Saturday, January 19
The Super Pit
5:00 pm CT
University of North Texas
vs
Rice
Back Home, North Texas Hosts Rice
1/18/2019 6:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
GAME NOTES
DENTON — Riding a Conference USA-best 13-game home winning streak, the Mean Green men's basketball team is back at the Super Pit on Saturday looking to improve on its already historic season.
(RV) North Texas (16-2, 4-1 C-USA) hosts Rice (7-11, 2-3 C-USA) at 5 p.m. The game will be aired on ESPN+. Hank Dickenson and Paul Valamides will be on the broadcast. The game can also be heard on KHYI 95.3 on the Mean Green Sports Network with Dave Barnett.
The Mean Green beat Rice 103-87 on Dec. 29 in Houston in the conference opener. North Texas had three players score over 20 points in that game, with Ryan Woolridge leading the way with 24. It was the first time in over 16 years the Mean Green had accomplished that. It was also the second time this year they scored over 100 points in a game.
North Texas has won three straight games against the Owls. Second-year head coach Grant McCasland has never lost to Rice.
TOP 25
North Texas is receiving four top 25 votes in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll (Jan. 14).
FIRST TO 16
After winning 58-51 at UTEP on Jan. 10, North Texas and then No. 2 Michigan were the first teams in the country to 16 wins.
BACK ON TRACK
Along with leading the team in scoring in three straight games, Smart has started to find his groove as the team's top offensive weapon.
The junior, who set the program's single-season scoring record last year with 742 points, missed the first six games of this year with an injury but averaged 15.5 points per game on the team's most recent road swing to UTEP and UTSA, and shot 48 percent (10-21) from the field and 53 percent (8-15) from deep. All numbers that are much closer to his season averages a year ago. (19.5 ppg).
Smart scored a season-high 20 points at Rice on Dec. 29 in the teams' previous meeting.
ROLL PLAYER?
Junior point guard Ryan Woolridge isn't a big fan of the spotlight and despite starting every game last year and this year, he jokingly calls himself "a role player" and while he does lead the team in scoring for the season, he's actually only led the team in scoring two games this season.
He had a team-high 24 points at Rice on Dec. 29 and a team-high 17 points at Oklahoma on Nov. 27. Umoja Gibson (5x), Jorden Duffy (4x), Roosevelt Smart (4x) have all led the Mean Green in scoring in more games this season.
Smart has led the team in scoring in three straight games. It's the most consecutive games this year someone has the led the team in scoring. While Woolridge has led the team in scoring just two times, the point guard has led the team in rebound- ing seven times, which is the most on the team, and has led the team in assists 13 times this year, that also leads the team.
REBOUNDING STREAK
Despite being the 12th shortest team in the country, 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 seven consecutive opponents by a combined 52 rebounds (+7.4 per game). Their 76-74 loss to UTSA last Saturday was the first time this year they lost a game when they outrebounded the opponent. They were 14-0 in such games prior to last Saturday.
DENTON — Riding a Conference USA-best 13-game home winning streak, the Mean Green men's basketball team is back at the Super Pit on Saturday looking to improve on its already historic season.
(RV) North Texas (16-2, 4-1 C-USA) hosts Rice (7-11, 2-3 C-USA) at 5 p.m. The game will be aired on ESPN+. Hank Dickenson and Paul Valamides will be on the broadcast. The game can also be heard on KHYI 95.3 on the Mean Green Sports Network with Dave Barnett.
The Mean Green beat Rice 103-87 on Dec. 29 in Houston in the conference opener. North Texas had three players score over 20 points in that game, with Ryan Woolridge leading the way with 24. It was the first time in over 16 years the Mean Green had accomplished that. It was also the second time this year they scored over 100 points in a game.
North Texas has won three straight games against the Owls. Second-year head coach Grant McCasland has never lost to Rice.
TOP 25
North Texas is receiving four top 25 votes in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll (Jan. 14).
FIRST TO 16
After winning 58-51 at UTEP on Jan. 10, North Texas and then No. 2 Michigan were the first teams in the country to 16 wins.
BACK ON TRACK
Along with leading the team in scoring in three straight games, Smart has started to find his groove as the team's top offensive weapon.
The junior, who set the program's single-season scoring record last year with 742 points, missed the first six games of this year with an injury but averaged 15.5 points per game on the team's most recent road swing to UTEP and UTSA, and shot 48 percent (10-21) from the field and 53 percent (8-15) from deep. All numbers that are much closer to his season averages a year ago. (19.5 ppg).
Smart scored a season-high 20 points at Rice on Dec. 29 in the teams' previous meeting.
ROLL PLAYER?
Junior point guard Ryan Woolridge isn't a big fan of the spotlight and despite starting every game last year and this year, he jokingly calls himself "a role player" and while he does lead the team in scoring for the season, he's actually only led the team in scoring two games this season.
He had a team-high 24 points at Rice on Dec. 29 and a team-high 17 points at Oklahoma on Nov. 27. Umoja Gibson (5x), Jorden Duffy (4x), Roosevelt Smart (4x) have all led the Mean Green in scoring in more games this season.
Smart has led the team in scoring in three straight games. It's the most consecutive games this year someone has the led the team in scoring. While Woolridge has led the team in scoring just two times, the point guard has led the team in rebound- ing seven times, which is the most on the team, and has led the team in assists 13 times this year, that also leads the team.
REBOUNDING STREAK
Despite being the 12th shortest team in the country, 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 seven consecutive opponents by a combined 52 rebounds (+7.4 per game). Their 76-74 loss to UTSA last Saturday was the first time this year they lost a game when they outrebounded the opponent. They were 14-0 in such games prior to last Saturday.
Players Mentioned
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