EDINBURG, Texas – The UT Arlington men's basketball team will commence a three-game road trip at UT Rio Grande Valley on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 6:30 p.m.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game 25	UT Arlington (8-16, 3-8 WAC) @ UT Rio Grande Valley (12-12, 3-8 WAC)
Date | Time	Thursday, Feb. 9 | 6:30 p.m.
Location	UTRGV Fieldhouse (2,500)
Video	ESPN+
Audio	620 AM | Varsity Network App
Live Stats	SIDEARM
Game Notes	UT Arlington | UTRGV | WAC

OPENING TIP(s)

• This will be the second meeting of the year between UTA and UTRGV, with the Mavericks claiming an 85-73 win in Arlington on Jan. 19 (recap and box score). UTA delivered season highs against a Division-I opponent in points, 3-pointers made (11) and assists (26) as the Mavs shot a blistering 62 percent (16-26) from the floor in the 2nd half. The 26 assists on 31 field goals were UTA's most helpers at home against a D-I foe in nearly six years.
   
• The contest could prove to be critical in postseason implications as both UTA and UTRGV are in a three-way tie (along with Utah Tech) for 10th place in the WAC at 3-8 (New Mexico State is last at 2-9). A win would give the Mavs the season tiebreaker over the Vaqueros and create more separation with just six conference games remaining after Thursday. The top-12 teams in the league (out of 13) qualify for the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas Mar. 7-11 (more info later in this release).
   
• Chendall Weaver collected his league-leading third Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week honor in the last five opportunities on Tuesday after averaging 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1 steal in UTA's games on Saturday and Monday. In total, UTA now has a conference-high four Freshman of the Week recognitions this season (Weaver: Jan. 9 and 23) thanks to Brandon Walker collecting the designation on Dec. 5. No other team in the WAC has had more than two such awards.
   
• UTA secured a 70-58 win over Sam Houston on Saturday, giving the Mavs their second Quad 2 victory of the season as the Bearkats were a WAC-best #50 in the official NCAA NET Rankings. Only four schools in the nation with losing records have more Quad 2 wins than UTA: Ohio State, Washington State, Vanderbilt and Fresno State (all each have three Quad 2 victories).
   
• The Mavs rank 7th in the nation in offensive rebounding at 13.6 per game (1st: College of Charleston, 14.1). Shemar Wilson is leading the charge as the sophomore is 12th nationally with 3.6 offensive rebounds an outing. He has registered three games of 8+ offensive boards this year – tied for the 3rd most in the country against D-I opponents (leaders: four games).

TWEETABLES

1) Over his last five games, Montez Young Jr. is averaging 8.4 points, a team-best 6.2 rebounds and a team-high 69 percent (18-26) from the floor. Prior, he was averaging 1.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 15 games on the year (DNP in four contests).
 
2) After connecting at just 26.4 percent from 3-point range against non-conference D-I opponents, UTA is shooting 34.5 percent in WAC play, keyed by Kyron Gibson (36.4 to 44.4), Aaron Cash (38.7 to 41.5) and Weaver (20.0 to 38.5).
 
3) UTA has uncharacteristically allowed four of its last five opponents to shoot at least 50 percent from the floor, including – prior to Saturday's game against Sam Houston – a stretch of three in a row for the first time since 2008.
 
4) Shemar Wilson – who averages 10.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game – is responsible for all five of UTA's double-doubles this year, which rank as the 2nd most among WAC players (Utah Valley's Aziz Bandaogo: 12).
 
5) The Mavs have had 11 different players reach double-figure points in a game this year, and also have had eight different leading scorers – the 3rd most in the nation behind only James Madison and Longwood with nine each.

ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• UTA and UTRGV have both played the same opponents for their last three games: California Baptist (UTA lost, UTRGV won), Sam Houston (UTA won, UTRGV lost) and Tarleton (UTA lost, UTRGV won). The Vaqueros' 68-65 victory in Stephenville on Saturday was Tarleton's first home loss (10-1) of the season.
   
• UTRGV plays with the nation's 4th-fastest tempo on offense, and it leads the nation in both free throw makes per game (18.4) and attempts (26.1). Individually, senior Justin Johnson is 4th nationally in free throw makes (139) and 2nd in attempts (204).
   
• Johnson was named to the WAC Preseason First Team and is averaging 20.9 points per game to rank 15th in the country. He scored a game-high 30 in the first meeting in Arlington – six more than anyone else has tallied against UTA this year. Will Johnston is UTRGV's only other double-figure scorer at 14.7 per contest; the duo combines to account for 45 percent of the Vaqueros' 78.2 points per game.
   
•  While that 78.2 average is 40th in the nation, the Vaqueros allow 77.9 points per game to rank as the 23rd worst in the country.
   
•  In the meeting on Jan. 19, UTA held UTRGV nine points below its then season average of 82, and 17 of those 73 points occurred in the final 4:30.

