 from the line at UCSB. In his first 44 career games, Hoiberg scored 36 total points. In the last five games, he has tallied 38 points.
 
4) UCSB had the 6th-longest home winning streak in the country at 20 in a row before UTA handed the Gauchos their first defeat inside The Thunderdome since 2019.
 
5) UTA ranks 34th in the nation in blocked shots per game (5.3), and individually Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu is 23rd at 2.7 per contest. Akobundu-Ehiogu is the nation's active career leader in blocked shots per game at 3.16 – nearly a half-shot better than anyone else.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• UTA and Lamar were both long-time Southland Conference members: the Mavs from 1963-2012; the Cardinals from 1963-87 and again from 1998-2021. Lamar is now in its first season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), which is the league UTA spent one season in (2012-13) before joining the Sun Belt.

• UTA and Lamar met at least once every single year from 1961-86 and again from 1999-2012 before the Mavs departed the league. Saturday's contest will mark the 76th all-time meeting between the two schools. UTA has only played Texas State (76) and McNeese (79) more times in its history than Lamar.

• The Cardinals are 2-7 on the year, but both their wins have come over non-D-I opponents in Wiley, 67-50, and most recently this past Sunday against Our Lady of the Lake, 67-64. UTA will be the first of three Sun Belt opponents for Lamar in 10 days as the Cardinals will also face Texas State (Dec. 15) and ULM (Dec. 20) to close out their non-conference schedule.

• C.J. Roberts leads a quartet of double-figure scorers for Lamar at 14.8 per outing. Jordyn Adams – who has not played in four of the last five games – averages 12.8, Davion Buster also averages 12.8 and Kasen Harrison rounds out the group at 10 per contest.

• According to KenPom, 41 percent of Lamar's total minutes played on the season comes from its bench – a percentage which ranks as the 13th-highest in the nation.

LONG-RANGE THREAT IS BACK
After undergoing minor back surgery to repair an on-going nerve issue the week of Nov. 15, Carson Bischoff was cleared to return to the court the week of Nov. 22 and made his season debut on Nov. 27 in front of about 30 friends and family at Utah State. A native of Ogden, Utah, Bischoff knocked down three 3-pointers – half of his season total from last year. Now in just two games this year, Bischoff's four total three 3-pointers already represent 17 percent of UTA's triples this year against D-I opponents (4 of 24).
 
STILL FINDING THEIR FOOTING
In addition to facing a challenging schedule, UTA is still trying to adapt to a new style of play with a roster which has not spent a lot of time together. Based off KenPom's 'Minutes Continuity' analysis, UTA ranks in the bottom 17 percent of all of college basketball in terms of players who have played together the most (297th out of 358 teams).
 
UTA's minutes continuity percentage is just 29.7 – essentially meaning that just under 30 percent of the Mavs total minutes this season have been played by the same players from last year. Of the 61 teams with a worst percentage than UTA, 13 are at 0 percent due to not playing any games last year (i.e. the Ivy League teams and some other select schools).
 
OTHER NOTABLE KENPOM NUMBERS
59.1% – Percentage of UTA's points this year which have come off 2-point field goals, ranking as the 31st-highest rate in the country.
24.4% – Percentage of UTA's opponents points so far this season which have come from made free throws, the 12th-most of any team in the nation.
93.4 – The rating of UTA's opponent defenses so far this season, ranking the 5th-hardest schedule in the country in terms of defenses faced.
 
AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
Javon Levi spent the previous four seasons at UTRGV, accumulating statistical numbers which place him among the best guards in the nation. Levi ranks in the top 6 among all active players in the country in career assists (5th, 630), steals (5th, 254) and assist-to-turnover ratio (6th, 2.55).
 
MOVING ON UP
David Azore is tied for 7th on UTA's all-time program list for made free throws with 297, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at 79.2.
 
DEPTH ON DISPLAY
UTA led the nation along with Abilene Christian and Murray State last season by having 13 different players score double-figure points in a game. So far this year, the Mavs have already had nine different double-figure scorers. Below is a list of those players, their respective season highs and how many times they have led UTA in scoring:
 
David Azore: 21 (2x)
Pedro Castro: 17 (3x)
Nicolas Elame: 17 (1x)
Shemar Wilson: 15
Javon Levi: 14
Montez Young Jr.: 12 (1x)
Jack Hoiberg: 11
Patrick Mwamba: 11
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu: 10, 2x
 
RE-TWEETS

• UC Santa Barbara was the last of five-straight opponents – and six-straight D-I foes for UTA – which played in the NCAA Tournament last year. The Mavs are scheduled to face eight teams in their non-league schedule which participated in the NCAA Tournament last season – the most of any team in the nation.
   
