UTA men look for home sweep, No. 3 seed in Sun Belt tournament
One milestone down, two to go.
With Tuesday’s 75-69 win over Texas State, the UT Arlington men won their 20th game of the season and came one step closer to the postseason.
There are at least two more goals to reach, however. Win the Sun Belt Conference tournament and make the NCAA Tournament, both of which go hand-in-hand.
The Mavericks (20-9, 11-7 SBC) go into Thursday’s game against South Alabama at the College Park Center looking for a win to help them solidify a first-round bye in the Sun Belt tournament.
Tied for third in the SBC standings, UTA is guaranteed a seed between 3 and 5, with Louisiana Lafayette and Georgia Southern just below them. The basic premise is simple:. Beat the Jaguars on Thursday and Troy on Saturday, another home game, and the No. 3 seed is theirs.
It might be easier said than done, considering the Jaguars (13-16, 8-10 SBC) snapped UTA’s eight-game winning streak with an 88-85 overtime win on Jan. 16. UTA had no answer for USA’s Georgi Boyanov, who scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
The Mavericks are 6-2 in their last eight games since losing four straight.
Despite only nine starts, Kaelon Wilson is scoring 9.7 points per game for the Mavericks.
South Alabama
at UTA men
7:15 p.m. Thursday
This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "UTA men look for home sweep, No. 3 seed in Sun Belt tournament."