University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Hoops Headed To Cajun Country
1/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
North Texas (12-8, 5-2 SBC) vs Louisiana-Lafayette (10-11, 4-3 SBC)
Lafayette, La. • Cajundome (11,550)
Jan. 25, 2012 • 7:00 p.m. CST
Radio: 88.1 KNTU-FM, 100.7 KWRD-FM • Hank Dickenson
TV: None
Live Stats & Webcast: ragincajuns.com
Series: ULL leads 17-15
Last: ULL won 93-88 in Lafayette, La. (1/27/11)
GAME NOTES
LAFAYETTE, La. – North Texas freshman Tony Mitchell, the three-time Sun Belt Player of the Week, will be taking his charges to Cajun country to take on Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday night. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m. from the Cajundome, following the women’s game at 5 p.m.
Mitchell joined Brandon Hazzard (Troy, 2008-09) as the only players in league history to win three straight Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week awards. The freshman racked up 30 points and 17 rebounds against Denver, which are the most boards by an SBC player this year.
But he isn’t the only one making history. Including his stay as the interim head coach at Memphis in 1999-00, head coach Johnny Jones has piled up a 199-156 (.561 percent) record and can earn his 200th career win Wednesday. Jones, in his 11th year at NT, has won at least 20 games in each of the last five seasons and has taken the Mean Green to three of the last five Sun Belt Tournament finals.
At 5-2 in league play, North Texas has tied its best seven-game Sun Belt start since entering the conference in 2000-01. This start matches the 2010-11, 2005-06 and 2003-04 squads at 5-2, but none of those teams were able to win their next game. That means a win at Louisiana-Lafayette would clinch the program’s best Sun Belt start.
NT is 28-10 (73.7 percent) against teams from the state of Louisiana since the 2006-07 season, including a 3-1 mark this year. The Mean Green has posted wins over Grambling State, New Orleans and ULM, but fell to LSU.
Louisiana-Lafayette holds a slim 17-15 margin in the all-time series with North Texas, but the Mean Green has taken eight of the last 11 meetings. The two teams split a pair of matchups last season, with the home teams holding serve.