• Utah State shot 52 percent from the floor on Nov. 27 – one of only two UTA opponents this season to connect at better than 35 percent (Oklahoma State: 47 percent). The Mavs entered that game ranked 30th nationally in field goal percentage defense at 37.1, but are now 84th at exactly 40 percent.
   
• Pedro Castro was held scoreless at Utah State, his first pointless game since he was a redshirt freshman with the Mavs (two schools in-between) on Mar. 16, 2019, in a Sun Belt Tournament semifinal win over Georgia Southern. He bounced back impressively with a team-high 16 points at UC Santa Barbara two days later.
   
• The 36 points UTA scored Nov. 18 at North Texas were the 3rd-fewest in a single game in program history (31 at SMU on Dec. 16, 1989 and 35 versus Denver on Dec. 31, 2012). UTA also made just 12 field goals, tied for the fewest in program history with a dozen at the aforementioned SMU contest.
   
• The Mavs turned the ball over 28 times against Abilene Christian – their most in any game since committing 31 giveaways at Oklahoma State on Dec. 19, 2012.
   
• UTA shot 64.2 percent (43-67) from the floor on Nov. 13 against Mary Hardin-Baylor, which was tied for the 7th-best mark in single-game program history. It was the 2nd-highest percentage in program history when making at least 40 shots (66 percent, 40-62, at Texas Wesleyan on Jan. 2, 1965).
   
• Wilson led the way with that shooting percentage as he went a perfect 6-6 from the floor – tied for the 9th-most makes in program history without a miss.
   
• Levi posted his seventh-career double-double with 12 points and 10 assists against UMHB. It was the first points-assists double-double by a UTA player since Brian Warren had 15 and 12 versus Arkansas Tech on Nov. 24, 2019.
   
• Greg Young secured his first-career win at the D-I level with the 104-75 victory over Mary Hardin-Baylor. Young – who was named the ninth head coach in program history this past spring following 12 seasons on the UTA sidelines as either an assistant (2009-13) or associate head coach (2013-21) – had previously served as a junior college head coach for 10 seasons, accumulating an overall record of 168-139. His first-career victory over a D-I opponent came on Nov. 29 at UC Santa Barbara.
   
• The Mavs had six different players reach double-figure points against UMHB. The last time UTA had exactly six in double figures was an NIT Second Round victory over Akron on Mar. 20, 2017. UTA had eight double-figure scorers in a 117-53 win opposite Howard Payne on Dec. 22, 2020.
   
• The Mavs handed out 28 assists against UMHB, one shy of cracking the top-10 single-game program record list.
   
• UTA's 43-point loss to Oklahoma State on Nov. 9 was its largest ever in a season opener, and biggest setback in any game since a 48-point defeat (92-44) at Kentucky on Nov. 25, 2014. The Wildcats were the nation's top-ranked team at that time.

ACU SUMMARY
UTA suffered an 80-71 overtime loss on Nov. 16 to Abilene Christian despite holding a three-point lead with less than two seconds remaining in regulation. Leading 63-60, UTA's Wilson grabbed a rebound off a missed ACU free throw and was surrounded by a pair of Wildcats.
 
One official signaled for an ACU foul for grabbing Wilson around the waist with 1.5 seconds left. However, another official under the basket called for a jump ball. That ended up being the final decision, and with the possession arrow in favor of ACU, the visitors got the ball back under their own basket and knocked down a contested 3-pointer on the ensuing inbounds to force OT, where the Wildcats out-scored the Mavs, 17-8.

NEXT UP
UTA will head back on the road for another pair of challenging games against teams which went to the NCAA Tournament last year. It kicks off at Oral Roberts – which became just the second school in March Madness history to ever advance to the Sweet Sixteen as a 15 seed – on Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.
 
The Mavs will then play Oklahoma on Dec. 19 at 2 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).