DRC..Mens BB happy to be home

[OldTimer]

UNT?s happy to be back home

Mean Green shoots for two straight vs. TCU

12/10/2002

By Tim MacMahon / Staff Writer

After opening the season with five games away from home, North Texas will finally find itself in friendly confines Tuesday night against TCU.

"I?ve been dying to get back here and play in front of the fans," UNT forward Jermaine Green said. "I hope we get a good crowd out here. I know it?s finals week, but we need people out here to support us."

Both teams are coming off of big road wins keyed by reversing trends of getting outrebounded. UNT had a 10-rebound edge in a 65-56 win at Winthrop in the title game of the Brothers Air and Heat Shootout Saturday. TCU had a 53-29 advantage on the boards in a 72-64 win at Baylor Saturday.

The Mean Green won 10 of its 13 games at the Super Pit last season, though TCU showed it is capable of pulling out a win in a difficult road environment by breaking Baylor 23-game winning streak against nonconference competition at the Ferrell Center.

"They?re a very good basketball team," said UNT coach Johnny Jones, who has had a close friendship with first-year TCU coach Neil Dougherty since their days as assistants in the Southeastern Conference. "Coach Dougherty has brought in a system that those guys enjoy playing. He?s got those guys excited right, and they?re playing with a great deal of confidence."

The Mean Green ended a four-game losing streak in the series with a 92-85 win over the Horned Frogs at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum last season. UNT hasn?t beaten TCU in consecutive seasons since 1980 and ?81.

"This is a rivalry game, but we don?t want to get caught up in that," UNT swingman Chris Davis said. "We?ve just got to play our game."

[CMJ]

The team definitely deserves a good crowd. Five straight road games to start the season is rough. I'm ecstatic we're at 3-2 with that kind of an opening stretch.

Especially when you throw in we were AT Indiana.