Nov. 24, 2008
UT Tyler Gamenotes 
A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS
UT Arlington returns home to host its final non-conference home game of the `08-'09 season tonight as they play UT Tyler...the Mavericks come into the game 2-1 after dropping its first game of the season at Eastern Washington last Saturday (73-70)...following tonight's game UTA plays its next 10 games away from home with the next home contest coming on Jan. 14 vs. Lamar.
UTA - UTT SERIES
Tonight's game is the 4th meeting between the schools...UTA has won all 3 previous meetings with the last meeting coming on 11/11/06 with the Mavericks winning 87-59 (all previous meetings have been at UTA)...UTT is the 2nd team from the American Southwest Conference UTA is playing this season as they defeated Hardin Simmons 84-64 on Nov. 15.
NEXT GAME
The Mavericks begin the first of 10 consecutive games away from home with a contest at Houston Baptist on Saturday, Nov. 29. It will be the first meeting between the teams since 1982...UTA leads the series 11-6 but the series is tied 4-4 in games played in Houston.
NIFTY 50
The 2008-09 season is the 50th of Mavericks basketball...the first season was 1959-60 and the first coach was Tom Tinker and the team went 6-18 in that season.
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 36-30 (.545)...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 WHITE FOR THE LAST TIME IN A LONG TIME
Tonight's game is the last home game for the Mavericks until Jan. 14...following tonight's game UTA plays 10 games away from Texas Hall (road games and one neutral site game)...that will be 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).
IN THE POLLS
UTA once again received votes on the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major poll that was released last 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 Nov. 19 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 - EASTERN WASHINGTON 73, UTA 70
A 3-point shot at the buzzer by Jeremy Smith rimmed out as Eastern Washington defeated UT Arlington 73-70. Despite Anthony Vereen's 19 points and 12 rebounds, the Eagles were able to win their home-opener in large part to a game-high 28 points from Benny Valentine. The game went back and forth with a total of 18 lead changes and 12 ties. The Mavericks (2-1) finished the game shooting 5-22 from long range (23 percent), but were kept in the game until the end with a 77 percent shooting effort (17-of-22) from the charity stripe. With the score tied at 69 and 1:51 remaining to play, Valentine made a 3-pointer to give the Eagles (2-1) the lead for good. UT Arlington managed to pull within 2 points with 9 seconds remaining on a 3-pointer from junior Brandon Long.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Scott Cross
"I thought our guys played hard. I was pleased that we came out and battled. We didn't hit as many shots from the outside as we typically do, but we knew coming into this that there would be days when it would be hard to have shots fall, and I think tonight was one of those."
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).
THREE-DOT DATA
After a 20-point win in the season opener vs. Hardin Simmons, the Mavericks have found themselves in close games in the last 2 contests...each of those have been decided by 3 points...last year the team was 2-2 in such games...UTA was 17-1 last year when holding its opponents under 70 points (only loss was 69-64 at Oklahoma State)...this season the team allowed 64 in the season opener and then has allowed 70 and 73 in the last 2 games...After attempting 19 3-point shots in the first game of the season vs. Hardin Simmons, the Mavericks have attempted 22 in each of the last 2 games...along those same lines, the team has made 24 field goals in each of the last 2 games...The Mavericks had 12 steals in their first game but have recorded just 4 in each of the last 2 games.
SIGNING DAY
The UT Arlington men's basketball program and head coach Scott Cross announced the signing of Jordan Reves to a National Letter of Intent. Reves, a 6-foot-10, 225 pound senior from Louisville, Ky., averaged 11 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots per game as a junior at Jeffersontown High School, which is the No. 2 ranked team in the largest classification in the state of Kentucky.
