Dec. 3, 2008

UTA Game Notes vs. Denver

ARLINGTON, Tx. - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS UT Arlington comes into tonight's game 4-1 after a 88-74 road win at Houston Baptist last Saturday...tonight's game is the only neutral site game of the regular season for the Mavericks...a victory this evening would give the Mavs a 3-game winning streak which would be their longest of the season...a 3-game streak would be its longest since last year's Southland Conference Tournament when they also won 3 consecutive games...dating back to last season, the Mavericks are 5-3 in their last 8 games away from home.

UTA - DENVER SERIES Tonight's game is just the 4th all-time meeting between UTA and Denver...DU leads the series 2-1 with all of those games being played in Denver...the last time the schools met was 12/12/77 with Denver winning 108-102...the only win in the series for UTA was a 99-87 overtime victory on 1/10/76...the only other meeting was just 2 days earlier on 1/8/76 (a 111-85 DU win).

GRIZZLY BASKETBALL CLASSIC The Mavericks are participating in this weekend's Grizzly Basketball Classic in Missoula...Denver and Montana played Thursday and tomorrow night UTA plays Montana in the round-robin format.

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 38-30 (.559)...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 2nd 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, Montana, Huntington, West Virginia, Waco, Texas and Orem, Utah 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 1-1 this season.

MORE ON THE "BIG TRIP" 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.

COVERAGE Tonight's game can be listened to the following website via the Denver athletics website at www.denverpioneers.com

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.

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 - UTA 88, HOUSTON BAPTIST 74 Brandon Long and Marquez Haynes each registered season-highs with 20 and 18 points respectively to lead UT Arlington to an 88-74 victory over Houston Baptist. The victory was the first road win of the early season for the Mavericks who improved to 1-1 away from Texas Hall. The Mavericks jumped out quickly in the second half opening up as much as an 11-point lead in the first five minutes. HBU cut that lead to six at 53-47 on consecutive possessions before the Mavs turned up their defense and went on a 12-2 run to go up by 16 at 65-49. The lead got as big as 18 and was never less than 11 the rest of the game.

QUOTING HEAD COACH Scott Cross "We told the players at halftime that every possession counted and we really picked up our defense in the second half. They forced us to make outside shots and we were able to make some. Road wins are always tough to come by and we were fortunate to get one."

BROWN NAMED ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH UT Arlington men's basketball head coach Scott Cross announced Tuesday that he has promoted assistant coach Reggie Brown to associate head coach of the program. "Reggie has been my `right hand man' for the last three years and he is deserving of this recognition," said Cross. "He had as much to do with our success last year as anyone. He has been instrumental in the recruiting process of many of the players that helped us advance to the NCAA Tournament and we are fortunate to have him on our team." Brown, who played for the Mavericks from 1993-97, is in his seventh season as an assistant coach at his alma mater.

TEAM NOTES The Mavericks made a season-high 11 3-pointers at Houston Baptist after making 10 in their previous game vs. UT Tyler...last year the team made 10 or more 3's just 5 times and went 4-1 in those games (2-0 this season)...the Mavs also attempted 28 3's in each of the last 2 games which are a season-high...that is more than in any game last year...in the last 4 games, the team has averaged 25 3-pt. field goal attempts.

UTA shot a season-low 42.3% (30-71) from the field at HBU...last year the team was just 2-6 when shooting 42% or lower...the 42.3% mark came after the team's 2nd 50%+ game (50.7%) vs. UT Tyler.

The Mavericks have averaged 93.5 ppg in the last 2 games after averaging 72.0 ppg in their 2 previous games...UTA entered the week as one of just 5 Southland Conference teams scoring more than 80 points per game (3rd, 83.0 ppg).

UTA has made 34-of-41 (82.9%) free throws in the last 2 games to boost their season average to 74.1%...that is the best mark in the Southland Conference...last year the team shot just 65.5% from the line.

The Mavericks got on the boards vs. Houston Baptist as they registered season-highs with 18 offensive, 30 defensive and 48 total rebounds...in the last 2 games, UTA has averaged 44.5 rpg...last year the team hauled in 40 or more rebounds 9 times and went 7-2 in those games...the Mavericks have been hitting the boards in the last 3 games as they have averaged a +10.7 advantage...in the first 2 games of the season that margin was a -4.0.

After averaging 16.7 turnovers per game in the first 3 games, UTA committed a season-low 7 vs. UT Tyler...last year the team had single digits in turnovers only once - 9 at TAMCC on 1/26.

UTA is 2-0 when holding its opponents to 70 points or less (17-1 last year when doing so).

The Mavericks shot 50.7% from the field vs. UT Tyler marking the 2nd time this season they have shot better than 50%...going back to last year, the Mavs have accomplished this in 10 of their last 13 games.

The first 5 games of the season have proven to be close or not close for the Mavericks...UTA defeated Hardin-Simmons by 20, UT Tyler by 32 and hBU by 14 but the other 2 games were decided by 3 points...last year UTA was 2-2 in games decided by 3 points or less and 7-1 in games decided 20 or more.

The Mavericks have made 66 field goals in the last 2 games (36 and 30)...the team has made at least 30 or more field goals 3 times in the first 5 games...last year they did so in just 8 games and went 7-1 in those games (3-0 this season)...UTA did not make 30 or more field goals in 3 consecutive games last year.