Dec. 22, 2008

UTA-Tulsa Game Notes

ARLINGTON, Tx. - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS UT Arlington continues its 10-game road trip tonight at Tulsa...the Mavericks will be looking to snap a pair of Tulsa winning streaks as they have won 27 consecutive non-conference games at the Reynolds Center and its last 17 home games overall...the Mavs lost to No. 21 Baylor on Saturday 79-76...the Mavericks come into the game on a 4-game losing streak after Saturday's loss...the loss dropped the Mavs to 1-5 away from home this season...the 4-game streak is the longest since a 5-game streak from 1/6-22/07.

COVERAGE Tonight's game can been heard on radio.uta.edu, kmrg.com and tulsahurricane.com.

UTA - TULSA SERIES These 2 schools are separated by only 4 hours, but this is just the 2nd time the school's have ever played...Tulsa won the only game in the series on 12/17/66 - 107-74- at Tulsa...the Mavericks are 3-27 all-time against teams in Conference USA with the last game coming at Marshall on Dec. 13 (a 81-68 loss)...UTA's wins against Conference USA have come against Rice (twice) and SMU (once).

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 38-34 (.528)...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 6th 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 1-5 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.

SECOND BEST SHOWING The Mavericks came close to winning their first-ever game against a nationally-ranked team as they lost 79-76 at Baylor Saturday...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 loss did drop the Mavs to 0-16 against nationally-ranked opponents.

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.

LAST GAME - BAYLOR 79, UTA 76 Curtis Jerrells scored 29 points and Baylor survived a scare from the Mavericks, winning 79-76. The Bears trailed 41-32 at the break, their first halftime deficit of the season, and never led by more than one point in the first half. Jerrells gave the Bears their first lead of the second half on a drive and spinning layup with 6:12 left. His jumper and another by Kevin Rogers put Baylor up 70-65, completing a 10-0 spurt -- the only sustained run for either team. Jerrells hit three of four free throws in the final minute, his only miss with 16.9 seconds left. UTA rebounded and had a chance to tie, but Anthony Vereen's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim and Baylor's Fred Ellis grabbed the rebound to seal it. Vereen scored 28 to lead the Mavs (4-5).

STREAKING THE WRONG WAY IN THE LAST 4 The Mavericks have lost their last 4 games which is the team's longest losing streak of the season...overall 4 of the 5 losses have been by 3 points or less...during this stretch the Mavs have shot 45.5% from the field as opposed to 46.2% on the season...however on the defensive end, the opponents are shooting 50.2% in the last 4 games as opposed to 46.4% on the season...UTA's scoring average in the last 4 of 68.5 ppg is 8.1 ppg lower than the season total of 76.6...the Mavs have also committed 63 turnovers and had just 54 assists.

SECOND HALF SLUMPS Over the last 3 games, the Mavs have scored more points in the first half than in the 2nd 20 minutes...during this stretch, UTA has averaged 38.3 ppg in the first half and 31.3 in the 2nd half...the reverse has been true with the opponents as they have averaged 34.3 in the first and 41.3 in the 2nd.

A CAREER NIGHT Anthony Vereen scored a career-high 28 points at Baylor...the senior has tied or set his points career-high in 2 of the last 3 games as he had 27 at Montana on Dec. 6 to tie his then career-high...he has scored 20 or more points in 3 of the last 4 games and he has averaged 21.5 ppg during this span in which he has shot 58.3% (28-48) from the field and has made 26-31 FTs (83.9%)...Vereen is the only Southland Conference players to rank in the top 10 in FG percentage (.568, 5th) and FT percentage (.786, 5th).

STEALIN' THE NIGHT AWAY Roge'r Guignard and Marquez Haynes have been recorded a good number of steals in the last 3 games...the two of them have combined for 15 steals during this span...the team has 25 in this stretch.

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 1,104 which is 11th on the all-time list...Mack Callier is 10th at 1,111 points.

WINS AND LOSSES There are some notable differences in key areas in the Mavericks 4 wins and 5 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 49.8% and 36.5% in the Mavs losses...rebounding also tells the story as the Mavs average 40.0 pg in the victories but just 31.0 in the losses...in the wins the Mavs are averaging 86.2 points per game but in the losses that average drops to 68.8 a contest...UTA had been held to its 4 lowest scoring outputs in its first 4 losses - 70, 65, 65 and 68 but the Baylor game was the first time it has scored more than 70 and lost - 76.

TEAM NOTES The Mavericks snapped a streak of being held under 70 points by scoring 76 at Baylor...in the previous 2 games before this stretch, the Mavs averaged 93.5 points per game...UTA's overall scoring average of 76.6 ppg is 5th best in the Southland.

UTA shot 50.8% from the field at Baylor which was the 2nd-highest percentage of the season (51.7% vs. HSU)...it was the 3rd game this year in which they shot better than 50% and the first time in 5 games...the Baylor loss was the first time this season the Mavs have lost when shooting at least 50% from the field.

The Mavs have tied a season-low with 5 3-pointers at Baylor (3rd time)...UTA made just 5-20 from long range (25%) which is the 2nd-lowest of the season and only the 2nd time all season they have shot less than 30% from 3-point range...in the last 2 games the Mavs have shot just 13-40 (32.5%) from long range...in the 4 games prior to this stretch they shot at least 35.7% in each of those games which included a season-high 58.8% (10-17) at Montana.

UTA made 11-13 (84.6%) free throws at Baylor...that was the 2nd best percentage of the season (85%, 17-20 vs. UTT) but was also a season-low for free throws made and attempted...the Mavs have shot at least 75% from the line in 6 of the last 7 games...prior to the last 2 games, the Mavs had been making more free throws than their opponents were attempting but in the last 2 games, UTA has made 23 FTs and the opponents have attempted 63...last year the Mavs shot just 65.5 from the line but are shooting 75.1% this season which is the top mark in the Southland.

The Mavs registered just 29 rebounds at Baylor which resulted in a -11 margin...UTA also allowed Baylor to grab 21 offensive rebounds which is a season-high for an opponent...the Mavericks have been held under 30 rebounds in 3 of the last 4 games...UTA holds a +1.4 margin on the season...they outrebounded 5 of the first 6 opponents but have been outrebounded in each of the last 3 games.

The Mavericks have averaged 14.0 assists per game in the last 5 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 6.

The Mavericks are 2-2 when holding opponents to less than 70 points...last year the team was 17-1 when doing so.

UTA has played 5 games that have been decided by 3 points or less (1-4)...last year UTA was 2-2 in games decided by 3 points or less and 7-1 in games decided 20 or more.

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.