ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington men's basketball opened practice on Monday at the College Park Center marking the official start of college basketball's new year.
 
The Mavs are looking to rebound from the 2024-25 season that saw the Mavs finish 13-18, including a 9-4 mark at home at the CPC. The Mavericks return two scholarship players from that team and head coach KT Turner and his staff were hard at work to bring in several talented newcomers who are poised for big things in 2025-26.
 
Senior forward Raysean Seamster and sophomore forward/center Cameron Jackson are back in Arlington and both are set to build off of their 2024-25 campaigns that saw them average 11.4 and 2.0 points per game, respectively. Seamster also averaged 4.9 rebounds per contest and scored in double figures on a team-high 23 occasions in 30 total appearances, 29 of which were starts.
 

time to get to work… *officially* 😏#BuckEm 🐎 | #EmptyTheTank 🪫 pic.twitter.com/gTU60NGgvg

— UT Arlington Men's Basketball (@UTAMavsMBB) September 22, 2025

A number of new faces are in the fold in the Dream City, including forward Tyran Mason, who joins UTA following a year at North Texas, Arkansas transfer Cash Chavis, Troy transfer Marcus Rigsby, Jr., junior college transfer Bahsil Laster (Harcum College), Northern Colorado transfer Marcell McCreary and South Dakota State transfer Stoney Hadnot. In addition to the transfers, there are also a quartet of freshman – guard Jordan Lowery, forward/center Amari Reed, guard Jayden Smoot and guard Augustine Youssef

"It feels good knowing that we're six weeks out from our first game," Seamster said following Monday's session. "It's really about focusing on the details. We've got a team full of dogs, everybody is a dog. We challenge ourselves each day, the guards come in and compete, the wings come in and compete and the bigs come in here and compete. At the end of the day we're just making ourselves better. I'm a lot more confident this year, we've got a great group of guys that also are coming in with a lot of confidence."

Monday's work at the CPC was high-energy and very detail-oriented. The Mavs look to continue to build upon the strong foundation set in Monday's workout,
 
"We had good energy and intensity today," Mason said after the opening practice. "The main thing has been cracking down on little mistakes we have to work through, but overall it good intensity and good energy. I think this group has meshed pretty well, and I think we've gotten close pretty quick. We all hang out a lot outside of basketball and on the court we're able to talk to each other and build each other up and also be able to criticize each other and accept that. Knowing that you can rely on your brother to have him there in need and be able to know that if I'm down, he can pick me up. I'm extremely excited, I thank God every day for the opportunity to be able to play at this level and be out there with my brothers and people I'm close with. I expect a good output."

The Mavericks return to the court on Tuesday as preparations for the upcoming season continue in full.
 

Gallery: (9-22-2025) MBB Official Practice 2025-26

 
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