ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team begins a three-game homestand bridging Thanksgiving on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. against Alcorn State inside the College Park Center.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game 5	UT Arlington (2-2) vs. Alcorn State (1-5)
Date | Time	Wednesday, Nov. 22 | 7 PM (Doors: 6 PM)
Location	College Park Center
Tickets	UTATickets.com
Video	ESPN+
Radio	620 AM | 102.5 FM
Audio Stream	Varsity Network App | UTAMavs.com
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	UT Arlington | Alcorn State | WAC
Game Program	Digital Program

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

OPENING TIP(s)

• For the second time in as many weeks to start the season, the Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week resides at UTA as Shemar Wilson claimed the honor on Monday. Wilson averaged 24 points, 7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks last week at New Mexico and #3 Arizona, shooting an extremely efficient 76% (19-25) from the field and 82% (9-11) from the free throw line.
   
• Combined with DaJuan Gordon winning the award last Monday, he and Wilson are the first set of UTA teammates to be named conference Player of the Week in the same season since 2017-18 when Kevin Hervey and Erick Neal both received the recognition when the Mavericks were in the Sun Belt Conference. Furthermore, since the WAC began issuing Player of the Week honors in 1982-83, this is just the sixth occurrence of the same school winning each of the season's first two awards:
  
  1984-85: San Diego State
  1998-99: New Mexico
  1999-00: SMU
  2015-16: New Mexico State
  2017-18: Utah Valley
   
• Gordon has already recorded three double-doubles this year; only three players in the nation have registered four. The New Mexico State grad transfer ranks 10th in the country in defensive rebounds (8.5), is 20th in overall rebounding (10.8) and is averaging a double-double for the season (13.3 points per game).
   
• Wilson is 5th nationally in offensive rebounding (4.8), but did not record an offensive board against #3 Arizona. It's just the eighth time in his UTA career (2+ years) that he failed to secure an offensive rebound in a game. UTA is now 1-7 in those eight contests.
   
• Last season, UTA scored 75+ points against Division-I opponents in the regular season only three times. With a 75+ point performance on Wednesday, the Mavs will have already accomplished that three times in only four opportunities this season.

TWEETABLES
1) UTA is 22nd in the nation in rebounds per game (44.8) and 30th in offensive rebounding (15).
2) UTA has played the 10th-hardest schedule in the nation so far this year, according to KenPom. The Mavs and Gonzaga are the only top-200 ranked KenPom teams that also reside in the top 20 for strength of schedule.
3) The Mavs have had at least two players in three games already this year record double-figure rebounds. Prior to this season, the last time that occurred in any game was on Dec. 16, 2021, at Oral Roberts.
4) This will be UTA's fifth game of the year, and all five have been played on different days of the week: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
5) Alcorn State will be UTA's fourth D-I opponent this year, and all four played in the postseason last year: Oral Roberts (NCAA Tournament), New Mexico (NIT), Arizona (NCAA Tournament) and Alcorn (NIT).

ABOUT ALCORN STATE

• This will be the first-ever meeting between UTA and Alcorn State.
   
• While UTA's strength of schedule is ranked 10th, Alcorn State's is 17th as the Braves have played five road games: Arkansas, Arkansas State, UAB, Michigan State and TCU on Tuesday night. After the back-to-back with UTA on Wednesday, Alcorn heads to Clemson to face the Tigers on Friday.
   
• The Braves have lost each of those road games, including Tuesday against TCU, 93-74, but battled UAB the toughest as the Blazers – an NIT finalist last year – held on for an 80-77 win. Alcorn's lone victory was a 70-62 triumph over NAIA member Xavier University of Louisiana.
   
• Alcorn won the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) regular-season crown last year with a 15-3 record following a challenging non-league slate which included wins at Wichita State and WAC foe Stephen F. Austin. The Braves – who finished 18-14 overall – competed in the NIT and dropped a first-round game at eventual NIT Champion North Texas.
   
• The Braves were picked to finish 3rd in this year's SWAC Preseason poll behind Texas Southern and Grambling State, but did secure two 1st-place votes. Jeremiah Kendall was named to the Preseason All-SWAC First Team.
   
• Kendall leads Alcorn with 18.2 points per game, and he is also averaging 9 rebounds per game. Byron Joshua (11.3) is Alcorn's other double-figure scorer, while Dekedran Thorn adds 9.2 and Jeremiah Gambrell contributes 9.

