ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (4-7) opens its 18-game Sun Belt Conference schedule at home on Thursday, Dec. 30, by welcoming South Alabama (10-3) to the College Park Center for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
 

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Game Notes: UT Arlington  ///  South Alabama  ///  Sun Belt Conference

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

• Since joining the Sun Belt in 2013-14, only Georgia State (98) and Louisiana (90) have won more league games than UTA (87). Additionally, in the past seven seasons (since 2014-15), UTA's average NET/RPI of #138 is 2nd-best among all Sun Belt teams to only Georgia State's #121.
   
• UTA was picked to finish 9th in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches Poll, while South Alabama was tabbed for a 5th-place showing. The Mavericks have been picked to finish in the bottom half of the league now four times, and in each of the first three occurrences they far exceeded the preseason prognostications relative to their final position: 2013-14: 7th to 5th; 2015-16: 8th to 3rd; 2018-19: 11th to 2nd. That '18-'19 squad was picked to finish 2nd-to-last, but earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and played in the Sun Belt Championship Game.

TWEETABLES
1) This will be the first time that UTA will begin Sun Belt play at home since 2018-19. Each of the last two seasons the Mavs began with four-straight road games – the only school in the conference to be dealt that hand.
 
2) UTA is 3-5 all-time in Sun Belt openers, with the last win coming in 2016-17 at home over Coastal Carolina, 90-69.
 
3) The Mavs have started league play 0-2 in four-straight seasons, but have rebounded to post a .500 or better record each of those years and reach the Sun Belt Tournament Final twice (2018, 2019).
 
4) UTA played the 2nd-hardest non-conference schedule of any Sun Belt school with an average NET opponent ranking of 33 (App State: 23); the Mavs' four Quad 1 opponents were the most in the league. 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.
 
5) Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu – the country's active leader in career blocked shots per game (3.17) – ranks 20th in the nation this year with 2.9 blocks per outing. He has blocked at least one shot in a nation-leading 26-straight games, and in 24 of those he has 2+ rejections.
 
KEY NUMBERS
2: UTA lost its 2nd-leading scorer Pedro Castro for the season after he underwent back surgery on Dec. 18 following an injury suffered at Oral Roberts two days prior.
 
5: Five of UTA's 11 non-conference games were decided by single digits (2-3 record); the other six were margins of 19 points or greater (2-4 record).
 
8: UTA has already used eight different starting lineups in 11 games – tied for the 4th-most combinations of any team in the nation (UTEP: 10, Eastern Illinois: 9, Stony Brook: 9).
 
28: David Azore reached 1,000 career points with a free throw in the 1st half of UTA's contest at Oklahoma on Dec. 19, becoming the 28th member of UTA's 1,000 Point Club. He did not play in UTA's 95-46 win over Howard Payne on Dec. 22 due to a non-COVID illness, but is expected to play against South Alabama.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• South Alabama enters Sun Belt play with the league's best record at 10-3; the losses all came on the road to Wichita State (64-58), Alabama (73-68) and Tarleton State (65-52). The setback at Tarleton on Dec. 17 – which was three days after USA beat Tarleton in Mobile, 69-62 – snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Jaguars dating back to Nov. 16.
   
• UTA and USA rank 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the Sun Belt in blocked shots per game with the Mavs at 5.4 (28th nationally) and the Jags at 5.2 (38th nationally).
   
• The Jaguars are only allowing opponents to score an average of 61 points per game to rank 2nd in the Sun Belt and 41st in the country. USA is also averaging 17.2 turnovers forced per outing to check in 27th in the nation in that category.
   
• Charles Manning Jr. leads a trio of double-figure scorers for South Alabama at 17.3 per game. He's joined by Jay Jay Chandler (15.5) and Javon Franklin (10.2). Franklin adds a team-best 6.4 rebounds per contest.
   
• South Alabama plays primarily a six- or seven-man rotation. According to KenPom, the Jaguars' bench (non-starters) accounts for just 22.5 percent of USA's total minutes played – the 22nd-fewest of any team 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. Through just five games against D-I foes 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 non-league 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 20 percent of all of college basketball in terms of players who have played together the most (290th 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 68 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 20th-highest in the country.
 
40.7% – Percentage of UTA's total minutes this season which have been played by its bench (non-starters), the 24th-most of any team in the nation.

94.7 – 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 7 among all active D-I players in the country in career assists (5th, 650), steals (4th, 261) and assist-to-turnover ratio (7th, 2.52). Additionally, Levi ranks 4th in career steals per game at 2.23.
 
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 10 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 (1x)
Javon Levi: 14
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu: 14
Brandyn Talbot: 13
Montez Young Jr.: 12 (1x)
Patrick Mwamba: 12
Jack Hoiberg: 11
 
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 #129 – 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 conclude its conference-opening weekend at the College Park Center when the Mavs host Troy on New Year's Day at 2 p.m.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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