First Time Champs

 While not an official entry into This Day in UTA Basketball History, I want to touch base with one of the most historic teams in UT Arlington Men's Basketball history. The 2003/04 men's team made waves on campus as they played their way into the record books.

First, I have been collecting old media guides for UTA's sports teams. I saw an entry for the 2003/04 team. Seeing as how that was my final year at UTA, I knew I had that guide at one point. However, when I went through my old books, I didn't have it anymore. So, I grabbed it, since it had a more personal touch than a standard guide I have been acquiring did.

I forgot how loaded that team was at the top. I knew every player and could recall them by memory, but as time passed, I forgot they played together as team leaders. Donnie Beacham, Roy Johnson, Keith Howell, and Derrick Obasohan were seniors on that team. We'll look back at their accomplishments in a bit.

UTA had been a member of the Southland Conference for nearly 40 years when this season started. Despite the amount of time spent in the conference, the men's basketball team was the only team to not have won a conference championship of some kind on the men's side. Ironically enough, the women's basketball team was the only women's sport to not claim a conference championship either.

Going into this season, UTA was coming off a surprise 13-7 conference record and a third-place finish from the prior year. The two major missing pieces from that team was Mack Callier, who would graduate as UTA's all-time leading rebounder as well as Josh Daniels, likely a top-ten point Maverick guard, who only played two years in Arlington.

But the four seniors...

Easily in my top ten all-time UTA Mavericks is Derrick Obasohan. He was a major reason for their success. He started the year already in UTA's record books. But, almost 20 years later, he still is seventh in career scoring, eighth in made free throws, ninth in free throws attempted and 21st in rebounding.

But he wasn't the only one to finish and stay in UTA's record books.

Swingman Donny Beacham is currently sixth in field goal attempts, seventh in steals and 16th in career rebounds.

Center Roy Johnson is still fifth in all-time blocks and 15th in rebounding.

Keith Howell doesn't appear in the career marks as he was a transfer from Grambling State. He provided a steady shot and was one of the better free throw shooters the Mavericks ever had.

Meanwhile sophomore forward Stephen Thomas, who contributed much the prior year as a freshman, is tenth in career field goals made, 7th in rebounding, second in free throws made and still number one in free throws attempted.

UTA was pegged in the Coaches poll and SID poll as the preseason favorites, and they didn't disappoint.

The Mavericks started conference play with a 4-6 record, with three of the wins against non-NCAA-Division-1 schools. Losses to Louisiana-Monroe and Texas State, sandwiched around a win against UT-San Antonio meant the Mavs were facing a 5-8, 1-2 SLC record. 

But that win against the Roadrunners started the best Southland Conference run to that point in school history. UTA followed the loss to Texas State with home wins against McNeese and UT-Pan American (now UT-Rio Grande Valley). A road blowout loss to Stephen F. Austin, followed by a home win to Nicholls, then two road losses to Lamar and ULM put the Mavericks at 8-11, but only 3-5 in the conference race. 

The Mavericks then rolled out eight conference wins in a row. On top of that, only two of the games were within five points. The Mavs hosted Southeastern Louisiana (69-64), then won on the road at McNeese, completing the season sweep.

That set the stage for the second game against the Lumberjacks. In the road loss to the Lumberjacks, I made the road trip to that game with friends and SFA's student section was vile. The school also broke conference rules and allowed the students into the section reserved for visiting fans and parents. Based on that experience, I penned an editorial in the Shorthorn challenging the UTA community, specifically the Greek organizations, to come to the game. I heard the SFA student section say they were going to make the road trip and give their team the home advantage. They also disparaged our Greek community. UTA hadn't eclipsed 1,000 in attendance that year. Students were virtually non-existent. I wanted to try to motivate the student body. And it worked. A season high to that point showed to the game. It was almost double the previous game. And it was a fun game. You can read the recap here at UTAMAVS.COM.

The Mavericks carried that momentum the rest of the season. After hosting SFA, the Mavericks visited San Antonio, hosted the Bobcats and went to Northwestern State, all wins. On February 28, Eddie McCarter collected the 150th win of his UTA coaching career in a road win at Nicholls State. The Mavericks closed out the regular season with a home win against Sam Houston, the defending regular season and tournament champion. With the win, UTA clinched a tie for the regular season championship, their first title in school history as a four-year institution. 

