DRC Mens BB open season tonigh

[OldTimer]

Men's basketball: UNT men open season tonight

Arkansas transfer eager to hit court with Mean Green

09:00 AM CST on Friday, November 18, 2005

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

The time that has passed since Kendrick Davis last played a college basketball game amounts to a little more than a year.

Basketball coach Johnny Jones watches his players run drills during practice on Thursday at the Super Pit. The Mean Green open the season at home tonight at 7 p.m. against Hardin-Simmons.

It just seems like longer to the former Arkansas standout who will suit up for North Texas for the first time tonight. Davis transferred to UNT after his sophomore year and is expected to be a key contributor for the Mean Green, who are looking for a breakthrough season after finishing within two games of the .500 mark in three of the last four years.

“It seems like I have been waiting to play forever,” Davis said. “Last year was a blessing. Coach [Johnny] Jones picked me up and let me sit out a year so that I could come in and help the team this season.”

UNT is hoping Davis is the last piece needed to get over the hump and make a run at the Sun Belt Conference West Division title. The Mean Green finished with a 14-14 record last year.

“We like our team,” Jones said. “We are bigger, strong and quicker this year and have a lot of guys who return. We also bring in some new guys who will be able to help us.”

Davis is the most impressive of those newcomers.

As a freshman, the 6-4 shooting guard averaged 10.3 points a game for Arkansas and hit a driving layup with 25 seconds left to give the Razorbacks an upset win over 20th-ranked Mississippi State.

Davis seemed destined for a standout career at Arkansas, but saw his playing time diminish in his sophomore year when he averaged just 5.4 points in less than 13 minutes a game.

“I left Arkansas because I wanted more playing time,” Davis said. “I helped the team my freshman year, but didn’t play many minutes my sophomore year. I wanted to go some place I could play.”

Davis decided on UNT because it was close to his home in Houston and the connection he felt with the Mean Green’s coaching staff. The match appears to be one tailor-made for UNT, which lost senior shooting guard Leonard Hopkins to graduation last season.

Hopkins led UNT with an average of 18.1 points a game his senior season and finished as the eighth all-time leading scorer in Mean Green history with 1,340 points.

“Some people have talked to me about replacing Leonard, but I don’t look at it that way,” Davis said. “I just want to help the ball club win games.”

Several teams in the Sun Belt have benefited from the addition of transfers, including UNT, which featured LSU transfer Shawnson Johnson in the 2003-04 season.

“It makes your team better if you can bring in transfers with the right mentality who are there for the right reasons,” Jones said. “Kendrick has the right mentality.”

Davis will join several top returning players from last season’s team, including starting guards Isaac Hines and Calvin Watson, not to mention center Jeffrey Simpson.

Hines became the first player in UNT history to lead the team in assists (3.7), steals (2.1) and rebounds (6.4) in the same season last year. The former Collin County College standout was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt team as a second-team selection.

Watson averaged 11.3 points per game and hit multiple 3-point shots in 17 of 28 games, while Simpson posted 9.9 points per game in conference play.

Davis is just one of several key additions the Mean Green made to that core of players. Freshmen forwards Harold Stewart and Harold Edwards and freshman center Justin Howerton are also expected to contribute.

“Our bench will be 50 times better than it was last season,” Hines said. “We have guys who know their roles and are willing to play them.”

UNT believes its core of veterans, Davis and a deep bench will give the Mean Green a chance to exceed expectations. The Sun Belt’s coaches picked UNT to finish fifth out of six teams in the Sun Belt’s West Division.

“We are picked fifth, but that is just a number,” Davis said. “Anything is possible.”

Jones believes one of those possibilities is Davis playing a key role in a breakthrough season.

“Kendrick isn’t a one-dimensional player,” Jones said. “He is a capable ball-handler who can create opportunities for other players, has a good mid-range game and can step back and hit the three. He is also a good defender who plays with a lot of enthusiasm.

“The rest of our players will be able to feed off of him.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

Roster

Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl.

23 Isaac Hines G 6-0 175 Sr.

33 Calvin Watson G 6-5 215 Jr.

32 Quincy Williams F 6-8 230 So.

12 Kendrick Davis G 6-4 195 Jr.

45 Jeffrey Simpson C 6-8 220 Sr.

54 Justin Barnett C 6-10 275 Sr.

3 Lionel Brown G 5-11 165 Jr.

15 Harold Edwards F 6-6 215 Fr.

34 Justin Howerton C 6-10 240 Fr.

20 Coby Ray G 6-1 190 So.*

10 Jared Ruffin G 6-0 175 Jr.

21 Harold Stewart F 6-8 195 Fr.

11 Michael Sturns G 6-4 190 So.

2 Keith Wooden F 6-9 245 Jr.*

13 Rich Young F 6-5 205 Jr.

14 Chris Higgs G 6-2 180 Fr.

*Note – Sitting out 2005-06 season due to NCAA transfer rules

Schedule

No. 18 Hardin-Simmons 7 p.m.

Nov. 22 at UNC-Wilmington 7 p.m.

Nov. 30 at Arizona State 8 p.m.

Dec. 3 Chattanooga 7 p.m.

Dec. 6 at Texas A&M 7 p.m.

Dec. 10 Nicholls State 7 p.m.

Dec. 19 Angelo State 7 p.m.

Dec. 23 at Houston 7 p.m.

Dec. 28 UT-Permian Basin 7 p.m.

Dec. 30 Stephen F. Austin 7 p.m.

Jan. 2 at Tulsa 8 p.m.

Jan. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette* 7 p.m.

Jan. 7 New Orleans* 7 p.m.

Jan. 12 Florida International* 7 p.m.

Jan. 16 Denver* 7 p.m.

Jan. 19 at Arkansas-Little Rock* 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 21 at Arkansas State* 3:05 p.m.

Jan. 26 Troy* 7 p.m.

Jan. 28 South Alabama* 7 p.m.

Feb. 2 at Louisiana-Lafayette* 7:05 p.m.

Feb. 4 at New Orleans* 1 p.m.

Feb. 9 Middle Tennessee* 7 p.m.

Feb. 11 at Western Kentucky* 7 p.m.

Feb. 15 UT-Pan American 7 p.m.

Feb. 18 at Denver* 3 p.m.

Feb. 23 at Troy* 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 25 at South Alabama* 8:05 p.m.

March 3-7 at Sun Belt Tourney, Middle Tennessee TBA

* — Sun Belt Conference game

[Stan R]

word up.