University of North Texas Athletics
University of North Texas
Newman (Exhib)
Hoops Season Arrives As Mean Green Battles Newman On Wednesday
11/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Mean Green was picked to win the Sun Belt West Division in the preseason coaches poll, and by nearly every preseason publication. The Jets will be playing just their second NCAA Division I opponent when they venture into the Super Pit.
Newman's director of athletics, Vic Trilli, has a personal connection to the Mean Green. Trilli was the head coach of the North Texas basketball team from 1997-01, and amassed a 20-87 record.
Six players return from last year's 15-12 Newman squad, which earned the Jets a No. 5 preseason ranking in the Heartland Conference. Newman fell to cross-town Wichita State, 81-69, on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 10,228. Chip Steven led the Jets with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Jaray Mathews and Keaton Schultz each finished with 12 points. The Jets shot 46.3 percent from the field, and hit 36.8 percent of their 3-point attempts.
What To Watch For
Eric Tramiel was named to the first-team and Josh White earned second-team honors on the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference squads. Tramiel led the squad in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage, while White ranked second in the NCAA in free throw percentage.
NT plays up-tempo basketball, and the results speak for themselves. North Texas has ranked no lower than 34th in the NCAA in scoring in each of the last four seasons.
Not only is North Texas head coach Johnny Jones eight wins shy of tying Hall-of-Fame coach Bill Blakeley, but the program overall is eight wins shy of the 1,000 win plateau. In his ninth-year at NT, Jones has 126 wins, which is just eight behind Blakeley for second in program history. Since its inception 92 seasons ago, the North Texas program has amassed a 992-1,149 record.