The final standings prior to the conference tournament:

1. UT Arlington 11 5 .688 16 11 .586 
2. Southeastern Louisiana 11 5 .688 19 8 .690 
3. UTSA 11 5 .688 16 13 .576 
4. Stephen F. Austin 10 6 .625 19 8 .700 
5. Sam Houston State 8 8 .500 13 14 .464 
6. Texas State 8 8 .500 13 14 .464 
7. Northwestern State 8 8 .500 11 16 .393 
8. ULM 8 8 .500 12 18 .387 
9. McNeese State 7 9 .438 11 16 .407 
10. Lamar 5 11 .313 11 18 .379 
11. Nicholls 1 15 .063 6 21 .222

On to the conference tournament. As the Mavericks were 1-0 against SE La and 2-0 against UTSA, they were the number one seed. The Mavericks opened with ULM at home. After a one-point loss in January at Texas Hall, then a 16-point loss in Monroe, this could have been a trap game. The loss was also the last one as UTA finished the season with that eight-game winning streak, the longest of Eddie McCarter's UTA career, as well as for the school he coached.

The Mavs worked well on both ends of the court from whistle to whistle and won 77-62. The brought the total winning streak to nine. That was a school record, and it would stand until the 16-game winning streak in 2011/12. After seven-losses to the then-Indians, UTA picked up their first all-time win in the conference tournament against ULM.

That set up a match-up with who else, but Stephen F. Austin. They beat the Bearkats of Sam Houston 85-53. The largest crowd UTA drew at Texas Hall since the early 1990's came in this game as 1,853 saw one of the classics in UTA history. With 41 seconds left UTA held a 68-63 lead after Keith Howell made two free throws. SFA took possession and canned a three-pointer to narrow the lead to two. Keith's Younger brother Jarrett was fouled. It was only the eighth foul in the half for the Lumberjacks, so it set up a one-and-one free throw situation. Ironically from a player who is third all-time in free throw percentage at UTA, Jarrett Howell missed the front end and SFA grabbed the rebound. To their credit, they did not call a timeout, ran the floor, set-up their offense and hit a game-winning three with four seconds remaining. In proof of why teams foul at the end of the game, this showed it.

While I hated the outcome, and still get deflated thinking about it, the game was fantastic. After a brief stretch in the first half, no team led by more than six in the last five minutes of the first to the end. SFA went on to lose to UTSA in the championship, 74-70. The Roadrunners received a 16th seed and lost to Stanford 71-45 in the big dance. 

In the end, the 2003/04 UTA men's basketball team won in traditional fashion. They outrebounded their opponents. They made their free throws. They played good defense. They won with three seniors who were with the program for four years. And as a student, they were fun to follow and watch.

The 2003/04 season still has lasting impact on the record books. The team is currently 4th all-time in free throws made (555), 9th in free throw attempts (745), 5th in free throw percentage (.745), 6th in three-point percentage (.365) and 10th in rebounding margin (+3.0). The three-point percentage is interesting as the team shot the 4th fewest three's in a season (367), 5th in three's made (134) and ironically 7th lowest total rebounds (34.7). Though that last one was because they made a higher percentage of their shots and didn't let the opponents shoot as many as they are top ten in rebounding margin. There were just fewer rebounds to have than what other UTA teams had.

As for the players, Derrick Obasohan led the way with 16.4 points and 5.9 rebounds. He made the 9th most free throws in a single season. Today that record is 16th overall. Donny Beacham is still 9th in single-season field goal percentage. Keith Howell sits in 8th currently in free throw percentage from this season. Roy Johnson's 37 blocked shots in '03/04 was the 4th all-time at the end of the season. Steven Thomas holds current marks free throws made (9th), and free throws attempted (11th). Brady Dawkins did adequate at the point guard position as he dished out 2.3 assists to lead the team. More impressively his three-point percentage was .432. Dawkins is still 9th all-time in three points made, 9th in three's attempted and 8th in assists. You'll see Jarrett Howell's name in various places in UTA's record books, but most of that was carved out in later years.

Most importantly, this team established that UTA could produce a winner in basketball. Four years later, UTA would make an appearance in NCAA tournament. UTA would win an outright championship eight years later. New UTA president James Spaniolo came as UTA won in this year. He was instrumental in getting College Park Center. I'm not outright saying this team led to CPC, but it certainly made the case for a new arena. Scott Cross's success in future years, and the heights the program resumed, started with a foundation from this team.

And when I think back to my formative UTA years, I remember this fondly, right up there with the UTA baseball run in 2001, softball's dominance in 2003, volleyball's run of conference championships and sitting at a lunch table with Donna Capps talking X's and O's as the women's team was rebuilding into a winner that would make a couple of NCAA appearances.

And the men's 2003/04 team may well be responsible for this blog... for better or worse.