Mean Green Begin Two-Game Road Trip

[Coach Andy Mac]

GREENVILLE, North Carolina – The UNT men’s basketball team riding a five-game winning streak begins a two-game road trip on Wednesday as they first face East Carolina in Greenville, North Carolina.

 

The Mean Green (10-5, 3-0) and Pirates (9-8, 2-2) are scheduled to tip off from Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Mean Green Sports Network, presented by Learfield.

 

It’ll be the fourth all-time meeting between North Texas and ECU but the first played at the Pirates’ home arena.

 

UNT heads into the road conference game playing its best basketball so far as the Mean Green have held its previous two opponents, Tulane and Temple, to season low scoring outputs in route to two double-digit victories. The Mean Green own the nation’s third-best scoring defense as they’ve held their 15 opponents to an average of 58.4 points per game. Both Tulane and Temple were held to fewer.

 

North Texas’ defense has led the nation in allowing fewest points per game in each of the last two seasons. Over the years it has been just as stout on the road. Since 2021, UNT is giving up just 58.8 points per game on the road (25 games). No other team in the country is giving up less than 62 points per road game over the same time span.

 

Defense has been key to North Texas’ road success over the years as they enter Wednesday’s game owning the nation’s best road winning percentage over the last two-plus seasons at .800.

 

Scoring points will be at a premium on Wednesday as the Pirates are also a strong defensive unit. Their coaching bench features former Texas Tech head coach Mark Adams whose Red Raiders defense became nationally known as the most efficient in the nation. Multiple years Texas Tech allowed less than 85 points per 100 possessions.

 

ECU can also put the ball in the hoop well as they are led by its sophomore Ezra Ausar who also is a childhood friend of Mean Green guard Jason Edwards. Ausar, a forward, is one of the best in the American at scoring around the rim and gets to the foul line a lot as he draws over seven fouls per game.

 

Following Wednesday’s game at East Carolina, the Mean Green travel to Charlotte to face the 49ers (9-7, 3-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT to conclude the two-game road trip.

 

For more information on UNT men's basketball tickets, contact the Mean Green Ticket Office at 940-565-2527 or at ticketoffice@unt.edu. Fans can visit the UNT Athletics Ticket Office located at Gate 2 of DATCU Stadium between 9 a.m. and 5

[Shark84]

If we are still without Jones and Buggs, I would be happy with a split this week. It would be great to sweep but that isn't easy with everyone healthy. It would be cool to go into the Smut game next week with at least a 4-1 conference mark. 

[UNTLifer]

8 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

If we are still without Jones and Buggs, I would be happy with a split this week. It would be great to sweep but that isn't easy with everyone healthy. It would be cool to go into the Smut game next week with at least a 4-1 conference mark. 

Nope, need the sweep.

[Jonnyeagle]

ECU is good but I am even more worried about Charlotte.  I would take a split quite honestly with Rubin and Bugs out.

[UNTLifer]

12 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

ECU is good but I am even more worried about Charlotte.  I would take a split quite honestly with Rubin and Bugs out.

If we play our game, neither game should be within ten points.

[HoosMeanGreen]

13 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

ECU is good but I am even more worried about Charlotte.  I would take a split quite honestly with Rubin and Bugs out.

Just curious - Is it Charlottes win vs FAU that has you worried about them? Charlotte is now better than Tulane & Wichita State? 2 weeks ago they weren’t. 2 weeks ago UNT was in a cycle of lose what you win (win 2 lose 2, win 3 lose 3, win 4 ???)
 

Based on the last 3 games, what element did the team miss that made you say “if we only had Rubin playing… if Buggs was available then…”?

[Censored by Laurie]

12 minutes ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

Just curious - Is it Charlottes win vs FAU that has you worried about them? Charlotte is now better than Tulane & Wichita State? 2 weeks ago they weren’t. 2 weeks ago UNT was in a cycle of lose what you win (win 2 lose 2, win 3 lose 3, win 4 ???)
 

Based on the last 3 games, what element did the team miss that made you say “if we only had Rubin playing… if Buggs was available then…”?

first question...ya, I think beating the 17th ranked team in the country should probably grab some attention (though I think too we might have a bit of inflated view of what FAU really is)

WSU really doesn't look good at all...best win either Richmond or WKU and they've lost 7 of 8, including to what looks like a pretty down Temple team. Charlotte and Tulane are basically level in NET and look like pretty similar squads...but a road conference game, especially the second on a road trip is a different beast than a home game. 

to the second question...always better to have and not need than need and not have. 

ECU looks on paper the "easier" of the two games...take care of business tomorrow in a similar manner to what we've seen in conference thus far and then I think the Charlotte game will be a real solid indicator of exactly where this team is in the conference hierarchy heading into the first really difficult stretch of games (SMU, @FAU, UAB) 

 

[CMJ]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

If we play our game, neither game should be within ten points.

I have to disagree with you on that.  

[UNTLifer]

41 minutes ago, CMJ said:

I have to disagree with you on that.  

No worries.  Guess we can see who will is right by this time next week.  Here's to two wins.

[CMJ]

6 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

No worries.  Guess we can see who will is right by this time next week.  Here's to two wins.

Well, should we lose one or both, certainly you'd say it was because we didn't play our game.  😉

 

We have the ability to win both (and I think we have a decent shot to), but road games in league play are never easy.  I would be quite surprised if we won both by double figures, I can tell you that.

Edited January 17 by CMJ

[UNTLifer]

3 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Well, should we lose one or both, certainly you'd say it was because we didn't play our game.  😉

 

We have the ability to win both (and I think we have a decent shot to), but road games in league play are never easy.  I would be quite surprised if we won both by double figures, I can tell you that.

Thanks for your opinion.  I'll stick to mine.

[NT80]

"Defense has been key to North Texas’ road success over the years as they enter Wednesday’s game owning the nation’s best road winning percentage over the last two-plus seasons at .800."

Great stat that most fans would never know about NT.

[HoosMeanGreen]

Anyone seeing Charlotte struggle with Rice (tied at 66 less than 2 min remaining) and Temple hanging with SMU AT SMU 63-66 with 2 mins remaining?

[Shark84]

17 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

If we play our game, neither game should be within ten points.

So, if we don't sweep both games and win by double digits does Hodge have to walk home? I hope you are correct but I'm not going to panic if you're wrong. Winning road games was tough in Conference USA so the AAC shouldn't be any different. Go Mean Green!

[UNTLifer]

4 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

So, if we don't sweep both games and win by double digits does Hodge have to walk home? I hope you are correct but I'm not going to panic if you're wrong. Winning road games was tough in Conference USA so the AAC shouldn't be any different. Go Mean Green!

No, if we don't sweep Johnny Jones has to walk home, backwards, barefoot from Charlotte.  

My prediction is based off of what I think this team is capable of doing,  I'll be happy if we win both by one, I can live with a split, but two losses isn't acceptable.