JONESBORO, Ark. – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (8-9, 4-2 SBC) begins its two-game road swing through the Natural State on Thursday when the Mavericks visit Arkansas State (11-4, 2-1 SBC) for a 7 p.m. tipoff inside First National Bank Arena.
 

Video	Radio: KTNO 620 AM	Live Stats
ESPN+	Listen | The Varsity Network App	StatBroadcast

Game Notes: UT Arlington  ///  Arkansas State  ///  Sun Belt

 
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA will be looking to match its best-ever start through seven games of a Sun Belt season at 5-2. The Mavericks also commenced the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2018-19 campaigns 5-2, ultimately winning the regular season championship with a 14-4 record in 2017, reaching the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals in 2016 and the Sun Belt Tournament Final in 2019.
   
• The Mavs have played each of their last four games with just nine scholarship players due to injuries and COVID protocols, including both games last weekend without Sun Belt leading scorer David Azore. Azore – who averages a gaudy 26 points per game in league play – is the only player in the Sun Belt with a 30-point game in conference action this year, and he's got two already (30 versus South Alabama on Dec. 30; 33 at Georgia Southern on Jan. 8).
   
• UTA is one of only three teams in the Sun Belt to have played all six of its scheduled league games (App State, ULM) as the Mavs and Mountaineers are tied for the most wins in the conference with four (4-2, tied for 2nd place; Troy in 1st place at 3-1 due to winning percentage). Arkansas State has already had three Sun Belt games canceled due to COVID, including both matchups last weekend against Little Rock.
   
• The Red Wolves and Mavs are the only two teams in the league who have not yet lost a conference game in regulation (UTA: overtime losses to Georgia Southern (74-73) and ULM (62-55); A-State: overtime setback to Louisiana (83-77)).
   

TWEETABLES
1) UTA has already played three overtime games in Sun Belt action and four overall for the season, tied for the most in single season program history: four in 1979-80 and 2013-14, and three conference OT contests in 1996-97 and 2010-11.
 
2) All three of the league opponents A-State has faced this year UTA has already as well: Georgia Southern (UTA 74-73 OT loss/A-State 74-56 win), Louisiana (UTA 83-73 win/A-State 83-77 OT loss) and ULM (UTA 62-55 OT loss/A-State 90-83 win).
 
3) UTA has lost back-to-back games just once since November (Dec. 16-19 at Oral Roberts and Oklahoma).
 
4) A-State leads the Sun Belt in points per game in league play with 80.3, while UTA is holding conference opponents to just 69.3. UTA ranks 1st in league contests with 42 rebounds per game and A-State is 3rd at 39.3.
 
5) The Mavs suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday in overtime against ULM when leading at the half (led 25-24, now 7-1 on the year) and when leading with five minutes remaining (led 43-38, now 6-1 on the year).
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
» Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year Norchad Omier is the nation's active leader in career rebound average at 11.7 per game. The freshman – who is technically in his second year factoring in the COVID extra season – is averaging 16.6 points and 10.9 rebounds per game this year, and in league action is at 23.7 and 13 through three games. Last year, he became just the fourth freshman in Division I since 1992-93 to average 12 points and 12 rebounds for an entire season (12.6/12.3). Omier also ranks 3rd in the nation this season in field goal percentage at 68.3.
 
» Arkansas transfer Desi Sills is 2nd on the Red Wolves with 13.6 points per game, while Marquis Eaton rounds out the trio of double-figure scorers at 12.9 per outing. Both Jonesboro products, Sills and Eaton played together in high school, leading Jonesboro HS to a 32-0 record and state championship in 2017.
 
» Eaton leads the Sun Belt and ranks 2nd nationally in free throw percentage (95.8). He has made 38 consecutive free throws, the most in program history. Additionally, Eaton is just the sixth Sun Belt player since 1992-93 to have at least 1,400 points, 400 assists and 350 rebounds in a career.
 
» A-State ranks 21st nationally in assists per game 16.7, and the Red Wolves get 22.3 percent of their total points for the year from the free throw line – the 14th-most in the nation. A-State is 7-0 this season and 23-3 in its last 26 games when holding opponents below 40-percent shooting from the floor.
 
NOTEWORTHY

• Javon Levi recorded just the third triple-double in program history with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in an 83-73 win over Louisiana on Jan. 13. Erick Neil had the only other two for UTA on Nov. 27, 2017, versus UT Dallas (10p, 10r, 13a), and on Jan. 28, 2016, at ULM (27p, 10r, 12a).
   
• The Mavs have already knocked off the top-2 teams in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll in Georgia State and Louisiana.
   
• Against Louisiana, UTA registered season highs versus a Division-I opponent in field goal percentage (55.7), assists (22) and points in regulation (83). The Ragin' Cajuns entered the game ranked 2nd in league games by holding opponents to just 65.3 points per contest and 1st in field goal percentage defense (35.3).

