Saturday, January 12
San Antonio
3:00 P.M.
University of North Texas
at
UTSA
Photo by: Luke Della
C-USA Undefeated Teams Meet In San Antonio
1/11/2019 7:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball
GAME NOTES
SAN ANTONIO — Two of the final three undefeated Conference USA men's basketball teams meet Saturday as North Texas takes on UT San Antonio at 3:00 p.m. CT on ESPN+ and on the radio on KHYI 95.3 FM.
The Mean Green who have a four-game winning streak against UTSA, their longest active winning streak against any C-USA school, are in the Alamo City aiming to not just extend its already historic start to the year but also clean up some of the execution issues they had on Thursday in their 58-51 win at UTEP.
When (RV) North Texas (16-1, 4-0) and the Roadrunners (9-7, 3-0) meet on Saturday, the Mean Green will be just one of two schools in the country with 16 wins — No. 2 Michigan is the other. With that target on their backs, the Mean Green have taken every opponents' best shots. On Thursday in El Paso, they saw the Miners jump out to an early nine-point lead with what UNT head coach Grant McCasland described as physical toughness and energy from UTEP that at first North Texas couldn't match.
However after the slow start against UTEP, North Texas worked its way back into the game and found a way to win its eighth game in a row.
Despite being the 12th shortest team in the country, the Mean Green have dominated the paint in scoring and rebounding in most games this year. They did so again in the second-half in El Paso.
While the biggest matchup in Saturday's contest isn't necessarily in the post like it was on Thursday, UTSA predominately uses its athletic bigs as shooters who stretch the court, the Mean Green will need their guards to continue to be what have been some of the best rebounders in the league as it usually means wins for the green and white.
Over the last three games, freshman 6-foot-1 guard Umoja Gibson has been the team's top rebounder, caroling an average of 6.3 rebounds per game during that stretch. Gibson had a career-high seven rebounds in El Paso.
When North Texas out rebounds and out scores its opponents in the paint, its margin of victory is 20 points higher than when they don't.
"We have guards who love to rebound," McCasland said. "And we need them to be rebounders because we're not the biggest team and sometimes are forwards get locked up with their matchup."
Of the three teams in C-USA that are still undefeated, North Texas is the only 4-0 team. They haven't been 5-0 in league play since the 1988-89 season when they played in the Southland Conference.
But they'll be taking on a Roadrunners squad that is also on a roll.
They've won six in a row and ever since getting all-conference guard Jhivvan Jackson back from his knee injury, which he sustained at the end of last season, San Antonio has its groove back after a rough start to the year. UTSA lost its first five games of the year. Jackson returned on Nov. 19 versus UC Irvine. Since then, UTSA has gone 9-4.
RECEIVING VOTES
North Texas received nine top 25 votes in the most recent USA Today Coaches Poll and one vote in the AP Top 25 poll.
ELITE WINNING CLASS
With Thursday's win, North Texas has now won 21 of its last 23 games (dating back to last season). They are just one of four schools in the nation that can say that. Michigan has won 30 of 32, Virginia has won 22 of 24 and Buffalo has also won 21 of its last 23 games. North Texas is the only one of the four who didn't reach the NCAA Tournament last year.
OFFENSIVE REBOUNDER
North Texas senior Tope Arikawe has grabbed a combined eight offensive rebounds in the last two games in just 21 minutes of action. 19 of his 29 total rebounds are offensive.
REBOUNDING GIANTS
Despite being the 12th shortest team in the country (second shortest in C-USA behind Southern Miss), North Texas has only been outrebounded twice all year and in both of those games they were outrounded by a combined three rebounds. They've outrebounded six consecutive opponents by a combined 44 rebounds (+7.3 per game).
SAN ANTONIO — Two of the final three undefeated Conference USA men's basketball teams meet Saturday as North Texas takes on UT San Antonio at 3:00 p.m. CT on ESPN+ and on the radio on KHYI 95.3 FM.
The Mean Green who have a four-game winning streak against UTSA, their longest active winning streak against any C-USA school, are in the Alamo City aiming to not just extend its already historic start to the year but also clean up some of the execution issues they had on Thursday in their 58-51 win at UTEP.
When (RV) North Texas (16-1, 4-0) and the Roadrunners (9-7, 3-0) meet on Saturday, the Mean Green will be just one of two schools in the country with 16 wins — No. 2 Michigan is the other. With that target on their backs, the Mean Green have taken every opponents' best shots. On Thursday in El Paso, they saw the Miners jump out to an early nine-point lead with what UNT head coach Grant McCasland described as physical toughness and energy from UTEP that at first North Texas couldn't match.
However after the slow start against UTEP, North Texas worked its way back into the game and found a way to win its eighth game in a row.
Despite being the 12th shortest team in the country, the Mean Green have dominated the paint in scoring and rebounding in most games this year. They did so again in the second-half in El Paso.
While the biggest matchup in Saturday's contest isn't necessarily in the post like it was on Thursday, UTSA predominately uses its athletic bigs as shooters who stretch the court, the Mean Green will need their guards to continue to be what have been some of the best rebounders in the league as it usually means wins for the green and white.
Over the last three games, freshman 6-foot-1 guard Umoja Gibson has been the team's top rebounder, caroling an average of 6.3 rebounds per game during that stretch. Gibson had a career-high seven rebounds in El Paso.
When North Texas out rebounds and out scores its opponents in the paint, its margin of victory is 20 points higher than when they don't.
"We have guards who love to rebound," McCasland said. "And we need them to be rebounders because we're not the biggest team and sometimes are forwards get locked up with their matchup."
Of the three teams in C-USA that are still undefeated, North Texas is the only 4-0 team. They haven't been 5-0 in league play since the 1988-89 season when they played in the Southland Conference.
But they'll be taking on a Roadrunners squad that is also on a roll.
They've won six in a row and ever since getting all-conference guard Jhivvan Jackson back from his knee injury, which he sustained at the end of last season, San Antonio has its groove back after a rough start to the year. UTSA lost its first five games of the year. Jackson returned on Nov. 19 versus UC Irvine. Since then, UTSA has gone 9-4.
RECEIVING VOTES
North Texas received nine top 25 votes in the most recent USA Today Coaches Poll and one vote in the AP Top 25 poll.
ELITE WINNING CLASS
With Thursday's win, North Texas has now won 21 of its last 23 games (dating back to last season). They are just one of four schools in the nation that can say that. Michigan has won 30 of 32, Virginia has won 22 of 24 and Buffalo has also won 21 of its last 23 games. North Texas is the only one of the four who didn't reach the NCAA Tournament last year.
OFFENSIVE REBOUNDER
North Texas senior Tope Arikawe has grabbed a combined eight offensive rebounds in the last two games in just 21 minutes of action. 19 of his 29 total rebounds are offensive.
REBOUNDING GIANTS
Despite being the 12th shortest team in the country (second shortest in C-USA behind Southern Miss), North Texas has only been outrebounded twice all year and in both of those games they were outrounded by a combined three rebounds. They've outrebounded six consecutive opponents by a combined 44 rebounds (+7.3 per game).
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
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