ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team closes out the non-conference portion of its 2021-22 schedule with a home contest against Howard Payne on Wednesday at 7 p.m. inside the College Park Center.
 

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UT Arlington Game Notes  ///  Digital Gameday Program

 
Holiday Hoops Promotion: All kids 18 & under receive FREE admission to the game. Visit the box office on gameday to claim your FREE tickets.
 
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• This will be just the sixth all-time meeting between UTA and Howard Payne (Mavs lead, 4-1), but the second-straight year the two sides will be playing on Dec. 22 (113-57 UTA win last season). Howard Payne was UTA's first-ever road opponent (its third-ever game overall) as the Mavs faced off with the Yellow Jackets in Brownwood, Texas, on Dec. 5, 1959; HPU claimed a 71-69 win.

• UTA head coach Greg Young was a four-year men's basketball letterwinner at Howard Payne, graduating with a degree in physical education in 1986. He was the team captain as a senior, and received the distinguished Paul J. Cunningham Award for excellence and dedication that same year.

• The game will serve as an exhibition contest for the Division-III Yellow Jackets, but all stats and the result for UTA will be official.

TWEETABLES
1) David Azore reached 1,000 career points with a free throw in the 1st half of UTA's contest at Oklahoma on Sunday, becoming the 28th member of UTA's 1,000 Point Club.
 
2) Azore has led UTA in scoring in three-straight games, has reached double figures in six-consecutive contests and has 15+ points in five of those. He needs just three made free throws to pass Kevin Hervey for 4th on the program's all-time list (Hervey: 317).
 
3) UTA lost its 2nd-leading scorer Pedro Castro for the season after he underwent back surgery this past Saturday following an injury suffered at Oral Roberts on Thursday.
 
4) Eight of the nine Division-I teams UTA played in its non-conference slate participated in the NCAA Tournament last year – the most of any team in the nation. The only D-I non-league opponent for UTA which didn't compete in March Madness was Lamar.
 
5) Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu – the country's active leader in career blocked shots per game (3.21) – ranks 13th in the nation this year with 3 blocks per outing. He has blocked at least one shot in a nation-leading 25-straight games, and in 23 of those he has 2+ rejections.
 
LAST YEAR'S TOP-10 MARKS
In last year's 117-53 UTA win over HPU, the Mavs established the following top-10 program records:

• 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.
• 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.
• Assists: 31 – Tied for the 4th-most ever and the most since 1991.
• Rebound Margin: +30 (61-31) – Tied for the 7th-largest.
• Final Margin: +64 (117-53) – The 3rd-largest all-time and biggest since 1991.

ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• Howard Payne enters with a 3-9 overall record which does not include a 112-41 loss to Abilene Christian on Sunday – a contest which was an exhibition for the Yellow Jackets.
   
• Michael House leads a quartet of double-figure scorers for HPU with 14.1 points per game. He's joined by Fredrick Watts (12.3), Myles Brown (11.9) and Jaylan Ballou (11.8).
   
• HPU is a member of the American Southwest Conference, and will be the second ASC foe for UTA so far this year. The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish last in the 11-team league in the preseason poll. The team picked to finish 1st, Mary Hardin-Baylor, was UTA's home-opening opponent this year. The Mavs won that game, 104-75.

NOTEWORTHY
Oklahoma shot 55 percent from the floor on Sunday – the highest percentage UTA has allowed in any game this season … the Mavs have used seven different starting lineups through their first 10 games – tied for the 5th-most combinations of any team in the country … UTA finished 1-7 against the eight opponents which played in the NCAA Tournament last year; the lone win was a 70-62 decision at UC Santa Barbara, with Castro leading the way with a team-high 16 points.

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. Through just five games this year, Bischoff is 9-18 from 3-point range, representing 22 percent of UTA's triples this year against D-I opponents (9 of 41).
 
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 18 percent of all of college basketball in terms of players who have played together the most (293rd out of 358 teams).
 
UTA's minutes continuity percentage is just 30.9 – essentially meaning that just under 31 percent of the Mavs total minutes this season have been played by the same players from last year. Of the 65 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
15.4% – Percentage of UTA's opponent shots this season that have been blocked by the Mavs, ranking as the 23rd-highest percentage in the country.
 
40.7% – Percentage of UTA's total minutes this season which have been played by its bench (non-starters), the 23rd-most of any team in the nation.

94.7 – The rating of UTA's opponent defenses so far this season, ranking the 7th-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 D-I players in the country in career assists (6th, 640), steals (T-4th, 259) and assist-to-turnover ratio (6th, 2.53). Additionally, Levi ranks 3rd in career steals per game at 2.24.
 
MOVING ON UP
David Azore is 5th on UTA's all-time program list for made free throws with 315, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at 79.3.
 
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 (5x)
Pedro Castro: 17 (3x)
Nicolas Elame: 17 (1x)
Shemar Wilson: 15
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu: 14
Javon Levi: 14
Montez Young Jr.: 12 (1x)
Jack Hoiberg: 11
Patrick Mwamba: 10, 3x
 
RE-TWEETS

• Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu posted a career-high 14 points, pulled down six rebounds and blocked six shots against Lamar on Dec. 11. The six blocks were tied for the 5th-most in single-game program history, and he went 7-7 from the floor thanks to six alley-oops – tied for the 6th-most makes without a miss in program history (minimum five makes).

• The Mavs were scheduled to face Nevada (NET #149 – Quad 3 opponent at home) on Tuesday, Dec. 7; however, that contest was canceled due to COVID protocols within the Wolf Pack program.
   
• UTA won at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 29, 70-62, snapping the 6th-longest home winning streak in the country at 20 in a row dating back to 2019. UCSB was the last of five-straight opponents – and six-straight D-I foes for UTA – which played in 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.
   
• 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).
   
• Shemar Wilson led the way with that shooting percentage as he went a perfect 6-6 from the floor – tied for the 10th-most makes in program history without a miss.
   
• Javon 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 Mary Hardin-Baylor. 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 open Sun Belt Conference play at home against South Alabama on Thursday, Dec. 30, at 7 p.m.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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