Dec. 5, 2009

UTA GAME NOTES VS. SIU-EDWARDSVILLE

Des Moines, Iowa - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS UT Arlington takes on SIU-Edwardsville Saturday night for the championship of the Drake Hy-Vee Classic...the Mavericks defeated North Dakota 75-65 Friday to improve to 4-2 on the season and to notch their 3rd consecutive victory which is a season-high...tonight's game is the 3rd of 4 consecutive on the road and the final contest of 3 games in 6 nights right before Finals Week.

COVERAGE The SIU-E game, and all UTA men's games home and away, will be carried live on utamavs.com...the "Voice of the Mavericks", Pete Tenney will be joined by Associate AD Gregg Elkin on the broadcast...Gametracker is also available via utamavs.com.

UTA - SIU-E SERIES Tonight's game is the first-ever meeting between the schools.

MAVERICKS HEAD COACH Scott Cross Scott Cross is in his 4th season as the head coach at UT Arlington...he has a career coaching record of 54-45 (.545)...he has a career SLC regular season record of 24-24 and 3-2 in the conference tournament...he is 0-0 vs. SIU-E...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)...Cross has reached 50 wins faster than any coach in school history (90th game)...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.

CROSS TO HIT CENTURY MARK THIS WEEKEND UTA head coach Scott Cross will be coaching his 100th career game this evening...the head coach also turned 35 two days ago.

LAST GAME - UT ARLINGTON 75, NORTH DAKOTA 65 - Dec. 4, 2009 Marquez Haynes had 22 points and Brandon Long had 18 points and 9 rebounds to lead UTA past North Dakota 75-65 Friday in the first round of the Drake Hy-Vee Classic. Armani Williams added 14 points for the Mavericks (4-2). Haynes and Williams had three 3-pointers each and Long had two. Dustin Monsebroten had 19 points, including 10 of 11 free throws, to lead the Fighting Sioux (1-7). Travis Mertens had 14 points and nine rebounds, and Nick Haugen added 11 points. After trailing 34-30 at the half, the Mavericks held North Dakota to just four field goals in the first 16 minutes of the second period. They forced 13 turnovers and made up points at the free-throw line by sinking 17 of 19 in the final 20 minutes.

LONG BACK ON TRACK AND NEARING 1,000 After being held to a season-low 3 points vs. Eastern Washington, Brandon Long has averaged 21.3 points per game over the last 3 games after scoring 18 points last night...he has shot 52% (22-43) from the field and made 10-22 3FGs (45.5%)...his 18 points against North Dakota gives him 995 for his career...he needs just 5 to become just the 20th player in UTA history to reach 1,000 career points...his 10 field goals in the HBU game were a career-high and the 27 points was just one off his career-high set earlier this season vs. North Texas...Long added a career-high 9 rebounds in the UND game.

TAKE CARE The Mavericks have not been prone to turnovers recently...in the last 3 games the team has committed just 25 turnovers (8.3 tpg)...this is the first time in over 2 seasons the team has gone 3 consecutive games with less than 10 turnovers...the Mavericks lead the Southland Conference in turnover margin with a +6.0 mark...their average of 12.0 per game is the lowest in the league.

MAKING THEIR MARK FROM THE LINE The Mavericks had a season-high night at the free throw line vs. North Dakota...the team posted season-highs of 24-31 for another season-high percentage of 77.4%...in the first 2 games of the season, the Mavericks were outscored from the foul line by a 71-40 margin...in the last 4 games that has reversed as the Mavs hold a 74-53 advantage during that span.

FROM LONG RANGE The Mavericks attempted a season-high 29 3-point field goals last night (made 9)...UTA has attempted at least 20 3-pointers in 5 of the 6 games this season...the Mavs had increased their 3-point shooting percentage in each game this season but the 31% game vs. UND broke that string.

MAVS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE FROM FIELD The Mavericks were one of the better shooting teams in the Southland Conference last year at 47.1% from the field...however this season the Mavs are at 41.3%...UTA shot just 33.3% last night which was a season-low and the first time the Mavs had shot less than 40% in a game this year.

RESERVES STEP UP BUT STARTERS STILL PROVIDING SCORING LOAD UTA starters have scored 379 of the Mavs 480 points this season...that comes to 79% of the team's scoring...Haynes and Long have accounted for 54% of the team's scoring total themselves...however, the Mavs 16 bench points last night was a season-high...Armani Williams 14 points off the bench vs. UND was a season-high for a UTA reserve this year.

HAYNES LEADS TEAM IN SCORING AGAIN Marquez Haynes led the team in scoring last night with 22 points...that was the 4th time in 6 contests in which he has scored at least 20 points...he comes into tonight's game with a scoring average of 25.0 ppg...Haynes has the distinction of shooting better from 3-point range (52.8%) than he does overall (46.2%)...his 2-point field goal percentage is just 42.6%...he did make 9-11 from the line last night.

ON THE BOARDS The Mavericks were outrebounded in the first 3 games of the season but have had a +3 margin in the last two games...UTA comes into tonight's contest at a -3.2 margin on the season...last year UTA held a +1.4 margin in rebounding.

BLOCK PARTY Trey Parker had 2 blocks at HBU and now has 87 for his career...he is now in 2nd place on the school's all-time block list, trailing only Jermaine Griffin (2004-08) leads the list with 145.

NEW HOME FOR MAVERICKS The UT System Board of Regents approved funding for UTA's Special Events Center on Feb. 12, 2009...the new home of the Mavericks men's, women's basketball and volleyball teams is expected to open for the 2012-13 season...the new arena is expected to seat 6,650 for basketball.

TEXAS HALL HAS BEEN GOOD FOR THE MAVS The Mavericks are 2-2 at home this year after going 9-2 at Texas Hall last year...over the last 2+ seasons the Mavs are 25-7 at Texas Hall...UTA will play 16 home games this season after playing just 11 last year.

CROSS NETS 50TH WIN FASTER THAN ANY OTHER UTA COACH Mavericks head coach Scott Cross earned his 50th career victory with the win over Sam Houston on 2/28/09...it took Cross 90 games to earn his 50 wins and that is the fastest any UTA coach in history has reached this milestone...other UTA coaches to win at least 50 games won their 50th in the following game number - Eddie McCarter (121), Bob LeGrand (123), Barry Dowd (135), Mark Nixon (106) and Tom Tinker (154).