ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team returns to the College Park Center on Thursday, Jan. 19, looking to pick up a second-straight win when the Mavericks welcome UT Rio Grande Valley for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game 20	UT Arlington (6-13, 1-5 WAC) vs. UT Rio Grande Valley (10-8, 1-4 WAC)
Date | Time	Thursday, Jan. 18 | 7 p.m.
Location	College Park Center (7,000)
Tickets	UTATickets.com
Video	ESPN+
Audio	620 AM | Varsity Network App
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	UT Arlington | UTRGV | WAC

GAMEDAY PROMOS

• Apartment & Resident Hall Night
  • First 200 students get a $4 concession voucher.
    • $2 student-friendly concessions (beverages & food) are available at all games.
  • Chance to win a 50-inch TV, Beats Pill & more.
     
• National Anthem Performance
  • Spring Garden Elementary Choir
     
• Halftime Performance
  • Spring Garden Elementary Choir

OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA ranks 4th in the nation in offensive rebounding at 14.3 per game (1st: Marshall, 14.9). Shemar Wilson is leading the charge as the sophomore is 6th nationally with 4 offensive rebounds an outing. He has registered three games of 8+ offensive boards this year – tied for the 2nd most in the country against Division-I opponents with Long Beach State's Lassina Traore (leader: Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe with four).
   
• Wilson – who averages 8.6 rebounds per game – is responsible for all five of UTA's double-doubles this year, which rank as the 2nd most among WAC players (Utah Valley's Aziz Bandaogo: nine).
   
• UTA is coming off an impressive 66-55 win at New Mexico State – picked to finish 2nd in the WAC – on Saturday night as the Mavs started the 2nd half on a 24-4 run to overcome a 33-26 halftime deficit. The Mavs held NM State to season lows in points (55), field goal percentage (31.6) and field goals made (18). The win was UTA's second road victory this season over an NCAA Tournament team from last year along with San Francisco; NM State defeated UConn in the First Round of March Madness.
   
• Prior to the NM State game, UTA's first five WAC games were against teams in the top-6 of the league standings (that quintet is currently a combined 21-6). Starting with NM State, six of UTA's next seven WAC games are against opponents in the bottom half of the conference standings (none are currently above .500).

TWEETABLES

1) Starting point guard Marion Humphrey remains questionable with a knee injury suffered in the 2nd half at Grand Canyon last Thursday. Humphrey leads UTA in steals (1.4), is 2nd in assists (2.9) and averages 6.6 points.
 
2) UTA has just two players averaging double-figure points this season in Wilson (11) and Kyron Gibson (10.1). However, the Mavs have had eight different leading scorers in a game this year – the 3rd most in the nation behind only James Madison and Longwood with nine each.
 
3) UTA's win over NM State was its first this year when trailing at the half (now 1-11).
 
4) The 55 points UTA limited NM State to represented just the second time in the last six seasons that the Mavs have held an opponent to 55 or fewer points on the road (52 at Arkansas State on Jan. 2, 2020).
 
5) Prior to that, the last time the Mavs did it was on Dec. 16, 2016, when they allowed Bradley to score just 51.

ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• UTRGV is coming off an 85-82 non-conference win over Chicago State this past Saturday. The Vaqueros opened WAC play 0-4 – including losses to UTA common opponents in Seattle U and Utah Valley – before picking up their first win at home against Abilene Christian, 103-86, last Wednesday.
   
• The Vaqueros lead the nation in free throw attempts per game (27.4) and are 2nd in free throw makes (19.1). UTRGV's 82.1 points per game rank 16th nationally, and in WAC play it is averaging 76.4 per outing. UTA has only allowed one league member this year to score more than 76 in a game (Grand Canyon, 80), and the Mavs have only allowed three teams all year to surpass 76 in a contest (Oklahoma State, 77; East Carolina, 79).
   
• While UTRGV is among the nation's best at scoring the ball, the Vaqueros allow 79.4 points per game (18th worst in the country).
   
• Senior Justin Johnson was named to the WAC Preseason First Team and is currently leading UTRGV with 20.5 points to go along with 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists. He is the nation's 15th-highest scorer, and also ranks 3rd nationally with 149 free throw attempts.

WAC STANDINGS

Click Here To View The Updated WAC Standings
 
The top-12 teams based off WAC record advance to the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas (as of today, New Mexico State would not qualify). Once those 12 participants are decided, a résumé-seeding system will be used to determine how teams are seeded at the WAC Tournament (denoted by WAC Points in this link; higher point total = a better seed).
 
For example, right now even though Stephen F. Austin is 5-1 in the WAC and tied for 2nd, the Lumberjacks have only accumulated 0.94 points and would be the #6 seed in the WAC Tournament if it started today; Utah Valley (3.19) would be the #1 seed.
 
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 rewarding the best teams throughout the entire season, the résumé-seeding system was introduced.
 
It is an algorithm that rates performances against all Division-I teams faced in the regular season, not just conference play. Teams receive more credit for scheduling, and beating, stronger opponents than weaker ones. This should help the WAC have higher NET rankings, a key-criteria used by the NCAA Selection Committee.

BACK TO THE WAC

After spending the previous nine seasons (2013-22) as a Sun Belt Conference member, UTA officially re-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.
 
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). So far this year, the WAC ranks as the 12th-best league in the country, while the Sun Belt is 15th.

BY THE NUMBERS

4: The Mavs posted four top-10 single-game program records in their 99-41 win over Howard Payne on Nov. 28: rebound margin (T-1, +36), points allowed (T-5, 41), blocks (T-5, 9) and margin of victory (T-7, +58).
 
4: The Mavs made just four 3-pointers in their win at San Francisco on Dec. 19, representing their fewest in a road non-conference victory since knocking down three at Grand Canyon during a 66-64 triumph in November of 2014.
 
