UT - Arlington (12/2/19)

CMJ · November 27, 2019

Our yearly grudge match against the Mavericks. Need a win desperately.

Mean Green Matt · November 27, 2019

2 hours ago, CMJ said:

Our yearly grudge match against the Mavericks. Need a win desperately.

Not that I’m looking ahead too much, but it’s a bummer OU lost to Stanford (badly) a couple days ago on a game they were favored in. Otherwise they likely would have been ranked for our matchup next week. We haven’t hosted a ranked team in like 20-25 years.

CMJ · November 27, 2019

34 minutes ago, Mean Green Matt said:

Not that I’m looking ahead too much, but it’s a bummer OU lost to Stanford (badly) a couple days ago on a game they were favored in. Otherwise they likely would have been ranked for our matchup next week. We haven’t hosted a ranked team in like 20-25 years.

Wasn't WKU ranked once when we played them in the mid 00's?

Mean Green Matt · November 27, 2019

2 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Wasn't WKU ranked once when we played them in the mid 00's?

The game was in the SBC tourney in New Orleans. 1999 against #25 Tulsa was the last top 25 opponent hosted at home. Last win was in 1971 @ #15 Louisville. Current (almost unbelievable) streak of 47 losses to ranked opponents. Last win against a ranked opponent at home was in 1970 against #11 Drake.

Mean Green Matt · November 27, 2019

Even crazier, the game against VCU was the first time since 1980 we had lost to a ranked opponent by less than 10 points.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · November 28, 2019

7 hours ago, Mean Green Matt said:

Even crazier, the game against VCU was the first time since 1980 we had lost to a ranked opponent by less than 10 points.

Interesting. OU beat a okay Missouri team by 11.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · November 28, 2019

UTA hung in with Gonzaga, so this should be a very fun game like last year.

I'll also be there! I hope we can maybe get 1/4 of the arena with green.

UTAmaverick · November 29, 2019

Looking forward to Monday.

It's hard to tell how good this UTA team is. We're 4-4 playing the 5th toughest schedule in the country. Our good win is over a tall, big Tulsa team at home, two non-Div. I's at home, and a win today over Elon on the road. We got blown out by top-15 Oregon, lost by 7 at Nevada, lost by 6 at top-10 Gonzaga (both games we had a very good chance of winning) and lost by 1 to a good Furman team yesterday. Some close games/moral victories but eventually you have to find ways to win those games when get the chance. Had forgotten Woolridge was playing for the Bulldogs. I think he scored 20 against us that night.

This is the first year with all-Ogden recruits for the most part. After Coach Cross was let go before the start of last year, the Kevin Hervey/Eric Neal led team had a lot of seniors on it, leaving us with a ton of scholarships to fill. Most of Cross' incoming recruits went to other schools and Coach Ogden had to rebuild a roster basically overnight. That roster, with 14 guys or so that had literally never played a Division I game together (a lot of junior college players, some were existing UTA redshirts), was good enough to give ya'll a close game and wind up winning 16 games, including going 12-6 in conference and a trip to the Sun Belt tourney finals before losing to a good Georgia State team.

This year's team can play really well for 10:00 and then go scoreless for 5 minutes. The offense has relied on the 3 a lot (maybe too much at times), and as well all know, the 3 can be really good or really bad for most teams on any given night. We don't really have the size inside to dominate the paint, and our 3 point shooting has been very inconsistent. Our 6'8" 240 lb. center Jabari Narcis has actually been our best 3 point shooter. On defense, we've held teams to some bad shooting nights, we rebound pretty well but don't get a lot of steals. I think our KenPom ranking is around 118 or so. It's still very much a team that's showing improvement and finding out what works best on offense.

I think it's going to be a very close game, especially since we're at home this year.

What's the feeling in Denton about this year's UNT team? Like us, seems like ya'll have played a very tough schedule too.

Edited November 29, 2019 by UTAmaverick

drex · November 29, 2019

Actually, we beat Arizona State in the mid 70's when they were nationally ranked.

Mean Green Matt · November 30, 2019

3 hours ago, drex said:

Actually, we beat Arizona State in the mid 70's when they were nationally ranked.

They must not have been ranked in the AP poll.

southsideguy · November 30, 2019

When you have to go back to the 70's that is sad.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · November 30, 2019

I just hope the traffic lets me get there on time

bstnsportsfan3 · December 2, 2019

Anyone going? I’m thinking about it. Never been to their new stadium. Did attend a game on the “stage”

risinggreen · December 2, 2019

I live nearby and will be heading over there after dinner. Don't really know either team very well, other than our retturnees from last season. Time to get into basketball.

Mean Green Matt · December 2, 2019

This game should always be scheduled for a weekend.

TheTastyGreek · December 3, 2019

3 hours ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

Anyone going? I’m thinking about it. Never been to their new stadium. Did attend a game on the “stage”

Nice place. I was there for one basketball game, and for the Mo Hooker/Jose Ramirez fight along with the artist formerly known as @NT03.

It's like a much tighter, more modern Hot Springs main arena, if you still remember what that place was like.

bstnsportsfan3 · December 3, 2019

2 minutes ago, TheTastyGreek said:

Nice place. I was there for one basketball game, and for the Mo Hooker/Jose Ramirez fight along with the artist formerly known as @NT03.

It's like a much tighter, more modern Hot Springs main arena, if you still remember what that place was like.

Yep. I just walked in and thought, dang this is like the arena in hot springs but a bit nicer!