Mavs take on No. 11 Michigan State Wednesday

Dec. 28, 2009

Arlington, Texas - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS UT Arlington plays for the first time in 8 days as they travel to East Lansing, Mich. to take on the 11th ranked Michigan State Spartans...the Mavericks enter the game 5-4 after defeating Texas Wesleyan 101-85 on Dec. 22...the victory snapped a 2-game losing streak for the Mavs.

COVERAGE The Michigan State game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network with Tom Hamilton calling the play-by-play...the 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 Gregg Elkin on the broadcast...Gametracker is also available via utamavs.com.

UTA - MICHIGAN STATE SERIES Tonight's game is first meeting between the 2 schools...this is the first time the Mavericks are playing a team that played for the national championship the previous year.

AGAINST THE BEST The Mavericks are playing their first game of the season against a Top 25 team tonight as Michigan State is 11th in the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls...UTA is 0-16 against ranked opponents in school history with the last game coming at No. 21/24 Baylor on 12/20/08 (a 79-76 loss)...the closest the Mavs have come to beating a ranked opponent was on 11/23/91 when they lost 58-57 at #14 Utah.

AGAINST THE BIG TEN The Mavs are 0-6 vs. the Big 10 going 0-2 vs. Ohio State and 0-1 vs. Illinois, Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin...the last game against a Big Ten opponent was on 11.20.99 at Minnesota (L, 90-62).

UTA-MICHIGAN STATE CONNECTIONS UT Arlington President James D. Spaniolo came to Arlington from Michigan State where he served as the dean of the university's College of Communication Arts and Sciences...as dean from 1996-2003, he oversaw an enrollment increase of more than 1,000 students and helped establish the James H. and Mary B. Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law by raising more than $3.5 million...President Spaniolo is in attendance this evening.

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 55-47 (.539)...he has a career SLC regular season record of 24-24 and 3-2 in the conference tournament...he is 0-2 vs. nationally-ranked opponents...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.

LAST GAME - UT ARLINGTON 101, TEXAS WESLEYAN 85 - Dec. 22, 2009 - Arlington, Texas Marquez Haynes scored 31 points to lead four players in double figures as UT Arlington defeated Texas Wesleyan 101-85. Brandon Long had 17 while Armani Williams and Cameron Catlett had career-highs of 15 and 14 respectively. The Mavericks used a hot shooting hand the entire game to build a 22-point halftime lead and never held a lead of less than 15 in the second half. UT Arlington made its first 13 field goals in the game, which included seven three-pointers, as they held a 67-45 lead at halftime. The Mavericks finished the half shooting 71% making 19-of-27 from the field. They finished the game shooting 58.9%.

MAVS FRONT LINE THIN Senior forward Tommy Moffitt, who is the Mavericks leading rebounder at 7.7 per game, will be out another at least another month after breaking his left foot in the North Dakota game on Dec. 4...the 6-5 senior underwent surgery earlier this month...junior forward Trey Parker is scheduled to be held out until the conference season starts on Jan. 9 as he continues to build strength in his left knee that was operated on in the spring...Parker is in uniform tonight and available to play if an emergency.

HAYNES ON HIS WAY TO SCHOOL HISTORY Senior guard Marquez Haynes led the Mavericks with 31 points vs. Texas Wesleyan...that was his 4th game of 30 or more points in a game this season...he is now one of 4 players in school history to have registered 4 30+-point games in a season...the record for the most 30+ scoring games in a season is 6 held by Sam Norton in 1983-84 (Eddie Stallings had 5 such games in 1967-68 and 1968-69)...he is the leading scorer in the Southland Conference at 25.2 ppg.

UTA'S DAILY DOUBLE Marquez Haynes and Brandon Long have been the Mavs leaders in scoring all season...Haynes has scored in double figures in each of the nine games, while Long has done so in 8 games...the two seniors have accounted for 53% (377 of 711) of the Mavericks scoring this season.

