STILLWATER, Okla. – The UT Arlington men's basketball team will begin its 2022-23 campaign on Monday when the Mavericks face a familiar season-opening foe in Oklahoma State.
SEASON-OPENING INFO
This will be the third year in a row that UT Arlington and Oklahoma State open their respective seasons against one another. The Cowboys claimed a narrow 75-68 win in Arlington in 2020 before picking up an 88-45 triumph in Stillwater last year.
It will mark just the second occurrence in UTA history of the Mavs beginning a season at least three-consecutive years against the same team. The only other stretch was a five-year run against TCU from 1979-83. This is the final contracted game as part of the 1-for-2 home-and-home series between UTA and OSU.
UTA will be looking to avoid a third-straight season-opening loss – something that hasn't occurred since the Mavs dropped five in a row from 2001-05. After that stretch, UTA went 13-1 in year-beginning games before this recent pair of setbacks to OSU.
WHAT'S LOST/BACK
UTA returns just four players from last year's roster (games started):
Pedro Castro (9),
Montez Young Jr. (5),
Shemar Wilson (4) and
Brandyn Talbot (3). Castro started the first nine games of the year before suffering a season-ending back injury which required surgery.
The Mavs welcome 10 newcomers to this year's roster, with all four academic classifications represented: freshman (4), sophomore (2), junior (3), senior (1).
With such a large roster turnover, UTA brings back 25 percent or less of its points, rebounds, assists and blocks from last season:
- Points: 19% (367 of 1,948)
- Rebounds: 25% (263 of 1,067)
- Assists: 15% (60 of 405)
- Blocks: 16% (21 of 123)
Newcomers & 2021-22 Notes
- #00 R-Sr. Aaron Cash
Helped Texas A&M to the NIT Final; 11 rebounds vs. Kentucky (Jan. 19).
- #1 Fr. Chendall Weaver
Led Mansfield Timberview High School to the 5A State Final; All-State & unanimous District 8-5A MVP.
- #2 Fr. Brandon Walker
Consensus top-35 recruit in Texas; two-time 4A All-State selection and won the 4A State Championship.
- #3 Jr. Taj Anderson
JUCO All-American Honorable Mention; Region XI First Team.
- #4 Jr. Kyron Gibson
JUCO All-American Second Team; Region XIV First Team.
- #10 R-So. Shaysten Cornish
Walk-on who enrolled at UTA in the spring; transferred from Tarrant CC and Dallas College – Mountain View.
- #12 Fr. Damonze Woods
District 3-5A First Team; Region 1-5A First Team and lost in the state semifinals to Weaver's team.
- #14 R-Fr. Cash Clayton
Walk-on who transfered from Texas Tech; all-district high school selection.
- #23 So. Dario Domingos
All-conference JUCO Honorable Mention.
- #55 R-Jr. Marion Humphrey
Led Salt Lake Community College to the JUCO National Final and a 35-2 record.
OKLAHOMA STATE INFO
- Oklahoma State was tabbed for a 5th-place finish in the 2022-23 Big 12 Preseason Poll, tying with Texas Tech.
- The Cowboys went 15-15 last year and 8-10 in Big 12 play. Despite dealing with a one-year postseason ban by the NCAA, OSU defeated three top-15 ranked opponents in 2021-22, highlighted by a 61-54 win at #1 Baylor on Jan. 15.
- Moussa Cisse is one of 20 players on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Preseason Watch List, which annually recognizes the top center in the nation. A junior, Cisse was named the Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year last season. He averaged 1.9 blocks, 6.5 rebounds and 7.2 points per game in 2021-22.
- Avery Anderson III was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team after averaging 11.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in conference games a season ago. Cisse also earned a spot on the league's preseason list as an Honorable Mention.
CHALLENGING THEMSELVES
UTA is one of only three schools in the nation which have finished with a top-40 NET non-conference strength of schedule in each of the past three seasons:
UTA
2019-20: 3rd
2020-21: 37th
2021-22: 13th
Central Arkansas
2019-20: 6th
2020-21: 9th
2021-22: 27th
Texas Southern
2019-20: 2nd
2020-21: 25th
2021-22: 16th
Yet again this year, the Mavs are poised to finish with likely one of the country's most-challenging non-league schedules. Based off last year's final NET rankings, UTA has the 4th-hardest non-conference slate in the nation (average NET opponent ranking):
1) Nicholls (47)
2) Saint Mary's (72)
3) Seton Hall (83)
4) UT Arlington (88)
5) Alabama (92)
PRESEASON INFO
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.
