Dec. 27, 2008

ARLINGTON, Tx. -

UTA Game Notes

A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS UT Arlington continues its 10-game road trip tonight with a "local derby" at North Texas...the Mavericks come into the game 4-6 after dropping their fifth consecutive game 88-79 at Tulsa last Tuesday...the loss dropped the Mavs to 1-6 away from home this season...the 5-game losing streak is the longest since one of the same length from 1/6-22/07...the last time the Mavericks lost 6 consecutive games was part of a 7-game streak from 2/4-23/02.

COVERAGE The game can bee seen in the Metroplex on KTXA-21...George Dunham and Doug Anderson call the action...the game can also be heard in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area on 100.7 FM.

UTA - NORTH TEXAS SERIES These former Southland Conference rivals are meeting for the 49th time and North Texas leads the series 28-20 but the Mavs have won the last 4 meetings dating back to the 1995-96 season...UTA won the last game 72-64 on 11/20/07 at Texas Hall in Arlington...the last time the Mavericks lost to UNT was on 2/11/95 (80-71) in Denton...UNT leads the series 17-7 in games played in Denton...the 4-game winning streak over UNT is the longest in the series by UTA.

UTA vs. THE SUN BELT Tonight's game is the 182nd for UTA against a current member of the Sun Belt Conference...the Mavs are 55-127 against these teams...the Mavericks lost earlier this year to Denver (67-65) at the Grizzly Basketball Classic in Missoula, Mt....the 181 previous games against the Sun Belt are the most for the Mavs against any conference other than the Southland.

SUCCESS NEVER RESTS The Mavericks (38) and UNT (51) have won more games than any other NCAA team in the Metroplex since the start of the 2006-07 season...they are also the only two DFW schools to make the NCAA Tournament since 1998.

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 38-35 (.521)...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 7th 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 1-6 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 - TULSA 88, UT ARLINGTON 79 Ben Uzoh scored 16 of his 25 points in the first half to lead Tulsa to a 88-79 victory over UT Arlington last Tuesday. Although Tulsa (8-4) never trailed, UTA kept within striking distance by hitting 10 three-pointers, including five of eight treys by Brandon Long, who led the Mavericks with 22 points. Glenn Andrews added 20 points for the Golden Hurricane, who had five players in double figures. Tulsa was leading 57-46 when center Jerome Jordan picked up his fourth foul. In Jordan's absence, the Mavericks (4-6) cut the lead to four at 63-59 with 7:90 left in the game. After Jordan returned with 3:33 remaining, the Golden Hurricane widened the lead to 75-65, but UTA wasn't done yet. The Mavericks came within five at 78-73 with 1:25 left, but that was as close as they would get.

VEREEN SHARES CONFERENCE HONOR THIS WEEK Anthony Vereen shared the Southland Conference's men's basketball player of the week award this week after registering a career-high 28 points at Baylor on Dec. 20...Vereen shared the award with Northwestern State's Devin White. Both players received the same number of votes in this week's voting...this is the first honor of the year for Vereen and for UT Arlington...each school's SID nominates and votes for the players of the week.

STREAKING THE WRONG WAY IN THE LAST 5 The Mavericks have lost their last 5 games which is the team's longest losing streak of the season (overall 4 of the 6 losses have been by 3 points or less)...during this stretch the Mavs have shot 45.1% from the field as opposed to 46.0% on the season...however on the defensive end, the opponents are shooting 52.3% in the last 5 games as opposed to 47.8% on the season...UTA's scoring average in the last 5 of 70.6 ppg is 6.2 ppg lower than the season total of 76.8.

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 51.6% and 37.1% in the Mavs losses...rebounding also tells the story as the Mavs average 40.0 pg in the victories but just 30.0 in the losses...in the wins the Mavs are averaging 86.2 points per game but in the losses that average drops to 70.5 a contest.

A TALE OF 2 HALVES The Mavs have been averaging more points in the first half (38.8) than in the second half (33.3) over the last 4 games...UTA has scored 40 or more points in the first half 7 times...the reverse has been true for the opponents as during this same stretch they have averaged 36.5 in the first half and 42.3 in the second...Tulsa scored a season-high for an UTA opponent 88 points.

1-2 PUNCH Anthony Vereen (17.8) and Brandon Long (15.7) are just one of 2 Southland teammates to rank in the top 10 in scoring in the conference...Stephen F. Austin's Josh Alexander (17.5) and Matt Kingsley (15.0) are the others...Vereen is the only Southland Conference players to rank in the top 10 in FG percentage (.553, 5th) and FT percentage (.787, 6th).

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 1,123 which is 10th on the all-time list...Jermaine Griffin is 9th at 1,218 points.

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.

TEAM NOTES The Mavericks have averaged 77.5 ppg in the last 2 contests which are the only 2 times they have scored 70 or more points and lost this season...this average comes after being held to less than 70 in 3 consecutive games (66.0 ppg)...UTA's overall scoring average of 76.8 ppg is 5th best in the Southland.

UTA shot 43.8% from the field at Tulsa which marked the 3rd time in the last 4 games they have shot less than 44%...during this current losing streak, the team has shot better than 47% just once - 50.8% at Baylor (which is the 2nd-highest percentage of the season)...the Mavs are 5th in the Southland Conference at 46.0% from the field.

After tying a season-low with 5 3-pointers at Baylor, the Mavs made 10 at Tulsa which is the 4th time this season they have reached double figures in 3-pointers (2-2 in these games)...last year the team was 4-1 when making at least 10 3-pointers...UTA had made just 13 3's in its previous 2 games before the Tulsa contest...the Mavericks average 7.7 3-pointers per game which is 4th in the Southland.

The Mavericks had attempted at least 20 free throws in each of the first 6 games but have not reached 20 FTAs in the last 4 games...in the first 6 games they averaged 17.3-23.3 FTs but in the last 4 those numbers drop to 12.8-17.0 FTs...the Mavs shot just 68.4% (13-19) at Tulsa and have not shot at least 75% from the line in 6 of the last 8 games...prior to the last 3 games, the Mavs had been making more free throws than their opponents were attempting but during this span, UTA has made 36 FTs and the opponents have attempted 79...last year the Mavs shot just 65.5 from the line but are shooting 74.5% this season which is the top mark in the Southland.

The Mavs were outrebounded by a season-low -15 margin at Tulsa (40-25)...the 25 rebounds tied a season-low (vs. Denver)...the Mavericks have been held under 30 rebounds in 4 of the last 5 games...UTA's margin on the season is -0.2...they outrebounded 5 of the first 6 opponents but have been outrebounded in each of the last 4 games.

The Mavericks have registered 16 assists in each of the last 2 games which comes after averaging 13.5 in the 4 previous games...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...UTA is 4th in the conference with a season's average of 15.7. TEAM NOTES, cont.

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 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.