UTA 64, Louisiana 76

Tough night for the UT Arlington Mavericks (12-15, 8-6 Sun Belt Conference) basketball team tonight. Just two weeks ago, UTA defeated first-place Texas State in a double-overtime thriller in San Marcos to earn a share of first place. Since then, UTA has lost three games in a row.

After two lackluster offensive performances at Little Rock and Arkansas State last week, tonight the Mavs faced a Louisiana team (16-10, 7-6 SBC), coached by the great Bob Marlin, who the Mavs faced many times in the Southland Conference when he coached for Sam Houston State), that has had an up-and-down season that included a recent 3-game losing streak that saw them lose by 27 at Appalachian State and two 17-point losses to Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern. Continue reading →

UT-Arlington Basketball Update:

Thursday, February 14: UTA 52, Little Rock 56
Saturday, February 16: UTA 78, Arkansas State 84

Got to see both games on TV, and the it just seemed the UTA offense seemed was a little out rhythm in both games. Arkansas State moved the ball well, hit some outside shots and did a good job getting to the paint for short jumpers and and-one opportunities.

Those two losses knocked us out of first place for time being. The Mavs are now tied for 3rd with Coastal Carolina (luckily we won both games  against them should a tiebreakers be needed for seeding). Meanwhile, Texas State is in first place at 10-3, with Georgia State in second at 9-4. Continue reading →

Huge win tonight over a very good Coastal Carolina basketball team. A few weeks ago, the Mavericks went to Myrtle Beach and won a game with a three with one second remaining.

Tonight, the Mavericks got up by 12 at halftime and never looked back. UTA used a variety of defenses and dominated the glass to hold CCU to 22.6 percent (14-62) shooting. The Mavs shot 42% for the game. The victory puts UTA in a tie for first place with Texas State and Georgia State.

I was tweeting during the game and will let that tell the story… Continue reading →

UTA 58, Georgia State 63

Quick post tonight…long week and I’m kinda sleepy. Don’t have a lot of time to dig into the stats tonight.

Coach Hunter does a great job for the Panthers (9-4). They have quickness, a ton of height, they shoot the three very well, have an outstanding coach (Coach Hunter has made the Panthers an elite mid-major program–how many 20+ win seasons have they had the last few years?) play a good zone defense and already have wins over Georgia and Alabama.

Continue reading →

Just a few quick observations from Sunday afternoon’s basketball game between UT-Arlington (3-1) vs. UC Davis (1-4):

• Final score: UTA 68, UC Davis 59
• Another balanced offensive attack with four players in double digits in scoring: Brian Warren 18 points, Radshad Davis 12, DJ Bryant 11, Edrick Dennis 11
• Great effort for 40:00 from the Mavericks today. Good passes, 8 steals and getting lots of deflections and put a lot of pressure on UC Davis shooters
• UT Arlington continues to defended the 3-point line very well (UC Davis only 6-23, 26%)

Continue reading →

UTA, who looked impressive Tuesday night against a NAIA opponent, used a hot-shooting second half and a strong team defensive effort to defeat mid-major power University of Northern Iowa in front of a vocal College Park Center Homecoming Night crowd of 3,789.

An elite mid-major basketball program in recent years, Northern Iowa has been in the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last 15 years, and defeated top seed Kansas in 2010. UNI–who defeated UTA in Cedar Falls in the first game of a good home-and-home series–has had back-to-back seasons under. 500 and came to Arlington Saturday night with a young, talented, tall team featuring superstar guard A.J. Green, a four-star recruit ranked in ESPN’s top 100. Continue reading →