ST. GEORGE, Utah – UT Arlington men's basketball (7-8, 0-1 WAC) looks to even its Western Athletic Conference league record when it travels to St. George, Utah, to do battle with Utah Tech (4-11, 0-0 WAC) on Thursday, Jan. 9. That game tips off at 8 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on
ESPN+, and on the radio on the Varsity App, 102.5 FM and KTNO 620 AM with the Voice of the Mavs, Josh Sours.
UTA is coming off a disappointing road loss at Tarleton State that opened WAC play, 77-74 in Stephenville, Texas, on Jan. 4. The Mavs held the lead for most of the second half, and were in front 71-65 with 2:30 to play, but couldn't hold on. Point guard
Brody Robinson scored a career-high 21 points on 5-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc, and fellow guard
Jaden Wells also added 15 for the Mavs.
The Mavericks' next opponent, Utah Tech, is off to a 4-11 start following an 80-66 road loss at FIU on Dec. 30.
The Trailblazers are led by head coach Jon Judkins, who is in his 20th season as the head coach in St. George, where he is 335-214 across his 20 campaigns, 19 of which are at the D1 level. Judkins was also the head coach at Snow College for 12 seasons.
"They have good size, good guards," head coach
KT Turner said during his
weekly press conference on Tuesday. "One [Noa Gonsalves] was really good against us last year. But this game we feel is about us, it's about what we do. We're more focused on us playing hard, us sharing the ball, us diving on the floor for loose balls, us blocking out, us crashing. We're worried about them, we respect them without a doubt, but right now we're more focused on us."
Utah Tech is led by guard Beon Riley, who is averaging a team-high 14.8 ppg and 8.4 rpg. Gonsalves (13.7 ppg) is another key fixture for the Trailblazers.
Thursday's meeting between UTA and Utah Tech will be the fourth all-time, with UTA having won the previous three, including an 87-66 win in St. George last season.
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