ARLINGTON – Coming off a road overtime win, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (10-14, 6-7 SBC) looks to carry that momentum into the final homestand of the season when it welcomes Little Rock (8-14, 3-7 SBC) to the College Park Center for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday.

BLACKOUT
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Game Notes: UT Arlington  ///  Little Rock  ///  Sun Belt  ///  Gameday Program

 
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• David Azore – who was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season on Tuesday – continues his Sun Belt Player of the Year campaign as he leads the conference in both overall scoring (19.9) and league scoring (25.5) – six points better than anyone else. He has four 30-point games in conference play; the rest of the league combined has just two such outings. Azore is responsible for the top-three scoring contests in Sun Belt action of 37, 36 and 33 points.
   
• UTA is coming off an 80-77 overtime win at Louisiana, marking its sixth OT contest of the season and fifth in league play – both already representing the most in single-season program history. In the previous five seasons (2016-21), UTA played just six total overtime contests. Additionally, UTA is closing in on the all-time single-season NCAA Division-I record for overtime games of eight (including the postseason) set by Western Kentucky in 1977-78, Portland in 1983-84 and Valparaiso in 1992-93.
   
• The Mavericks secure the 2nd-most rebounds in Sun Belt play at 37.7 per contest, while Little Rock grabs the fewest at 28.4. In the meeting last month, UTA finished +10 on the glass (45-35), but allowed the Trojans to make 16 3-pointers – one shy of Little Rock's single-game program record and tied for the 2nd-most UTA has ever allowed in a Sun Belt game. For the season, Little Rock averages 6.8 made 3s per game.
   

TWEETABLES
1) While UTA ranks 2nd in SBC games in rebounding, its leading rebounder in league outings is 5-11 point guard Javon Levi at 6 per contest to rank 14th in the conference.
 
2) UTA's six Sun Belt wins have come by an average of 6.5 points; its seven Sun Belt losses have been by an average of 4.5 points.
 
3) UTA leads the Sun Belt in scoring at 71.8 per game in league play and ranks 2nd with 14.9 assists.
 
4) Azore is responsible for 30 percent of UTA's points in Sun Belt games, and he missed two games due to COVID protocols.
 
5) Azore ranks 12th nationally in free throws made (127), Javon Levi is 30th in assists per game (5.1) and Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu is 34th in blocks per game (2.3).
 
ABOUT LITTLE ROCK

• Little Rock won the first matchup of the year back on Jan. 22 in triple overtime, 98-96 – just the fifth contest of at least three extra sessions in UTA history. The Mavs erased a 16-point deficit with less than nine minutes remaining and a 12-point deficit with under five minutes left to force extra time.
   
• The Trojans notched their first true road win of the season last Saturday with an impressive 66-62 win at Troy, which entered the game in 2nd place in the Sun Belt. That victory snapped a 14-game road losing streak for the Trojans dating back to a 66-59 win at UTA on Jan. 22, 2021.
   
• Little Rock has been decimated by injuries and COVID implications this year as 11 different players during the season have combined to miss 115 games.
   
• One of those players is leading scorer Nikola Maric, who averages 14.6 points in 11 games this year but has missed 11 contests, including six of the last eight. Isaiah Palermo has appeared in 21 of 22 games and averages 12.6 points to go along with 4.7 rebounds – the best on the team aside from Maric's 6.4 average.
   
• Both Little Rock and UTA are in their final seasons as a Sun Belt Conference member. After 31 years, Little Rock will join the Ohio Valley Conference, and after nine seasons UTA will join the Western Athletic Conference. Both moves are effective July 1, 2022.

 
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
In the first meeting last month, Azore tied for the 10th-most points in single-game program history with a career-high 37. He made 17 free throws in that game – tied for the 2nd-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.
 
In that same game against the Trojans, Carson Bischoff tied a single-game program record with nine made 3-pointers, reaching double-figure points for the first time in his UTA career with 27. 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.
 
UTA IN THE SUN BELT RANKS
David Azore
Points Per Game: 25.5 (1st)
Free Throw Percentage: 84.0 (3rd)
Field Goal Percentage: 46.7 (6th)
 
Javon Levi
Assists Per Game: 5.5 (2nd)
Assist-To-Turnover Ratio: 2.7 (3rd)
Steals Per Game: 1.7 (5th)
 
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu
Blocks Per Game: 1.7 (2nd)
 
Carson Bischoff
3-Pointers Made Per Game: 1.8 (9th)
 
NOTEWORTHY

• Azore has tied a single-season program record with two 35+ point games this year (career-high 37 at Georgia Southern; 36 versus App State). His four 30-point contests are tied for the 5th-most in single-season program history behind Eddie Stallings (5) in 1967-68 and 1968-69, Sam Norton (6) in 1983-84 and Marquez Haynes (7) in 2009-10.
   
• Levi recorded just the third triple-double in program history with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Louisiana on Jan. 13. Erick Neil had UTA's only other two triple-doubles before Levi's performance: Nov. 27, 2017, versus UT Dallas (10p, 10r, 13a), and Jan. 28, 2016, at ULM (27p, 10r, 12a).

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 (13th-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 22 percent of the Sun Belt's 23 combined Quad 1 games. In fact, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Troy and Coastal Carolina have combined for just two Quad 1 games – three fewer than UTA on its own.
 
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 10 wins this year have come when scoring in the 50s, 60s, 70, 80s, 90s or 100s.
 
7: 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 played just 42 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 Bischoff at Georgia State and Georgia Southern and without Azore and Rojas versus Louisiana and ULM.
 
12: UTA has already used 12 different starting lineups in 24 games – tied for the 8th-most combinations of any team in the nation (16: Memphis, Alabama State, Coppin State; 14: Little Rock, Eastern Illinois; 13: Stony Brook, UTRGV).
 
40 – Percentage of UTA's total minutes this season which have been played by its bench (non-starters), the 26th-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 10 among all active D-I players in the country in career assists (4th, 722), steals (4th, 283) and assist-to-turnover ratio (9th, 2.53). Additionally, Levi ranks 6th in career steals per game at 2.18.
 
MOVING ON UP
Azore is 4th on UTA's all-time program list for made free throws with 394, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at .802.
 
Akobundu is 4th on UTA's all-time program list for blocked shots with 114 in 42 games. The all-time record is 168.
 
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 – tied for 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 (15x)
Carson Bischoff: 27
Patrick Mwamba: 22 (3x)
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, 2x
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 #135 – 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's final home game of the season will take place on Saturday when the Mavs welcome Arkansas State for a 2 p.m. tipoff on Grad Day as UTA will honor those players who are scheduled to graduate – not necessarily complete their eligibility – before the game.
 
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).