PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UT Arlington men’s basketball team gets its 2021 Sun Belt Conference Tournament underway on Friday night against Troy from the Pensacola Bay Center.

The Mavericks, who received the #3 Seed in the West, are set to tip off against the East’s #6 Seed Trojans at 8 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+ and Josh Sours will have the call on KTNO 620 AM and streaming online.

UTA finished the Sun Belt regular season with a 9-8 record (13-12 overall), and is coming off a sweep of Arkansas State last weekend. Troy closed at 4-12 in league play (10-16 overall) and has lost seven in a row. This is the first-ever meeting between the two teams in the postseason.

With a win, the Mavs would move on to face the East’s #2 Seed Coastal Carolina in the quarterfinal round on Saturday, Mar. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at Pensacola State College’s Hartsell Arena. Any games beyond that will be held back at the Bay Center as the Sun Belt is utilizing two venues to accommodate simultaneous men’s and women’s tournament contests.

Games at Pensacola Bay Center are open to the general public, and tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster (note: games are sold by the session; a pass to the session allows access to UTA’s game and also the other game in that session). UTA’s lone potential game at Hartsell Arena is closed to the general public due to space constraints associated with COVID-19; however, each Sun Belt institution has been provided a ticket allotment for that venue.

If you are a Maverick Club member interested in securing tickets for that potential matchup with Coastal Carolina, contact Alex Ware at alex.ware@uta.edu or 817-272-9613.

More information is below the coverage links.

STORYLINES

• Each of the last two times the Sun Belt Tournament Final has taken place, UTA has been in the game. The Mavs – who lost in the 1st round last March before COVID canceled the semifinals and final – played for the title in both 2018 and 2019, falling to Georgia State each year.
   
• With a 1st-round win this year, UTA will set up a rematch in the quarterfinals with Coastal Carolina, which defeated the Mavs on their home floor on a 3-pointer at the buzzer in last year’s tournament.
   
• UTA (87) owns the 3rd-most Sun Belt wins since joining the league in 2013-14, behind only Georgia State (98) and Louisiana (90). No other team even has 80 league victories (next closest: Georgia Southern – 77).
   
• The Mavs closed the regular season with three-straight games of single-digit turnovers: 7 at Louisiana, 5 vs. Arkansas State, 8 vs. Arkansas State. It’s the first time UTA has had three-consecutive single-digit turnover games since Feb. 23-Mar. 2, 2013, when it was a one-year member of the Western Athletic Conference.
   
• In his first three games back from a leg injury last week, David Azore averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.3 steals and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 7.0. He hit the game-winning four-point play just before time expired in a 73-71 win over Arkansas State on Feb. 26 – earning the #1 play on SportsCenter that night – and followed it up by closing in on a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds against the Red Wolves the next day.
   
• Shahada Wells (298 points, 78 assists) and Sam Griffin (262 points, 38 assists) accounted for 48 percent of UTA’s scoring in Sun Belt games this year (560 of 1,170) and 54 percent of its assists (116 of 216).

TWEETABLES

1) The Mavs have had 13 different players score in double figures in a game this season – tied for the most of any team in the nation (Murray State, Abilene Christian).

2) In Sun Belt games decided by five points or less during the regular season, UTA went 5-1 (lone loss: rescheduled contest at Louisiana on Feb. 22, 76-74).

3) UTA has won games this season when scoring in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 100s and 110s.

4) UTA is 7-0 this year when holding its opponent below 40 percent from the field, and is 9-0 when finishing with a better field-goal percentage than its opposition.

5) UTA’s top-50 national rankings entering the week: blocks per game (24th, 4.7), steals per game (36th, 8.2), 3-pointers made per game (38th, 9.0) and turnover margin (46th, 2.7). In Sun Belt games, UTA was 1st in blocks per game (5.2) and 2nd in free-throw percentage (76.1).

