UT Arlington looks for better starts during 5-game road trip

Coming off a tough loss against Sun Belt favorite Arkansas-Little Rock, UT Arlington embarks on the longest road trip of the season without its best player.

UTA starts with Louisiana-Monroe, a team that hasn’t lost at home all season despite having a losing record overall. The Mavericks are trying to brush off a disappointing loss against Little Rock where they came back from 28 points down only to lose at the end.

The Mavericks (14-4, 5-2 Sun Belt) have made a habit of starting slow in Sun Belt games. They’ve trailed by at least eight points in the first half of every game, and by 10 points in all but two.

They’ve been fortunate to have the offensive firepower to come back from early deficits, but without Kevin Hervey, their leading scorer and rebounder, the Mavericks can’t afford to fall behind during the five-game road trip that begins Thursday.

Kennedy Eubanks has filled in nicely in the two games Hervey’s missed. Eubanks is averaging 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.

The Warhawks (8-11, 4-4) are searching for their first win over a quality opponent this season. They’ve beaten up on the bottom three Sun Belt teams, led by Majok Deng’s 19.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. A win over UTA would put them into the top half of the conference.

They haven’t allowed more than 75 points to a Sun Belt team since 2014, but the Mavericks are scoring 81.2 points a game.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 7:31 PM with the headline "UT Arlington looks for better starts during 5-game road trip."