LAWRENCE, Kansas – After a thrilling Homecoming win over Texas A&M–Commerce, the UT Arlington women's basketball team (2-0) will be back in action with its first road trip of the season on Wednesday to face Kansas (1-0) at 7 p.m.
 

UT ARLINGTON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL INFORMATION
Game 3	UT Arlington (2-0) at Kansas (1-0)
Date | Time	Wednesday, Nov. 16 | 7 p.m.
Location	Allen Fieldhouse | Lawrence, Kansas
Live Stats	Stat Broadcast
Streaming	ESPN+

 
OPENING TIPS

• Each of UTA's next two opponents (Kansas and #16 Oklahoma) made it to the Round of 32 in last year's NCAA Tournament. UTA and OU will face off as part of the Maggie Dixon Classic at TCU's Schollmaier Arena on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
• UTA will be looking to start 3-0 for the third time in the past six seasons, with the last time coming during the 2016-17 campaign as the Lady Mavs started 5-0.
• Through the first two games of the year, the Lady Mavs – holding opponents to just 63 points per contest – have five players averaging double-figure points, while seven different players have tallied double figures in a game.

SCOUTING KANSAS

• The Jayhawks have played just one game so far this year, defeating Jacksonville at home last Wednesday, 72-61.
• Kansas was picked to finish 5th in the Big 12 Preseason Poll.
• Preseason All-Big 12 Team member Holly Kersgieter leads the Jayhawks with 17 points scored in their only game of the season.
• KU went 21-10 last year and 11-7 in the Big 12 en route to an at large NCAA Tournament berth. The Jayhawks defeated 9th-seeded Georgia Tech in the First Round before bowing out to top-seeded Stanford in the Second Round.   

SERIES HISTORY
It has been over a decade since the two programs last met as Kansas leads the overall series, 3-1, with the most recent matchup back on Dec. 30, 2010. The lone victory in UTA's name came in 2004 by a 53-49 at a neutral-site contest in Denver.
 

11/30/91	L 58-70	Lawrence, Kansas
12/20/03	L 52-71	Lawrence, Kansas
11/21/04	W 53-49	Denver, Colorado
12/30/10	L 57-80	Arlington, Texas

 
SEASON NUGGETS
Shia Smith's layup with 16 seconds left proved to be the game-winning basket in UTA's 75-72 win over Texas A&M-Commerce this past Saturday.
 
Fifth year Jireh Washington finished with a team-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and a team-best three steals. Smith finished second in points with 14 while adding six rebounds and three assists. Junior Kamaria Gipson notched her first double-double as a Lady Mav with 13 points, 12 rebounds and a game-high four blocks. De'Sha Benjamin (12) also scored in double figures along with her five rebounds and three assists.
 
Back at the season opener a week ago, the Lady Mavs came out on top with a record-breaking 102-53 victory over Texas Southern inside the CPC. Their point total was the most the program has ever produced in a season opener and fell just one shy of matching the overall single-game scoring record. It was the eighth time UTA reached the century mark in 50-plus seasons of basketball. In fact, it was the most points they've scored in a game in nearly 25 years dating back to a 102-point outing against UTRGV on Jan. 26, 1998.
 
In all, 12 different players reached the scoring column for UT Arlington, who got a team-high 19 points from Kayla White, as well as 16 from Starr Jacobs and 14 from Benjamin. Washington dished out a career-high 11 assists along with 12 points for her second career double-double. Gipson (11) and Taleyah Jones (10) also tallied double-figures in points. For Washington, she produced what was just the program's 12th instance of a player tallying at least 11 assists in a game.

