Reeling UT Arlington men determined to snap skid at Georgia State
What was once a promising season for UT Arlington is now a fight for survival.
The Mavericks thought they’d figured out a way to snap their losing skid by taking a seven-point lead into halftime against Georgia Southern on Thursday, but the Eagles shot 61.5 percent down the stretch and handed UTA (14-7, 5-5 Sun Belt) its fourth straight loss.
Our confidence is shot right now. This is our first bit of adversity, and it came at a bad time, unfortunately.
UTA coach Scott Cross
They hope to turn things around without Kevin Hervey when they play at Georgia State at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
“This team is capable of doing way more than we’re doing right now,” coach Scott Cross said. “Our confidence is shot right now. This is our first bit of adversity, and it came at a bad time, unfortunately.”
The Mavericks are in the midst of a five-game road stretch, and they’ve had to find a way to play on the fly without Hervey, their offensive centerpiece lost for the season with a knee injury. It hasn’t yielded any results, and Sun Belt opponents are scoring 90.3 points per game over the past week.
The Panthers (13-7, 6-5) are led in scoring by forward Jeremy Hollowell (14.5) and guard Kevin Ware (13.0), last season’s Sun Belt tournament MVP. Ware began his career at Louisville and suffered a gruesome broken leg in an NCAA Tournament game against Duke during the Cardinals’ championship season.
Georgia State’s win Thursday over Texas State snapped its own three-game skid.
UTA won the first meeting of the season 85-70 on Dec. 30.
UTA men at Georgia State
1:30 p.m., today
This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Reeling UT Arlington men determined to snap skid at Georgia State."