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The Cardiac Kids pull out yet another close game, this time against the Florida International Panthers. The final 15 seconds of overtime may have provided a great thrill but may have also taken a few minutes off of many Mean Green fan lives. FIU’s Beard was closely guarding Woolridge and Ryan lost the dribble where the ball squirted across the court. Ryan collected the ball and passed it off the an open D.J. Draper who drilled what would be the game winning 3-pointer with about 6 seconds left in overtime.
| Scores by Period | 1st Half | 2nd Half | OT(1) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIU | 35 | 26 | 6 | 67 |
| North Texas | 29 | 32 | 8 | 69 |
Draper Playing a Larger Role Off the Bench This Season
D.J. Draper has seen his playtime increase this season to over 14 minutes and 4.4 points per game from just under 2 minutes and less than a point per game. Only Jordan Duffy has scored more points per game (6.5/game) as a non-starter on this team. Draper has had other games where he has played a significant role. Draper had a career night against Rice earlier this season where D.J. scored 23 points and was 6 of 9 from behind the arc.
Shane Temara in Middle of a Slump
Since the Old Dominion game, Shane Temara has seen a drop off in points per game scored from 11.2 to 9 points per game. His total rebound numbers have also dropped off but so have his minutes from the low 30s/high 20s to the high teens, so that could help explain the drop off in rebound production. However, his high watermark for points over the past six games has been 8 points against Southern Miss. His overall production needs to improve, especially if North Texas is going to have a chance to make any kind of noise in the conference tournament in March.
| Opponent | Minutes Played | Field Goals | Field Goals Attempted | Field Goals % | Three Field Goals | Three Field Goals Attempted |
Three Field Goals % | Free Throws | Free Throws Attempted | Free Throw % | Points | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Dominion | 23 | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 10.6 |
| Rice | 18 | 1 | 6 | 0.167 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | 3 | 10.2 |
| Louisiana Tech | 18 | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | 4 | 9.9 |
| Southern Miss | 15 | 3 | 4 | 0.75 | 2 | 3 | 0.667 | 0 | 0 | – | 8 | 9.8 |
| FAU | 18 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 9.3 |
| FIU | 18 | 1 | 5 | 0.2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 9 |
Highlight Reel
Up next for the Mean Green is the Rice Owls on Saturday, February 3rd at the SuperPit in Denton, TX with a 5:00 PM tipoff. Rice is currently 5-17 overall and 2-7 in conference play. They are in danger of not qualifying for the conference tournament, so they may be a bit of a dangerous team. In the last meeting, Rice gave North Texas some problems and the Mean Green have been notorious about coming out slow making it tough to pull away from teams as the game progresses.
The game will be broadcasted by ESPN3 for TV coverage and radio coverage will be available via KHYI 95.3, KNTU 88.1, and the Mean Green Sports TuneIn channel, with pregame coverage beginning 15 minutes before tipoff.
Knocking off the Owls will put the Mean Green one step closer to a .500 record, which means North Texas needs to get at least 16 wins. After Rice, North Texas will face off against against four of the top five programs in Conference USA over the next two weeks – at UAB Feb. 8th, at Middle Tennessee Feb. 10th, vs. Western Kentucky Feb. 15th, and vs. Marshall Feb. 17th.
Conference USA Standings
| TEAM | CONF | OVERALL |
| Middle Tennessee | 8-1 | 16-5 |
| Old Dominion | 7-1 | 16-4 |
| Western Kentucky | 7-1 | 15-6 |
| Marshall | 5-3 | 14-7 |
| UAB | 5-4 | 14-8 |
| North Texas | 5-4 | 12-10 |
| Louisiana Tech | 4-5 | 13-9 |
| Southern Miss | 4-5 | 11-11 |
| UT San Antonio | 4-5 | 11-11 |
| Florida Atlantic | 4-5 | 10-11 |
| Florida Intl | 3-6 | 9-13 |
| UTEP | 2-7 | 7-14 |
| Rice | 2-7 | 5-17 |
| Charlotte | 1-7 | 5-14 |