6: UTA is just six wins shy of 800 all-time victories in program history (794-996). The Mavs are in their 64th season, with UTA's inaugural campaign taking place in 1959-60.
 
7: UTA has already had seven different occasions of a player grabbing 7+ offensive rebounds in a game this year: Wilson versus Hardin-Simmons (7), Nevada (7), Howard Payne (7), North Texas (8), Stephen F. Austin (8) and Utah Valley (8); Dario Domingos against Northern Kentucky (7).
 
8: Against UNT on Dec. 6, Wilson grabbed eight rebounds, and all of them were offensive. Over the last 6+ seasons – since the start of the 2016-17 campaign – he is now one of only seven players nationally to secure at least eight offensive rebounds and zero defensive boards in a game.
 
16: UTA's wire-to-wire 68-63 win at San Francisco on Dec. 19 ended the Dons' 16-game home non-conference winning streak and was the Mavs' first NET Quad 2 or better non-conference win since an 89-75 victory at BYU (Quad 1) in November of 2017. Two days later, USF defeated then-#25 Arizona State, 97-60.
 
17: In its 60-56 win over Northern Kentucky on Nov. 22, UTA committed 17 turnovers – at the time its most in a victory over a D-I opponent since the Mavs had 18 in a 75-70 overtime triumph at Cal Poly on Dec. 21, 2018. NKU was installed as the Horizon League preseason favorite, and the Norse had defeated Cincinnati – picked to finish 3rd in the American Athletic Conference – two games prior by 13 points.
 
18: UTA committed 18 turnovers against San Francisco – its most in a road non-conference regulation victory since giving the ball away 19 times in a 77-61 win at North Texas in December of 2016.
 
19: The Mavs recorded 19 steals against Southwestern on Nov. 12, which tied for the 3rd most in single-game program lore (22 versus University of Dallas in 1990 and 21 against Huston-Tillotson in 1991). Marion Humphrey was responsible for six of those thefts, equaling the 10th-highest total by a UTA player in a single game.
 
27: UTA is the least experienced team in the WAC and 27th nationally (337th of 363) this year based off prior D-I playing experience with an average of just 0.91 years per player (KenPom).
 
44: UTA went just 8-18 (44.4 percent) from the free throw line on Jan. 5 against Utah Valley, marking its worst performance from the charity stripe when attempting at least 18 free throws since going 9-23 (39.1 percent) in a 62-61 win versus Georgia Southern on Dec. 30, 2014. UTA, unfortunately, repeated that exact same performance (8-18, 44.4 percent) on Jan. 12 at Grand Canyon.
 
48: UTA went 30-48 from the free-throw line versus Southwestern on Nov. 12, with the 48 attempts tying for the 5th most in program history.
 
49: The Mavs shot 49 percent (25-51) from the floor in a 71-65 loss to Texas State on Dec. 10 – only the fourth time in the last 8+ seasons (since 2014-15) that UTA has shot at least that percentage and lost:

• Nov. 21, 2017: 51.7% @ Alabama (77-76)
• Jan. 4, 2020: 50% @ Little Rock (92-89)
• Feb. 10, 2022: 50% @ ULM (74-71)

100: The Mavs scored 100+ points in back-to-back games for the 10th time in program history with 103 on Nov. 12 against Southwestern and 100 versus Hardin-Simmons on Nov. 15. Five of the all-time occurrences came between 1990-92, and the last time UTA did it was in 2020 on Dec. 17 and 22 against Dallas Christian (109) and Howard Payne (117).

AMONG THE NATION'S BEST PERFORMANCES

UTA has numerous single-game performances which register among the best of any team in the country so far this year:

• 7th – Free Throws Attempted: 48 vs. Southwestern
  • Leader – Tennessee State: 54 vs. Brescia
     
• T-8th – Rebounds: 63 vs. Howard Payne
  • Leader – Sam Houston: 70 vs. LeTourneau
     
• T-13th – Steals: 19 vs. Southwestern
  • Leaders – Four Teams: 24

UTA's 63 rebounds on Nov. 28 against Howard Payne represented the most in any game for the Mavs since at least the 2009-10 season. In that same timeframe, the 83 field goal attempts against Hardin-Simmons were the 2nd most in any UTA game, bested only by 87 versus Howard Payne in 2020.

INSIDE THE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS

Two years ago, UTA tied for the national lead by having 13 different players score double-figure points in a game. Last season, the Mavs had 12 different double-figure scorers – tied for the 3rd most in the nation. So far this year, UTA already has 10 different double-figure scorers.
 
Below is a list of those double-figure players, their respective season highs and how many times they have led UTA in scoring:
 
Chendall Weaver: 20 (3x)
Kyron Gibson: 19 (7x – Includes 2 Ties)
Taj Anderson: 19 (1x)
Shemar Wilson: 18 (5x – Includes 1 Tie)
Aaron Cash: 18 (1x – Tied)
Marion Humphrey: 17 (3x – Includes 1 Tie)
Brandon Walker: 17 (1x – Tied)
Brandyn Talbot: 15 (1x)
Dario Domingos: 12
Pedro Castro: 11

CHALLENGING THEMSELVES

UTA is one of only three schools in the nation to have finished with a top-40 NET non-conference strength of schedule in each of the past three seasons, joining Central Arkansas and Texas Southern.
 
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 had 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)

Additionally, KenPom currently lists UTA with the 43rd-ranked non-conference strength of schedule in the nation this season.

NEXT UP

UTA will make a day trip to Abilene to face Abilene Christian on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 6 p.m. That will represent the only road tilt for the Mavs in a five-game stretch as UTA will return to the CPC for its next three games after that, beginning on Feb. 1 against California Baptist.
 
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).