It seems basketball season has been a bit rough the UT Arlington Athletic Department in 2022. I documented the men's side earlier this week. Like their opposite gender counterparts, the women played one of the harder schedules in the conference. And came out of it okay at 6-6. There weren't any wow games, but conversely, there weren't any crushing disappointments, at least as the final results go.
We knew UTA had lost a lot prior the start of the season: Claire Chastain, Katie Ferrell and Terryn Milton. Most pundits and fans thought the slack, or some of it, was taken up by the additions of Kamaria Gipson, Jireh Washington and Kayla White.
Unfortunately, Washington missed five games with an injury. She was back for the last non-conference game but played well-below the minutes she averaged prior to her injury. However, there seem to be a detriment to this team that may be a by-product of the modern NCAA, more on that towards the end.
UTA started the season with a drubbing of Division I Texas Southern. Those that truly follow this blog know I don't have a high opinion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, but they are still Division I. So after 102-53 victory, Maverick nation was feeling good.
The Mavericks followed that up with a narrow 75-72 win against Texas A&M-Commerce. The margin of victory was smaller than most pundits expected when considering this is the Lions first year as a transitional DI school as they played in DII's Lone Star Conference last year, but a win is a win. The important thing was they made plays down the stretch that allowed them to get the lead and ultimately the second victory of the season.
UTA then left the friendly confines of College Park Center. That started a stretch of losses to rather talented teams. Kansas beat UTA 79-74 in Lawrence. UTA fell behind early by a large margin, but fought back, getting to one with three and half minutes remaining in the contest. The Jayhawks responded when they needed to in the final few and made their free throws. Kansas finished non-conference at 10-1, so this wasn't just a good performance against a name team.
While technically a neutral court, UTA went to Fort Worth for the Big 12 defecting Oklahoma Sooners. The Mavericks had a lead with four minutes, but couldn't finish at TCU's home floor. The game had a lot of similarities to the Kansas game. The Sooners pulled out an 89-80 win.
In their multi-team event, UTA squared off against Cincinnati to open the Daytona Beach Invitational. The Bearcats never trailed but the Mavericks got near four in the third, but they could never get over the hump in a 72-58 loss. The follow-up game in the MTE came against Toledo. The game was similar as Toledo pulled ahead early and kept the lead throughout, marking the fourth game in a row, UTA kept pace with their opponent, but couldn't get over the hump after four quarters.
UTA returned home to face rival North Texas. It was one of the better showings of the non-conference schedule. The Mavericks put the throttle into high gear as they jumped to an early lead and built it to double digits. UNT attempted a run in the third quarter before the Mavs said nope and built the lead back near 20. The final score 76-58 reflected how dominant the Mavs were as they never trailed.
UTA followed that with a 67-64 victory at Houston. The Cougars made a late run, but UTA made enough plays late to get the win. With Houston threatening, White made a clutch jumper and sealed it with two free throws. Making plays when needed is what seniors leaders are supposed to do. That performance earned the win. Concerning was UTA had a large lead in the fourth, ten, with a little over five minutes. But, the senior stepped up, so positives coupled with a win sounds nice to me.
Next up on the three-game road trip was old Southland Conference rival Lamar. Proof that no road game is easy, UTA had to come from behind, finally getting the job done late in the fourth. The Cardinals gained the lead mid-way through the first quarter and held it to just under three-minutes in the last frame when Starr Jacobs converted an and-one to tie, then made another free throw to get the lead. The defense was locked down in that fourth, keying a 12-0 run to get the 60-56 win.
To cap the three-game road trip, UTA visited ranked Baylor in Waco. After getting the first bucket, the Bears beat the living daylights out of the Mavs 91-36. It wasn't until the fourth quarter for the Mavs to score double digits in a single quarter, while Baylor scored less than 20 once.
UTA hosted Texas A&M-Texarkana next. For a non-DI game, the score was closer than it should have been, 71-67. Lamar (60-51), North Texas (71-58) and Stephen F. Austin (80-51) all downed the Eagles in a more convincing manner, despite UTA beating two of them those teams, with a third scheduled. UTA started rough, 8-18 after the first quarter, but kicked it in gear to get the win. Washington and White did not log any minutes.
The final non-conference game was a ranked Arizona team came to College Park Center. In a game similar to Baylor, the Mavs grabbed an early lead. The Wildcats took the lead for good midway through the first. Unlike Baylor, UTA's offense found production in the 78-59 loss.
So where does that leave the team heading into conference? Well, due to the schedule, the answer is a resounding...I don't know.
Their schedule was difficult. And they nearly pulled a program-defining win or two. But ultimately did not. There were the couple of disappointing wins against what was supposed to be lower competition. I will say this. I no longer think this team is the class of the WAC. I suspect by the time it's said and done, the Mavs will be a top-third team. But I didn't witness anything to make me believe this is a conference winning team.
As I mentioned, the NCAA has changed. Last year, Jacobs was the addition of a core that had played together for a while. Chastain, Ferrell, Camryn Hawkins, Milton and Emma Halverson (to a much lesser extent, had all played together since they started at the same time as freshman. That's not common anymore thanks to the transfer portal. It wasn't terribly common then either, which is why the team played well and won. As I mentioned last March, they should have won an NCAA tourney game.
Jacobs is still doing her thing, leading the team in points, points per game, rebounding and rebounding per game. With the lack of star power overall compared to the prior year, she has to have a good game for UTA to win. At just under 15 points a game, she needs to up her average as well, getting closer to 16-20.
White and Washington both are in double figures in points, which isn't unexpected. Washington is also leading the team in assists, which was also expected.
At roughly four for both points and boards, Kamaria Gipson could make an immediate contribution by getting both of those numbers higher. She does tend to play aggressively as well, often playing in foul trouble.
As a team, UTA doesn't shoot the ball well from behind the arc sitting at near 30 percent. White and freshman Taleyah Jones are the only two hitting above one-third of their three attempts. If Benjamin and Shyia Smith were to raise their percentage from the upper twenties, then the Mavericks offense would be a little more potent, getting them over some of those humps.
UTA won't be tested too terribly early when conference play starts tomorrow. They travel to California Baptist (4-7) to open conference play. Tarleton State (6-5) and UT-Rio Grande Valley (6-5) come to CPC before a trip down Interstate 20 against Abilene Christian (6-5) rounds out the second week of WAC games.
Time will only tell if the difficult schedule sets UTA up for a good conference run in the next two months.
SUPPLEMENT: Due to a miscommunication (my error), this didn't get posted a week ago, rather than edit for the WAC games to this point, I'm just posting it as is to serve as my actual viewpoint at the time I intended to add this entry.
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