MONROE, La. – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (9-13, 5-6 SBC) begins an important road trip on Thursday at ULM (12-12, 4-8 SBC) at 6:30 p.m. looking to avenge an overtime loss in Arlington last month.
 

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

 
THE OPENING TIP(s)

• David Azore continues his Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year campaign as he leads the conference in both overall scoring (19.2) and league scoring (25.2); he is the only player even averaging 20 per game. Azore is coming off a 36-point outing on Saturday versus App State – his fourth 30-point performance in just nine Sun Belt games this season; the rest of the league combined has one such outing, and that was courtesy of ULM's Andre Jones with exactly 30 at Little Rock last Saturday.
   
• Azore has tied a single-season program record with two 35+ point games this year (career-high 37 at Georgia Southern last month). 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.
   
• UTA opened Sun Belt play 4-1, but has lost five of its last six – a streak which started with an overtime setback at home to ULM last month, 62-55, in a game Azore missed due to COVID protocols. All six of UTA's Sun Belt losses have been by single digits, by an average of 4.8 points and three have come in overtime.
   

TWEETABLES
1) UTA ranks 2nd in Sun Belt games by averaging 71.1 points per game (South Alabama 1st at 71.2), while ULM averages the 2nd-fewest points in league games (64.8).
 
2) The Mavs have the 3rd-best rebounding margin in conference games (+3), and ULM has the 3rd-worst margin (-4.2). In the matchup last month, ULM out-rebounded UTA, 45-44.
 
3) Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu needs one block to tie or two to move into sole possession of 4th place on the program's career blocked shot list, surpassing Trey Parker (113 blocks in 83 games). Akobundu-Ehiogu has 112 blocks in only 40 games with UTA.
 
4) UTA held App State to its 2nd-fewest points in any half (20) this season in the 1st half of Saturday's loss before allowing the Mountaineers to score 50 points in the 2nd half – the most the Mavs have surrendered in any half this year.
 
5) UTA ranks 2nd in Sun Belt games in rebounding (38.6) and also assists (14.8). Individually, Azore ranks 13th nationally in free throws made (112), Akobundu-Ehiogu is 26th in total blocks (52) and Javon Levi is also 26th with 113 assists.
 
ABOUT ULM

• ULM snapped a four-game losing streak with a road sweep of Arkansas State and Little Rock last weekend. Andre Jones led that charge by averaging 25.5 points, 4 rebounds and 3.5 assists over the two games en route to being named Sun Belt Player of the Week on Tuesday.
   
• Jones leads a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Warhawks at 14.5 per outing, joining Russell Harrison (13.1), Koreem Ozier (11.2) and Nika Metskhvarishvili (10.5). Jones and Ozier both did not play against UTA earlier this season due to COVID protocols.

 
UTA IN THE SUN BELT RANKS
David Azore
Points Per Game: 25.2 (1st)
Free Throw Percentage: 83.1 (4th)
Field Goal Percentage: 46.0 (7th)
 
Javon Levi
Assists Per Game: 5.6 (3rd)
Assist-To-Turnover Ratio: 2.7 (3rd)
Steals Per Game: 1.8 (5th)
 
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu
Blocks Per Game: 1.8 (2nd)
 
Carson Bischoff
3-Pointers Made Per Game: 2.2 (5th)
 
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
Azore tied for the 10th-most points in single-game program history on Jan. 22 at Little Rock with a career-high 37. Azore 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 at Little Rock, 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.
 
NOTEWORTHY

• The Mavs have already set a single-season program record by having five games go to overtime (1-4), including four conference contests (1-3) – also the most in a single year in program history.
   
• Rojas recorded the first double-double of his career at Little Rock on Jan. 22 with a career-high 12 points and career-best 13 rebounds. He followed it up with another 12-point outing next time out versus Texas State on Jan. 27.
   
• Levi recorded just the third triple-double in program history with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in an 83-73 win over Louisiana on Jan. 13. Erick Neil had the only other two for UTA on Nov. 27, 2017, versus UT Dallas (10p, 10r, 13a), and on Jan. 28, 2016, at ULM (27p, 10r, 12a).
   
• Against Louisiana, UTA registered season highs versus a Division-I opponent in field goal percentage (55.7), assists (22) and points in regulation (83). The Ragin' Cajuns entered the game ranked 2nd in league games by holding opponents to just 65.3 points per contest and 1st in field goal percentage defense (35.3).

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 (15th-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.
 
AZORE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Azore earned UTA's first Sun Belt Player of the Week honor in nearly two years on Jan. 4 after averaging 27 points, seven rebounds, shooting 54 percent from the floor and 93 percent from the free throw line.
 
He was the first Mav 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
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 nine 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 done it in just 39 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.
 
11: UTA has already used 11 different starting lineups in 22 games – tied for the 8th-most combinations of any team in the nation (15: Memphis, Alabama State; 13: Little Rock, Stony Brook, Eastern Illinois; 12: UTEP, 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 assists (4th, 712), steals (4th, 281) and assist-to-turnover ratio (9th, 2.53). Additionally, Levi ranks 6th in career steals per game at 2.2.
 
MOVING ON UP
Azore is 4th on UTA's all-time program list for made free throws with 379, and currently ranks 8th in free throw percentage at .800.
 
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 (13x)
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 #140 – 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 will conclude its road swing through Louisiana on Saturday when the Mavs take on the Ragin' Cajuns at 2 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).