ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team established numerous top-5 program and season records on Thursday night en route to a dominant 91-73 win over UT Rio Grande Valley inside the College Park Center.
 
On the strength of a game-high 24 points by Phillip Russell in his home debut, 20 points from true freshman Makaih Williams and a double-double effort of 11 points and game-most 10 rebounds courtesy of Shemar Wilson, UTA established a season high in points against a Division-I opponent.
 
Wilson knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:06 remaining to give him his 10th and 11th points of the night to cap a brilliant performance from the charity stripe by the Mavs and also notch his 1,000th point across his collegiate career.
 
Those two makes from Wilson also secured his WAC-leading sixth double-double of the campaign, and concluded a 24-25 (96%) effort from the free throw line by UTA. That is the 2nd-best percentage (minimum 20 makes) in single-game program history, bested only by a 96.4% (27-28) showing on Feb. 22, 1968, at then-#1 Houston.
 
The Mavs were also on fire from beyond the arc, knocking down 15 3-pointers (15-36, 42%) to tie for the 5th-most makes all-time and equal the 3rd-most triples in program lore versus a D-I foe (record: 17 earlier this year versus UT Tyler and also against Bradley on Dec. 8, 2015).
 
Through the first 10 minutes of the game, the contest featured four lead changes and was tied on six occasions. The last of those ties was at 18-all, but a DaJuan Gordon layup at the 9:24 mark put the Mavs in front, 20-18, and they never trailed the rest of the contest, creating a lead as big as 24 in the 2nd half.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• The win moved UTA's overall record to 9-9 and its WAC mark to 4-3, while the loss dropped UTRGV to 6-12 and 2-5, respectively.
• Gordon registered 14 points and secured six rebounds while also issuing two assists.
• Brandyn Talbot posted his first consecutive double-figure scoring outings of the season as he finished with 11 points behind three 3-pointers.
• Russell had missed the previous three games with a left ankle sprain, and came off the bench on Thursday. He was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line and went 7-13 from the floor while distributing a game-most six assists.
• Williams reached the 20-point mark for the second time in his career as he and Russell were responsible for UTA's first game this season with multiple 20-point scorers. The California native also had three steals and four rebounds.
• Kade Douglas hit a pair of 3-pointers and totaled six points.
• Coming off a team-best performance of 17 points in an 80-75 win over Seattle U this past Saturday, UTA was without Aaron Cash (5.1 pgg, 3.2 rpg) due to concussion protocol.
• UTA won for the first time this year (1-5) when being out-rebounded (41-37).
• UTRGV was led by Elijah Elliott with 22 points. J.J. Howard was the only other double-figure scorer for the Vaqueros with 16.
• UTA utilized its ninth-different starting lineup of the season: Akili Vining (three points), Williams, Talbot, Gordon and Wilson. Wilson – who also had a career-high four assists – is the only Mav to start all 18 games this year, and the nine-different lineups are tied for the 8th most in the nation.

QUOTABLE
"We started off slow shooting the ball, but we were getting good looks so I told the guys to keep shooting; we have enough weapons that we're eventually going to make shots. I felt like we started the game well guarding the ball, but relaxed a bit in the 2nd half. We still need to put a full 40 minutes together, but I'm happy for the guys and I'm pleased with the effort for the most part."
– UTA Head Coach KT Turner
 

GAME FLOW
UTA came into the contest leading the WAC in 3-point percentage (39%) and ranking 2nd in field goal percentage (49%) in league games, but started the contest 0-6 from deep and 1-13 from the floor in the opening seven minutes and faced a 9-7 deficit.
 
That cold spell didn't last long as the Mavs went 9-11 from the floor and 5-7 from beyond the arc over the next seven minutes to create what at the time was their largest lead of the opening half, 33-24, at the 6-minute mark, prompting a second UTRGV timeout.
 
UTA eventually extended to its first double-figure edge, 41-31, following a pair of Wilson free throws, and carried that margin into the halftime break, 43-33. After that 1-13 start from the field, the Mavs closed the stanza 11-20.
 
The Mavs came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders as an 8-0 surge in the first two minutes extended their cushion to 18, 51-33, and it grew to as much as 24 twice, the last of which was a 75-51 margin with eight minutes remaining following a pair of Russell free throws.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Williams has now reached double-figure points in five of the last six games, with the lone exception being a nine-point outing at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday. He's led UTA in scoring over that timeframe at 14.8 per contest.
• This is UTA's first three-game winning streak since the Mavs rattled off four in a row between Dec. 22, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2022. The Mavs have scored 80+ points in each of these three games.
• UTA's previous high in points this year against a D-I foe came on Nov. 29 versus Abilene Christian (86); its most points regardless of competition level was 95 to UT Tyler on Nov. 11.
• UTA is now 8-1 at home this season compared with an 0-8 mark on the road (1-0 neutral site).
• This is UTRGV's first loss in conference play by more than 10 points, and that includes a 10-point setback to Grand Canyon, which boasts the nation's best record (17-1).
• UTA is now 9-1 at home versus UTRGV in the last 10 matchups dating back to 1989, and are 15-2 overall against the Vaqueros since 1996.
• Wilson had 375 points in one junior college season and now has 625 in 2+ years with UTA.
• At halftime, the UTA men's and women's tennis teams were presented their 2023 WAC Championship rings.

NEXT UP
UTA heads west to face Abilene Christian (6-11, 1-5 WAC) on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 3 p.m. The Mavs defeated the Wildcats at the CPC on Nov. 29, 86-71, and this will be the first league opponent that UTA will play twice this season.
   
PURCHASE TICKETS
Secure your seat to see the re-energized UTA men's basketball program in action at the College Park Center. Purchase 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).