New Orleans defeats NT

CMJ · January 8, 2006

We played sluggishly, especially in the first half. And yet we still almost came out with the win. Still a tough loss to take.

DeepGreen · January 8, 2006

We played sluggishly, especially in the first half. And yet we still almost came out with the win. Still a tough loss to take.
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Especailly at home against a 3-9 team coming in.

SUMG · January 8, 2006

Especially since UNO played without their best player, Bo McCaleb.

In a word, pathetic.

NTEagle08 · January 8, 2006

Only 1 of UNO's wins was against a Division I opponent. This is a bad lose, considering RPI sites show that we should have won this game by 13.

CMJ · January 8, 2006

We had no excuse for getting dominated like we did in the first half. I did like the way we came back in the 2nd though.

Edited January 8, 2006 by CMJ

FirefightnRick · January 8, 2006

What in hell happened tonight? Hard to believe I was listening about the same team I saw play Thursday night?

Rick

SUMG · January 8, 2006

For those who didn't listen to it.....we only lead once in the game....69-68. UNO took the lead at the start of the game, and didn't relinquish it, at all, until very late. They were up by as much as 14. Our only lead was 1.

They outrebounded us, had more assists and more steals.

JJ has never started conference play 2-0. (even though he has been 1-0, four out of his five years at UNT).

And people wonder why we're lucky to get 1500 to a game any more.

Edited January 8, 2006 by SUMG

NDT · January 8, 2006

We were-

Outrebounded

Outstolen

Outassisted

Outhustled

Outcoached

Outplayed

In the first half we took a lot of awkward, off balance, low percentage shots.

It looked as Southall said like "gym play." I don't know if the problem was arrogance (we were favored against a losing team at home) or discipline.

Perhaps it was both.

January 8, 2006

And, if I used two words, they would both be pathetic.

Sounds like we were outcoached, outplayed, outrebounded and outhustled which left us out in the cold. When a team that has only won 25% of its games, loses its best player to a broken ankle for the season, doesn't even have a home and still beats you like a stepchild, it's disappointing. In fact, it may be as disappointed as I've been in North Texas basketball. Maybe JJ can't coach; at least he didn't seem to have them motivated tonight. And, it took him three quarters of the game to change his defense to at least slow them down.

The only positive that I can take from this is that we're only two games into the conference season. Wait, I'm not even sure that that's a positive.

NTEagle08 · January 8, 2006

Another bad part of this game, largest crowd of the season(throw out the UH game since it was mainly UH fans) had to watch this poor performance. 2,108 was the announced attendence.

Texas Stranger · January 8, 2006

NT came out shooting circus 3's missing badly on the 1st 3 possessions. UNO recognized this and immediately sagged on Simpson, making him get rid of the ball a lot early on. Lackadaisical play let a hustling UNO squad run up a double-digit lead.

Finally, late in the 1st half we started attacking their zone and whittled the deficit to 6 at the half. UNO started the 2nd with lights-out shooting and stretched it out to 16 at one point, before a furious rally finally gave the Mean Green the lead late. The Game of Inches then favored UNO greatly at the end, as we had TWO tap-ins missed with about 10 seconds left. This forced us to foul UNO, but with only 4 team fouls in the second half, we had to do it 3 times in a row to get them on the line, allowing them to run off about 4-5 extra seconds. Even then, the UNO shooter missed the front end of a one-and-one, but with Simpson having perfect rebound position, the ball took an extra roll around the rim before popping out after he finally came down. After fouling the UNO player that ended up with the loose ball, he hit both this time to stretch it to 3.

Instead of taking the last time out to set up a play with 2 seconds left, we immediately inbounded short and dribbled upcourt, and were forced to put up a desperation airball from behind half-court.

Observations:

1. Pit Crew non-existent tonight. It was my first game this year, so was this an anomaly ? Talons were weak this evening, too.

2. This team is capable of playing some really ugly "street" basketball.

3. Cheerleader count: 4 They were trying hard, though.

4. This year's version of The Basketball Mini-Brigade is the best sounding I've heard in awhile. The pre-game selections were really sharp, especially the tropical-sounding one. Note: where's the drummer ?

5. The Mean Green should have completely hammered the Privateers in the paint, but it just didn't happen. Simpson missed an easy dunk that was a serious powerdown in the 2nd half.

GrandGreen · January 8, 2006

Very disappointing loss, this looked like the easiest conference game on the schedule. As stated before, NO a winless away team without their best player actually dominated the game. With 8 of the last 11 conference game on the road, NT cannot afford to lose these early home games.

