​Bobcats Look to Avenge Loss in “Blackout” Game versus UT Arlington

By Joshua Orozco
Sports Reporter

After a hard-fought split on the road in Georgia, the Texas State Bobcats look to return to their winning ways this Saturday as they face the UT Arlington Mavericks in this year’s “Blackout” game.

This season, Texas State has found success at home thus far as they are currently 8-1 while playing inside Strahan Arena. With only 10 games remaining in the Bobcat’s historic 2018-19 season, every game should be considered a “must win.”

A game against UT Arlington, although currently at 9-12 on the season, is by no stretch of the imagination a cake walk. The Mavericks, prior to their loss against the Sun Belt Conference co-leader Georgia State last Saturday, rode a five-game conference win streak which included impressive victories over current fourth seed Georgia Southern Eagles and fifth seed Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. With a 5-3 conference record, UTA will look to give Texas State a run for their money as the Bobcats sit atop the Sun Belt Conference mountain.

One person who definitely isn’t overlooking UTA this weekend is Texas State head coach Danny Kaspar. During an intense practice this week, coach Kaspar emphasized the importance of staying committed on their path to a Sun Belt Conference championship at this juncture in the season.

“It takes a really good team to be good from beginning to end. If you really want it, you have to work hard every day and respect your opponent because we got a big bullseye on our back,” Kaspar said, in regards to maintaining their success.

The Bobcats also found themselves with votes once again in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll, however, Coach Kaspar quickly addressed the national attention the team has been receiving and how Texas State plans to remain humble.

“I’m glad we got our name in the paper across the country but that can go away real quick. You can’t celebrate for too long, it’s just the nature of the beast,” Kaspar said.

Earlier this week, Senior guard Tre Nottingham discussed how the team plans on responding on Saturday against UTA after a rough upset loss against Georgia Southern.

“Practice was more intense this week; Saturday’s loss was a little wakeup call. Going into this week’s game we got to focus on what we did wrong, minimize our mistakes, minimize our turnovers and we’ll be fine Saturday night,” Nottingham said.

Nottingham also expressed the importance of fan attendance during the Bobcat home games.

“[We] hope the Bobcats [fans] come out, watch us eat, watch us put on a show… we would love to see the fans come out that’ll mean a lot to us. They’re ecstatic when they are here so we’ll like to see them Saturday for the Blackout game.”

Strahan Arena should be rocking once again as the first 100 fans in attendance for Saturday’s game will receive a free “Takers” shirt, a motto the Bobcats have truly embraced as their identity this season.

Make sure to catch news, updates and analysis of the matchup versus the UT Arlington Mavericks tomorrow at 4 p.m. on KTSW 89.9.

Photo courtesy of Texas State Athletics.