ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington men's basketball dropped its non-conference game against Louisiana Tech, 92-77, on Homecoming on Saturday night in front of 3,195 fans at the College Park Center.
UTA opened the game on a quick 8-2 run, but as the game went on, the Bulldogs eventually seized a lead they would not surrender. UTA was paced by forward
Troy Hupstead, who finished with 20 points (on 6-of-9 shooting) and seven rebounds.
"I want to tip my hat to Louisiana Tech," head coach
KT Turner said in his postgame press conference. "They're really well-coached – they came out and fought. Any time you have your starting point guard and starting five-man back, you're going to be a good team in today's world of college basketball. We have 11 new guys and are still trying to feel each other out, but that's no excuse. We don't make excuses around here. We still wanted to come out and fight and battle and I was a little disappointed we didn't. I felt like we fought a little harder in the second half, but we just dug ourself a hole too deep that we couldn't come back.
LA Tech was led by Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year Daniel Batcho, who had 28 points and seven boards, but he did the majority of his damage in the first half, when he had 20 and five.
UTA kept fighting back, drawing as close as 13 in the final six minutes, but just couldn't quite get over the hump and get things to single digits.
Guard
Jaden Wells scored 17 points, while forward
Raysean Seamster finished with 14 points and five rebounds and forward
Diante Smith chipped in with 10 points and seven boards.
LA Tech took advantage of UTA turnovers, of which there were only 11, however the Bulldogs turned those into 19 points. The Mavs only forced seven LA Tech turnovers, which they turned into just five points.
The Mavs hit the road for their first game away from home on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, as UTA takes on USC at the Galen Center on Wednesday at 10 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.
-- #BuckEm --
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