Mean Green down HBU 84-81

Harry · October 30, 2017

http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/102917aaa.html

Oct. 29, 2017

HOUSTON – Freshman Zachary Simmons scored the game-winning basket with 18 seconds left to lift North Texas men’s basketball on the road at Houston Baptist, 84-81, in an exhibition Sunday at Sharp Gym.

With the Mean Green trailing by one point 81-80, Simmons was able to muscle his way inside and score with 18 seconds left. Houston Baptist tried to answer but North Texas forced a turnover to seal the victory with three seconds left. Sophomore guard Roosevelt Smart made two free throws to ice the game.

The new look team finished with four players in double-figures, including 20 points from Smart and 19 points from freshman Umoja Gibson. Sophomore A.J. Lawson finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Defensively, North Texas created a lot of loose ball opportunities and came away with 11 steals, including six from sophomore guard Ryan Woolridge. Woolridge filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, five assists, six steals and three rebounds.

In the second half, no team had a lead bigger than eight points thanks to nine lead changes and 10 ties.

Smart scored 11 of his 20 points in the second half to help North Texas come away victorious.

North Texas led 47-43 at halftime thanks to 17 points from Gibson. Lawson added 11 points and Smart hit three three-pointers.

The Mean Green used a 15-3 run in the half to build a 10-point advantage. Gibson sparked the rally with 10 of the 15 points.

Houston Baptist kept the game close by closing the first half on an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to four.

The Mean Green finished the game shooting 36.9 percent from the field (24-of-65) and 42.1 from beyond the arc (8-for-19).

Up Next
The Mean Green will open the 2017-18 season on Nov. 10 against Eureka College at 5p.m. at the Super Pit.

Quick Hitters
-Starting five: sophomores A.J. Lawson, Ryan Woolridge, Roosevelt Smart, freshman Umoja Gibson, junior Tope Arikawe
-Smart and Gibson combined to shoot a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line
-Lawson and Simmons each grabbed a team-high nine rebounds
-The Mean Green went to the foul line 43 times
-North Texas forced 20 turnovers from Houston Baptist

TreeFiddy · October 30, 2017

My knee jerk reaction was, wow we barely beat Houston Baptist. Then I realized that they were not bad last year (3rd in Southland) and finished about 150 points higher in the RPI rankings than we did (their 185 to our 338). They are probably looking at the headline and thinking the same thing I was, except in reverse.

Good to hear they played well and came away with the W, even if it was just an exhibition. Better than the alternative.

Edited October 30, 2017 by TreeFiddy

Harry · October 30, 2017

Andrew · October 30, 2017

Interesting we played an Open scrimmage away from home. I don’t remember us doing that in the past. Do we have a home scrimmage before the season starts?

Edited October 31, 2017 by Andrew

Mean Green 93-98 · October 30, 2017

31 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

My knee jerk reaction is, wow we barely beat Houston Baptist. Then I realized that they were not bad last year (3rd in Southland) and finished about 150 points higher in the RPI rankings than we did (their 185 to our 338). They are probably looking at the headline and thinking the same thing I was, except in reverse.

Good to hear they played well and came away with the W, even if it was just an exhibition. Better than the alternative.

Thanks for the post. I was thinking the same thing you were, except I was too lazy to look that stuff up.

BillySee58 · October 30, 2017

Told you guys I'd expect to see Lawson play some 4

GreenN'walinsVet · October 30, 2017

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Interesting we played an Open for scrimmage away from home. I don’t remember us doing that in the past. Do we have a home scrimmage before the season starts?

The NCAA allowed teams to play an extra exhibition this year if proceeds helped hurricane victims. Hence why they played in Houston

Andrew · October 30, 2017

Just now, GreenN'walinsVet said:

The NCAA allowed teams to play an extra exhibition this year if proceeds helped hurricane victims. Hence why they played in Houston

Thanks!

Mean_Green09 · October 30, 2017

10 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

Told you guys I'd expect to see Lawson play some 4

The question is will McCasland play a 5 guard line-up at some point?

Also where was Duffy? NVM just saw he had foot surgery 3 months ago. Hopefully he gets healthy soon

untbowler · October 30, 2017

any update on the big Russian kid?

Mean_Green09 · October 30, 2017

12 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

My knee jerk reaction was, wow we barely beat Houston Baptist. Then I realized that they were not bad last year (3rd in Southland) and finished about 150 points higher in the RPI rankings than we did (their 185 to our 338). They are probably looking at the headline and thinking the same thing I was, except in reverse.

Good to hear they played well and came away with the W, even if it was just an exhibition. Better than the alternative.

I dont think you can have any knee jerk reactions with this team for awhile. Take every W that we get. I think early in the season you will see mostly ugly victories. Games that they grind out. By the time we get to conference play I hope that they will be comfortable in their roles.

BillySee58 · October 30, 2017

1 hour ago, Mean_Green09 said:

The question is will McCasland play a 5 guard line-up at some point?

Also where was Duffy? NVM just saw he had foot surgery 3 months ago. Hopefully he gets healthy soon

Yeah, was wondering about Duffy. I was expecting him to be our top creator, and either lead us in scoring or be second to Lawson. He won the 3-point contest so hopefully he's almost ready to play.