Arkansas-Monticello (11/14/14)

[Rudy]

Yeah, what weather? It's just cold there.

[Andrew]

People do not like to go out in the cold!

[Eastwood Eagle]

Impressed by her basketball knowledge, I told her I played post but was more of a rebounder and defender than scorer.

You would play old white man basketball.

[UNTFan23]

People do not like to go out in the cold!

The truckload of traffic compiled with road construction on 35E will be a much bigger deterrent to attending basketball games then cold weather ever will.

[Maduro]

even with all the missed free throws in 2 games and missed dunk tonight i'm liking combs a lot. white-pittman might have us all forgetting about chris jones before this season is over. i'm also liking everything i'm seeing from ahmed and i hope he's able to start taking on more minutes soon. only 2 glaring issues i could see tonight...

1. jordan williams driving to the basket whenever he gets the ball in his hands and taking nothing but awful circus shots. benford has obviously given him the green light to throw the ball at the rim whenever possible just like alzee. this game plan will lead to him consistently getting plenty of points from volume shooting, but it didn't produce winning results last year against average or better competition and we will probably see the same results this year. it felt like i didn't see him take any jumpers from over 12' tonight (showed up a few minutes late so maybe i missed one or two), and his legs always look like they are about to either slide, trip, or break every time he drives to the basket. a coach should explain to him that every shot doesn't need to be on a highlight reel and that it's okay to either set up and take an open jumper or pass to someone else if there is no chance of scoring. i'll be worried about his health once we see any legitimate interior defenders get in his path.

2. the scoreboard. it's awesome, looks amazing, and can be used for so many great applications. however, can we please use it to CLEARLY show the score and game stats? during the 2nd half i just started looking up at the ancient boards above the endzone nosebleeds. the lower hanging ring where they attempted to display the score tonight was just frustrating from where i was sitting. it all ran together and looked like a mess. i recommend they just run ads on that section. the big screens were showing the live video of the game that was being played right in front of our eyes. the super pit is not jerry-world and the only video anyone cares about watcing on it is replays. the scorers table where the players point and foul totals were displayed are constantly blocked by our endless amount of substitution players that sit in front of it. i'm hoping they bring back the score, player stats, and game %'s (FG, FT, etc.) on the big screens.

[Maduro]

addendum to the last post...

i realize jordan passes the ball (career high in assists tonight). my point is that we need him to be extra careful since it appears that benfords goal is to get the ball in his hands every possession he's on the floor.

and that's all the business between sports.

[Andrew]

I wish we could see players rebound and assist totals so where as well. Maybe use the old boards for point and fouls and the big screen for rebounds and assist. I hVe no issue looking at the old boards. They are easy to see. I want to see some video packages on the big screen. Maybe a video of Benford saying in your feet!

[UNT90]

You would play old white man basketball.

Been playing old white man basketball since I was 18. :-)

[IslandEagle]

when is benford gonna explain what the deal is with greg wesley?

NCAA rules do not permit much commentary on a players personal issues.

[Mean Green Matt]

We will not know much about this team until 1) we know what the full roster of available players will look like and 2) we play a capable D1 basketball team.

I remain cautiously optimistic. Maybe the NCAA will realize we are due for a break and make Reese eligible.

[rws69]

Agree on scoreboard issues. The video board on the official's table now shows the points and fouls for players currently in the game, but programming bug had UNT player stats on both the UNT and visitor side. In any case that is only visible from the east side of the arena. My seats are low enough that I don't watch the video board except during timeouts. During play I would prefer that they go back to the video format they used last year. Biggest omission is not showing player rebounds.

Attendance at a 5:00 game on Friday will be a challenge for those not already in Denton. That was OK for retired folks like me, but then traffic becomes an issue. I live in Flower Mound, and take FM 2499 through Highland Village to FM 2181. During the 4:00 period when the high schools are getting out, Denton police virtually shut down FM 2181 at Guyer to give priority to students leaving the Guyer lots. Northbound I-35 is always bad getting through Corinth, and construction makes it worse.

Now about the game... UNT had a bigger team on the floor than Arkansas-Monticello, had a good inside advantage, and did not have to rely on outside shooting. Two freshmen started. Combs is going to be fun to watch this year, and both he and White-Pittman were among six players in double-figures scoring. Combs and Voss each pulled down nine boards, and somebody already mentioned nine assists for Williams. I am looking forward to games coming up, and there are a lot at home yet this month.

We stayed to watch the women play against Houston. A 16-4 run by Houston changed a 15-all game to a 19-31 deficit at the half. UNT scored the first five points after intermission, and outplayed the Cougars throughout the second half; but they never overcame that 12 point deficit, and lost by 4. A short 5-1 guard Kasiney Williams did not start, but really played well except that her normally good shooting was AWOL last night. Missed shots hurt the Mean Green all night, but they stayed in the game and almost came back due to hustle and solid defense.

[UNT90]

If Reece was going to be eligible, the NCAA would have made that ruling before the 1st regular season game. Looks like we will see him after the end of this semester, a la Tony Mitchell.

[That_Guy_Arlo]

Good to see UNT win by a decent margin. Wish I could have made it.

[Andrew]

If Reece was going to be eligible, the NCAA would have made that ruling before the 1st regular season game. Looks like we will see him after the end of this semester, a la Tony Mitchell.

Apparently they have legitimately not heard anything yet. I would assume it will be denied, but they really have not heard anything from what it seems.

[UNT90]

Not hearing something is hearing something...

[UNTflyer]

The 5:00 tip-off surprised me. Thank you, technology, for alerting me the game was going to start in 15 minutes.