PHOENIX – Looking to sweep an early season conference week, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (4-3, 1-0 WAC) travels to Arizona for the second time in two weeks to face Western Athletic Conference preseason favorite Grand Canyon (5-1, 1-0 WAC) on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. CT (6 local) inside GCU Arena.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game 8	UT Arlington (4-3, 1-0 WAC) @ Grand Canyon (5-1, 1-0 WAC)
Date | Time	Saturday, Dec. 2 | 7 PM CT (6 Local)
Video	ESPN+
Radio	620 AM | 102.5 FM
Audio Stream	Varsity Network App | UTAMavs.com
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	UT Arlington | Grand Canyon | WAC

OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA will be looking to start WAC play 2-0. UTA was a founding member of the Southland Conference in 1963-64, and in the history of the program the Mavericks have only began a league season 2-0 with at least one of those wins coming on the road four times: 2001-02, 1995-96, 1990-91 and 1966-67 (all as a Southland member).
   
• With its 86-71 WAC-opening win over Abilene Christian on Wednesday, UTA has now scored 75+ points four times this year against Division-I competition; the Mavs accomplished that feat just four times all of last season (regular and postseason). Furthermore, UTA has tallied 80+ in regulation three times already; that occurred three times total in the previous two regular seasons.
   
• Those 86 points are the most UTA has scored in regulation in any conference game since a 91-86 win over Sun Belt Conference member Louisiana on Jan. 15, 2021. The Mavs scored 86 despite with no player making more than five field goals.
   
• The Mavs also distributed the ball to the tune of 25 assists on 27 made field goals versus ACU. Only three other teams in the nation since 2015 have had 25+ assists on 27 or fewer makes: Minnesota in March of 2023, Davidson in February of 2020 and Pittsburgh in February of 2017.
   
• Against ACU, UTA shot a season-best 57% from the floor – the best any Maverick team has shot against a D-I opponent since 2018. Additionally, UTA connected a 54.5% clip (12-22) from 3-point range to tie the 7th-best percentage in single-game program history (minimum 10 makes).
   
• UTA boasts the following top-50 individual and team national rankings:
  
             Individual
  • Offensive Rebounds: 8th, Shemar Wilson: 4.1/gm
  • Rebounds: 14th, Shemar Wilson: 10.6/gm
  • Defensive Rebounds: 18th, DaJuan Gordon: 7.3/gm
  • Free Throw Makes: 28th, Shemar Wilson: 39 total
    
    Team
  • Assists: 18th, 18.4/gm (Leads WAC)
  • Rebounds: 38th, 41.3/gm
  • Defensive Rebounds: 38th, 29.1/gm (Leads WAC)
  • Rebound Margin: 39th, +8.7/gm
  • 3-Pointers: 46th, 9.3/gm (Leads WAC)

TWEETABLES
1) GCU (NCAA) will already be UTA's fifth opponent this year which played in the postseason last year; the Mavs are 2-2 against the first four (wins: Oral Roberts (NCAA) and Alcorn State (NIT); losses: at the buzzer against New Mexico (NIT) and then-#3 Arizona (NCAA)).
2) DaJuan Gordon needs just 19 points to reach 1,000 for his career. The New Mexico State grad transfer began his UTA career this year with 910 points across stops at Kansas State, Missouri and NM State.
3) Shemar Wilson has a conference-leading four double-doubles this year, which are also the 6th-most nationally (leader: six). The Arizona native has recorded three in a row, and all four have come in the last five games.
4) In UTA wins this year, true freshman Kade Douglas leads all Maverick scorers at 15.7 points. 89% (48 of 54) of his points this year have come via the 3-pointer.
5) The Mavs recorded a season-high nine steals versus ACU on Wednesday.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• UTA and GCU met in the opening round of the WAC Tournament last year, and the resilient 12th-seeded Mavs gave the 5th-seeded Lopes everything they had in a narrow 82-77 loss to the eventual champions. In that game, Brandyn Talbot tied a career high with five 3-pointers and 15 points; he and Aaron Cash (nine points) are the only UTA returners who played in that matchup (Shemar Wilson was out with a hip injury).
   
