ARLINGTON – Coming off a thrilling season-opening victory over Oral Roberts on Monday, the UT Arlington men's basketball team welcomes UT Tyler to the College Park Center on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 5 p.m. for a Homecoming affair.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game 2	UT Arlington vs. UT Tyler
Date | Time	Saturday, Nov. 11 | 5 PM (Doors: 4 PM)
Location	College Park Center (7,000)
Presented By	Downtown Arlington Management Corporation
Tickets	UTATickets.com
Video	ESPN+
Audio	620 AM & 102.5 FM | Varsity Network App
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	UT Arlington | UT Tyler Preview
Game Program	Digital
NCAA Rule Changes	View 2023-24 Rule Updates

For parking, tickets, entry and more info related to the 2023-24 gameday experience, visit the Know Before You Go page.
  
GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS

• Homecoming Parking
  • As a result of Homecoming festivities taking place adjacent to the College Park Center, Spaniolo Dr. will be closed; click here to view the parking map showing the closures. To view all Homecoming events, visit the official website by clicking here.
• Military Rally Towels
  • In honor of Veterans Day, all seats in the lower bowl of the College Park Center will have red, white or blue rally towels organized to depict the Flag of the United States.
• Schedule Posters
  • A limited amount of 2023-24 men's basketball schedule posters will be available for pickup from the marketing tables inside each entrance.

OPENING TIP(s)

• In his head-coaching debut, KT Turner earned his first win on Monday as UTA overcame an 11-point 2nd-half deficit to claim a 75-71 win over an Oral Roberts team which won 30 games and played in the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
   
• UTA's 75 points were its most in a season opener against a Division-I opponent since notching 85 against Loyola Marymount in 2017. Last year, UTA didn't reach 75 points in any game versus a D-I foe until Jan. 19, and only had four occurrences all year – three of which came in the last six contests.
   
• The Mavericks had three players secure double-figure rebounds versus ORU: Shemar Wilson (14), DaJuan Gordon (14) and Dwayne Koroma (11). That marked just the second time since 1990 that UTA had three players with 10+ boards in a game (2016 vs. Arkansas State). There have only been two games in program history – both against non-DI opponents – in which four UTA players grabbed double-figure rebounds.
   
• In total, UTA pulled down 22 offensive rebounds as part of a commanding 55-34 rebounding edge over the Golden Eagles. The 22 o-boards were the most against a D-I foe since matching that total at Texas on Dec. 1, 2015; the last time a UTA team had more offensive boards was Feb. 26, 2011, with 23 versus Northwestern State.
   
• The resilient effort on the glass helped UTA overcome just 34.8% shooting from the floor, which was its worst in a win since 33.3% at Bradley on Dec. 16, 2016. Since 2010, there have now only been four games that UTA has won when shooting below 35%. Additionally, Monday was the only game in the last 13 years that the Mavs won, scored at least 70 points and shot less than 35%.

TWEETABLES

1. Monday's win gave the Mavs 800 all-time D-I victories. UTA's inaugural NCAA campaign took place in 1959-60.
2. Grad transfer DaJuan Gordon eclipsed 500 career rebounds (507) on Monday as part of his 24-point, 14-rebound double-double.
3. Brandyn Talbot has made 17-straight free throws dating back to Nov. 12 of last season when he missed late in the 2nd half against Southwestern.
4. UTA will be looking to start a season 2-0 for the first time since 2019-20.
5. UT Tyler assistant coach McKade Marquis played for UTA from 2018-21, appearing in 23 career games.

ABOUT UT TYLER

• The game will serve as an exhibition contest for D-II UT Tyler, but all stats and the result for UTA will be official.
• This will be the second game in as many days for UT Tyler as the Patriots began their season with a 59-57 loss to Western Colorado on Friday afternoon on the campus of West Texas A&M in Canyon – just south of Amarillo.
• UT Tyler has been nationally ranked in each of the past two seasons, but last year the Patriots finished 9-17 after getting off to a 6-0 start.
• The Patriots return just three players from the 2022-23 roster, and only one of those three saw game action.
• UT Tyler was picked to finish 15th in the 16-team Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll.
• Head coach Tim Moser is in his first season at the helm of UT Tyler after serving as the associate head coach for the Patriots' women's team the last two years.

NEW HEAD COACH KT TURNER
Bringing nearly 20 years of collegiate coaching experience ranging from Texas junior colleges to most recently the University of Kentucky, former UTA student-athlete KT Turner was named the 10th full-time head coach in program history on Mar. 17, 2023.
 
Turner, 45, was previously an assistant coach with Kentucky – hired by John Calipari to keep the Wildcats' Texas recruiting flowing – and that came on the heels of one season each as an associate head coach at Oklahoma (2021-22) and Texas (2020-21).
 