SHOOTING SNAPS COLD STREAK UTA shot a season-high 58.9% (33-56) vs. Texas Wesleyan which included making their first 13 field goals...that came after shooting just 34.2% (64-187) in the 3 previous games...the Mavs previous best in a game this year was 47.2% vs. UT Permain Basin...UTA has shot better than its opponents just twice this season and they won both of those games (UTPB and TWU)...team comes into tonight's game shooting 41.6% overall after posting a 47.1% mark last year...the Mavs made a season-high 11 3-pointers vs. Texas Wesleyan which included making their first 7 attempts...UTA finished the game shooting 55% (11-20) from long range which was also a season best...it was however, just the 3rd time the Mavs shot better than 40% from 3-point range...Mavs have made more 3's than their opponents 7 times...UTA tied its season-high by making 24 free throws vs. TWU...it was the just the 3rd time for the Mavs to make at least 20 in a game this season...the Mavs come into tonight's game shooting 69.7% from the line (75% last year) but have shot at least 70% 6 times this year.

THREE DOT DATA The Mavericks scored a season-high 101 points vs. TWU and are now 5-1 when they score 70 or more points...UTA has registered 10 or fewer turnovers in 4 of the last 6 games...UTA posted a season-high 24 turnovers at Baylor which is 20% of its season's total of 119...Mavs have been outrebounded 7 times in 9 games this season...in the last 4 games the average rebound margin has been -9.5 and for the season it stands at -6.0...assists have been down for the Mavs as they have averaged just 8.7 per game over the last 3 games...that includes 10 or less in each of these 3 games...Mavericks are just 3-7 in December the last 2 seasons.

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 will seat 6,650 for basketball.

TEXAS HALL HAS BEEN GOOD FOR THE MAVS The Mavericks are 3-2 at home this year after going 9-2 at Texas Hall last year...over the last 2+ seasons the Mavs are 26-7 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). PLAYER HOOFPRINTS

#24 Ishmael Awange: Has started 5 of the last 6 games...playing more as he has a career-high tying 17 minutes in each of the last 2 games...2 points and a rebound vs. TWU...career-highs of 6 points and 3 blocks along with 3 rebounds in 17 minutes at Baylor...vs. UTPB had 4 points and career-high tying 5 rebounds in 17 minutes.

#25 Cameron Catlett: Started for the first time in the last 2 games (25.5 mpg) and has averaged 11.0 ppg and 5 rpg in those games which are above his season's average of 4.3 pppg and 3.0 rpg...career-high 14 points in 24 minutes vs. TWU...at Baylor had 8 points and 5 rebounds in 27 minutes...shooting 53.8% (7-13) in the last 3 games...has at least 3 rebounds 6 times...led his Madison High School team to a 33-2 record as a senior and helped team earn a No. 5 ranking in the nation during the year... a first team all-state Class 5A selection and the MVP of the Lone Star Invitational...McDonald's All-American nominee.

#10 J.D. Davis: Playing more as the season has progressed (21.3 mpg in the last 4 games)...with Moffitt and Parker out, should be seeing more time on the frontline...made first career starts in 3 of the last 4 games (2.5 ppg, 2.8 rg during this stretch)...4 points and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes vs. TWU...season-high 8 points and a career-high 6 rebounds (4 offensive) in 16 minutes at HBU.

#2 Dwight Gentry II: Played in each game and averaging 11.8 minutes a contest...struggling from field as he his shooting just 30% but has gone 11-13 from the line...season-high 8 points, 2 assists in season-high tying 19 minutes vs. TWU after scoring just 2 points with no assists in 26 minutes in the 3 previous games...6 points and 3 assists in 19 minutes vs. UTPB.

