Nov. 20, 2008
Eastern Washington Game Notes 
UT ARLINGTON (2-0) at EASTERN WASHINGTON (1-1)
Game #3 - Road Game #1
Saturday, November 22 - 9 p.m. CT
Reese Court - Cheney, WA
A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS
UT Arlington hits the road for the first time 2008-09 as they play at Eastern Washington...UTA comes into the game with a 2-0 record which is only the 3rd 2-0 start in the last 15 years (the Mavs also began the season 2-0 in 2007-08 and in 2000-01)...last year the Mavs began the season 8-0.
UTA - EWU SERIES
Tonight's game is the 2nd meeting between the schools...EWU won the only previous meeting 80-62 on 2/19/87 in Cheney.
COVERAGE
Audio of tonight's game can be found at www.bigskytv.com.
MAVERICKS HEAD COACH Scott Cross
Cross is in his 3rd season as the head coach at UT Arlington...he has a career coaching record of 36-29 (.553)...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.
WEARING BLUE
Tonight's game is the first of 11 road games out of the next 12 overall games for the Mavericks...their last non-conference home game is Tuesday, Nov. 25 vs. UT Tyler...following that contest UTA plays 10 games away from Texas Hall...that will be the longest such stretch in program history which is in its 50th season.
IN THE POLLS
UTA once again received votes on the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major poll that was released Monday...the Mavericks received 25 votes which placed them 36th in the poll...UTA also garnered votes in the same poll's preseason rankings...last year the team UTA received 5 collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 rankings.
FINAL FOUR COMING TO MAVERICKS HOMETOWN
The NCAA announced on Wednesday the 2014 Men's Final Four will be played at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington...the stadium, which is about a mile from UTA's campus, opens in 2009 for the Cowboys and will also host the 2010 NBA All-Star game...the Dallas/Ft. Worth area last hosted the Final Four in 1986 at Reunion Arena.
LAST GAME - UTA 74, TEXAS WESLEYAN 71
Two defensive stops late in the game and a missed 3-point attempt at the buzzer by a former Maverick gave UT Arlington a 74-71 victory over Texas Wesleyan on Tuesday night at Texas Hall...Junior guard Brandon Long led the Mavericks in scoring for the 2nd straight game with 19 points, including 4-10 from 3-point range...after Long's 7th field goal gave the Mavs a 4-point lead, 72-68, with 1:54 remaining, UT Arlington put together 2 consecutive defensive stops which helped lead to the victory...Junior J.D. Davis gave the Mavericks their first defensive stop with a blocked shot on a Chris Berry jumper in the lane, and then Tommy Moffitt ended another potential scoring opportunity for the Rams with a key defensive rebound to hold the Mavericks' 4-point lead with 13 seconds remaining.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Scott Cross
"We did some good things in the game, but obviously rebounding was a huge problem for us and we need to fix that no question. There are a lot of things we need to work on to get to the next level. You have to give credit to Texas Wesleyan, they are a top 20 program in NAIA, and they are a very good basketball team."
LONG LEADS THE WAY, AGAIN
Brandon Long, who had his 2007-08 season cut short to 9 games due to a thumb injury, picked up right where he left off as he has led the Mavericks in scoring in each of the first 2 games. He had 19 points against TWU after scoring 18 in the season-opener...Long scored in double figures in 7 of his 9 games last year and had more than 18 points only once (19 vs. Texas Southern on 11/14/07).
THE DAILY DOUBLE, SO FAR
Brandon Long and Anthony Vereen have been the only 2 Mavs to score in double figures in each of the first 2 games...they lead the team with an 18.5 and 16.0 ppg average respectively...that combined 34.5 ppg accounts for 43.7% of UTA's scoring - 34.5 of 79.0.
THREE-DOT DATA
One of the keys of a good team is making more free throws than their opponents attempt and UTA kept that trend going after Tuesday's game...heading into tonight's action they have made 35 while the opponents have attempted 26...After shooting 51.7% (31-60) from the field in the season-opener, the Mavericks slipped back to 46.2% (24-52) against TWU...going back to last year, the Mavs have shot better than 50% in 5 of their last 7 regular season games...the UTA defense recorded its best game Tuesday holding TWU to just 37.9% from the field and in the 2 games to open the season have registered a 39.2% FG defense...this number continues a trend from last year when the Mavs opponents shot just 40.1%...guard Jeremy Smith played in 30 games last year and had 43 assists...in the first 2 games of the season he already has 13...Boston College transfer Marquez Haynes is off to a fast start rebounding as he leads the team at 6.0 a contest...he is also averaging 9.0 ppg.
