ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team's 65th season at the NCAA level tips off inside the College Park Center on Monday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. against 2023 NCAA Tournament participant Oral Roberts in one of the nation's best opening-night matchups.
For parking, tickets, entry and more info related to the 2023-24 gameday experience, visit the
Know Before You Go page.
GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS
- Plush Horse Giveaway
- The first 100 students to check in to the new #BuckEm Saloon will receive a UTA-branded stuffed horse.
- Schedule Posters
- A limited amount of 2023-24 men's and women's basketball schedule posters will be available for pickup from the marketing tables inside each entrance.
OPENING TIP(s)
- The game pits a pair of first-time head coaches against each other in UTA's KT Turner and ORU's Russell Springmann. The only other opening-night contest that features a pair of first-time head coaches is Fairleigh Dickinson's Jack Castleberry at Buffalo's George Halcovage III.
- According to KenPom's 'thrill' metric, the UTA-ORU contest is the 8th-best game in the country on opening night.
- The Mavericks are just one win shy of 800 all-time Division-I victories. UTA's inaugural campaign took place in 1959-60 after transitioning to a four-year D-I school.
- This will be the first time since 2019-20 that UTA will not start its season against Oklahoma State. The Mavs and Cowboys met at the College Park Center to begin the 2020-21 season, and traveled to Stillwater each of the past two years.
- In home openers this century, UTA holds a 19-4 record, with the lone setbacks coming to New Mexico State (2001), Oklahoma (2012), Buffalo (2014) and Oklahoma State (2020).
- UTA will be looking to avoid a fourth-straight season-opening loss – something that hasn't occurred since the Mavs dropped five in a row from 2001-05. After that stretch, UTA went 13-1 in year-beginning games before the three most recent setbacks to OSU.
- Brandyn Talbot has made 15-straight free throws dating back to Nov. 12 of last season when he missed late in the 2nd half against Southwestern. Talbot went 17-18 from the charity stripe last year, 2-2 in 2021-22 and 7-12 as a freshman in 2020-21.
- New Mexico State transfer DaJuan Gordon enters the year needing just seven rebounds to reach 500 for his career.
NEW UTA 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.
SCOUTING ORAL ROBERTS
- Oral Roberts is receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 Poll.
- ORU went 30-5 last season, swept both the Summit League regular season (18-0) and tournament titles and played in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. The Golden Eagles earned a #12 seed but fell in the opening round to #5 Duke.
- ORU was picked to finish 2nd this year in the Summit League Preseason Poll behind South Dakota State. Issac McBride (First Team) and Kareem Thompson (Second Team) both received preseason all-league recognitions.
- After spending four seasons at ORU, the nation's active career scoring leader, Max Abmas, transferred to Texas this summer for his graduate year. Abmas accumulated 2,562 points in his four years with the Golden Eagles.
- In 2021, the Golden Eagles became – at the time – the second-ever No. 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16 after beating Ohio State (75-72, OT) and Florida (81-78) before narrowly falling to Arkansas (72-70).
ROSTER TURNOVER
KT 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 have 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.
- #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.
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.
- Spencer Johnson (BYU) – Sept. 3, 1997
- Jalen Jordan (Middle Tennessee) – June 19, 1998
- Trevin Knell (BYU) – Sept. 26, 1998
- Michael Hueitt, Jr. (Pittsburgh) – Oct. 2, 1998
- Jermaine Couisnard (Oregon) – Nov. 25, 1998
- Aaron Cash (UT Arlington) – Dec. 6, 1998
- Drue Drinnon (Texas State) – Dec. 7, 1998
- Brock Cunningham (Texas) – Dec. 13, 1998
- Fardaws Aimaq (California) – Jan. 6, 1999
- Parker Fox (Minnesota) – Feb. 20, 1999
- Chuck O'Bannon Jr. (TCU) – Mar. 1, 1999
- Gabe McGlothan (Grand Canyon) – Mar. 3, 1999
- Edoardo Del Cadia (Detroit) – Mar. 10, 1999
- Jared Bynum (Stanford) – Mar. 16, 1999
- Elijah Buchanan (NJIT) – Apr. 8, 1999
- Qwanzi Samuels (IUPUI) – Apr. 13, 1999
- Akili Vining (UT Arlington) – Apr. 25, 1999
- Jeffery Armstrong (Southern Miss) – May 2, 1999
- Moses Wood (Washington) – May 3, 1999
- 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
- 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 remain at home and face UT Tyler for Homecoming on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 5 p.m.
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).
