Mean Green Host SMU Thursday

JT Hammons · January 25

DENTON – For the first time since 2002 the UNT men’s basketball team will face SMU. The Mustangs and Mean Green will square off Thursday at Super Pit.

Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and the Mean Green Sports Network, presented by Learfield. For Mean Green fans attending Thursday’s game it will be a “Green Out.” Fans are encouraged to wear green. The first 500 UNT students receive a free shirt.

Thursday’s matchup is the first of two meetings this season between the Metroplex schools and pins two of the American Athletic Conference’s top teams against each other. North Texas (11-6. 4-1) enters the contest winners of six of its last seven and owners of a 4-1 league record. The Mustangs (13-5, 4-1) have won seven of their last eight and also have a 4-1 league record.

The game features two of the nation’s top defenses as the Mean Green are holding opponents to an average of 58.3 points per game and SMU is holding opponents to an average of 62.4 points per game. Both rank in the top 10 in the country.

It’ll be the first time UNT has hosted the Mustangs since 2001. The Mean Green enter this contest riding a 16-game home winning streak and are just one win away from tying the program record for consecutive wins, which was set in 2011. SMU is 3-2 on the road this season and 1-1 on the road against conference opponents. It lost at nationally ranked Memphis, 62-59, on Jan. 7. They led the Tigers by as many as 15 in the first half before Memphis went on its comeback run.

Thursday will be the 52nd all-time meeting between the two schools. SMU was North Texas’ first-ever opponent in the program’s first-ever recorded game, which was on Jan. 19, 1917. The game was in Denton and SMU won, 25-23.

Following Thursday’s game the Mean Green travel to Boca Raton, Florida, for a road game at No. 22 Florida Atlantic on Sunday. The Owls are coming off their Final Four run from last season and return 14 of their 15 players. The game is scheduled to tip-off at noon CT and will be broadcast on ESPN2 and the Mean Green Sports Network, presented by Learfield.

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 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Tommy Gadberry · January 25

Thanks so much for the ticket link. I needed an extra and used it for that. Good seats are pretty scare tho. Hoping some people don’t show up next to me so my friend can be beside me.