UT Arlington coach Scott Cross downplays approaching milestone

UT Arlington’s conference opener against Georgia State holds a major amount of significance to the men’s basketball program, even if coach Scott Cross doesn’t want to admit it.

Should the Mavericks beat the Panthers at College Park Center Wednesday night, Cross would become UTA’s winningest coach. But Cross, who’s collected a 162-130 record in 10 years as head coach, has a more important goal on his mind.

“It’s actually meaningless to me because the only thing that matters is being 1-0 in conference,” he said. “That’s far more important in my eyes.”

While that might just be a statement of modesty, it is true that a 1-0 conference record means they took care of back-to-back Sun Belt champion Georgia State. The Panthers, who upset Baylor in the NCAA tournament in March, are one of the stingiest defensive teams in the conference. Allowing just 59.3 points per game, they’ve won four straight games and enter conference play on a roll.

It’ll be a tough task for the surprising Mavericks, who have emerged as one of the top mid-major teams after an upset-filled nonconference season. UTA is the only team in college basketball to average more than 45 rebounds per game, even though the Mavericks don’t feature anyone taller than 6-foot-8.

With a long, athletic roster built to force difficult shots, they’re making it difficult for opposing teams to score.

And as long as Kevin Hervey and Erick Neal are running the show, the Mavericks have a formidable 1-2 punch on offense. The native Metroplex sophomores are combining to average 30.6 points per game.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 6:27 PM with the headline "UT Arlington coach Scott Cross downplays approaching milestone."