WAC STANDINGS

Click Here To View The Updated WAC Standings
 
The top-12 teams based off WAC record advance to the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas (as of today, New Mexico State would not qualify). Once those 12 participants are decided, a résumé-seeding system will be used to determine how teams are seeded at the WAC Tournament (denoted by WAC Points in this link; higher point total = a better seed).
 
For example, right now even though Southern Utah is in 2nd place with an 8-3 league record, Sam Houston (3rd place at 7-4) would be the #2 seed due to accumulating 3.97 points, and Southern Utah would be the #3 seed (2.61 points). UTA (-5.26) would be the #12 seed despite currently sitting in a tie for 10th place.
 
The WAC has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Tournament in 28 of the past 46 seasons. In an effort to continue enhancing its at-large prospects and rewarding the best teams throughout the entire season, the résumé-seeding system was introduced.
 
It is an algorithm that rates performances against all D-I teams faced in the regular season, not just conference play. Teams receive more credit for scheduling, and beating, stronger opponents than weaker ones – particularly on the road. This should help WAC members have higher NET rankings, a key-criteria used by the NCAA Selection Committee.

BACK TO THE WAC

After spending the previous nine seasons (2013-22) as a Sun Belt Conference member, UTA officially re-joined the Western Athletic Conference on July 1, 2022. UTA was a member of the WAC for one year previously in 2012-13 following 48 years in the Southland Conference (1963-2012) – of which it was a founding member.
 
Last year, the WAC ranked as the 15th-best men's basketball conference in the country (out of 32) – two spots ahead of the Sun Belt (17th). So far this year, the WAC ranks as the 12th-best league in the country, while the Sun Belt is 15th.

INSIDE THE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS

Two years ago, UTA tied for the national lead by having 13 different players score double-figure points in a game. Last season, the Mavs had 12 different double-figure scorers – tied for the 3rd most in the nation. So far this year, UTA already has 11 different double-figure scorers.
 
Below is a list of those double-figure players, their respective season highs and how many times they have led UTA in scoring:
 
Kyron Gibson: 22 (9x – Includes 2 Ties)
Chendall Weaver: 21 (5x)
Aaron Cash: 20 (2x – Includes 1 Tie)
Taj Anderson: 19 (1x)
Shemar Wilson: 18 (5x – Includes 1 Tie)
Marion Humphrey: 17 (3x – Includes 1 Tie)
Brandon Walker: 17 (1x – Tied)
Brandyn Talbot: 15 (1x)
Montez Young Jr.: 14
Dario Domingos: 12
Pedro Castro: 12

BY THE NUMBERS

1: UTA picked up a 60-56 win over Horizon League preseason favorite Northern Kentucky on Nov. 22. NKU had defeated Cincinnati – picked to finish 3rd in the American Athletic Conference – two games prior by 13 points.
 
2: UTA secured its second road win of the season over a 2022 NCAA Tournament team when the Mavs took down New Mexico State, 66-55, on Jan. 14. The first came on Dec. 19 at San Francisco, 68-63.
 
4: UTA is just four wins shy of 800 all-time program victories. The Mavs are in their 64th season, with UTA's inaugural campaign taking place in 1959-60.
 
7: UTA has already had seven different occasions of a player grabbing 7+ offensive rebounds in a game this year: Wilson versus Hardin-Simmons (7), Nevada (7), Howard Payne (7), North Texas (8), Stephen F. Austin (8) and Utah Valley (8); Dario Domingos against Northern Kentucky (7).
 
8: Against UNT on Dec. 6, Wilson grabbed eight rebounds, and all of them were offensive. Over the last 6+ seasons – since the start of the 2016-17 campaign – he is one of only seven players nationally to secure at least eight offensive rebounds and zero defensive boards in a game.
 
10: Marion Humphrey had six steals against Southwestern on Nov. 12 to tie for the 10th most in single game program history.
 
12: Gibson passed out a season-best 12 assists versus UTRGV on Jan. 19, representing the most helpers by any WAC player in a game this year against a D-I opponent.
 
12: The WAC is currently rated as the 12th-best conference (out of 32) in the country.
 
16: UTA's wire-to-wire win at San Francisco ended the Dons' 16-game home non-conference winning streak and was the Mavs' first NET Quad 2 or better non-conference win since an 89-75 victory at BYU (Quad 1) in November of 2017. Two days later, USF defeated then-#25 Arizona State, 97-60.
 
26: The 26 assists UTA issued against UTRGV were the most at home against a D-I foe in nearly six years – since the Mavs passed out 27 on Jan. 23, 2017, versus Louisiana.
 
27: UTA is the least experienced team in the WAC and 27th nationally (337th of 363) this year based off prior D-I playing experience with an average of just 0.91 years per player.
 
55: The 55 points UTA limited New Mexico State to represented just the second time in the last six seasons that the Mavs have held an opponent to 55 or fewer points on the road (52 at Arkansas State on Jan. 2, 2020). Prior to that, the last time the Mavs did it was on Dec. 16, 2016, when they permitted Bradley to score just 51.

NEXT UP

This will be UTA's third game in six days after having 10 days in-between contests. The Mavs will now have six days off before returning to the court at Sam Houston on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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