UT ARLINGTON BY THE NUMBERS
Milestone Wins
100th win - 65-50 vs Texas Woman's on Nov. 13, 1979
200th win - 64-51 vs Texas Wesleyan on Feb. 2, 1987 (in Fort Worth, Texas)
300th win - 73-55 vs Nicholls State on Feb. 15, 1996
400th win - 67-63 at Louisiana Monroe on Feb. 1, 2003
500th win - 54-41 vs Texas A&M - Corpus Christi on Jan. 26, 2008
600th win - 65-58 vs Appalachian State on Feb. 13, 2016
700th win - 60-40 at Arkansas State on Feb. 26, 2021
 
By The Decade
1972-82: 147-135 (.521)
1982-92: 109-165 (.398)
1992-02: 135-141 (.489)
2002-12: 169-132 (.562)
2012-22: 161-131 (.551)
2022-present: 2-0 (1.000)
Overall: 723-704 (.507) 
 
STARR LEADS THE WAY
Among the six players the Lady Mavs return who saw action last year, Starr Jacobs leads the pack. The fifth-year senior not only broke the program's single-season scoring record, but she became the only player in the nation to average at least 21 points, two steals and 1.5 assists per game while shooting at least 50 percent from the field. On top of that, she joined Aneesah Morrow (DePaul) as the only two players nationally to average at least 21 points and two steals per game while shooting at least 50 percent from the field. Furthermore, Jacobs and Naz Hillmon (Michigan) were the only two players to average 21 points and 1.5 assists per game while shooting at least 50 percent. She is the top returning mid-major scorer in the nation.
 
With that resume, Jacobs became the first player in program history to be named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award's preseason watch list. She was selected as the WAC's Preseason Player of the Year by the media and ESPN.com's Charlie Crème while being tabbed Preseason First Team All-WAC by the coaches.
 
WAC PRESEASON AWARDS
As a team, UT Arlington was tabbed to finish second in the WAC in a preseason vote by the league's coaches and media behind defending champion Stephen F. Austin.
 

2022-23 WAC Preseason Coaches Poll
Rk.	Team (1st-Place Votes)	Pts.
1.	Stephen F. Austin (9)	140
2.	UT Arlington (2)	126
3.	Grand Canyon (2)	124
4.	California Baptist	107
5.	Abilene Christian	86
6.	Southern Utah	83
7.	Sam Houston	70
8.	Utah Valley	69
9.	UTRGV	56
10.	NM State	46
11.	Tarleton	44
	Utah Tech	44
13.	Seattle U	19

 
Preseason Player of the Year
Aiyana Johnson, Grad, F/C, Stephen F. Austin
 
Preseason First Team All-WAC
Trinity San Antonio, So., G, California Baptist
Aaliyah Collins, So., G, Grand Canyon
Madelyn Batista, Sr., F, Sam Houston
Tomekia Whitman, Sr., G, Southern Utah
Aiyana Johnson, Grad, F/C, Stephen F. Austin
Starr Jacobs, 5th, F, UT Arlington
Breaunna Gillen, Sr., G, Utah Tech
Emily Isaacson, Sr., G/F, Utah Tech
 
2022-23 Preseason All-WAC Second Team
Bella Earle, So., G, Abilene Christian
Tiarra Brown, Jr., G/F, Grand Canyon
Chyna Allen, Grad, G, Sam Houston
Cherita Daugherty, Grad, G, Southern Utah
Jireh Washington, 5th, G, UT Arlington
Kayla White, 5th, G, UT Arlington
Iyana Dorsey, So., G, UTRGV
Shay Fano, Jr., F, Utah Valley
 

2022-23 WAC Preseason Media Poll
Rk.	Team
1.	Stephen F. Austin
2.	UT Arlington
3.	Grand Canyon
4.	California Baptist
5.	Abilene Christian
6.	Sam Houston
7.	Utah Tech
8.	Southern Utah
9.	Utah Valley
10.	Tarleton
11.	UTRGV
12.	NM State
13.	Seattle U

 
Preseason Player of the Year
Starr Jacobs, 5th, F, UT Arlington
 
Preseason All-WAC Team
Madi Miller, Grad, G, Abilene Christian
Trinity San Antonio, So., G, California Baptist
Aaliyah Collins, So., G, Grand Canyon
Aiyana Johnson, Grad, F/C, Stephen F. Austin
Zya Nugent, Sr., G, Stephen F. Austin
Starr Jacobs, 5th, F, UT Arlington
Jireh Washington, 5th, G, UT Arlington
Breaunna Gillen, Sr., G, Utah Tech
 
BACK TO THE WAC
After spending the previous nine seasons (2013-22) as a Sun Belt Conference member, UT Arlington officially joined the Western Athletic Conference on July 1, 2022. UTA was a member of the WAC for one year previously in 2012-13 following 48 years in the Southland Conference (1963-2012) – of which it was a founding member.
 
