University of North Texas Athletics
NT In Second Straight Title Game On ESPN2
3/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
West No. 4 North Texas (22-10) vs. West No. 5 UALR (18-16)
Hot Springs, Ark. • Summit Arena (6,200)
March 8, 2011 • 6:00 p.m. CST
Radio: KWRD 100.7-FM, KNTU 88.1-FM • Hank Dickenson
TV: ESPN2 • Rob Stone (PBP), Mark Adams (Analyst)
Webcast: ESPN3.com
Live Stats: sunbeltsports.org
Series: UALR leads 14-8 • Last: NT won 72-69 (3/1/11)
Game Notes
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Few people probably saw last Tuesday's battle at the Jack Stephens Center as a Sun Belt Tournament title game preview, but fast forward a week and North Texas and UALR will indeed battle for a trip to the Big Dance tonight at 6 p.m.
The game can be seen on ESPN2, with Rob Stone and Mark Adams calling the action.
NT's Shannon Shorter owned last week's matchup with a career high 24 point outing, vaulting the Mean Green to a 72-69 win over the Trojans. Playing without guard Josh White who missed the game with an injury, the Mean Green held UALR to 37 percent shooting for the game and without a field goal for 7:57 of the final 8:05 on the clock. At the time, the game was to decide the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the SBC Tournament.
The Sun Belt's two leading scorers will face off on Tuesday when NT's Tristan Thompson and UALR's Solomon Bozeman take the floor. Thompson leads the league with 18.1 ppg and Bozeman, the Sun Belt MVP, isn't far behind with 16.4.
Thompson is averaging 26.7 points on 53.8 percent shooting in this tournament, and needs just 2 more points to tie Louisiana-Lafayette's Tiras Wade (82 in 2005) for the most points in a single SBC Tournament.
George Odufuwa is averaging 11.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 56.7 percent shooting in nine career SBC Tournament games.
North Texas has won the last four meetings with the Trojans, including a lopsided Sun Belt opener (81-69) and a 72-69 win over UALR in this year's regular season finale. UALR leads the all-time series 14-8, including a 12-6 mark since NT joined the SBC.
NT is playing in its third SBC title game since 2007, and for the first time in back-to-back years. NT is 2-0 in SBC title games after topping Arkansas State in 2007 (83-75) and Troy in 2010 (66-63). A win would give the program its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament.
