Josh Nicholas drive vs UT Arlington 2020-21 Game 3
56
La.-Monroe ULM 4-14,2-9 Sun Belt
63
Winner UT Arlington UTA 10-9,6-5 Sun Belt
La.-Monroe ULM
4-14,2-9 Sun Belt
56
Final
63
UT Arlington UTA
10-9,6-5 Sun Belt
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
La.-Monroe ULM 31 25 56
UT Arlington UTA 25 38 63

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Turnovers Prove Costly for ULM in Series Opening Loss at UTA, 63-56

ARLINGTON, Texas – Sam Griffin and Shahada Wells combined for 40 points to lead UT Arlington to a 63-56 home-court win over ULM Friday night in the first game of a Sun Belt Conference weekend series. It marked UTA's third-straight win over the Warhawks this season and its sixth in a row overall in the series.
 
UTA (10-9, 6-5 Sun Belt) jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but ULM answered with a 13-2 run and took a 15-9 lead on Russell Harrison's 12-foot jumper in the lane with 13:58 left in the first half. Chris Efretuei's hook shot from inside the paint gave ULM (4-14, 2-9) its largest lead of the game at 21-13 with 11:16 remaining.
 
Patrick Mwamba's runner in the lane sparked a 10-2 spurt and the Mavericks tied the game at 23-all as Jordan Phillips banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 6:38 to go in the opening half. ULM outscored UTA, 8-2, over the final 6:18 and took a 31-25 lead into the intermission.
 
ULM limited the Mavericks to 33-percent (10-of-30) field-goal shooting in the first half, including just 3-of-14 (21 percent) from 3-point range. UTA made only one of its last eight shots from the floor in the first 20 minutes and went scoreless for 3 1/2 minutes.
 
UTA outscored ULM, 11-2, over the first 3:20 of the second half and regained the lead at 36-33 on a 15-foot jumper by Wells from the right wing following an offensive rebound. During that stretch, the Warhawks committed three turnovers and went 0-for-3 from the field.
 
Koreem Ozier buried a 3-pointer from the left corner as ULM pulled even at 36-all with 16:16 on the clock. The Mavs put together a 12-2 run and built their largest lead at 48-38 with 9:33 left on a Wells' 3 from the left baseline in transition, off another ULM turnover. During that stretch of 6:43, the Warhawks committed seven turnovers and managed only three field-goal attempts (1-for-3).
 
ULM responded with an 8-1 spurt and cut its deficit to 49-46 with 4:01 to go as Nicholas connected on a deep 3 from the left wing. Nicholas accounted for seven of those points during the run, but the Warhawks failed to close the gap any further during the closing minutes.
 
UTA pressured ULM into 11 second-half turnovers while committing only one of its own and enjoyed a 15-0 advantage in points off turnovers after the intermission.
 
"The turnovers in the second half turned the game," ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "In the first five minutes, we turned it over three times, which allowed UTA to take the lead. Many of those second-half turnovers led to transition layups and open 3s. Our turnovers were spread all across the board too.
 
"UTA played a match-up zone in the second half, which is almost like a switching man-to-man. So, you really need to be able to drive the ball against that kind of defense because you have post players picking up guards and guards picking up bigs. We really did a poor job of driving and making good decisions with the basketball. We struggled deciding how to score: when to dump the ball to somebody down low or when to kick it out for an open shot. We had numerous shots blocked because guys were playing off one foot. We turned the ball over trying to dump the ball down in the post when guys weren't open. We've been working on this exact thing really hard for the last two weeks, but we did a poor job of executing in the second half."
 
The Mavs struggled to find an offensive rhythm against ULM, hitting 24-of-66 field-goal attempts (36 percent) including 9-of-25 3s (36 percent). UTA missed 11-straight shots from the floor during one stretch in the second half before making its last five attempts in a row.
 
"We actually played decent defense for the whole game," Richard said." Their guards (Sam Griffin and Shahada Wade) got away from us there a little bit late in the game, but they're really good guards. We had a tremendous defensive effort in the first half but sure shot ourselves in the foot with the 11 turnovers in the second half."
 
The Warhawks also outrebounded UTA, 39-35; however, the Mavs collected 13 offensive rebounds, including 10 in the second half.
 
Griffin hit 9-of-18 shots from the floor and finished with a game-high 23 points, including 13 in the second half. Wells contributed 17 points, a season-high seven assists and three steals. The Mavericks also got 14 points and seven rebounds from Mwamba.
 
Nicholas came off the bench to score a team-high 15 points, with 10 coming in the second half, on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, including 2-of-3 3-pointers. In three games against UTA this season, Nicholas is averaging 19.0 points per game while hitting 64 percent (23-fo-36) from the floor, including 58 percent (7-of-12) from behind the 3-point arc.
 
"Josh Nicholas really bothers UTA's defense with his quickness and speed," Richard said. "Josh is the one guy who has had success against them in all three games this season. He has the ability to drive around the defender. When he's on the fast break, he can shoot up the floor and score, and he also hit a couple of 3s. Josh really had a nice game."
 
Harrison added 11 points for the Warhawks. Efretuei netted eight points to go along with a season-high seven rebounds while Marco Morency recorded a season-best seven assists.
 
ULM will attempt to earn a split in the Sun Belt weekend series against UTA on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m.
 
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