It will be a big night of basketball at College Park Center on Monday night.
A win against Troy will give UT Arlington no worse than a share of the Sun Belt Conference and its first conference championship since winning the Southland Conference in 2012, the last year the Mavericks were in the league.
UT Arlington enters Monday's game with a 22-6 overall record and a 12-3 mark against Sun Belt opponents. The Mavericks are a game-and-a-half ahead of second place Georgia State and Georgia Southern. Troy goes into the game with a 16-13 record and an 8-7 mark in league play.
And just as important, a win helps increase the chances of March Madness hitting the Arlington campus as the Mavericks continue their goal of securing a spot in the NCAA Tournament. UT Arlington would at least qualify for a postseason berth in the NIT as the league's regular season champion should they miss out on the NCAA Tournament.
UT Arlington also goes into Monday night with a 16-game home winning streak, the ninth longest streak among NCAA Division I programs.
Another reason a win would be big for UT Arlington; it would give head coach Scott Cross career victory No. 200. Cross has a 199-145 record and is the winningest coach in program history.
Tip-off between UT Arlington and Troy is at 7 p.m. in Arlington. It’s also Senior Night for the Mavericks as Jorge Bilbao, Drew Charles, Jalen Jones and Faith Pope take the floor for their final regular season game at College Park Center.
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After the game against Troy, UT Arlington then hits the road to face Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday and then close out the regular season Saturday at Louisiana.