• Grand Canyon went on to play in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, earning a #14 seed and falling to #3 Gonzaga, 82-70.
   
• GCU was predicted to repeat as WAC champions this season not only by league coaches but also a plethora of media outlets. Ray Harrison was named WAC Preseason Player of the Year, and he was joined on the five-member Preseason All-WAC Team by Gabe McGlothan.
   
• The Lopes opened WAC play in Edinburg on Wednesday, grinding out a 79-69 win over UTRGV in a contest that had 54 fouls called and saw 71 combined free throws attempted.
   
• GCU ranks 6th nationally in free throws made (21.3/game) and 17th in blocks (5.8). Individually, Tyon Grant-Foster is 5th in the country with 22.5 points per game.

WAC RESUME SEEDING SYSTEM
The WAC resume-seeding system will once again this year determine how the eight teams at the WAC Tournament will be seeded; conference record will establish the eight teams that qualify for the tournament. The WAC has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Tournament in 28 of the past 47 seasons. In an effort to continue enhancing its at-large prospects and protecting top seeds in March, the resume-seeding system was introduced for the first time in 2022-23.
 
An algorithm will rate performance against all D-I teams faced in the regular season, not just conference play. Using this resume-seeding system, teams will receive more credit for scheduling and playing stronger opponents than weaker ones. This should help the WAC have higher NET rankings, a key-criteria used by the NCAA basketball selection committees.
 
WAC Commissioner Brian Thornton and WAC Associate Commissioner of Basketball Drew Speraw worked with Ken Pomeroy of kenpom.com to put together the formula. The seeding will be updated daily, and the first edition this year is scheduled to be unveiled in early December.
 
UTA'S CONFERENCE NOTES

• With UTA playing its first WAC game on Nov. 29, it represented the Mavs' earliest conference game in program history; the previous record was Dec. 7, 2000, in the Southland Conference.
• This will be the seventh time in program history that UTA will play 20 league contests in a season: 2000-03 Southland; 2014-16 and 2019-20 Sun Belt Conference.
• Eight of UTA's 20 WAC games year will be against opponents that played in the postseason last year (will face each twice): Grand Canyon (NCAA Tournament), Utah Valley (NIT semifinalist), Southern Utah (CBI semifinals) and Tarleton State (CBI).

CLEANING UP THE WEEKLY AWARDS
With Gordon (Nov. 13) and Wilson (Nov. 20) claiming WAC Player of the Week honors, the duo became 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 Mavs 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
 
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.
 
SCORING DEPTH
The Mavs have already had eight players reach double-figure points in a game this year (highs): Wilson (29), Gordon (24), Kade Douglas (20), Akili Vining (14, 3x), Brandyn Talbot (14), Makaih Williams (14), Dwayne Koroma (12) 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. Those 17 triples are three more than any other WAC team this year.
 
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 five contests after suffering a left ankle injury in practice the week of Nov. 13. He will be out indefinitely.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
0) Akili Vining did not have a turnover while issuing eight assists against Alcorn State on Nov. 22, becoming just the fourth UTA player since 2010 to have at least 8 assists and 0 turnovers versus a D-I foe, joining Javon Levi, Brian Warren and Erick Neal. Additionally, with 7 points and 5 rebounds to go along with the 8 assists and 0 turnovers, Vining was the first player in the nation to finish with at least those totals coming off the bench since Feb. 26, 2022; dating back to 2017, only seven other players in the country have registered that stat line against a D-I opponent.
 
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 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.
 
8) DaJuan Gordon did not score against Texas State on Nov. 25, but pulled down eight rebounds before fouling out. He is just the fifth UTA player since 2010 to secure 8+ rebounds in a game and not score (Montez Young Jr., Jabari Narcis, Kevin Hervey and Stuart Lagerson).
 
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.
 
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 dive back into non-conference play when it hosts UNT Dallas on Wednesday, Dec. 6, with a special start time of 4 p.m.
   
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
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