The Longhorns are back home tonight, fresh off a promising performance at the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City. On Monday night, Texas played down to the wire in a track meet with BYU, before ultimately losing by four. They bounced back quickly from that disappointment with a convincing 18-point win over DePaul the following night. Sophomore Cameron Ridley was tabbed for the all-tournament team after posting 31 points, 19 boards, and seven blocks in the two games.

Tonight’s opponents are the UT-Arlington Mavericks, a team that has typically found success under eighth-year head coach Scott Cross. This year, however, the Mavs are off to a disappointing 2-5 start, the program’s worst start in over a decade. They are currently mired in a four-game losing streak, with the last three losses coming on the road.

The UTA bench is full of new faces this season, as three of the team’s top players are transfers. Top scorer Reger Dowell (No. 1) comes from Oklahoma State and brings a deadly outside shot and incredible speed to get to the rack. He has poured in at least 20 points in each game, including a 6-for-12 outing at Kentucky last Tuesday.

JUCO transfer Lonnie McClanahan (No. 22) is another quick guard who has started all seven games and is averaging 10 points. When driving, he tends to use his outside arm to try to hook shots over taller defenders, and that led to a few blocked shots early against Kentucky’s help D. The Longhorns are ranked fifth in the nation in block percentage, so McClanahan will likely have to adjust his approach tonight.

Forward Vincent Dillard (No. 13) is also a JUCO transfer, coming to Arlington by way of Colby CC in Kansas. Despite being a 6’5″ swingman, he has no problem bringing the ball up the floor, and his quick catch-and-release is deadly coming off of screens.

The one returning player making a huge impact for UTA is 6’6″ senior forward Brandon Edwards (No. 35), who has posted double-doubles in the team’s last four games. He’s averaging just over 19 points and 11 rebounds per game, and his offensive rebounding percentage of 14.9% actually ranks him among the top 100 players nationally.

The fifth starting spot is a rotating cast of characters for UTA, with three different guys getting the nod so far this year. Stuart Lagerson (No. 5) is a 7-footer who has started four times, while 6’8″ Jorge Bilbao (No. 45) started against Kentucky and Robert Morris last week. Anthony Walker (No. 44) was the latest to get a chance in the starting five, playing 17 minutes against Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Texas fans will also recognize Shaquille White-Miller (No. 12), a 5’9″ senior that has played against the Horns in each of the last two seasons. In those two appearances, White-Miller played a combined 36 minutes and scored six total points.

The Maverick defense is still working things out this season, as they are allowing 1.093 adjusted points per possession, a number that puts them in the bottom 20% of Division I hoops. UTA tried a 3-2 zone against Kentucky, but they understandably still had issues against the incredibly talented Wildcat roster. UK scored 1.4 points per possession in that one, running away with it in the second half.

For the Longhorns, simply controlling the glass and controlling the ball should be enough to win this evening. They have been stifling opponents in the rebounding department all season long, which is unfortunate news for a UTA offense that has generally done well at reclaiming its misses. The Mavs are just an average-shooting bunch, so without second or third chances, their porous defense will make it very difficult to keep up with the Horns tonight.