Prior to his time in Austin, Turner – whose first name is Kenneth – spent seven years on the SMU sidelines from 2013-20, the last four of which were in an associate head coaching role. In 2012-13, Turner was an assistant coach for Wichita State, helping the Shockers post a 30-9 record and reach the Final Four – the first for the program since 1965.
 
After playing his freshman and sophomore seasons (1997-99) at Hutchinson Community College, Turner transferred to UTA following the 1999 fall semester and was eligible to compete for the Mavs at the conclusion of the 2000 fall semester. However, in advance of the 2000-01 season, Turner dislocated his ankle which forced him to miss the entire year. He eventually transferred to Oklahoma City University for his senior campaign in 2001-02.
 
For more information about Turner, click here to view to his full bio.
 
ROSTER TURNOVER
Turner has turned over UTA's roster with a slew of D-I transfers and newcomers. Including returners Shemar Wilson, Aaron Cash and Brandyn Talbot, UTA has 10 players on this year's roster who have previous D-I playing experience. Those 10 had combined to score 3,196 D-I points entering the season. As a team last year, UTA began the season with only 1,215 D-I points across six players.
 
While the Mavs lost 10 of their 13 scholarship players from last year, the three returners were responsible for 31% of UTA's points and 33% of rebounds, but just 19% of assists and steals.
 
NEW FACES
UTA's 10 newcomers, with brief notes on each:

• #1 Jr. Phillip Russell – 1,019 points the last two years at Southeast Missouri. He will redshirt this season (more info later).
• #2 Fr. Makaih Williams – 3-star recruit who averaged 21.7 points and 6.4 assists last season in a post-grad year at Future College Prep.
• #3 Gr. DaJuan Gordon – 909 career points across stops at Kansas State, Missouri and New Mexico State.
• #4 Gr. Akili Vining – 17.5 points and 5 rebounds per game last year at Texas Wesleyan.
• #11 R-So. Dwayne Koroma – Freshman year at Iona before averaging 9 points and 5 rebounds per game last year at Salt Lake CC.
• #12 So. Freds Pauls Bagatskis – Georgia Tech transfer who averaged 17.3 points per game at the European FIBA U20 Championships this summer.
• #13 Fr. Kade Douglas – 3-star recruit from nearby Lancaster High School who was named District 14-5A MVP last year.
• #23 Jr. Sterling Gaston-Chapman – Transfer from Tulsa who made 18 starts with the Golden Hurricane last year.
• #24 Jr. Darrius Miles – Western Kentucky transfer who hails from Oak Cliff and also spent a semester at Odessa College.
• #30 So. Fabio Basili – Louisville transfer who was named to the 2022-23 All-ACC Academic Team.

A KEY PIECE SITTING OUT
Unfortunately for UTA, the Mavs will not have one of those key new pieces as Phillip Russell will sit this year out as a result of being a two-time D-I transfer. The NCAA has publicly cracked down significantly this year across all sports in denying nearly all two-time D-I transfers immediate eligibility, and UTA's appeal of the decision was denied. Russell will have two years of remaining eligibility with the Mavs, beginning as a redshirt junior in 2024-25.
 
Russell began his career as a walk-on with Saint Louis in 2020-21, playing in eight games off the bench before transferring to Southeast Missouri where spent the past two seasons. In those two years he scored 1,019 points, including an 18.1 per-game average last year in leading SEMO to the NCAA Tournament and its first Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 23 years.
 
He led the OVC in total points (615) and assists (174) in 2022-23, becoming only the third OVC player in the last 25 years to pace the conference in points and assists in the same season. The other two were Murray State's Ja Morant (2018-19) and Cameron Payne (2014-15). Morant was the 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year and is a two-time NBA All-Star, while Payne was the 14th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.
 
Russell tied SEMO's D-I single-game scoring record not once, but twice, with a pair of 37-point outbursts last season en route to being named to the Ohio Valley First Team. He also ranked 11th in the country in free throws made (173) and 26th in total assists (174) last year.
 
ROSTER DEMOGRAPHICS
UTA's 13-player roster is represented by four different countries (United States, Canada, Germany and Latvia) and seven different states (Texas, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, California and Arizona). Freds Pauls Bagatskis is UTA's first-ever player who hails from Latvia, while Dwayne Koroma is the Mavs' first player from Germany.
 
OLDEST D-I PLAYERS
UTA has not one, but two, of the oldest players in D-I men's basketball this season in Aaron Cash (24; turns 25 in December) and Akili Vining (24; turns 25 in April). Cash is the 6th oldest, while Vining is the 17th oldest. UTA, BYU and NJIT are the only schools in the nation with two of the 20 oldest players.

