MAVERICKS START NEW YEAR OFF WITH GAME AT UTAH VALLEY

Dec. 31, 2008

ARLINGTON, Tx. - A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS UT Arlington continues its 10-game road trip tonight at Utah Valley...the Mavericks come into the game 5-6 after snapping their 5-game losing streak with an 80-75 victory at North Texas Monday...the victory improved the Mavs to 2-6 away from home...the win was also the fifth consecutive over North Texas.

COVERAGE The game can followed via the GameTracker system at utamavs.com.

UTA - UTAH VALLEY SERIES This is the first meeting between the schools...Utah Valley is a member of the Great West Conference but is playing as an independent in `08-'09...this is the first of 2 consecutive games against teams from this conference as the Mavs next game is at UT Pan American...earlier this year, UTA won at Houston Baptist (W, 88-74) another team in the Great West.

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 39-35 (.527)...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.

BIG SKY COUNTRY NOT KIND TO THE MAVS Three of the Mavericks losses this season have come in Big Sky country and have been by a combined 7 points - by 3 at Eastern Washington and by 2 vs. Denver and at Montana.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD Tonight's game is the 8th 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 2-6 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 - UT ARLINGTON 80, NORTH TEXAS 75 Anthony Vereen scored 19 points and Tommy Moffitt had 17 to lead UT Arlington past North Texas 80-75. Vereen was 8-of-11 from the field for the Mavericks (5-6). Brandon Long scored 16, Marquez Haynes had 14 and Roge'r Guignard added 10 points. Collin Dennis led North Texas (8-4) with 21 points. Josh White had 16 and Eric Tramiel added 10. George Odufuwa had 10 rebounds. North Texas trailed 70-59 with four minutes left but used an 11-3 run to take a 73-70 lead on a 3-pointer by White. The Mavericks went up 77-73 and White cut the margin again to 77-75. North Texas had a chance to tie the game with seven seconds left, but Dominique Johnson's shot came up short. UTA then hit two free throws for the final margin. North Texas led 40-36 at the half.

MAVS SNAP FIVE-GAME SKID The victory at North Texas Monday snapped a 5-game losing streak for the Mavericks which was the team's longest since January of 2007...UTA shot a season-high 56.6% (30-53) from the field in the game after shooting a combined 45.1% during the losing streak...the Mavericks defense also stepped up as they held UNT to just 40% from the field after allowing its opponents to shoot 52.3% in the 5 previous games.

POINTS EQUAL VICTORY The Mavericks recorded 80 points at North Texas which was the first time in the last 6 games the team had scored at least 80 in a game...UTA is now 4-0 this season in which they score 80 or more points...the team has upped its scoring average over the last 3 games as they have averaged 78.3 ppg after averaging only 66.0 ppg in the 3 previous games to this span.

WINS AND LOSSES There are some notable differences in key areas in the Mavericks 5 wins and 6 losses...the opponents are shooting 42.2% from the field and 28.3% 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 38.8 pg in the victories but just 30.0 in the losses...in the wins the Mavs are averaging 85.0 points per game but in the losses that average drops to 70.5 a contest.

A TALE OF 2 HALVES Monday's win at North Texas was the first of the season or the Mavs when they trailed at the half (40-36)...the Mavericks had been scoring more points in the first half (38.8) than in the second (33.3) in the 4 previous games, but scored 36 in the first and 44 in the second at UNT...this was the first time in the last 5 games to score more points in the second half and the first time since the team's last win (at Houston Baptist on 11/29) that it had scored more than 40 points in a second half.

1-2 PUNCH Anthony Vereen (17.9, 3rd) and Brandon Long (15.7, 6th) 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, 4th) and Matt Kingsley (15.0, 8th) are the others...Vereen is the only Southland Conference players to rank in the top 10 in FG percentage (.570, 3rd) and FT percentage (.775, 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 1,142 which is 10th on the all-time list...Jermaine Griffin is 9th at 1,218 points.

TEAM NOTES The Mavericks' 80 points at UNT was the most in 6 games (88 at HBU)...it was the 4th time they have scored 80 or more points this season and have won all of those games...dating back to last year, the Mavericks are 12-3 when they score 80 or more...UTA's overall scoring average of 77.1 ppg is 5th best in the Southland.

UTA shot a season-high 55.6% at UNT...that was the 2nd time in the last 3 games they have shot at least 50% - 50.8% at Baylor - and the 4th time they have accomplished this in `08-'09 (have won all 4 of those games)...UTA has won 8 of its last 9 games dating back to last year in which they have shot at least 50% from the field...the Mavs are 5th in the Southland Conference at 46.9% from the field.

While the Mavericks were shooting a season best from the floor at UNT, they tied a season-low with just 5 3-pointers...UTA is 2-2 in the 4 games when they have made just 5...conversely, the team is 2-2 when they make at least 10 3's and 6-3 dating back to last year when doing so...the Mavericks average 7.5 3-pointers per game which is 4th in the Southland.

The Mavericks went 15-25 from the line at UNT...that 60% was a season-low, but the 25 attempts was the 2nd-highest total of the season (29 vs. Texas Wesleyan)...UTA had not attempted 20 free throws in any of the 4 previous games before UNT...the team has made 28-44 (63.6%) in the last 2 games...this is just the 2nd time this season the team has been below 70% in consecutive games...last year the Mavs shot just 65.5 from the line but are shooting 73% this season which is the 2nd best mark in the Southland.

The Mavs outrebounded UNT by a +5 margin...that was the first time in the last 5 games in which they were in a positive in rebounding...the +5 margin included holding UNT to an opponents season-low 16 defensive rebounds...the +5 mark comes just one game after a season-low -15 at Tulsa...the 34 UNT were the 2nd-highest in the last 6 games...UTA's margin on the season is +0.3.

The Mavericks registered 17 assists at UNT which was the most in the last 7 games and the 3rd-highest total of the season...in the last 2 games they have averaged 16.5 per game which comes after averaging 13.5 in the 4 previous games...UTA is 4th in the conference with a season's average of 15.8.

UTA has been taking care of the basketball in the last few games...the team has averaged just 10.7 tpg in the last 3 games which included a season-low tying 7 at Tulsa.

The Mavs registered a season-high 3 blocks at UNT...after having just 9 in the first 9 games, they have recorded 5 in the last 2 games.

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.