Mean Green Sign Experienced Transfer Guard

cousin oliver · April 23

DENTON – The UNT men’s basketball team has signed 6-foot-6 Longwood transfer guard Johnathan “John John” Massie, fresh off a conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Houston native was Longwood’s second-leading scorer last season averaging 11.3 points per contest and playing in 34 games and making 16 starts for the 21-win Lancers who won the Big South championship.

Massie joins the Mean Green with one year of eligibility remaining.

In the NCAA Tournament, Massie was Longwood’s leading scorer against No. 1 seed Houston. In their conference tournament, Massie helped lead the Lancers to wins over the tournament’s No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 seeds as he averaged nearly 10 points per game and shot 66.6 percent from deep. He shot 77.7 percent from 3 over Longwood’s final nine games of the year.

Massie scored in double figures 19 times last year including a career-high 31-point explosion versus Winthrop on Feb. 10 to lead his team to an 84-74 win. He was named the Big South Player of the Week following his heroic performance.

On the final regular season game of the year, Massie led the Lancers to a 74-72 win over the league’s regular season champion High Point with a 16-point and 5-rebound performance in 22 minutes of action.

In addition to scoring, Massie is a solid rebounder as he pulled down an average of 5.2 boards per game last season, which was the third-highest average on the team. Longwood was one of the nation’s top rebounding teams as they had an +8.8-rebounding margin for the season – sixth best in the country – and averaged 13.4 offensive rebounds per game – 12th best in the country.

Massie had eight or more rebounds eight times last season and had a season-high 12 rebounds versus Charleston Southern on Jan. 6 in a 21-point win.

Massie has been tremendous at getting to the foul line in his career. He attempted 151 free throws last season, which would have been a close second on UNT last season. He’s a 72.7 percent free throw shooter in his three-year career.

The incoming senior began his collegiate career at McNeese State where he was named the 2022 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year.

As a sophomore at McNeese, Massie led his team to the Southland Conference Tournament championship game, as he averaged 10.5 points per game that season and averaged 15.1 points per game during the season’s final month.

North Texas is coming off a 19-win season under first-year head coach Ross Hodge where they reached the second round of the NIT. He was the only rookie head coach last year to lead his respective team to either the NCAA Tournament or NIT. The Mean Green won 10 league games in their first season in the American Athletic Conference. It was the most league wins by a first-year UNT head coach. UNT is one of just seven schools in the country who has won a NCAA postseason game in each of the last four seasons.

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.