In its lone previous campaign in the WAC, UTA went 4-14 in league play, tying Texas State for ninth place in the regular season standings.
 
New Mexico State, UTA and Seattle U are the only three current WAC schools that were also members of the league in 2012-13.

2012-13 WAC Membership (Current Affiliation)
Denver (Summit)
Idaho (Big Sky)
Louisiana Tech (Conference USA)
New Mexico State
San Jose State (Mountain West)
Seattle U
Texas State (Sun Belt)
Utah State (Mountain West)
UT Arlington
UTSA (Conference USA)
 
2022-23 WAC Membership
Abilene Christian
California Baptist
Grand Canyon
New Mexico State
Sam Houston
Seattle U
Southern Utah
Stephen F. Austin
Tarleton
UT Arlington
UT Rio Grande Valley
Utah Tech
Utah Valley
 
In an effort to continue enhancing its at-large prospects and protecting top seeds in March, a résumé-seeding system will be used to determine how teams are placed at this year's WAC Tournament (men and women).
 
An algorithm will rate performance against all D-I teams faced in the regular season, not just conference play. That will rank teams for the conference postseason tournament. Using this résumé-seeding system, teams will receive more credit for scheduling and playing stronger opponents than weaker ones. This should help the WAC have higher NET rankings, a key-criteria used by the NCAA basketball selection committees.
 
WAC Commissioner Brian Thornton and WAC Associate Commissioner of Basketball Drew Speraw worked with Ken Pomeroy of kenpom.com to put together the formula. To read more about the system – and to see how teams would have been seeded last year as opposed to straight conference record – click here.
 
Celebrating its 60th anniversary during the current 2022-23 academic year, the WAC has officially opened its conference headquarters in the city of Arlington, less than five miles from UTA's campus. It was the first such move for the league in a generation after the WAC had been anchored in Denver for all but a brief stretch of its initial 60 years of existence.
 
HOME SWEET HOME 
The UTA women have called the College Park Center home since Feb. 1, 2012 when they defeated UTSA in their first contest in their new home arena, 51-40. Since then, the Lady Mavs have complied a home record of 89-55 including five seasons with 10 or more wins.

Since the 2016-17 season, the Lady Mavs have been remarkable at home as they have put together an impressive 66-17 record.
 

2022-23	2-0
2021-22	8-4
2020-21	8-1
2019-20	12-4
2018-19	12-3
2017-18	13-2
2016-17	11-3
2015-16	7-8
2014-15	10-5
2013-14	3-11
2012-13	3-10
2011-12	1-4
Total	89-55

 
MID-MAJOR RANKING
The UT Arlington women's basketball team is ranked 24th in the first CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll of the season that was released Nov. 1.
 
The Lady Mavs received 145 votes, slotting just behind South Dakota and their 152 points. South Dakota State, FGCU and Princeton are the top three ranked programs, followed by Gonzaga and Toledo, who will face UTA in Daytona Beach later this month.
 
Stephen F. Austin, the defending WAC champions, are ranked 15th in the poll.
 
NEXT UP
Following Wednesday's game, the Lady Mavs will look ahead to the Maggie Dixon Classic to face #16 Oklahoma inside the Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth on Nov. 20 at 3:30 p.m.
 
FOLLOW THE LADY MAVS 
For the latest news on UTA Women's Basketball, log on to UTAMavs.com or stay connected to the Lady Mavs on social media. Follow the Lady Mavericks on Twitter @UTAMavsWBB, on Instagram @UTAMavsWBB, and on Facebook at Facebook.com/UTAMavsWBB.