BLOCK PARTY

Redshirt sophomore Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu led the Sun Belt in conference games with 3.2 blocks per game. For the year, walk-on Akobundu-Ehiogu is averaging 3.3 – which would rank 3rd in the nation if he qualified (must have appeared in 75 percent of UTA’s games this season; currently at 68 percent due to not being cleared eligibility-wise until mid-December). Akobundu-Ehiogu has 56 blocks (14th-most in the nation) in only 17 games. In just those 17 career games with UTA, he has five games of 5+ blocks; no one else in program history has even four such games.

UTA’S ALL-TIME SINGLE-SEASON BLOCK LEADERS
Individuals
1) Johnny Hamilton: 77 (2017-18 | 34 Games)
2) Jordan Reves: 71 (2012-13 | 33 Games)
3) Jermaine Griffin: 58 (2006-07 | 29 Games)
4) Jordan Reves: 57 (2011-12 | 33 Games)
5) Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu: 56 (2020-21 | 17 Games)

Team
1) 143 (2017-18 | 34 Games)
2) 123 (2011-12 | 33 Games)
3) 120 (2013-14 | 32 Games)
4) 119 (2012-13 | 33 Games)
5) 117 (2020-21 | 25 Games)

MARQUEE PLAYS & FINISHES

• UTA has had four plays this calendar year make it on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays:
  • Jan. 15: #5 Play – Jordan Phillips And-1 Dunk vs. Louisiana
  • Feb. 22: #10 Play – Nicolas Elame 1-Handed Dunk @ Louisiana
  • Feb. 26: #7 Play – Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu Alley-Oop Finish vs. Arkansas State
  • Feb. 26: #1 Play – David Azore Game-Winning 4-Point Play vs. Arkansas State
     
• UTA has won three games this year at the buzzer or in the closing seconds of regulation:
  • Jan. 9 @ ULM – 75-74: UTA Trailed By 4 With 12 Seconds Left (Recap: Page 36)
  • Jan. 30 @ Arkansas State – 65-64: Shahada Wells Layup Beats The Buzzer (Recap: Page 38)
  • Feb. 26 vs. Arkansas State – 73-71: David Azore Hits A 3 And Fouled With 1 Second Left (Recap: Page 40)

While UTA is 3-0 this year in those games, last year it went 0-3 in games won at the buzzer or in the final 4 seconds.

TROY’S STAT LEADERS

Freshman Kam Woods – one of Troy’s three double-figure scorers on the year at 10.3 per game – announced this week that he does not plan on playing in the tournament and will enter the transfer portal.

Nick Stampley (12.8) and Zay Williams (10.5) are Troy’s remaining double-figure scorers on the year. Williams (8.1) and Stampley (6.9) lead the Trojans in rebounding as those two have accounted for 40 percent of Troy’s total boards this season.

UTA BACK-TO-BACK AVERAGES

In the seven back-to-back weekend series UTA played in Sun Belt regular-season action, the Mavs went 4-3 on Fridays and 5-2 on Saturdays. Below are the key statistical averages (UTA listed first, opponent in parenthesis) from those 14 total games:

Points Per Game
Friday: 75.9 (75.4)
Saturday: 63.0 (64.3)

Field-Goal Percentage
Friday: 40.4 (46.8)
Saturday: 37.3 (40.6)

3-Point Percentage
Friday: 38.2 (37.8)
Saturday: 33.1 (35.2)

Free-Throw Percentage
Friday: 80.2 (72.3)
Saturday: 72.2 (72.0)

BY THE NUMBERS

0: To this point of the season, UTA has not had a single game impacted due to COVID.

2: UTA has only played two games this season in which it had its full complement of 16 players available – the last two games of the regular season against Arkansas State. However, none of those games with missing players was due to COVID; it was either injuries, rest or eligibility rulings.

4: Four of UTA’s first five games this season came against opponents which won 20+ games last year and/or finished in the top 100 of the NET: Oklahoma State (64 NET), Arkansas (20 Wins & 43 NET), Louisiana Tech (22 Wins & 87 NET) and Tulsa (21 Wins & 78 NET).

5: UTA played five games in the first 10 days of the season; the only team in the country to play more games during that time was San Francisco with six (several teams tied with five).

7: Wells had seven steals on Jan. 22 against Little Rock – tied for the 5th-most by any player in the nation this year (tied for the 4th-most against a Division-I opponent). It’s also tied for the 3rd-most in single-game program history.

