Wright Scores 42 In Senior Day Win

meangreenfaninno · Friday at 02:23 PM

DENTON – Atin Wtight scored an American Athletic Conference singe game season high 42 points Thursday night as the UNT men’s basketball team defeated Charlotte 75-64 in its home closer. Its seventh win in a row.

With the win, the Mean Green (23-6, 14-3) clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming American tournament. Their 23 wins are tied for the second-most single season wins in program history.

Wright’s 42 points were one shy of the American record of 43 set by Memphis’ Jeremiah Martin versus Tulane on Feb. 20, 2019. The 42 points only ties Wright’s single game career high. The Hawthorne, California, native scored 42 points as a junior at Cal State Northridge in a game at UC Davis on Feb. 15, 2023.

His eight made 3-pointers on the night surpassed his previous career high of seven.

“[Atin’s performance] was one of the most special individual performances that the league has ever seen,” UNT head coach Ross Hodge said. “It wasn’t like he got 42 points in a blowout, either — every single basket he made, we needed.”

Wright scored 13 points in the first half as the 49ers (10-20, 3-14) went shot-for-shot with North Texas.

The game was tied at 33 at halftime.

North Texas took control of the contest with a 10-point run starting with a Wright jumper at the 14:19 mark of the second half and ending with a Moulaye Sissoko layup with 12:18 to go. After the run, the Mean Green led 53-43.

Brenen Lorient scored 12 points and was UNT’s second leading scorer on the night.

Also with the win, Hodge is just two wins shy of capturing the most wins by a second-year Mean Green head coach.

UNT closes out their regular season in Philadelphia, Pa. versus Temple at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday. They will begin the conference tournament on March 14 in the quarterfinal round.

For more information on UNT Basketball tickets, contact the Mean Green Ticket Office at 940-565-2527 or at ticketoffice@unt.edu. Fans can purchase tickets at www.meangreentickets.com or visit the UNT Athletics Ticket Office located at Gate 2 of DATCU Stadium between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

2020 Sucks · Friday at 03:58 PM

Atin's 8 minute run where he scored about 20 of his 42 was epic! The confidence was incredible and it was a beautiful thing to see him just having fun and igniting the crowd. What I still hate to see is the 8 minute scoring drought from the 15:00 mark until the 7:00 mark in the first half. We did a lot of great things last night like not turning the ball over unnecessarrily. However, we didn't score inside, we got out rebounded, and we put them on the line too many times with bad defensive position and some crappy calls by the refs (those went both ways and they could have called more on us that they didn't).

The trip to Philly will be a good tune up for the tournament. Temple is a quality opponent and road wins are tough. I'd love to see nothing more than us get a win and get back to Denton for some rest before Thursday night. I'd like to see Massie get back in rhythm with the team in the Temple game. He's been practicing, but game speed is a better test.

Edited Friday at 04:40 PM by 2020 Sucks

Jonnyeagle · Friday at 04:24 PM

25 minutes ago, 2020 Sucks said:

Atin's 8 minute run where he scored about 20 of his 42 was epic! The confidence was incredible and it was a beautiful thing to see him just having fun and igniting the crowd. What I still hate to see is the 8 minute scoring drought from the 15:00 mark until the 7:00 mark in the first half. We did a lot of great things last night like not turning the ball over unnecessarrily. However, we didn't score inside, we got out rebounded, and we put them on the line too many times with bad defensive position and some crappy calls by the refs (those went both ways and they could have called more on us that they didn't).

The trip to Philly will be a good tune up for the tournament. Tulane is a quality opponent and road wins are tough. I'd love to see nothing more than us get a win and get back to Denton for some rest before Thursday night. I'd like to see Massie get back in rhythm with the team in the Tulane game. He's been practicing, but game speed is a better test.

You mean Temple not Tulane? Good post and I agree Temple will be a good road test.

2020 Sucks · Friday at 04:38 PM

14 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

You mean Temple not Tulane? Good post and I agree Temple will be a good road test.

fixed it

MCMLXXX · Friday at 05:37 PM

1 hour ago, 2020 Sucks said:

I'd like to see Massie get back in rhythm with the team in the Temple game. He's been practicing, but game speed is a better test.

Massie looked to me like he was ready to play last night but given the physicality of Charlotte I am glad he was held out.

BigWillie · Friday at 08:35 PM

4 hours ago, 2020 Sucks said:

Atin's 8 minute run where he scored about 20 of his 42 was epic! The confidence was incredible and it was a beautiful thing to see him just having fun and igniting the crowd. What I still hate to see is the 8 minute scoring drought from the 15:00 mark until the 7:00 mark in the first half. We did a lot of great things last night like not turning the ball over unnecessarrily. However, we didn't score inside, we got out rebounded, and we put them on the line too many times with bad defensive position and some crappy calls by the refs (those went both ways and they could have called more on us that they didn't).

The trip to Philly will be a good tune up for the tournament. Temple is a quality opponent and road wins are tough. I'd love to see nothing more than us get a win and get back to Denton for some rest before Thursday night. I'd like to see Massie get back in rhythm with the team in the Temple game. He's been practicing, but game speed is a better test.

Also, we play on Friday, not Thursday.