WKU: Champs up next for UNT

[NT80]

Men's basketball: Champs up next for UNT

Mean Green hopes to get well vs. W. Kentucky

02/08/2003

By Tim MacMahon / Staff Writer

It won’t get any easier for the North Texas on Saturday night, when the Mean Green welcomes two-time defending Sun Belt champion Western Kentucky to the Super Pit.

Two trends don’t bode well for UNT entering the game: The Mean Green has lost seven of its last eight games, and Western Kentucky is 3-0 in the series with an average margin of victory of more than 27 points.

UNT swingman Chris Davis, however, doesn’t want to dwell on the negative.

"If we come out with the mentality we had against New Mexico State and play for 40 minutes," Davis said, "I think we have a good chance to win this game."

Davis is referring to the Mean Green’s home victory over the Aggies a week ago. But that win was sandwiched by blowout losses to Louisiana-Lafayette and Middle Tennessee.

Now the Mean Green (7-14, 2-7) must attempt to slow down a Hilltoppers (14-8, 6-2) team with offensive weapons at every position.

Point guard Patrick Sparks leads Western Kentucky in scoring with 12.5 points per game, but his ability to distribute the ball is his most valuable asset. The sophomore leads the Sun Belt in assists with 6.2 per game.

Swingman Mike Wells and forwards David Boyden and Nate Williams also average in double figures, while forward Flip Videnov nearly does. All four players have the ability to shoot the ball or score in the paint.

Western Kentucky is without 7-1 center Chris Marcus, an All-American whose college career officially ended earlier this week because of a lingering ankle injury.

"They played a lot without Marcus last year and had a great deal of success," UNT coach Johnny Jones said. "They’ve got great perimeter shooters, and their post players are able to deliver when they get the ball inside. They’re the champions, and we’ll have to be on top of our defensive game to stop them."

[bandgeek]

I'm all about school pride, but this one isn't going to be pretty.

[Topper Jeff]

I'm all about school pride, but this one isn't going to be pretty.

Haha, we're saying the same thing. We aren't exactly the road warriors this year.. having only won 2 road games this year!! Hopefully we can skip town with a win tonight.

[UNTFan23]

Haha, we're saying the same thing.  We aren't exactly the road warriors this year.. having only won 2 road games this year!!  Hopefully we can skip town with a win tonight.

Thanks for the confidence booster.

[CMJ]

I'm hoping for a win, but expecting to be blown out. The Toppers are among the elite of the SBC, and we're at the bottom. I hesitate to think how bad this one could be....

[Topper Jeff]

Wasn't able to see or hear the game, I am out of town, but saw the score. Waiting on the box score. Sounds like the Toppers were never in threat.

Glad we were able to play on the road with some confidence. How are the crowds down there?

[CMJ]

Usually around 2K or so. Not sure how big the crowd was tonight.

[UNTFan23]

Sounds like the Toppers were never in threat.

We did manage to pull within 9 at one point...

[IronMan4]

Actually we got to within 6 in the second half, a couple of WKU threes later, it was over.

It was a really good crowd tonight, I haven't seen the box score.

[CMJ]

It was a really good crowd tonight, I haven't seen the box score.

Hot off the presses...4,212 in attendance.

[NT80]

Great crowd. WKU has some hot shooters, and the SBC has some lousy refs..P.U.

[Brent]

The refs as a crew weren't bad tonight.

The only gripe I have about them was the crap call that resulted in a rediculous tech. We had shaved their lead to 6 and that deflated all our momentum.

Not gonna say we lost because of that, but it probably prevented any shot we had.