13: UTA’s 13 different players who have reached double-figure points in a game this season: Shahada Wells, Dvid Azore, Patrick Mwamba, Nicolas Elame, Sam Griffin, Fredelin De La Cruz, Jordan Phillips, Brandyn Talbot, Lazaro Rojas, Grayson Carter, McKade Marquis, Davis Steelman and Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu.

14: The Mavs made 14 3-pointers at Texas State (Feb. 13) – their most ever in a conference game that they lost. It’s the 2nd-most makes in any loss in program history (15 at TCU on Dec. 19, 1999).

90: The Mavs scored 90+ points in four-straight games between Dec. 11-Jan. 1. It marked the first time since the start of the 1992-93 season that UTA had scored 90+ in four-consecutive contests.

93: The 93 points UTA scored in a 102-93 setback at Little Rock on Jan. 1 were its most in a regulation loss since a 102-94 setback at Sam Houston State on Feb. 14, 2002.

95: UTA shot 95 percent (19-20) from the free-throw line on Jan. 1 at Little Rock, which at the time was the 8th-best by any team in the nation this year (minimum: 15 makes).

SCHEDULE ALTERATIONS

Like every team’s non-conference schedule, UTA’s was drastically impacted and ended up significantly different than it was originally; however, through the end of the regular season, the Mavs have not had any games affected by COVID. The non-league docket featured eight contests – four at home, one at a neutral site and three on the road. Each of those games were drivable and regionally located. In early December, UTA and Oral Roberts mutually agreed to delay the start of their home-and-home series by one season to 2021-22 (were scheduled to play at ORU on Dec. 19), and UTA added Dallas Christian to make up for that.

UTA played five games in 10 days to open the season, including two Power-5 teams (vs. Oklahoma State, @ Arkansas) and three opponents which won at least 20 games a season ago (@ Louisiana Tech, @ Arkansas, @ Tulsa).

SUSTAINED SUCCESS

Despite finishing last year with a 14-18 record, UTA still posted the 2nd-highest NET Ranking (formerly the RPI) in the Sun Belt at #129 – behind only Texas State at #120. To further demonstrate the Mavs’ consistency over the last six years, since 2014-15 (its second season in the league) UTA has the 2nd-best average NET/RPI among all Sun Belt teams at #121 (Georgia State: #119).

SUN BELT SUCCESS

UTA and Georgia Southern are the only two Sun Belt Conference teams to have posted six-straight years of double-figure league victories. The Mavs went 9-9 in SBC action in their first year in the conference in 2013-14, and since then have posted at least 10 Sun Belt wins in every season. That streak will come to an end for both teams this season.

YOUNG NAMED TOP ASSISTANT COACH

Longtime UTA associate head coach Greg Young has been named the top assistant coach in the Sun Belt Conference, as unveiled by Stadium’s Jeff Goodman.

Young, who is entering his 12th season with UTA in 2020-21, was voted as the top assistant coach in the Sun Belt by his peers as Goodman polled at least 20 coaches in the conference.

Since joining UTA in 2009-10, Young has helped guide the Mavericks to a 207-152 record (.577) and advanced to the postseason four times: 2012 NIT, 2013 CIT, 2016 CIT and 2017 NIT. 

He has been a member of two regular-season championship teams – 2012 Southland Conference and 2017 Sun Belt – in addition to reaching the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Final in 2013 and the Sun Belt Tournament Final in both 2018 and 2019.

NET CHANGES

Prior to this season, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee announced that the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) will be changed to increase accuracy and simplify it by reducing a five-component metric to just two. The remaining factors include the Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home, as well as an adjusted net efficiency rating.

The adjusted efficiency is a team’s net efficiency, adjusted for strength of opponent and location (home/away/neutral) across all games played. For example, a given efficiency value (net points per 100 possessions) against stronger opposition rates higher than the same efficiency against lesser opponents and having a certain efficiency on the road rates higher than the same efficiency at home.

No longer will the NET use winning percentage, adjusted winning percentage and scoring margin.

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).