Hits: 40
North Texas (7-12 2-4) extended its losing streak to three games after falling to the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro, TN. Free Throw shooting continues to be a sore spot as the team only made 13 of 26 (50%), which won’t help the Mean Green get out of last place in the country among Div I schools. The Mean Green was out rebounded 45 to 31 and the bench was also outscored 30 to 6. Overall, it was not a good night for the men in black.
Under an hour before tip-off between NT and Middle Tennessee. 6:30 start. Black Uniforms for the Mean Green tonight. #GoMeanGreen
— #GoMeanGreen (@MeanGreenMBB) January 21, 2016
Tonight’s Player of the Game goes to J’Mychal Reese who managed 20 points on 8 of 13 (61.5%) shooting from the floor, hit both his 3-point shots, and was 2 of 4 (50%) from the line while gathering 2 Defensive Rebounds, 4 assists and 2 turnovers on 37 minutes of play. Also in double digits for the Mean Green was Combs (13) and Johnson (10).
Jeremy Combs was the team’s leading rebounder picking up 8th double-double of the season and 5th in a row. Combs had 12 Rebound (4 Offensive; 8 Defensive) for the night.
North Texas has 12 games remaining to 9 in order to finish better than .500 for the season. The odds are not looking good for the Mean Green as North Texas has been able to string together more than 2 wins at a time.
Rickey Brice Jr. did not play today and may not play on Saturday against UAB due to an injury, who was missed in tonight’s match-up as North Texas was outscored in the paint 46-26 with just a single block for the night.
North Texas travels to Birmingham, AL to take on the 16-3 UAB Blazers on Saturday, January 23rd at 7:00 PM.
Game Stats have been posted.
Current conference standings (as of 1/21/2016)
TEAM CONF GB OVR
UAB 6-0 -- 16-3
Middle Tennessee 5-1 -- 13-5
Marshall 5-1 -- 9-10
Florida Intl 4-2 -- 10-9
UTEP 3-3 -- 11-8
Old Dominion 3-3 -- 10-9
Louisiana Tech 2-3 -- 13-5
Southern Mississippi 2-3 -- 5-11
Western Kentucky 2-4 -- 10-9
North Texas 2-4 -- 7-12
Charlotte 2-4 -- 5-13
Florida Atlantic 2-4 -- 4-15
Texas San Antonio 2-4 -- 4-15
Rice 1-5 -- 6-13
Neither ESPN or CUSA calculated the number of games behind the two conference leaders and I didn’t feel like trying to figure it out myself.
Conference Breakdown
Some interesting match-ups this Saturday. I wonder if Louisiana Tech will end its 2-game losing streak. It’s unlikely that UAB will get to push further away from No. 2 Middle Tennessee as both programs are playing bottom half opponents.
Saturday, January 23
Marshall at Old Dominion (ASN) – 1:00p
Florida Atlantic at UTSA – 2:00p
Rice at Middle Tennessee (C-USA DN) – 5:00p
WKU at Charlotte (FCS) – 5:00p
Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss (C-USA DN) – 7:00p
North Texas at (RV) UAB (C-USA DN) – 7:00p
FIU at UTEP (C-USA DN) – 8:05p