ATLANTA – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (6-7, 2-0 SBC) hits the road for the first time in Sun Belt Conference play when the Mavericks face Georgia State (6-5, 0-0 SBC) on Thursday, Jan. 6, at 6 p.m. Central (7 Eastern).
 

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

 
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA will be looking to start a Sun Belt season 3-0 for just its second time since joining the league in 2013-14. The Mavs began the 2015-16 campaign 4-0; UTA had commenced each of the previous four years 0-2 each season.

• The Mavs will be looking for their first four-game winning streak since a pair of five-game runs in 2018-19. Coincidently, both of those stretches were ended by Georgia State on Jan. 26, 2019, and again in the Sun Belt Championship Final on Mar. 17, 2019.

• This will be a matchup between two of the top-3 winningest teams in the Sun Belt since UTA joined the league 8+ years ago. In that time, Georgia State has won 98 conference games (most) and UTA has claimed 89 (3rd-most) (Louisiana: 92).

• UTA played the hardest non-conference schedule of any Sun Belt team (20th-toughest in the nation). The Mavs played five Quad 1 opponents; no one else in the league played more than three as UTA was responsible for five of the Sun Belt's 21 combined Quad 1 games. In fact, Georgia State, South Alabama, Little Rock, Georgia Southern, Troy and Coastal Carolina (six teams; half the league) combined for just four Quad 1 games – one fewer than UTA on its own.

TWEETABLES
1) David Azore earned UTA's first Sun Belt Player of the Week honor in nearly two years on Tuesday after averaging 27 points, seven rebounds, shooting 54 percent from the floor and 93 percent from the free throw line in a pair of Mavs' wins over the weekend.
 
2) Javon Levi needs just 12 points to reach 1,000 for his career. The UTRGV grad transfer scored 918 points in four seasons with the Vaqueros. He would be the second UTA player to reach the milestone in five games (Azore at Oklahoma on Dec. 19).
 
3) All six of UTA's wins have come when scoring in the 50s, 60s, 70, 80s, 90s or 100s. Additionally, the victory over Troy on Saturday was its first when trailing with five minutes remaining (now 1-7; trailed 53-47).
 
4) UTA committed just four turnovers against Troy – tied for the fewest in program history in the last 10 years (Louisiana on Jan. 31, 2020). The Mavs were out-rebounded by Troy by 21 (53-32) – their largest rebounding differential in any win in at least 10 years.
 
5) Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu – the country's active leader in career blocked shots per game (3.26) – ranks 10th in the nation this year with 3.2 blocks per outing. He has blocked at least one shot in a nation-leading 28-straight games, and in 26 of those he has 2+ rejections.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• GSU has not played since a 72-62 overtime loss to cross-city foe Georgia Tech on Dec. 21. The Panthers had both of their first two Sun Belt games at Arkansas State and at Little Rock last weekend canceled due to COVID protocols within the GSU program.
   
• The Panthers were installed as the favorites in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches Poll. Additionally, seniors Corey Allen (First Team), Kane Williams (Second Team) and Eliel Nsoseme (Second Team) were all selected to the All-Sun Belt Preseason teams. Nsoseme – in his second year with GSU after transferring from Cincinnati – has yet to play this year.
   
• Allen leads a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Panthers at 15.9 per outing. He's joined by Justin Roberts (13.2), Williams (12.7) and Nelson Phillips (10.6).
   
• Georgia State ranks 24th nationally by forcing 9.7 steals per game and 16th in the country in turnovers forced at 18.2 per outing. Troy – UTA's opponent this past Saturday – entered the game ranked 28th in the country with 9.6 steals per outing and 23rd in the nation with 17.4 turnovers forced, but the Mavs committed just the aforementioned four giveaways against the Trojans.

AZORE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Azore scored 30 points in an 89-87 UTA overtime victory against South Alabama last Thursday, and followed it up with 24 points in a come-from-behind 62-57 triumph against Troy on Saturday. The 30 points opposite the Jaguars represented a season high for the Houston native, were three off equaling his career best and were tied for the 2nd-most by a Sun Belt player in any game this year versus a Division-I opponent. The 6-4 guard also secured a team-high-tying seven rebounds and passed out three assists against USA as the Mavs led for all but six minutes.
 
Fast forward two days, and UTA trailed Troy, 57-54, with under two minutes remaining. However, Azore scored seven of the Mavs' final eight points – including the game-tying and go-ahead points – in the closing 100 seconds to propel them near single-handedly to a win. He again grabbed a team-best seven rebounds and issued two assists in helping UTA cap the game with a 10-0 scoring run.
 
For the two games, Azore shot 54 percent from the floor (20-37), 93 percent from the free throw line (13-14) and averaged 37 minutes per contest.
 
Azore is, incredibly, the first Maverick 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
1: 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.
 
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.
 
7: Akobundu-Ehiogu recorded his seventh-career game of 5+ blocks last Thursday; no other player in program history has more than three such games, and Akobundu-Ehiogu has done it in just 31 contests with UTA.
 
8: UTA has already used eight different starting lineups in 13 games – tied for the 5th-most combinations of any team in the nation (UTEP: 11, Eastern Illinois: 9, Stony Brook: 9, Jacksonville: 9).
 
28: 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.
 
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.
 
LONG-RANGE THREAT
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 seven games against D-I foes this year, Bischoff is 9-21 from 3-point range, representing 18 percent of UTA's triples this year against D-I opponents (9 of 50).
 
STILL FINDING THEIR FOOTING
In addition to facing a challenging non-league schedule and rotating lineups because of injuries, 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 21 percent of all of D-I in terms of players who have played together the most (283rd  out of 358 teams).
 
UTA's minutes continuity percentage is just 32.6 – essentially meaning that just under 33 percent of the Mavs total minutes this season have been played by the same players from last year. Of the 75 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
15.1% – Percentage of UTA's opponent shots this season that have been blocked by the Mavs, ranking as the 20th-highest in the country.
 
42% – 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.

96.4 – The rating of UTA's opponent defenses so far this season, ranking the 16th-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 (T-3rd, 660), steals (4th, 264) and assist-to-turnover ratio (7th, 2.52). Additionally, Levi ranks 4th in career steals per game at 2.22.
 
MOVING ON UP
David Azore is 4th on UTA's all-time program list for made free throws with 328, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at 79.8.
 
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: 30 (7x)
Pedro Castro: 17 (3x)
Nicolas Elame: 17 (1x)
Patrick Mwamba: 16
Shemar Wilson: 15 (1x)
Javon Levi: 14
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu: 14
Brandyn Talbot: 13
Montez Young Jr.: 12 (1x)
Jack Hoiberg: 11
 
RE-TWEETS

• UTA established season highs against a D-I opponent in an 89-87 overtime win against South Alabama on Dec. 30 with points (89), field goal percentage (.541) and points in a half (41, 1st). USA entered the game holding opponents to just 61 points per game – 2nd-best in the SBC and 41st nationally.
   
• 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 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 #125 – 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.
   
• 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.

NEXT UP
UTA is scheduled to face Georgia Southern in Statesboro on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central (3 Eastern). The Eagles are 7-6 overall and 0-2 in the Sun Belt, but had their game scheduled for this Thursday against Texas State canceled due to COVID protocols within the Bobcats program.
 
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).