Drc Article Nt Post Men Plan To Get Physical

[OldTimer]

College basketball: UNT post men plan to get physical

11:54 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 14, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Ever since North Texas opened the Sun Belt Conference tournament more than two weeks ago, Harold Stewart has seemed like a different player.

The sophomore forward has scored in bunches and pulled down just as many rebounds, a performance he traces back to a few e-mails he received just before the beginning of the tournament.

“My dad is Iraq, so we have been talking a lot in e-mail,” Stewart said of his father, who is also named Harold. “He just told me to go out there, play my game, do what I did in high school and what got me here, which is to play hard and go get everything off the glass.”

Stewart did just that while scoring in double figures twice and averaging 8.3 rebounds a game during the Mean Green’s four-game run to the Sun Belt tournament title. Stewart was just one of several Mean Green front court players who were at their best when the stakes were the highest, helping the Mean Green earn just its second NCAA Tournament bid.

UNT is the No. 15 seed in the South Region and will take on second-seeded Memphis in an 11:30 a.m. first-round game on Friday in New Orleans.

If UNT is to become just the fifth No. 15 seed to win a first-round game, the Mean Green will again have to be at its best in the front court again against a Memphis team that will be the biggest challenge of the year for UNT near the basket.

The Tigers start a pair of 6-9 forwards in Robert Dozier and Joey Dorsey, who rank second and third on the team in scoring with averages of 9.8 and 8.7 points a game, respectively. Dorsey is pulling down 9.6 rebounds a game to lead Memphis on the glass.

“They have good size, are long and have good strength, but at the same time we have good size,” UNT head coach Johnny Jones said. “We have a number of good players in there and will have to use all of those guys in a rotation because of their size.”

UNT has one of the biggest and most athletic front courts in the Sun Belt, and lived up to its potential in the conference tournament, thanks in large part to Stewart. He came into the tournament averaging just 3.7 points a game before playing arguably two of the best games of his career back-to-back.

Stewart finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in a win over Louisiana-Lafayette in the first round and then had 16 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Louisiana-Monroe in the quarterfinals. UNT’s other post players were just as effective.

Junior forward Quincy Williams scored in double figures in three out of the four games and junior center Keith Wooden just missed a double-double when he had 11 points and eight rebounds in the tournament championship game against Arkansas State.

“Quincy and I started to look for each other more in the conference tournament,” Wooden said. “We know what each other wants to do and where we are comfortable. We are playing well together.”

UNT’s performance in the Sun Belt Conference tournament continued a season-long trend for the Mean Green, which featured one of the league’s top frontcourts. UNT enters the NCAA Tournament ranked 20th nationally in rebounding margin with an average of 6.1 more rebounds a game than its opponents.

That figure and the Mean Green’s play inside during the Sun Belt tournament caught the attention of Memphis coach John Calipari.

"They are a great team rebounding the ball, especially offensively," Calipari said of UNT. "They are very quick and can get to the ball."

UNT players know that a game against Memphis will represent a big step up in the level of competition they have faced this season. The Mean Green faced one of the top big men in the Big 12 earlier this season in Aleks Maric of Nebraska, but didn’t see players of that caliber on a regular basis in the Sun Belt.

Despite a lack of experience, UNT believes it is ready for the challenge Memphis will present.

“They are a physical team,” Wooden said. “That is what Quincy, Harold, Justin [Howerton] and I like to do, be physical. We feel like we match up well down low. They have some big dudes down there. It will be a battle.”

How UNT fares in that battle could very well determine if the Mean Green will be able to stay with the heavily favored Tigers. Despite being the underdogs, UNT’s post players will enter the game with confidence after a solid performance in the Sun Belt tournament.

"This is probably the biggest team we have faced, but we will match up well with them," Stewart said. "Everyone is hungry and wants to see how far we can go. I have a feeling that we will compete. That is the most importance thing. If we are really active inside on the boards, make shots and tough plays, everything else falls into place.”

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

bvito@dentonrc.com