January 8, 2006

Well, I go on the other board and defend the TEAM hard and heavy. Then they go play like they did, and it makes me look pretty dumb. Oh well, I hope they rebound. Like another poster said we had our largest crowd of the season at the Pit. I hope JJ shews them out big time, or at least gets them used to the pressure that comes with the expectation that they're going win the games that they should, along with the mental meturity to win the games their not suppose to.

GO MEAN GREEN

buff64 · January 8, 2006

Lot of turnovers last night, careless passes. First half UNO dominated the boards. First game I've been to this year, was impressed by Justin Barnett who passed the ball well and played the boards tough while he was on the court.

EagleD · January 8, 2006

I wasn't able to listen or watch the game last night, but sometimes teams just play poorly. Look at the thrashing Kentucky (ranked in the top 10, I believe) took at the hands of Kansas (not ranked). I think JJ is a good coach and will have the team ready to play next time. This loss kind of sucks.

GO MEAN GREEN !!!!

Buford_Julep · January 8, 2006

I wasn't able to listen or watch the game last night, but sometimes teams just play poorly. Look at the thrashing Kentucky (ranked in the top 10, I believe) took at the hands of Kansas (not ranked). I think JJ is a good coach and will have the team ready to play next time. This loss kind of sucks.
GO MEAN GREEN !!!!
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I agree.

We probably aren't as good as we looked against Lousiana, and we probably aren't as bad as we looked vs New Orleans.

We probably aren't a championship team, but no Sun Belt team should take NT lightly either. Last season NT beat conference regular season champ Denver and just missed beating Western Kentucky. This season NT has 2 wins over teams that played in last year's NCAA Tournament.

TheColonyEagle · January 8, 2006

This was my first game to go to this year.

A few observations:

We looked very careless with the ball, took some horrible shots, and gave up a lot of easy baskets. Plus we got there about 20 minutes late and they were out of programs. I was really wanting to get a program and read about all the new players we have. Oh well, I guess it was my fault for showing up late.

But, it was good to see the pit again. I love that place. My girlfriend is a Baylor grad and she had never been to the super pit. She was impressed. Her comment, "wow I can't believe the difference in this and fouts field."

especially the bathrooms..................

But it appears there are several new faces on the team. The chemistry looks off to me. Maybe we'll see their best basketball down the stretch as they gel.

UNTSportsGuy · January 8, 2006

But it appears there are several new faces on the team. The chemistry looks off to me. Maybe we'll see their best basketball down the stretch as they gel.
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This is probably the only thing you are wrong about, the chemistry on this team is much better than on last years team.

Any reason on why Hines and Watson played such few minutes?

UNT_92_Fan · January 8, 2006

From my source...Calvin and Hines are both battling lingering injuries...

This team def. has better chemistry than last years....On the most part the entire team seems to get along and enjoy playin together...that can't really be said about last years team because of a few "bad eggs"

ADLER · January 8, 2006

I know one area where something HAS to get fixed.

We employed a pressure defense several times. UNO always cracked it and would suddenly have 3 guys advancing on one defender. It always resulted in a basket, and often a basket and a foul.

Take away half those easy points we gave them, and we would be discussing last night's victory today.

jbchis · January 9, 2006

From my source...Calvin and Hines are both battling lingering injuries...
This team def. has better chemistry than last years....On the most part the entire team seems to get along and enjoy playin together...that can't really be said about last years team because of a few "bad eggs"
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The most productive lineup was Brown, Davis, Sturns, Williams, and Simpson. They were the reason UNT was even in the game.

I handle losses well, but not when I don't believe that maximum effort was given for 40 minutes. Combine UNO's 60% first half shooting with the "hustle stats." This team was overconfident.

UNT_92_Fan · January 9, 2006

I agree JPC....I am a HUGE fan of Lionel Brown...that kid is a ball of energy! Sturns has def. turned his game around but he seems overconfident now...

Edited January 9, 2006 by UNT_92_Fan

TheColonyEagle · January 9, 2006

This is probably the only thing you are wrong about, the chemistry on this team is much better than on last years team.
Any reason on why Hines and Watson played such few minutes?
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Last year's must have been REALLY bad.

MeanGreenBuzz · January 9, 2006

Watson has a lingering back injury. As for Hines I have no idea, but when he has played the last 3 games he has definately not looked himself. He has not been trying for steals or getting rebounds like he had been last season and the first part of this season. Anyone know if Hines has an injury he is playing through?

January 9, 2006

The season is not over guys. There are a lot of games in a basketball season and teams are bound to have a few bad ones. Our guys came out overconfident and never really seemed to realize that they might actually have to play good basketball to win the game. It's always best to get a win, but this loss isn't the disaster that many seem to think.

We really need to win these next two games at home though.