Texas-Arlington (21-11, 16th seed) out of the Southland Conference (19th ranked conference out of 31) won their conference tourney as a #7 seed to advance to their first ever NCAA tournament. UTA is ranked #147 in the RPI, #186 in the Pomeroy, and #165 in the Sagarin.
UTA is 5-5 in their last 10 games, but has won 4 of their last five including 3 in a row.
UTA is ranked #197 in Offensive Efficiency and #185 in Defensive Efficiency. They shoot the ball fairly well ranking 67th in Offensive Effective FG%.
Defensively their greatest weakness is giving up a high percentage from the 3 point line (41.5% by opponents).
Their best player is Senior Jermaine Griffin, at 6-9 240 pounds.
In the non-conference schedule, UTA won at UALR (#171 RPI) and won at Witchita State (#199 RPI). In a respectable loss, UTA dropped a 3 point decision at Oklahoma State (#77 RPI).
Their best win of the season came at Stephen F. Austin (#64 RPI) on March 1st, two weeks before their improbable run to win the Southland Conference tournament in Katy, Texas. SFA finished the season at 25-4 (13-3) spliting their two games with UTA. UTA’s worst loss came on January 10th when they fell at Central Arkansas (#280 RPI) in overtime.
On Wednesday, I'll preview the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment