University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Hoops Teams Hit The Hardwood Friday
10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DENTON, Texas (10/15/08) Boasting a pair of Preseason All-Sun Belt players and back-to-back 20-win campaigns, the North Texas basketball team hits the court on Friday looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament for a second time in three seasons.
Head coach Johnny Jones leads his troops onto the court in preparation for their Nov. 14 throw-back season opener versus Cameron. Practice begins at 5 p.m. in the Super Pit.
Picked to finish at the top of the Sun Belt West Division, the Mean Green will return to its former home, the Snake Pit (now known as the Ken Bahnsen Center) for its season opener on Nov. 14. Located across Highland Street from the Super Pit, the Snake Pit was home to 23 historic seasons of North Texas basketball and saw an array of visiting talent from a powerhouse Missouri Valley Conference.
One of the game’s greatest players, Oscar Robertson, scored his career-high of 62 points for Cincinnati in the Snake Pit on Feb. 22, 1960, which still ranks 13th in NCAA history in single-game scoring.
Jones just returned from the Sun Belt Basketball Media Days in Hot Springs, Ark., where he learned that two members of his backcourt earned Preseason All-SBC honors. Josh White was selected the first-team, while Collin Dennis earned a second-team selection.
White earned freshman mid-major all-America honors from multiple publications after scoring a team-high 13.9 points per game, the most by a freshman in the Sun Belt Conference. His 404 total points made him just the sixth freshman in school history to top the 400-point plateau. He ranked fourth in the Sun Belt and 50th in the nation in free-throw percentage, and set the school record with a 45.8 percent clip from the 3-point line.
Dennis was just the third player in school history to be named the Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year. Along with White, Dennis is one of only four players in the Sun Belt to win multiple SBC Player of the Week awards. One of the league’s most explosive players, he posted a pair of 30-point games, including a 34-point outing versus Troy which are the most points by an NT player since 2001.
