Dec. 17, 2008

UTA Game Notes vs. Baylor

ARLINGTON, Tx. - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS

UT Arlington is back in action tonight as they take on Baylor in Waco...the Mavericks come into the game on a 3-game losing streak after dropping a 81-68 at Marshall last Saturday...the loss dropped the Mavs to 1-4 away from home this season...the 3-game streak is the longest since a span of the same number of games from 2/14-20 last year...the last time UTA lost 4 consecutive games was part of a 5-game streak from 1/6-22/07.

AGAINST THE BEST

The Mavericks are playing their first game against a Top 25 team tonight as Baylor is 21st in the Associated Press and 24th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll...UTA is 0-15 against ranked opponents in school history with the last game coming against Memphis (No. 1 at the time) in last year's NCAA Tournament (an 87-63 loss)...the closest the Mavs have come to beating a ranked opponent was on 11/23/91 when they lost 58-57 at Utah (#14)...the last time UTA played a ranked opponent in the regular season was 12/3/05 when they lost 93-55 at No. 2 Texas.

COVERAGE

Tonight's game can been seen and heard by the following outlets...Baylor All-Access via CBS College Sports provides a live video stream for a fee which includes a radio broadcast...there is a free radio stream at www.radio.uta.edu and on SiriusXM channel 161.

UTA - BAYLOR SERIES

Tonight's game is the 12th meeting between the schools with Baylor leading the series 10-1...the Bears have won the last 4 meetings...all 11 previous games have been played in Waco...the last time the teams played was on 11/21/01 - an 88-64 Baylor win...the only win for the Mavs in the series came on 12/16/80 (94-80)...the Mavericks are 3-47 all-time against teams in the Big 12...the Mavs last game against a Big 12 team was a 69-64 loss at Oklahoma State on 12/22/07...besides the win at Baylor, UTA has also beaten Oklahoma State (69-58 on 12/3/87 at home) and Texas A&M (77-75 on 12/7/70 in College Station)...since that win at Oklahoma State, the Mavs have gone 0-20 against teams currently in the Big 12.

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 38-33 (.535)...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 5th 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 1-4 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 - MARSHALL 81, UTA 68

Tyler Wilkerson scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Marshall to an 81-68 win against UTA. Damier Pitts scored 17 points and Chris Lutz added 10 for Marshall, who shot 51.8 percent from the field (29-of-56) en route to victory. Brandon Long scored 20 points to lead the Mavericks, while Marquez Haynes added 14 and Anthony Vereen chipped in 10. The Mavericks, who led 40-37 at halftime, shot 41.4 percent for the game (24-of-58). After trading baskets back-and-forth for most of the second half, Marshall took a 66-64 lead with 5:02 left on a pair of Wilkerson free throws. The Thundering Herd went on a 15-4 run from there to close out the game.

STREAKING THE WRONG WAY IN THE LAST 3

The Mavericks have lost their last 3 games which is the team's longest losing streak of the season...they have been held to their lowest point total of the year in these games - 65, 65 and 68...during this stretch the Mavs have shot 43.3% from the field as opposed to 45.7% on the season...however on the defensive end, the opponents are shooting 53.5% in the last 3 games as opposed to 47% on the season...UTA's scoring average in the last 3 of 66.0 ppg is 10.6 ppg lower than the season total of 76.6...the Mavs have also committed 52 turnovers and had just 38 assists.

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 1,076 which is 12th on the all-time list...Brian Myers (`93-'96) is 11th at 1,084 and Mack Callier is 10th at 1,111 points.

SHARP SHOOTING VEREEN

Anthony Vereen is one of just 2 Southland Conference players to rank in the top 10 in FG percentage (.549, 10th) and FT percentage (.769, T8th)...McNeese State's Stephan Martin is the other at .591 FG% (5th) and .762 FT% (10th).

WINS AND LOSSES

There are some notable differences in key areas in the Mavericks 4 wins and 4 losses...the opponents are shooting 42.8% from the field and 27.4% from 3-point range in UTA wins but those numbers increase to 52% and 37.5% in the Mavs losses...rebounding also tells the story as the Mavs average 40.0 pg in the victories but just 31.5 in the losses...in the wins the Mavs are averaging 86.2 points per game but in the losses that average drops to 67.0 a contest...UTA's 4 lowest scoring outputs have come in the losses - 70, 65, 65 and 68.

TEAM NOTES

The Mavericks have been held under 70 points in each of the last 3 games and these are the only 3 contests of `08-'09 in which this has happened...last year the Mavs were 5-8 when scoring fewer than 70 points...the 66.0 ppg over the last 3 comes after averaging 93.5 points in their 2 previous games.

The Mavs have made at least 8 3-pointers in 4 of the last 5 games (only exception was a season-low 5 vs. Denver)...the 32% (8-25) game from 3-point range at Marshall was the lowest in the last 5 games...the team has shot 41.8% (23-55) in the last 3 games which includes a season-high 58.5% (10-17) at Montana...the 25 3-pt. attempts at Marshall was the most in the last 3 contests.

UTA made 12-18 (67%0 free throws at Marshall which snapped a streak of 5 games of shooting at least 75% from the line...during those 5 games they shot 80% (84-105)...the Mavs had been making more free throws than their opponents were attempting before the Marshall game when those numbers were 12 FTs for UTA and an opponent's season-high 31 FTAs...last year the Mavs shot just 65.5 from the line but are shooting 74.4% this season which is the top mark in the Southland.

The Mavs registered 37 rebounds at Marshall after posting an average of 25.5 rpg in the 2 previous games...UTA holds a +3 margin on the season...they outrebounded 5 of the first 6 opponents and in the last 2 games have been outrebounded by just one in each game.

The Mavericks have averaged just 13.5 assists per game in the last 4 games after recording 17.8 a contest in the first 4...UTA posted at least 20 in 2 of the first 4 games but have not had more than 16 in any of the last 4.

The Mavericks are 2-2 when holding opponents to less than 70 points...last year the team was 17-1 when doing so...the last two games have broke a 12-game winning streak when accomplishing this.

UTA has played 4 games that have been decided by 3 points or less (1-3)...last year UTA was 2-2 in games decided by 3 points or less and 7-1 in games decided 20 or more.

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.

BIG SKY COUNTRY NOT KIND TO THE MAVS

All 3 of the Mavericks losses this season have come in Big Sky country and have come by a combined 7 points - by 3 at Eastern Washington and by 2 vs. Denver and at Montana...the Mavs have one more trip to that part of the country - Jan. 3 at Utah Valley.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

UTA lost by identical scores of 67-65 two weeks ago at the Grizzly Basketball Classic...in their 1,335-game history, that was the first time the Mavs have lost consecutive games by the same score...UTA has played consecutive games that ended in the same score (68-66) just one other time in history - lost vs. Stephen F. Austin on 12/10/86 and then won on 12/12/86 vs. Nicholls...in their 50th year of basketball, this is just the 22nd time the team has scored the same number of points in consecutive games.