1. Spencer Johnson (BYU) – Sept. 3, 1997
2. Jalen Jordan (Middle Tennessee) – June 19, 1998
3. Trevin Knell (BYU) – Sept. 26, 1998
4. Michael Hueitt, Jr. (Pittsburgh) – Oct. 2, 1998
5. Jermaine Couisnard (Oregon) – Nov. 25, 1998
6. Aaron Cash (UT Arlington) – Dec. 6, 1998
7. Drue Drinnon (Texas State) – Dec. 7, 1998
8. Brock Cunningham (Texas) – Dec. 13, 1998
9. Fardaws Aimaq (California) – Jan. 6, 1999
10. Parker Fox (Minnesota) – Feb. 20, 1999
11. Chuck O'Bannon Jr. (TCU) – Mar. 1, 1999
12. Gabe McGlothan (Grand Canyon) – Mar. 3, 1999
13. Edoardo Del Cadia (Detroit) – Mar. 10, 1999
14. Jared Bynum (Stanford) – Mar. 16, 1999
15. Elijah Buchanan (NJIT) – Apr. 8, 1999
16. Qwanzi Samuels (IUPUI) – Apr. 13, 1999
17. Akili Vining (UT Arlington) – Apr. 25, 1999
18. Jeffery Armstrong (Southern Miss) – May 2, 1999
19. Moses Wood (Washington) – May 3, 1999
20. Daniel Schreier (NJIT) – May 11, 1999

A QUINTET OF STOPS
Akili Vining is one of just four players in the nation who are at a fifth different school, and he is one of just two from that group who are in their first year at a D-I institution.
 
Akili Vining: UT Arlington | 5th Team | 1st Year D-I | 6th Season
Malik Tidwell: Georgia Southern | 5th Team | 1st Year D-I | 5th Season
Adam Hess: NJIT | 5th Team | 3rd Year D-I | 6th Season
RayQuawndis Mitchell: Penn State | 5th Team | 4th Year D-I | 5th Season
 
NON-CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN
UTA's non-conference schedule consists of 11 games, nine of which are against D-I opponents to prepare the Mavs for a 20-game Western Athletic Conference slate.
 
Of UTA's nine D-I non-league opponents:

• Six played in the postseason last season.
  • NCAA Tournament: Texas, Arizona, Oral Roberts (W, 75-71)
  • NIT: New Mexico, Alcorn State, North Texas (Champions).
• Six finished last year ranked in the top 65 of the NET, and two were in the top 10.
• Four teams won at least 28 games a season ago, and two clubs won at least 30.

UTA and Abilene Christian are the only WAC members this season who have three games scheduled with Power-5 opponents (ACU: Oklahoma State, NC State, Arkansas).
 
BT FOR 3
Over the final seven games last season, Brandyn Talbot made 19 3-pointers. In his first 20 games of the year versus D-I competition, he knocked down 15 (38 total on the year including four 3s versus non-D-I foes).
 
Additionally, after shooting 23.5% from 3-point range against non-conference D-I opponents, he went 41.2% in WAC play.
 
Three of Talbot's four highest-scoring games of the year came during the final seven contests: 15 points in the WAC Tournament against Grand Canyon, 15 opposite Utah Tech and 12 versus Southern Utah (Feb. 23).
 
CLEANING UP THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
Against North Texas last season on Dec. 6, Shemar Wilson grabbed eight rebounds, and all of them were offensive. Over the last seven seasons – since the start of the 2016-17 campaign – Wilson is one of just seven players in the nation to secure at least eight offensive rebounds and zero defensive boards in a game.
 
UTA finished the year ranked 18th nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 12.7, and Wilson was 9th in the country with 3.6 offensive boards per contest.
 
TOP-5 PERFORMANCES
UTA held opponents to just 68.4 points per game last year, which was tied for the 4th-fewest in program single-season history:

• 62.7: 2002-03
• 62.8: 2012-13
• 67.6: 1989-90
• 68.4: 2019-20

UTA finished with a +2.2 rebound margin last season as the Mavs limited opponents to only 33.7 rebounds per game last season to rank tied for the 4th-fewest in single-year program lore:

• 31.6: 2002-03
• 31.7: 2003-04
• 32.6: 1988-89
• 33.7: 1987-88

NEXT UP
UTA will hit the road for an extremely challenging trip next week, taking on a pair of KenPom top-50 ranked teams. First up, UTA will head to New Mexico to face a Lobo squad on Nov. 16 that is receiving votes in the national polls.
 
The Mavs will then remain in the southwest before taking on the defending Pac-12 Champion Arizona Wildcats on Nov. 19. Arizona is currently ranked #12 in the nation.
   
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, follow the men's basketball program on X (formerly Twitter) (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).