TROY, Ala. – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (11-15, 7-8 SBC) wraps up its regular season with a pair of road contests this week, commencing with a 6 p.m. tipoff at Troy (18-9, 9-5 SBC) on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
 

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Game Notes: UT Arlington  ///  Troy  ///  Sun Belt

 
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA enters the final week of the regular season with still a plethora of seeding implications on the line for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Mar. 3-7. The Mavericks could still finish anywhere from 4th to 9th. A pair of wins and losses by Georgia State, South Alabama and Arkansas State would give the Mavs a top-4 seed and bye into the quarterfinals on Mar. 5.
   
• All eight of UTA's Sun Belt losses this year have come by single digits – the most in any conference season in program history (previous: seven in 1982-83, 2009-10 and 2010-11 when UTA was in the Southland Conference). UTA's average loss in conference play this year is just five points per game. UTA and preseason favorite Georgia State (five losses) are the only Sun Belt teams without a double-figure loss in league play this year; every other team except Louisiana and South Alabama has at least two double-figure SBC losses.
   
• David Azore – a two-time conference Player of the Week this season – continues his Sun Belt Player of the Year campaign as he leads the league in both overall scoring (19.5) and league scoring (24) – nearly five points better than anyone else. The 19.5 average ranks 29th nationally. He has four 30-point games in conference play; the rest of the league combined has just two such outings.
   

TWEETABLES
1) UTA tied for its fewest points ever in a Sun Belt game on Saturday in a 58-49 loss to Arkansas State (77-49 versus Georgia State on Feb. 27, 2014). The Mavs entered the game leading the conference in scoring at over 72 per contest.
 
2) The 58 points UTA held A-State to were tied for its fewest allowed in a loss this season (58-53 at Texas State on Jan. 29).
 
3) Additionally, the Mavs limited the Red Wolves to just 2-20 (10 percent) from 3-point range – representing season-best defensive performances in both fewest makes allowed and percentage.
 
4) UTA ranks 2nd in Sun Belt games in scoring (71.1), assists (15.0), steals (7.5) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2) and 3rd in rebounding (37.3).
 
5) Azore ranks 13th nationally in free throws made (136), Javon Levi is 26th in assists per game (5.2) and Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu is 30th in blocks per game (2.3).
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• UTA won the first meeting with Troy, 62-57, in Arlington on New Year's Day, erasing a five-point deficit with just over two minutes remaining after leading for nearly 30 minutes.
   
• Both Troy and UTA rank in the top 4 in the Sun Belt in rebound margin in conference action (Troy: 2nd at +4.1; UTA 4th at +2.3). In the first game, Troy finished with a 53-32 rebounding edge – the largest negative rebounding differential (-21) in any UTA win in at least 10 years.
   
• Troy head coach Scott Cross played at UTA from 1995-98, was an assistant with the Mavs from 1998-2006 and then the head coach from 2006-18. Current UTA head coach Greg Young was on staff with Cross for nine seasons: 2009-13 as an assistant coach and 2013-18 as an associate head coach.
   
• Troy's bench accounts for 46 percent of its total minutes this year, which ranks as the highest percentage of any team in the nation per KenPom.

• Efe Odigie leads the Trojans at 11.5 points per game as Troy receives scoring contributions from up and down its lineup. Zay Williams paces the Trojans with seven rebounds per outing, while Odigie is 2nd at 6.2.

UTA IN THE SUN BELT RANKS
David Azore
Points Per Game: 24.0 (1st)
Free Throw Percentage: 83.8 (4th)
Field Goal Percentage: 44.3 (6th)
 
Javon Levi
Assists Per Game: 5.7 (1st)
Assist-To-Turnover Ratio: 2.8 (2nd)
Steals Per Game: 1.9 (1st)
 
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu
Blocks Per Game: 1.9 (2nd)
 
Carson Bischoff
3-Pointers Made Per Game: 1.9 (8th)
 
EXTRA TIME
UTA has already played a program-record six overtime games this season, and five have come in conference action – also a single-season program record. 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 D-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.
 
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
Against Little Rock on Jan. 22, 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 3rd-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 9th-most in the country this season.
 
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 nearly 23 percent of the Sun Belt's 22 combined Quad 1 games. In fact, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Troy, South Alabama and Coastal Carolina have combined for just three Quad 1 games – two 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).
 
5: Akobundu-Ehiogu recorded his eighth-career game of 5+ blocks against Little Rock on Feb. 17; no other player in program history has more than three such games, and Akobundu-Ehiogu has played just 43 contests with UTA.
 
6: Six of UTA's 11 wins this year have come when scoring in the 50s, 60s, 70, 80s, 90s or 100s.
 
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 26 games – tied for the 8th-most combinations of any team in the nation (18: Alabama State; 17: Coppin State; 16: Memphis; 15: Little Rock; 14: Eastern Illinois, Stony Brook; 13: UTRGV).
 
40 – Percentage of UTA's total minutes this season which have been played by its bench (non-starters), the 25th-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 steals (3rd, 290), assists (4th, 735) and assist-to-turnover ratio (9th, 2.55). Additionally, Levi ranks 7th in career steals per game at 2.2.
 
MOVING ON UP
Azore is 3rd on UTA's all-time program list for made free throws with 403, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at .803.
 
Akobundu is 4th on UTA's all-time program list for blocked shots with 120 in 44 games.
 
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 (17x – Includes One Tie)
Carson Bischoff: 27
Patrick Mwamba: 22 (4x – Includes One Tie)
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 #126 – 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 wraps up the regular season on Friday, Feb. 25, at South Alabama with a 7 p.m. tip.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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