ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (8-11, 4-4 SBC) kicks off its rivalry week with Texas State (12-5, 3-2 SBC) when the Mavericks welcome the Bobcats to the College Park Center for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, Jan. 27.
 
At halftime of the game, UTA will retire the #0 jersey of Marquez Haynes as his number will be raised to the College Park Center rafters. He will join the #22 jersey of all-time leading scorer Willie Brand as just the second men's basketball player to have his number retired. More information about Haynes' accomplishments are included later in this release. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a complimentary Haynes jersey shirt.

Gameday Promotions

• BLUE OUT
  Fans can buy the official BLUE OUT shirt HERE.
  All fans in attendance get a BLUE OUT rally towel.

• First 500 UTA students get the official BLUE OUT shirt.
• One (1) lucky UTA student will have a chance to win semester of FREE tuition.

Tickets: UTATickets.com	Video: ESPN+	Radio: KTNO 620 AM	Live Stats
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Game Notes: UT Arlington  ///  Texas State  ///  Sun Belt  ///  Gameday Program

 
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• David Azore tied for the 10th-most points in single-game program history last Saturday at Little Rock with a career-high 37, representing already his third 30+ point game in Sun Belt play this year; the rest of the league combined has zero. Azore made 17 free throws in the Little Rock game – equaling the most by any player in the nation this year, the most by a UTA player since 1979 and tied for the 4th-most in program history. Azore ranks 7th in the nation with 97 made free throws this year.
   
• Azore – who paces the conference in scoring in league games at 26.5 per outing and also tops all Sun Belt players at 18.5 for the year – has led UTA in scoring in nine-straight games in which he's played (DNP versus Howard Payne (illness) nor against Louisiana or ULM (COVID protocols)). The last time someone other than Azore led UTA in scoring in a game Azore played was Pedro Castro with 17 at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 29. Azore has increased his season points-per-game average every contest since Nov. 29.
   
• Carson Bischoff tied a single-game program record with nine made 3-pointers at Little Rock, reaching double-figure points for the first time in his UTA career with 27. The 27 points and nine 3s incredibly represent 29 percent of his total points and 30 percent of his total 3s made in his now 27 games with UTA. The nine 3s are the most by a Sun Belt player in any game this year and tied for the 7th-most in the country this season.

TWEETABLES
1) UTA has already defeated the top-2 teams in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll in Georgia State (1st) and Louisiana (2nd). Texas State was picked to finish 3rd.
 
2) All four of UTA's Sun Belt losses have been by seven points or less. Three of their last five games have gone to overtime (lost all three), and two of those were decided by a total of three points.
 
3) The Mavs have already set a single-season program record by having five games go to overtime, including four conference contests – also the most in a single year in program history.
 
4) UTA has had 12 different players score double-figure points in a game this year – the 3rd-most of any team in the nation (Bowling Green and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi both with 13).
 
5) The 98 points UTA allowed in the 98-96 triple overtime setback to Little Rock on Saturday were its most points allowed in any loss since a 101-99 2OT contest versus North Texas on Nov. 18, 2009, and most points given up in any regular-season road loss since a 102-95 overtime outing at Arkansas on Nov. 22, 1999.
 
ABOUT TEXAS STATE
» UTA has lost three games in a row to Texas State after winning 17 of the previous 20 meetings from 2012-20. The Mavs have only lost four straight to the Bobcats three times previously, the last coming from 2008-10.
 
» Texas State ranks 2nd in Sun Belt games by only allowing opponents to score 65.6 points, while UTA ranks 3rd in the league by averaging 74.8 points in conference contests. Additionally, the two teams rank 1st and 2nd in the Sun Belt in rebound margin in league play with Texas State at +5.2 and UTA at +4.1.
 
» The Bobcats also check in 2nd in conference games in free throw percentage (76.4) and 3rd in 3-point percentage (35.4).
 
» Texas State (#126) is the 2nd-highest ranked Sun Belt team in the NET Rankings (South Alabama #116). The Bobcats' three non-conference losses came to top-100 teams in Houston (#3), LSU (#10) and Vanderbilt (#86).
 
» Caleb Asberry leads a trio of TXST double-figure scorers at 14.2 per outing. Isiah Small is right behind at 11.5, followed by Mason Harrell at 10.3. Small leads the Bobcats with exactly seven rebounds per game as well.
 
MARQUEZ HAYNES ACCOLADES

• Most points ever by a two-year UTA player with 1,174 – one of only two players with at least 1,000 career points in only two seasons (Eddie Stallings: 1,007 from 1967-69).
• Scoring average of 22.6 in 2009-10 is the best in single-season program history; 678 points that year are also the most in a single year in program history.
• Holds the program single-season record for free throws made with 185 in 2009-10.
• Eight games of 30 or more points are the 3rd-most in program history (record: 10); he accumulated eight in only two years.

Awards
2010 Associated Press All-American Honorable Mention
2010 Southland Conference Player of the Year
2010 Southland Conference First Team
2009 Southland Conference Second Team
 
NOTEWORTHY

• Lazaro Rojas recorded the first double-double of his career at Little Rock on Jan. 22 with a career-high 12 points and career-best 13 rebounds.
   
• 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).
   
• 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).

JOINING THE WAC
On Jan. 21, UT Arlington officially accepted an invitation to join the Western Athletic Conference effective July 1, 2022, making UTA the 15th member of the WAC and eighth school based in Texas during the 2022-23 academic year.
 
UTA was a member of the Southland Conference from 1963-2012, a one-year former WAC member in 2012-13 and has been a Sun Belt institution since 2013-14.
 
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE STRENGTH
UTA played the hardest non-conference schedule of any Sun Belt team (18th-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).
 
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.
 
9: The Mavs played four-straight games from Jan. 6-15 with just nine scholarship players due to injuries and COVID protocols. UTA was without Jack Hoiberg and Carson Bischoff at Georgia State and Georgia Southern and without David Azore and Lazaro Rojas versus Louisiana and ULM.
 
11: UTA has already used 11 different starting lineups in 19 games – tied for the 6th-most combinations of any team in the nation (13: Stony Brook, Memphis, Eastern Illinois and Alabama State; 12: UTEP).
 
41 – Percentage of UTA's total minutes this season which have been played by its bench (non-starters), the 16th-most of any team in the nation.
 
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.
 
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, 692), steals (4th, 275) and assist-to-turnover ratio (8th, 2.51). Additionally, Levi ranks 6th 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 364, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at .800.
 
DEPTH ON DISPLAY
UTA tied for the national lead last season by having 13 different players score double-figure points in a game. So far this year, the Mavs have had 12 different double-figure scorers – the 3rd-most in the nation (Bowling Green, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi each with 13). Below is a list of those players, their respective season highs and how many times they have led UTA in scoring:
 
David Azore: 37 (11x)
Carson Bischoff: 27
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)
Lazaro Rojas: 12
Jack Hoiberg: 11
 
RE-TWEETS

• 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 #121 – 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 will conclude its weekend set with the Bobcats when it heads to San Marcos for a 4 p.m. tip on Saturday.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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