Hits: 39
UT-Arlington 77
North Texas 61
Starters
Derail Green
Rickey Brice Jr.
Deckie Johnson
A.J. Lawson
J-Mychal Reese
Jeremy Combs returned to the hardwood this afternoon and came up big for the Mean Green giving him today’s Play of the Game Honors. He was 8 of 12 (66.7%) from the floor and 5 of 7 (71.4%) from the Free Throw line while pulling in 12 Rebounds (6 Offensive and Defensive each) giving him his 18th career double-double. He also had one steal and three blocks.
Also in double digits was J-Mychal Reese (12) and coming off the bench Ja’Michael Brown (11).
Hot Sports Opinion
UT-Arlington is a good team who had recently notched a signature win against Texas prior to playing the Mean Green. This game was billed by the North Texas coaching staff as a “showdown between teams on a roll” but when one looks at the results between the two teams, it’s not even close — UTA is a far better team when compared to North Texas.
There are just four more non-conference games left in the season and the Mean Green are currently sitting at 4-4. Sam Houston and San Diego are both pretty solid teams so the Mean Green should finish its non-conference slate with a 6-6 record.
Where the concern comes is with the way North Texas played in the game how this team will play against consistently good competition in Conference USA? The top half of the conference is more than capable of winning the regular season and the conference tournament. Even the middle ranks of the conference will be a tough team to go up against. Finding the needed wins to finish the season with an even record looks to be a tall task.
Kieth Frazier and Ryan Woolridge should be coming into the fold right after the Fall semester has finished (Dec 16th) and so hopefully they can make an immediate contribution but there is little time for them to hang around to try to find their footing.
There are 30 games in the regular season for the 2016-2017 campaign and 22 games remaining in the season. In order for the Mean Green to finish 15-15, North Texas needs to win 11 of the remaining 22 games just to finish with an even .500 record on the regular season. North Texas must play better perimeter defense and slow down teams on their shooting from behind the arc as they are allowing teams to make 8.3 three-pointers per game right now.
At this point, I don’t see where Tony Benford will get his contract extended. He has perhaps his most talented team (on paper) but rarely do these players seem to play as a unit and put in a complete effort. Too many weaker teams have been allowed to linger around and against much better competition the Mean Green have fared poorly. This team has yet to defeat anyone with a winning record.
CUSA Action
Rice 84
Texas Tech 85
Old Dominion 60
Towson 58
Western Kentucky 56
Missouri 59
Marshall 80
Eastern Kentucky 89
Oregon State 66
Charlotte 69
Hofstra 88
Florida Atlantic 80
Southeastern Louisiana 59
Louisiana Tech 88
Middle Tennessee 67
South Alabama 55
Auburn 74
UAB 70
Northwestern State 79
UTEP 67
UTSA 71
Utah Valley 75