ARLINGTON – Coming off a week of Western Athletic Conference matchups, the UT Arlington men's basketball team returns to non-league action on Wednesday, Dec. 6, when the Mavericks welcome UNT Dallas for a special 4 p.m. start time inside the College Park Center.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game 9	UT Arlington (4-4) vs. UNT Dallas (2-3)
Date | Time	Wednesday, Dec. 6 | 4 PM (Doors: 3 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 | WAC
Gameday Program	Digital

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

GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS

• Faculty & Staff Early Release: The game is beginning at 4 p.m. thanks to a campus-wide team-building event encouraging employees to attend the contest. Each faculty and staff member can receive up to four (4) free tickets to the game, and those can be claimed at the College Park Center Box Office with a staff ID or in advance through UTATickets.com.
• Holiday Items: With this being UTA's final home game before the holiday season ramps up, Santa Claus will be in attendance and available for pictures. Additionally, the first 300 fans will receive a coupon to collect a Blaze-themed ornament at a later date.

OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA dives back into non-conference play after going 1-1 in its WAC matchups last week, claiming an impressive 86-71 win at home over Abilene Christian on Wednesday before narrowly falling at preseason favorite Grand Canyon on Saturday, 76-69, despite leading the majority of the game.
   
• Against Grand Canyon, UTA shot 46.2% (24-52) from the floor while holding the Lopes to 37.5% (21-56) – representing just the second time since 2010 the Mavs lost a road game when shooting at least 46% and holding their opponent under 38% (Mar. 5, 2015, at Georgia Southern, 76-64). The difference came at the free throw line (UTA: 15-18; GCU: 28-36) and in turnovers (UTA: 20 leading to 24 points; GCU: 14 leading to 11 points).
   
• UTA is back home where it is 4-1 already this year. This will be only the second time in program history that the Mavs will play six home games before Dec. 6; the other occurrence came in 2007-08, and that team won the Southland Conference Tournament and was responsible for UTA's lone NCAA Tournament appearance.
   
• After Wednesday's game, UTA will have 36 days until its next home tilt on Jan. 11 against 2023 NIT semifinalist Utah Valley. That 36-day gap will be the second-longest stretch in-between home games of any team in the nation this year (Delaware: 38).
   
• At home this year, UTA is averaging 80.8 points per game and holding opponents to 69.6. On the road, the Mavs are scoring just 68.3 and giving up 86.3. The majority of that 86.3 is due to 101 points that then-#3, and now-#1, Arizona tallied.
   
• Fabio Basili is coming off a career-high 15 points at Grand Canyon. In road games this year, Basili is UTA's 2nd-leading scorer at 9.3 points per game; he averages 4.9 for the year, but is the Mavs' lowest scorer at home at 1.5 per contest.
   
• In addition to UTA ranking 30th in the country with 17.2 assists per game, the Mavs boast the following top-40 individual national rankings:
  
  Shemar Wilson
  Double Doubles: 10th (4)
  Offensive Rebound Average: 15th (3.9)
  Rebound Average: 21st (9.9)
  Free Throws Attempted: 23rd (60)
  Free Throws Made: 36th (41)
   
  DaJuan Gordon
  Double-Doubles: 30th (3)
  Defensive Rebound Average: 34th (6.6)
   
  Kade Douglas
  3-Point Percentage: 32nd (45.2)

TWEETABLES
1) In the initial NCAA NET Rankings released on Monday, UTA (#179) was slotted ahead of numerous Power-5 members, including: Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Maryland, Notre Dame, Louisville and several more.
2) That ranking also showed UTA with the nation's 28th hardest schedule to this point of the season. Of UTA's seven Division-I opponents, five of them played in the postseason last year, and UTA is 2-3 versus the group: (W) Oral Roberts (NCAA), (W) Alcorn State (NIT), (L) #3 Arizona (NCAA), (L) New Mexico (NIT) and (L) Grand Canyon (NCAA).
3) Gordon needs just nine 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.
4) With Basili scoring 15 points at Grand Canyon on Saturday, UTA now has had nine different players reach double-figure points in a game this year (full list later in this release).
5) In UTA wins this year, true freshman Douglas leads all Maverick scorers at 15.7 points. 90% (57 of 63) of his points this season have come via the 3-pointer.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• The game will serve as an exhibition contest for NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) member UNT Dallas, but all stats and the result for UTA will be official.
   
• UNT Dallas is led by former NBA All-Star and Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard. Howard played for Dallas from 2003-10 before spending time with the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves. He returned to his hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C., and took on his first head coaching job at Piedmont International from 2016-20, accumulating a 49-49 record. He was hired as the head coach of UNT Dallas in April of 2020, and the program began play in the 2020-21 season.
   
• This will be UTA's first-ever meeting with UNT Dallas, which went 16-9 last year. The Trailblazers are 2-3 this season, but have also played three exhibition contests – two of which were against D-I programs: an 82-67 loss at Grambling State on Nov. 6, and a 93-52 setback to WAC member Tarleton State on Nov. 11.
   
• Among NAIA members, UNT Dallas ranks 15th nationally in field goal percentage (51.1) and 44th in 3-point percentage (36.9) this year. The Trailblazers are led offensively by Vernon Johnson (15.8), while Tariq Aman (14) and Kanntrell Burney (10.2) round out the trio of double-figure scorers. Johnson also paces the club on the glass by pulling down 8.6 rebounds per outing.

EFFICIENT OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
Against Abilene Christian in the WAC opener on Nov. 29, UTA shot a season-best 57% (27-47) 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).
 
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 nine players reach double-figure points in a game this year (highs): Wilson (29), Gordon (24), Douglas (20), Basili (15), 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 after suffering a left ankle injury in practice the week of Nov. 13. He will be out indefinitely.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
0) 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 eight assists and zero turnovers versus a D-I foe, joining Javon Levi, Brian Warren and Erick Neal. Additionally, with seven points and five rebounds to go along with the eight assists and no 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.
 
4) Four times already this year UTA has scored 75+ points 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 this year; that occurred three times total in the previous two regular seasons.
 
8) 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.
 
25) The Mavs distributed the ball to the tune of 25 assists on 27 made field goals versus Abilene Christian. 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.
 
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.
 
86) The 86 points UTA scored in its 86-71 win over Abilene Christian were its most in any regulation conference game since a 91-86 win over Sun Belt Conference member Louisiana on Jan. 15, 2021. The Mavs scored 86 despite no player making more than five field goals.
 
NEXT UP
UTA will break for final exams before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 16, at 4 p.m. from Dickies Arena in Fort Worth when the Mavs square off against Air Force in the first game of a tripleheader of action at the US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster, and UTA's dedicated sections are 104 and 105. The game is presented by LBL Architects.
   
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).