The Mavericks are 7-11 and 3-2 in conference. Northern Iowa was probably their most impressive non-conference win.

Their starting lineup in the last game went 6-5, 6-5, 6-3, 6-0, 5-9. In fact, 6-9 Jabari Narcis is the only player on the roster that is over 6-6. This looks like a roster you would see on a D3 team.

They have two players averaging double figures, with 6-0 junior Edric Dennis leading the way at 14.4 ppg. As you might expect, 42% of their attempts are from beyond the arc. Their problem is that they only shoot 26% from long range. They will live and die by the 3, mostly dying so far. In fact, TiAndre Jackson-Young is their only shooter that is even decent at 40%. They are another example of deliberate inefficiency, since Dennis and Brian Warren lead the team in 3PT attempts by a bunch, and shoot only 24% and 28%. Oddly enough, they are essentially even on the boards for the season.

One thing you would expect to see from a small team is good perimeter defense, and they have it. Opponents have shot only 29% from the arc against them. They are also good from the line at 72.8%. One thing you do not expect to see from a team of guards is a lot of turnovers, but they have made 273 of them against only 202 assists. With our tendency toward sloppy play, get ready for Playground Deluxe tomorrow. They also have six players with double-figure steals, so I am guessing they press a lot, which is logical.

IF, IF, IF we will take care of the ball, our inside guys ought to have a field day against them, since we will have a size advantage and our big guys do shoot well.

This is not a very good basketball team. Looking at their stat sheet, I really don't see how they have won as many games as they have. However, their strength does play to our weakness.

They have no seniors nor sophomores on the team. All freshmen and juniors.

UTA's Brian Warren is undoubtedly the winner of the Best Beard Award this season. Really impressive.

Sagarin picks UTA by 3.
RealtimeRPI picks them by 10.

Starting;
Nowell
Tucker
Wyatt
Johnson
Maric

By putting Tucker at the 2, looks like Coach is trying to maximize our height advantage.

First six minutes, only one turnover.

They have one guy over 6-6 and they are outrebounding us?

Tucker's 3rd foul. Not good.

Nowell's 3rd foul. Not good.

Our offense was good. Our defense was poor. If we don't tighten up, we won't be in this one. We have a big height advantage, and we get outrebounded by SEVEN. We just flat got outplayed.