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, UTA boasts the 3rd-best average annual NET/RPI ranking of all current WAC members at #146. New Mexico State (#83) leads the pack, followed by Grand Canyon (#138). With a final ranking of #40 in 2016-17, UTA is responsible for the best single-year NET/RPI by any current WAC school over the past seven seasons. Additionally – in that same timeframe – UTA, NMSU and Sam Houston are the only WAC institutions without a single season NET/RPI above #250.
UTA was picked by the WAC coaches to finish in 11th place in the league this year. The last time the Mavs were tabbed for an 11th-place finish in the preseason polls came in advance of the 2018-19 season when UTA faced similar roster turnover.
Instead of finishing 2nd-to-last that year, UTA tied for 2nd in the Sun Belt with a 12-6 league record, earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament Final.
The nine-spot improvement from preseason to final regular-season finish in 2018-19 was tied for the best in the nation along with Siena, which was picked 11th in the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) and finished in a four-way tie for 2nd.
NEUTRAL-SITE ACTION
UTA is scheduled to play four regular-season neutral-site games this year, three of which will take place as part of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla., just a few miles south of where Hurricane Ian made landfall outside Fort Myers. The other will be another edition of the UTA-Texas State rivalry as the former Sun Belt foes will square off for the 79th time at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
The four neutral-site contests will be tied for the most UTA has ever played in a regular season:
2005-06
BCA Classic – Seattle, Wash. (3 Games)
Lobo Invitational – Albuquerque, N.M. (1 Game)
1993-94
River City Classic – Cape Giradeau, Mo. (1 Game)
Big Island Invite – Hilo, Hawaii (3 Games)
1986-87
Running Joe Classic – Jonesboro, Ark. (1 Game)
Holiday Classic – Edinburg, Texas (2 Games)
Heritage Classic – Des Moines, Iowa (1 Game)
TOP-10 SINGLE-SEASON RECORDS
UTA posted top-10 finishes in single-season program history last year in four categories:
Opponent Points Per Game: T-5th (68.7)
- The third time in the last four years that the Mavs have registered a top-10 defense.
- 2018-19: 9th (69.8)
- 2019-20: 4th (68.4)
Opponent Field Goal Percentage: 7th (.413)
- The fourth-straight year that UTA has secured a top-10 showing.
- 2018-19: T-8th (.423)
- 2019-20: T-5th (.412)
- 2020-21: T-8th (.423)
UTA Fewest Turnovers: 5th (406)
- In terms of per-game average, the Mavs only turned the ball over 14 times a contest, ranking as the 7th best in single-season program history. The top-2 averages have occurred in the previous two years:
- 2019-20: 11.2
- 2020-21: 12
UTA Total Blocks: T-3rd (123 – 29 Games)
- 2017-18: 1st (143 – 34 Games)
- 2020-21: 2nd (124 – 26 Games)
- 2011-12: T-3rd (123 – 33 Games)
- 2013-14: 5th (120 – 32 Games)
BY THE NUMBERS
6: UTA set a single-season program record by having six games go to overtime in 2021-22 – just two shy of tying the all-time NCAA record.
9: After starting Sun Belt play 4-1 last year, the Mavs finished 7-10. Every single one of those losses came by 10 points or less, and only by an average margin of 5.6 points. Nine of those setbacks in league play were by single digits, representing the most in a single season in program history.
12: UTA enters this year just 12 wins shy of 800 all-time victories in program history. The Mavs are entering their 64th season, with UTA's inaugural campaign taking place in 1959-60.
94: During its nine years in the Sun Belt, UTA accumulated 94 conference wins. Only Georgia State (107) and Louisiana (98) had more league victories in that timeframe than the Mavs.
BACK TO THE WAC
In its lone previous campaign in the WAC in 2012-13, UTA went 11-7 in the league to tie for 4th in the regular-season standings before reaching the WAC Tournament Final and falling to New Mexico State, 64-55, in the championship game.
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
Last year, the WAC ranked as the 15th-best men's basketball conference in the country (out of 32) – two spots ahead of the Sun Belt (17th).
In men's basketball, the WAC has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Tournament in 28 of the past 46 seasons. 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.
NEXT UP
UTA will host its home opener on Homecoming Week when the Mavs welcome Southwestern to the College Park Center on Saturday, Nov. 12, for a 7:30 p.m. start. That contest will conclude a tripleheader at the CPC which begins with volleyball at 11 a.m. versus Stephen F. Austin and follows with women's basketball taking on D-I newcomer Texas A&M-Commerce at 3:30 p.m.
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).