RECAPPING THE ROAD TRIP
Last Thursday at New Mexico, UTA erased a 10-point deficit with five minutes remaining, tied the game with 5.3 seconds left on a Makaih Williams 3-pointer but the Lobos' Donovan Dent hit a buzzer-beating layup to give UNM an 82-80 win. UTA committed four technical fouls in the contest, leading directly to a 4-4 effort from the free throw line for the Lobos (two technical were offset by UNM techs). Despite the result, the performance propelled the Mavs 25 spots in the KenPom ranking from 209 to 184 (currently: 197).
 
On Sunday, the Mavs went toe-to-toe with arguably the best team in the nation in #3 Arizona for the 1st half. UTA had the game tied at 37-37; however, Arizona closed the 1st half on a 6-0 spurt in the final 70 seconds to take a 43-37 halftime lead, and then commenced the 2nd half on a 14-0 run to take a 57-37 advantage five minutes into the 2nd half and never looked back.
 
After out-shooting Arizona in the 1st half – 49% (14-29) to 46% (16-35) – and finishing tied with the nation's top rebound differential squad, 17-17, the Mavs had that script completely flipped on them in the closing frame. The Wildcats out-shot UTA – 58% (22-38) to 25% (8-32) – and cleaned up the glass to a tune of +15 edge (29-14) in the 2nd half.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Gordon is one of only two UTA players in program history to begin his tenure with the Mavs by posting three-straight double-doubles. The only other was Damon Johnson in 1994 (Nov. 26-Dec. 2). No player has ever had four-consecutive double-doubles to begin a UTA career.
 
GORDON NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Gordon was named the WAC Player of the Week on Nov. 13 after posting a pair of double-doubles in his UTA debut week, averaging 19 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. He was UTA's first conference Player of the Week recipient since David Azore claimed the honor on Feb. 15, 2022. Additionally, in now 2+ years in the WAC (2012-13, 2022-present), Gordon was the first Mav to garner a Player of the Week recognition as a member of the league.

SCORING DEPTH
The Mavs have already had seven players reach double-figure points in a game this year (highs): Wilson (29), Gordon (24), Kade Douglas (18), Akili Vining (14), Brandyn Talbot (11), Williams (11) and Freds Pauls Bagatskis (11).
 
RECORD-TYING 3-POINT PERFORMANCE
UTA tied a single-game program record with 17 made 3-pointers on Nov. 11 against UT Tyler. That mark had only been reached once previously – on Dec. 8, 2015, against Bradley.
 
LONG-RANGE THREAT SIDELINED
In that UT Tyler contest, Bagatskis knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 11-straight points for UTA in the 1st half. However, the Georgia Tech transfer has not played in a game since then, missing each of the last two contests after suffering a left ankle injury in practice the week of Nov. 13. He remains doubtful for Wednesday's game.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
1) UTA defeated Oral Roberts in the season opener on Nov. 6, 75-71. It was the only game in the last 13 years that the Mavs won, scored at least 70 points and shot less than 35% from the field.
 
2) Both Wilson (29 points, 11 rebounds) and Gordon (13 points, 14 rebounds) recorded double-doubles at New Mexico on Nov. 16 to become the first UTA players since Nov. 28, 2020, to accomplish the feat.
 
3) The Mavs had three players secure double-figure rebounds versus Oral Roberts: Wilson (14), 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.
 
5) True freshman Douglas came off the bench and knocked down five 2nd-half 3-pointers against UT Tyler on Nov. 11, finishing with 18 points.
 
17) 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.
 
22) UTA's 22 offensive rebounds versus Oral Roberts were its 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.
 
26) UTA had 26 assists on 34 made field goals versus UT Tyler. That was just the fourth time since 2010 that the Mavs had 26+ assists on 35 or fewer makes.
 
46) The Mavs shot 46% from the field and finished +9 in the rebounding column (45-36) at New Mexico, representing their only non-conference loss since 2010 when shooting at least 46% and posting at least +9 on the glass.
 
75) UTA's 75 points against Oral Roberts were its most in a season opener against a D-I opponent since notching 85 against Loyola Marymount in 2017.
 
80) Against New Mexico, UTA lost a road non-conference game when scoring 80+ points for the first time since a 90-81 setback to Creighton on Dec. 18, 2017.
 
NEXT UP
UTA will be right back at work with practices on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday in preparation for a matchup with rival Texas State inside the College Park Center on Saturday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m. It will be First Responders Day, with free tickets for all first responders by simply showing their ID/badge at the Box Office.
   
PURCHASE TICKETS
Secure your seat(s) all season long to see the re-energized UTA men's basketball program in action at the College Park Center. Purchase single game or season tickets at UTATickets.com, call 817-272-9595 or email boxoffice@uta.edu.

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).