Basketball: UNT to face tough test vs. Tulsa

[untwillrise]

Watson coming off strong game against Rice

11:28 PM CST on Monday, November 20, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

North Texas head coach Johnny Jones knew his team had every reason to fold in a game at Rice on Saturday.

UNT was coming off a last-second loss to UT-Arlington, had lost its best player Kendrick Davis to injury and was on the road against an Owls team that features arguably the best player in Conference USA in Morris Almond.

The Mean Green managed to pull out a 71-69 win despite those odds and build a little confidence heading into a game against Tulsa at 7 p.m. tonight at the Super Pit.

"Rice is a good basketball team," Jones said. "It showed the character of our basketball team and how we are continuing to grow to win coming off of a tough and controversial loss. … It was one of the better games we have played all year."

Senior guard Calvin Watson scored 26 points, while junior guard Michael Sturns added 21.

The duo's performance helped UNT make up for the loss of Davis, who was averaging 18.7 points a game. The senior broke a window in a hallway door of the Super Pit following UNT's loss to UTA and is out 6-7 weeks with a partially torn ligament in his wrist.

UNT lost to UTA on a layup at the buzzer, a basket the Mean Green would have asked officials to review had there been a courtside monitor.

Big nights from Watson and Sturns helped the Mean Green get past Rice, but UNT's players believe they will need more than just a few players to improve their performance to build on a 3-1 start.

"K.D. brought energy, leadership, scoring and a lot else to the table," Watson said. "Trying to replace that is almost impossible. A lot of guys are going to have to improve not only as far as scoring but in being a leader as well."

Senior Rich Young replaced Davis in the starting lineup and scored six points to go along with seven rebounds against Rice, while Sturns came off the bench to provide a spark offensively.

UNT's players attributed their win over Rice not only to the performance of the players who helped take Davis' place on the floor, but also to a focus on defense. The Owls shot just 44 percent from the field.

Almond scored 38, but no other Rice player had more than six points.

"We came together, were aggressive on defense and executed," UNT junior guard Ben Bell said. "We have to keep playing well defensively like we did against Rice. … As long as we can do that, we will keep winning."

Keeping that roll going could be a challenge against Tulsa, which ran its record to 2-0 with a win on Saturday over Arkansas-Little Rock, one of the Mean Green's Sun Belt Conference rivals.

Freshman guard Ben Ozoh leads the Golden Hurricane with an average of 16.0 points a game and will start along side former Ryan standout Brett McDade in Tulsa's backcourt. McDade helped lead Ryan to the state title as a freshman in 2000 and is averaging 7.5 points a game this year, just off his career average of 9.9.

UNT held McDade to five points last season in a win at Tulsa.

"Brett will be excited to be back here at home," Jones said. "It's a great opportunity for him. We just hope he doesn't have a huge night against us because he has had some big games here in Denton."

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