#0 Marquez Haynes: Has led team in scoring in 8 of 9 games...leads team in scoring (25.2 ppg) and assists (2.9 apg)...shooting 53.2% from 3-point range (at least 50% in 6 of the last 7) but just 46.5% on 2-point field goals...named to the Drake Hy-Vee Classic All-Tournament team after averaging 26.0 ppg in the 2 games...twice named Southland Conference Player of the Week this season (including this week)...4th 30+-point game with 31 points (10-14 FGs, 9-10 FTs), season-high tying 7 rebounds in 33 minutes vs. TWU...3rd 30+ game of the season with 30 points vs. SIU-E...32 points (12-17 FGs, 5-6 3 FGs) in 30 minutes vs. EWU...29 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 42 minutes vs. UNT...started year off with a 30-point, 6-assist, 5-rebound night vs. DBU...also tied career bests in the game with 4 steals and 2 blocks...first team preseason All-Southland Conference selection after being named a second team All-Southland Conference selection last year.

#23 Brandon Long: Is the only other Maverick to be scoring in double figures at 16.7 ppg (Haynes 25.2)...now 3rd on the school's all-time 3-point list with 190 3FG...snapped shooting slump by making 5-9 FGs (3-5 3 FGs) vs. TWU as he scored 17 points...made 7 of last 12 3FGs...team-high 27 points at HBU...tied a career-high with 6 3FGs in the game while his 10 FGs were a career best...career-high 28 points with 8 rebounds in 42 minutes vs. UNT...14 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 29 minutes vs. DBU. Brandon Long surpassed the 1,000-career point mark in the SIU-E game...he now has 1,036 points and is 18th on the all-time list...

#1 Hungo Makor: A senior who is an invited walk-on to the program...appeared in 3 games playing 6 minutes.

#4 Tommy Moffitt: Will miss the next 5-7 weeks due to a broken left foot suffered in the North Dakota game...leads team in rebounding at 7.7 per game...posted 5th career dbl-dbl with 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds vs. DBU...second team Capital One Bank/Southland Conference All-Academic selection for the second consecutive season last year.

#5 Trey Parker: Still recovering from off-season knee surgery and has played in 7 games...leads team with 7 blocks including a season-high 4 vs. DBU...season best 5 rebounds in 16 minutes at HBU...season-high 4 points in 11 minutes vs. UTPB...blocked a career-high 44 shots last year which was 6th in the Southland Conference and his 36 blocks in conference play was 4th in the league...those 44 blocks was the 2nd-highest single season total in school history (58 by Jermaine Griffin in 2007)...now in 2nd place on the school's all-time block list, trailing only Jermaine Griffin (2004-08) who had 145.

#31 LaMarcus Reed III: Mavericks 3rd-leading scorer at 8.8 per game...scored in double figures 3 times and at least 9 points 6 times...had started first 8 games before coming off the bench vs. TWU...scored 6 points in 17 minutes in that game which broke a streak of 4 games in which he scored at least 9 points...8 assists in the last 3 games after having just 10 in the first 5...10 points in 19 minutes at HBU...13 points in 31 minutes vs. EWU...15 points, 4 rebounds in 37 minutes vs. UNT.

#55 Jordan Reves: Started the first 3 games of his collegiate career but has come off the bench in the last 6...as a starter averaged 1.7 ppg and 1.0 rpg but off the bench has averaged 3.5 ppg and 3.5 rpg...season-high 7 points and season-high tying 5 rebounds in career-high 20 minutes at Baylor...grabbed a season-high 5 rebounds vs. SIU-E in just 6 minutes...named to All-District Regional team and was a honorable mention all-region selection following his senior year at Jeffersontown...averaged 13 points and 6 rebound per game as a senior.

#20 Armani Williams: Playing more recently as over the last 4 games has averaged 10.0 ppg in 19.8 mpg (8.1 mpg in first 5 games)...career best 15 points in 21 minutes vs. TWU...14 vs. North Dakota...40 points in the last 4 games after scoring just 13 in the previous 5 games...42 of his 52 FGA's are from 3-point range...leading bench scorer with 8 points in 10 minutes vs. DBU...redshirted last year...underwent knee surgery at the beginning of the season...able to return during the season to practice with the team.