CREIGHTON HOSTS BATTLE TESTED, SENIOR-LADEN UT ARLINGTON SQUAD
Creighton?s next opponent, UT Arlington, spent the first six weeks of the season as one of the darlings of the college basketball world, earning significant vote totals in the Top 25 polls after a 7-1 start that included a road win at BYU and a one-point loss at Alabama.
The Mavericks won 27 games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT a year ago after an upset in the Sun Belt tournament left them out of the NCAA?s. This year?s team returns an awful lot of key contributors from that one, and is the most experienced squad in all of college basketball (according to KenPom, whose rankings show that UTA?s roster averages 2.81 years of experience). In fact, seven of their top eight contributors are seniors, including all five starters.
This group owns road wins over BYU (twice, including last year?s NIT), then-#12 Saint Mary?s, Bradley, Ohio State, Memphis, and Texas in their careers ? and has had a slew of near misses. They took Texas to OT in 2015 before losing. They had a halftime lead at Minnesota in 2016, and lost by four. They had a double digit halftime lead at Arkansas later that season, and lost by four. This year?s team lost second-half leads at both #25 Alabama and Northern Iowa in tight losses ? but beat Oklahoma by 15 in a charity exhibition in October.
They seem to thrive in hostile road environments, as their coach Scott Cross noted in their preview article on UTAMavs.com. ?Having a large, partisan crowd is a good thing. For our basketball team, the biggest question mark is usually energy. When our guys play with great energy, we are usually very good. I think they feed off the crowd. I felt like at Northern Iowa, Alabama and BYU, even though we were on the road, our guys were energized.?
UT Arlington is picked to win the Sun Belt again this year, and will enter CenturyLink Center on Monday night expecting to win. They may not have the name recognition to get casual fans excited, but that?s a shame because other than Nebraska, this is the best team Creighton will play at home in the non-conference this year (and depending on how the Huskers? season goes, could end up being the best team on the pre-Big East home slate). Either way, it?s a win that would look awfully good on their resume in March if they can take care of business.
They?re led by 6?7?, 230-pound senior forward Kevin Hervey, who?s scored in double figures in 38 consecutive games and averages 23.6 points per game to rank fifth nationally. That presents a bit of a dilemma for Creighton, because Hervey?s the type of player they?ve struggled to defend ? too big for Khyri Thomas to match up with, but whose versatility forces whichever forward is guarding him to extend out away from the basket.
Creighton?s next opponent, UT Arlington, spent the first six weeks of the season as one of the darlings of the college basketball world, earning significant vote totals in the Top 25 polls after a 7-1 start that included a road win at BYU and a one-point loss at Alabama.
The Mavericks won 27 games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT a year ago after an upset in the Sun Belt tournament left them out of the NCAA?s. This year?s team returns an awful lot of key contributors from that one, and is the most experienced squad in all of college basketball (according to KenPom, whose rankings show that UTA?s roster averages 2.81 years of experience). In fact, seven of their top eight contributors are seniors, including all five starters.
This group owns road wins over BYU (twice, including last year?s NIT), then-#12 Saint Mary?s, Bradley, Ohio State, Memphis, and Texas in their careers ? and has had a slew of near misses. They took Texas to OT in 2015 before losing. They had a halftime lead at Minnesota in 2016, and lost by four. They had a double digit halftime lead at Arkansas later that season, and lost by four. This year?s team lost second-half leads at both #25 Alabama and Northern Iowa in tight losses ? but beat Oklahoma by 15 in a charity exhibition in October.
They seem to thrive in hostile road environments, as their coach Scott Cross noted in their preview article on UTAMavs.com. ?Having a large, partisan crowd is a good thing. For our basketball team, the biggest question mark is usually energy. When our guys play with great energy, we are usually very good. I think they feed off the crowd. I felt like at Northern Iowa, Alabama and BYU, even though we were on the road, our guys were energized.?
UT Arlington is picked to win the Sun Belt again this year, and will enter CenturyLink Center on Monday night expecting to win. They may not have the name recognition to get casual fans excited, but that?s a shame because other than Nebraska, this is the best team Creighton will play at home in the non-conference this year (and depending on how the Huskers? season goes, could end up being the best team on the pre-Big East home slate). Either way, it?s a win that would look awfully good on their resume in March if they can take care of business.
They?re led by 6?7?, 230-pound senior forward Kevin Hervey, who?s scored in double figures in 38 consecutive games and averages 23.6 points per game to rank fifth nationally. That presents a bit of a dilemma for Creighton, because Hervey?s the type of player they?ve struggled to defend ? too big for Khyri Thomas to match up with, but whose versatility forces whichever forward is guarding him to extend out away from the basket.
