Men's Basketball
Marquez Haynes, who scored a career-high 26 points at Utah Valley, leads the Mavs into the UT Pan American game Wednesday. |
MAVERICKS CONTINUE ROAD TRIP AT UT PAN AMERICAN
Jan. 6, 2009
ARLINGTON, Tx. - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS UT Arlington continues its 10-game road trip tonight at UT Pan American...the Mavericks come into the game 6-6 after a 75-64 victory at Utah Valley last Saturday...UTA has won its last 2 games which matches its longest winning streak of the season (accomplished twice before)...the Mavericks are now back at .500 for the first time since Dec. 20 when they dropped to 4-5...tonight's game is the final game of the non-conference season for the Mavs as they start conference play Saturday at Texas State (Jan. 10).
LOOKING FOR THREE IN A ROW With a victory over UTPA, the Mavericks will post a season best 3-game winning streak...all 3 wins would be road wins and the last time UTA won 3 consecutive road games was in 2003-04 when they won 4 consecutive.
COVERAGE The game can followed via the GameTracker system at utamavs.com.
UTA - UT PAN AMERICAN SERIES This is the 26th meeting between the schools...UTPA leads the series 16-9 but the Mavericks have won 7 of the last 9 meetings including the last one on 2/5/08 in Arlington (71-68)...UTPA leads the series in games played in Edinburg 10-2...the Broncs won the last game played in Edinburg - 74-73 on 11/27/06...UTPA is a member of the Great West Conference but is playing as an independent in `08-'09...this is the second of 2 consecutive games against teams from this conference as the Mavs played at Utah Valley last Saturday...earlier this year, UTA won at Houston Baptist (W, 88-74) another team in the Great West.
CONFERENCE SEASON GETS STARTED THIS WEEK Following this Wednesday's game at UT Pan American, the Mavericks get into Southland Conference play...UTA begins the league season at Texas State on Saturday...the Mavs are the defending Southland Conference Tournament champions...UTA was picked to win the Western Division of the conference at the preseason media day.
MAVERICKS HEAD COACH Scott Cross Scott Cross is in his 3rd season as the head coach at UT Arlington...he has a career coaching record of 40-35 (.533)...Cross led the Mavericks to their first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2008 after winning the Southland Conference Tournament...in 2008 he led his team to a school-record 21 victories and his team completed a school record 17-game home winning streak (3 games in `07 and the first 14 of `08)...a 1998 graduate of UT Arlington, Cross was a 2-time Academic All-American at his alma mater where he lettered 3 times from 1995-98.
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD Tonight's game is the 9th of 10 consecutive games away from home for the Mavericks...UTA will play 9 road games and one neutral site game during this stretch which includes games in Missoula, Mt., Huntington, Wv., Waco, Tx. and Orem, Ut. to name a few...their next home game is Jan. 14 vs. Lamar...this is the longest such stretch in program history which is in its 50th season...last year the Mavs were 7-9 away from Texas Hall (4-8 on the road and 3-1 in neutral games) and are 3-6 this season...this 10-game stretch away from home will take the Mavericks on a journey that will span 4,428 miles...the trip to Missoula is the longest in this span at 1,319 miles while the shortest is 33 miles to Denton, Texas to play North Texas...UTA also played at Eastern Washington last month which was a 1,476-mile trip.
LAST GAME - UT ARLINGTON 75, UTAH VALLEY 64 Marquez Haynes scored a career-high 26 points to lead UTA to a 75-64 win over Utah Valley. Brandon Long and Roge'r Guignard added 14 points each for the Mavericks, who led 36-27 at halftime. The Wolverines (7-6) cut the lead to 52-49 on a 3-pointer by Taylor Brown with just over 11 minutes remaining. But UTA's Trey Parker made a layup and Guignard followed with a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach. Guignard scored nine points in the final 4:20 of the game. Ryan Toolson led Utah Valley with 17 points, while Brett Ravenberg finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Toolson, the nation's third-leading scorer, was held to 2-of-9 shooting in the first half and was 6-of-16 for the game.