 
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE STRENGTH
UTA played the hardest non-conference schedule of any Sun Belt team (15th-toughest in the nation). The Mavs faced five Quad 1 opponents; no other team in the league faced more than three as UTA was responsible for nearly 25 percent of the Sun Belt's 22 combined Quad 1 games. In fact, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Little Rock, Troy and Coastal Carolina have combined for just three Quad 1 games – two fewer than UTA on its own.
 
AZORE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Azore earned UTA's first Sun Belt Player of the Week honor in nearly two years on Jan. 4 after averaging 27 points, seven rebounds, shooting 54 percent from the floor and 93 percent from the free throw line.
 
He is the first Mav to win SBC Player of the Week since Brian Warren on Feb. 4, 2019. Warren was named Co-Player that week, meaning Azore is the first outright winner of the weekly award in the league since Erick Neal on Feb. 26, 2018.
 
KEY NUMBERS
2: UTA lost its then-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.
 
4: UTA committed just four turnovers against Troy on Jan. 1 – tied for the fewest in program history in the last 10 years (Louisiana on Jan. 31, 2020).
 
5: The victory over Troy was UTA's first when trailing with five minutes remaining (now 1-8; trailed 53-47).
 
6: Six of UTA's eight wins this year have come when scoring in the 50s, 60s, 70, 80s, 90s or 100s.
 
7: Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu recorded his seventh-career game of 5+ blocks against South Alabama on Dec. 30; no other player in program history has more than three such games, and Akobundu-Ehiogu has done it in just 34 contests with UTA.
 
8: UTA played the most non-conference opponents in the nation that participated in the NCAA Tournament last year with incredibly eight. Of the nine D-I foes the Mavs faced in their non-league schedule only one (Lamar) didn't play in March Madness in 2021.
 
11: UTA has already used 11 different starting lineups in 17 games – tied for the 4th-most combinations of any team in the nation (12: UTEP, Stony Brook and Memphis).
 
51: UTA pulled down 51 boards on Jan. 6 in out-rebounding Georgia State, 51-32. That's the most caroms for the Mavs versus a D-I opponent since 55 against Troy on Mar. 5, 2016. Additionally, 18 of those came on the offensive glass – UTA's most against any D-I team in more than a decade.
 
100: With a 62-57 win over Troy on Jan. 1, UTA claimed its 100th all-time victory in the College Park Center (100-41, .709). The first game took place on Feb. 1, 2012, with 2012-13 being the first full season of the CPC.
 
1,000: 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. Levi crossed off the milestone on a layup at Georgia Southern on Jan. 8; 918 of the grad transfer's points came at UTRGV.
 
KEY KENPOM NUMBERS
12.4% – Percentage of UTA's opponent shots this season that have been blocked by the Mavs, ranking as the 57th-highest in the country.
 
42.1% – Percentage of UTA's total minutes this season which have been played by its bench (non-starters), the 15th-most of any team in the nation.

56.1% – Percentage of UTA's total points this year that have come from two-point field goals, ranking as the 49th-most in the nation.
 
AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
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 8 among all active D-I players in the country in career assists (4th, 682), steals (4th, 270) and assist-to-turnover ratio (8th, 2.5). Additionally, Levi ranks 5th in career steals per game at 2.2.
 
MOVING ON UP
Azore is 4th on UTA's all-time program list for made free throws with 338, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at 79.7.
 
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 – tied for the 8th-most in the nation (two teams with 13; five teams with 11). Below is a list of those players, their respective season highs and how many times they have led UTA in scoring:
 
David Azore: 33 (9x)
Patrick Mwamba: 22 (2x)
Pedro Castro: 17 (3x)
Nicolas Elame: 17 (1x)
Shemar Wilson: 15 (1x)
Javon Levi: 14, 2x
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu: 14
Brandyn Talbot: 13
Montez Young Jr.: 12 (1x)
Jack Hoiberg: 11
 
GEORGIA SOUTHERN SUMMARY
UTA erased a 14-point deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining at Georgia Southern on Jan. 8 and forced overtime on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Levi. Leading 73-72 with 20 seconds left in OT, Levi was fouled away from the ball – which should have been a Flagrant 1 personal foul but instead was a common foul – and he missed both free throws (UTA should have received two free throws and the ball back), allowing Georgia Southern to win it, 74-73, on a layup in the closing seconds – to this point UTA's lone Sun Belt loss.
 
RE-TWEETS

• Azore has led UTA in scoring in seven-straight games in which he's played (DNP versus Howard Payne on Dec. 22 due to a non-COVID illness; DNP versus Louisiana on Jan. 13 nor ULM on Jan. 15 due to COVID protocol). The last time someone other than Azore – in a game he played – led UTA in scoring was Pedro Castro with 17 at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 29.
   
• Akobundu-Ehiogu posted a career-high 14 points, pulled down six rebounds and blocked six shots against Lamar on Dec. 11. The six blocks are tied for the most by any Sun Belt player this year and are tied for the 5th-most in single-game program history. 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 #133 – 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.
   
• 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.
   
• 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.
   
• 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.

NEXT UP
UTA is scheduled to wrap up its trip through the Natural State on Saturday when the Mavs take on Little Rock in a 2 p.m. tipoff.
 
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).