LAS VEGAS – UT Arlington has officially been seeded #12 in the 2023 Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Men's Basketball Tournament, and the Mavericks will open postseason action against #5 Grand Canyon on Tuesday, Mar. 7, at 4 p.m. Central (2 local Pacific) from Michelob ULTRA Arena.
 
Despite finishing in a tie for 10th place alongside UT Rio Grande Valley in the WAC standings with a 6-12 league record – and holding the tiebreaker over the Vaqueros by virtue of sweeping the season series – UTA had -5.06 points in the season-long WAC résumé-seeding system (more info: click here). That number was the worst of the 12 qualifying tournament teams, dropping the Mavs to the #12 seed.
 
Meanwhile, UTRGV (6-12 in the WAC) finished with -3.16 points, and Utah Tech (5-13) had -3.51 resulting in those two teams being seeded #10 and #11, respectively.
 
#5 Grand Canyon – the preseason WAC favorites – posted an 11-7 record in WAC play to conclude the regular season in a three-way tie for 4th place, and the Lopes accumulated 2.77 points.
 
In the only meeting this year between UTA and GCU, the Mavs held a 28-18 lead late in the 1st half, possessed a 30-28 halftime edge after trailing for just 28 seconds in the opening period, but the Lopes exploded in the 2nd half to out-score the Mavs by 34 en route to an 80-48 win in Phoenix on Jan. 12.
 
Utah Valley won the WAC regular-season title outright with a 15-3 league mark, but the Wolverines will not be the #1 seed as that honor goes to Sam Houston (14-4) as the Bearkats (6.97) garnered .01 more points than UVU (6.96).
 
With a win over GCU, UTA would move on the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Mar. 9, against #4 Seattle U (11-7, 3.10 points). The Mavs and Redhawks just played in Seattle on Friday night, with SU claiming an 80-56 win.
 
More information will be posted in the coming days on UTAMavs.com leading into the start of the WAC Tournament on Tuesday.
 
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