THREE FOR THE SHOW UTA is the only Southland Conference team to have 3 players in the top 10 in scoring with Anthony Vereen (17.1, 4th), Brandon Long (15.5, 7th) and Marquez Haynes (15.3, 8th)...Stephen F. Austin's Josh Alexander (16.4, 5th) and Matt Kingsley (14.4, 10th) are the only other teammates to appear in the top 10...Vereen is the only Southland Conference player to rank in the top 10 in FG percentage (.563, 5th) and FT percentage (.786, 8th).
STAYING PUT While the Mavericks continue their 10-game trip, one thing they can look forward to is playing in Texas for the next few weeks...UTA's next 8 games will be played in the state with the next out-of-state game coming on Feb. 7 at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La.
30 EQUALS SUCCESS The Mavs have made 30 field goals in each of the last 2 and in 3 of the last 4 games...they have done this in 6 games this season and are 5-1 in those games.
WINS AND LOSSES There are some notable differences in key areas in the Mavericks 6 wins and 6 losses...the opponents are shooting 42.4% from the field and 29.1% from 3-point range in UTA wins but those numbers increase to 51.6% and 37.1% in the Mavs losses...rebounding also tells the story as the Mavs average 37.8 pg in the victories but just 30.0 in the losses...in the wins the Mavs are averaging 83.3 points per game but in the losses that average drops to 70.5 a contest.
Anthony Vereen MOVING UP THE CHARTS Earlier this season Anthony Vereen became the 18th player in school history to score 1,000 career points...he comes into tonight's game with 1,150 which is 10th on the all-time list...Jermaine Griffin is 9th at 1,218 points.
TEAM NOTES The Mavericks have averaged 77.5 points in their last 4 games which comes after a stretch of 3 games in which the team averaged just 66.0 per game...UTA is 4-0 when scoring 80 or more points this season and dating back to last year, the Mavericks are 12-3 when they score 80 or more...UTA's overall scoring average of 76.9 ppg is 5th in the Southland.
UTA has shot better than 50% in the last 2 and in 3 of the last 4 games after shooting 54.4% (30-55) at UVU...the Mavs shot a season-high 55.6% at UNT...the Mavs have shot 50% or better 5 times in `08-'09 and have won all of those games...UTA has won 9 of its last 10 games dating back to last year in which they have shot at least 50% from the field...the Mavs are 3rd in the Southland Conference at 47.5% from the field.
While the Mavericks were shooting better than 50% from the field in recent games, they have not been making as many 3-pointers...they have made just 16 in the last 3 games combined in which they have made 30 field goals...UTA is 3-3 when they make 6 or fewer 3's...conversely, the team is 2-2 when they make at least 10 3's and 6-3 dating back to last year when doing so...the Mavericks average 7.4 3-pointers per game which is 4th in the Southland.
The Mavericks came off a season-low 15-25 (60%) game at UNT to make a season best 9-10 (905) at UVU...however both of those numbers were season lows for the Mavs...UTA has attempted fewer than 20 free throws in 5 of the last 6 games...last year the Mavs shot just 65.5 from the line but are shooting 73.7% this season which is the 2nd best mark in the Southland.
The Mavs have posted a positive number in rebounding margins the last 2 games after not accomplishing this in the 4 previous games...UTA allowed an opponents season-high 31 defensive rebounds at Tulsa but have allowed the same amount in the last 2 games combines...UTA's margin on the season is +0.5.
The Mavericks registered a season-low tying 11 assists at UVU...the Mavs have registered more than 16 assists just once in the last 8 games (17 at UNT)...UTA is 5th in the conference with a season's average of 15.4.
UTA has been taking care of the basketball in the last few games...the team has averaged just 10.8 tpg in the last 4 games which included a season-low tying 7 at Tulsa...UTA has the 4th-lowest number of turnovers in the Southland at 169.
The Mavericks had 11 steals at UVU which was the 2nd best total of the season and have 20 in the last 2 games.
The Mavs registered a season-high 3 blocks at UNT...after having just 9 in the first 9 games, they have recorded 7 in the last 3 games.
The Mavericks are 3-2 when holding opponents to less than 70 points...last year the team was 17-1 when doing so.
UTA has played 5 games decided by 3 points or less (1-4)...last year UTA was 2-2 in games decided by 3 points or less and 7-1 in games decided 20 or more.
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