DRC MensBB Brown providing valuable minutes

[OldTimer]

Men's basketball: Brown providing valuable minutes for Mean Green

08:43 AM CST on Thursday, January 12, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

The prospects for playing time didn’t look all that good for Lionel Brown when he arrived at North Texas at the beginning of the season.

DRC/Gary Payne

North Texas point guard Lionel Brown (3) dribbles down court while being guarded by New Orleans’ Wayne Williams on Saturday at the Super Pit. Brown has quickly settled in as UNT’s backup point guard and helped reduce the load on starter Isaac Hines.

The former Eastern Oklahoma State College point guard was buried deep on the Mean Green’s depth chart, behind preseason second team All-Sun Belt Conference selection Isaac Hines, not to mention a host of other experienced backcourt players and Arkansas transfer Kendrick Davis, one of the Mean Green’s most heralded recruits in recent years.

Brown has overcome those long odds to secure an increasingly important role heading into a game against Florida International (3-11, 0-2) at 7 p.m. today.

The 5-11 sparkplug has become the Mean Green’s backup point guard, one of its most accurate 3-point shooters and a scoring threat off the bench.

Brown’s development is one of the reasons the UNT men will head into the second half of a Sun Belt Conference doubleheader with an 8-5 record and a chance to improve to 2-1 in league play.

The UNT women (12-2, 2-0) will look to build on their best start in school history in the 5 p.m. opener when they take on Denver (7-6, 1-1).

“To be a good team, you need a good point guard,” UNT men’s coach Johnny Jones said. “We have been very fortunate to have two guys who are very capable of playing the point, are heady and can distribute the basketball.”

UNT knew coming into the season that it already had one player who fit that description in Hines, who became the first player in school history to lead the Mean Green in assists, steals and rebounds in a single season last year.

What UNT needed was a backup who could help take some of the load off of Hines, who played more than 34 minutes a game in conference play. The Mean Green had plenty of candidates, but it was Brown that has increasingly filled that role.

Brown has played at least 19 minutes in each of the Mean Green’s last three games when he has averaged 10.3 points and just one turnover a game. Jones has been able to cut Hines back to 22 minutes a game this season, thanks to Brown who is hitting 41.5 percent of his 3-point shots.

Hines still leads the team with 32 assists and 28 steals and has seen his 3-point shooting percentage jump from 30.9 to a team best 44.0.

“My body feels much better than it did last year with Lionel here to help me,” Hines said. “He is doing a good job for us.”

Brown credited Hines for helping him adapt to playing at the Division I level after two years in junior college.

“I want to make sure I take some time off of Isaac’s hands and take control of the team when I am in there,” Brown said. “I am starting to get more comfortable on the floor.”

UNT is counting on Brown to come up with another solid performance tonight, when the Mean Green will look to bounce back from a disappointing loss to New Orleans. UNT had won four straight, including its conference opener against SBC West Division favorite Louisiana-Lafayette, before falling to the Privateers, 72-69.

UNT was down by one and had a chance to win the game with 20 seconds left, but failed to convert.

“We need to get our winning streak going again,” Hines said. “We should have had that game the other night. We need to come back strong.”

The UNT women haven’t needed to bounce back from a loss in weeks, thanks to their quick start. The Mean Green have won their last five games and are off to their best start in school history at 12-2.

UNT is 2-0 in Sun Belt play and can win its first three games in league play for just the second time with a win over a hot Denver team that has won three of its last four.

UNT coach Tina Slinker credited the Mean Green’s quick start to their depth. Senior guard Mian Williams is averaging 10.9 points a game to lead eight UNT players who are averaging at least 4.5 points a game.

UNT’s balance helped the Mean Green hammer Louisiana-Lafayette 70-47 and end the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 22-game homecourt winning streak that ranked as the fifth-longest in the nation in their last game.

“We are excited with our start and going 2-0 on the road to start conference play,” Slinker said. “It was impressive that we could go to Lafayette where they had their 22-game winning streak and dominate.”

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