ARLINGTON, Texas – As the 2025-26 WAC portion of the schedule approaches, the UT Arlington Mavericks get ready for the second season, so to speak. The Mavs enter this part of the schedule at 8-4, having picked up impressive wins over Stephen F. Austin, Weber State, UTRGV, Missouri State and Oral Roberts. At 8-4, UTA is off to its best start since 2017-18, when the Mavs opened the year at 8-3.

Heading into the season, Mavs fans knew all about returner Raysean Seamster and the versatility he brings. The Preseason All-WAC player has lived up to expectations, leading the Mavs in scoring (14.3 ppg), rebounding (6.8 rpg) and impacting things significantly on the defensive end. But it's a newcomer that has also been a key fixture for the Mavs in their successful start to the 2025-26 season – senior guard and Fort Worth native, Marcell McCreary.

McCreary spent four years in Colorado near the Rocky Mountains, with two years at Northern Colorado and another two at Air Force. The opportunity to come home to the Dallas Fort Worth area was very appealing as McCreary explored his options in the transfer portal and landed at UTA.

"It definitely feels good to be back in DFW," McCreary said. "Having been in Colorado all that time I kind of wanted to have my family be able to come to home games with no worries because they haven't been able to do that my whole college career. It's been good. I'm a pretty level-headed and focused kid, so there really are no distractions at home that I'm worried about."

McCreary's lead recruiter, assistant coach Derrick Obasohan, and the rest of the coaching staff had a strong rapport with McCreary and his inner circle of family and friends. McCreary's trust in his connections within that circle, and in turn their trust in the UTA staff, helped inform his decision to become a Maverick.

"I feel great that it was a great decision, not only being closer [to home], but that what the coaches told me was true and that they're making things happen the way I want it to go. They've put me in position for it to happen too."

McCreary has scored in double figures in nine of his last 10 games and is averaging 12.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 1.9 apg. Since his insertion into the starting five, a streak of 10 straight games, McCreary has been much more of a focal point offensively. He leads the Mavs in three-point field goals made (20) and is among the team leaders in percentage from distance (35.7%). He's had end-of-game plays drawn up for him, including one late at Weber State, that paid off for the Mavs when he finished inside and then hit a pair of clutch free throws to seal the win on Nov. 22.

"It kind of shows that the coaches trust me a lot," McCreary continued. "I feel like there could have been other guys in that same position if it was their day too, so I feel like the coaches trusted me at that point to be that guy. Coach told me when he was recruiting me that I was kind of going to be that guy on this team and that's what they recruited me for. They had seen that last year when I came off the bench. I scored at a pretty efficient rate. It feels good being that guy, especially with me playing well and executing, it makes it a little bit better."

That trust was on display again in the final non-conference game of the season, a road win at Oral Roberts. It was McCreary who took charge for the Mavs, seeing a 16-point second half lead trimmed to single digits in a nearly five-minute scoreless drought. It was the Fort Worth native who buried a pair of late second half triples to reset the Mavs and reestablish their double-digit lead, helping them finish off the Golden Eagles.

As a senior, and a player that is being counted on by his teammates, McCreary has fully adopted a role as a leader for the Mavs. Coaches' expectations are always heavy on seniors, and that is no different with this group as McCreary, Seamster and fellow senior Marcus Rigsby, Jr. gladly shoulder these responsibilities.

"My leadership comes from my mindset of winning," McCreary said. "I feel like that helps a lot and I feel like I'm really good at talking to people. I think I know how to come at people and have them understand it.  Not just me getting onto them - it's more like understanding where I'm coming from. A big thing for everybody is that I'm not just saying something because it does something better for me. It's better for the team so we can win. It's so in the future you don't make the same mistake. To be a good leader, you've got to be a good follower. So if someone is telling me something, I try my best to listen and take that into my game as well. I feel like we can do that on this team."

McCreary credits his father, Delton McCreary, quite a bit on fostering that development as a leader, especially at an early stage. Initially, that didn't come easily. Marcell took a back seat when he was younger until Delton stepped in and made it clear he had to become a leader. That matured over time – from a lead by example approach, where he made sure to always be putting in the extra work and trying to do the right things.

That took a major shift when he attended the Air Force Academy. That is where McCreary was able to become much more vocal as a leader.

"Even outside of basketball," McCreary continued. "It made me more social and encouraged me to be more vocal because you're in the military, so you have to actually talk. I carried that and I've brought that here. When you see me on the court, I'm probably [always] talking to somebody, whether it's on dead balls, on the bench if someone messed up or something."

That leadership has made a great difference for a team with championship aspirations. At 8-4, the Mavs are positioned very well heading into WAC play. But as head coach KT Turner has said on numerous occasions, the season is broken into three mini-seasons – the non-conference schedule, the league schedule, and then the conference tournament. So what has been accomplished in the first part is important and helps set the foundation, but now the focus for the team shifts to the seven-team Western Athletic Conference.

This season's teams play their six league opponents three times each, and with just seven total squads the opportunity to seize the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament looms. Six of the seven teams are at .500 or better through the non-conference slate. California Baptist and defending regular season champion Utah Valley each enter league play at 10-3, while Tarleton State, UTA's first league opponent, is at 9-4.

McCreary knows that to be successful in conference play, two things must be true – you need depth and you need to be able to perform well on the road. That depth is certainly there for the Mavs. McCreary posits that UTA's depth keeps other teams on their toes because there aren't just one or two players to focus on stopping. Anyone on the roster can get hot, so if the scout on everyone isn't taken seriously, opponents could be in trouble.

The success on the road? So far the Mavs are 4-3 in true road games, surpassing their win total away from the College Park Center from a year ago (three wins).

"I think the thing that separates the play in conference is the road games – I feel like the home games are what they are. But if you can get a couple of away games, especially when you might face a team twice on the road, if you get those few, it makes those home games a little easier. You've just got to have the right mindset there to win those away games and to really finish those. I think we're going to have our mind straight there to do what we need to do."

McCreary has been a huge part of UTA's early-season success. The coaches, his teammates, the fans, and MC, as he is endearingly known, look forward to continuing that success. That starts Monday night, Dec.29, at the CPC in Arlington (tickets available here), against Tarleton State.  

-- #BuckEm –

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