FORT WORTH – In his UT Arlington debut, Phillip Russell lived up to the hype by delivering a game-high 28 points to lead UTA to a 76-73 win over Air Force Saturday afternoon at Dickies Arena as part of the US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge.
 
Following a roller coaster of a week featuring court and NCAA rulings which ultimately resulted in immediate eligibility for multiple-time undergraduate transfers, Russell fell into that category and made an immediate impact for the Mavericks in a starting role.
 
He delivered 15 points in only 11 1st-half minutes, and then poured in 13 more in the 2nd half to account for the 2nd-most points any UTA player has scored all year while also adding two assists and two steals.
 
After beginning his UTA career with three-straight double-doubles to open the year, DaJuan Gordon recorded his fourth of the campaign on Saturday with 15 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in a strong effort off the bench.
 
Joining Gordon and Russell in double-figure scoring was Shemar Wilson with 10, while true freshmen Kade Douglas (nine) and Makaih Williams (eight) aided in the offensive performance for the Mavs, who went 19-22 (86%) from the free throw line.
 
Facing an Air Force team that ranks 17th nationally and tops in the Mountain West Conference at only 62.1 points allowed this season, UTA surpassed that total with almost 10 minutes remaining en route to the most points surrendered by the Falcons all season.
 
UTA held a 63-59 lead with eight minutes remaining, but over the next two minutes used an 8-2 run to open up a double-figure edge, 71-61, following a Douglas 3-pointer. The lead remained 10 with under five minutes showing, and on multiple occasions over the closing minutes Air Force trimmed its deficit to a handful before eventually getting it down to a one-possession game.
 
With UTA holding on to a 75-73 cushion in the closing seconds, Gordon was fouled and went to the charity stripe for a 1-and-1. He made the first, but missed the second and Air Force had a last-second heave from midcourt which hit the front of the iron and fell short.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• The win improves UTA to 6-4 overall, while the loss drops Air Force to 7-4.
• UTA forced Air Force into a season-high 19 turnovers, and the Mavs turned those giveaways into a season-best 25 points.
• Gordon added four assists to tie for a game high. Eleven of his 15 rebounds came on the defensive end.
• Wilson corralled six rebounds as part of a 32-28 rebounding edge for the Mavs.
• UTA shot 44% (24-55) from the field, while Air Force connected at a 52% rate (26-50).
• Arlington native Rytis Petraitis finished with a team-high 21 points for Air Force, while Ethan Taylor (16), Beau Becker (13) and Jeffrey Mills (10) rounded out the quartet of double-figure scorers.
• The most points Air Force had allowed this season prior to Saturday was 71 to Eastern Washington.
• UTA utilized its fifth-different starting lineup this year: Russell, Williams, Brandyn Talbot, Dwayne Koroma and Wilson.

QUOTABLE
"Air Force is an extremely hard team to prepare for the way that they play with the Princeton offense. But we came out and battled, and I was proud of that effort. We've got to get better at closing out games down the stretch, but at the end of the day we beat a Mountain West team and it was a great win."
– UTA Head Coach KT Turner
 

GAME FLOW
On the first possession of the game, Russell recorded a steal on the defensive end and then was fouled and made all three free throws on the offensive end. He followed it up with a 3-pointer to help propel UTA to a quick 6-0 start.
 
However, Air Force responded, and on the strength of 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc established a 20-12 advantage just more than five minutes into the contest. The Falcons remained in front, 24-19, before the Mavs rattled off a 10-0 run over 2:30 to take a 29-24 lead at the six-minute mark.
 
That Air Force Princeton-style offense responded and tied the contest at 31-all before both teams traded buckets and UTA closed the stanza on a 5-0 run to take a 42-37 lead into halftime.
 
With the game tied at 46-46, Russell rose up for back-to-back 3-pointers and tried to make it three in a row, but that rimmed in and out and the rebound ended up in the hands of Wilson, who finished the layup and converted the free throw to make it a 9-0 UTA run and a 55-46 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining.
 
That was short-lived, however, as the Falcons used a 7-0 response of their own to pull within the aforementioned 55-53 scoreline before the Mavs pulled away.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Russell scored more than 1,000 points in the past two seasons alone at the Division-I level and led Southeast Missouri to the NCAA Tournament in 2023. He began his career as a walk-on at Saint Louis in 2020-21.
• UTA is now 3-0 all-time against Air Force; this was the first meeting between the two schools since 1998.
• UTA assistant coach Cody San Miguel was an assistant coach/video coordinator with Air Force during the 2019-20 season.
• This was the second-straight year that UTA played in Dickies Arena. Last December the Mavs and long-time rival Texas State contested a touch, physical battle.
• The game was the first of a tripleheader as Texas Tech and Vanderbilt followed, and then TCU versus Arizona State.

NEXT UP
UTA will close non-conference play with the first of three challenging opponents, all of which will take place on the road. First up is a trip to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech on Thursday, Dec. 21, at 1 p.m.
   
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