Saturday, January 4
Huntington, WV
1:00 PM
University of North Texas
-78, 11 CUSA
67
at
64
Marshall
-78, 11 CUSA
1
2
F
NORTH TEXAS
29
38
67
MARSHALL
31
33
64
Mean Green Beat Marshall, 67-64
1/4/2020 3:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HUNTINGTON, West Virginia — The North Texas men's basketball team picked up a critical road conference win on Saturday with a 67-64 victory at Marshall.
The Mean Green (7-8, 1-1) trailed by nine points just five minutes into the game but clamped down on defense and kept the high powered Thundering Herd (7-8, 1-1) offense to 12 point below their season scoring average by limiting transition points and holding two of Marshall's top offensive players under their scoring average.
After scoring 13 points in the first five minutes (on pace for 104 points), Marshall scored just 51 points over the final 35 minutes.
It's UNT's first victory at Marshall since Jan. 16, 2013.
"Figuring out how to get four stops down the stretch like we did has got to be an identity of our team," said head coach Grant McCasland. "Give credit to Marshall. They've done a great job this year and built a tough atmosphere."
"This is the defensive performance we want," he added.
In the final two minutes of the game, UNT had two steals and two blocks on Marshall and gave up just one point
North Texas' Javion Hamlet and Umoja Gibson led the Mean Green with 15 points each. Both also scored 11 points in the second half. The redshirt junior Hamlet knocked down two clutch free throws with four seconds remaining to seal the victory. With roughly five minutes remaining Gibson hit back-to-back 3-pointers. He's now made a 3-pointer in 19 straight games. On the second 3-pointer, Gibson was fouled and converted the and-one opportunity at the free throw line. Gibson finished the game 5-for-5 at the line. He's now made 24 straight free throws.
The defensive tide turned for the Mean Green in the first half when senior Roosevelt Smart was inserted and had three steals in less than six minutes. He finished with a career-high four steals.
"(Smart) was huge for us on both ends," McCasland said. "This was a great win for our team and proud we were able to do it in a tough environment."
UNT returns to the Super Pit next week as they host Florida International on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Florida Atlantic on Saturday at 3 p.m.
The Mean Green (7-8, 1-1) trailed by nine points just five minutes into the game but clamped down on defense and kept the high powered Thundering Herd (7-8, 1-1) offense to 12 point below their season scoring average by limiting transition points and holding two of Marshall's top offensive players under their scoring average.
After scoring 13 points in the first five minutes (on pace for 104 points), Marshall scored just 51 points over the final 35 minutes.
It's UNT's first victory at Marshall since Jan. 16, 2013.
"Figuring out how to get four stops down the stretch like we did has got to be an identity of our team," said head coach Grant McCasland. "Give credit to Marshall. They've done a great job this year and built a tough atmosphere."
"This is the defensive performance we want," he added.
In the final two minutes of the game, UNT had two steals and two blocks on Marshall and gave up just one point
North Texas' Javion Hamlet and Umoja Gibson led the Mean Green with 15 points each. Both also scored 11 points in the second half. The redshirt junior Hamlet knocked down two clutch free throws with four seconds remaining to seal the victory. With roughly five minutes remaining Gibson hit back-to-back 3-pointers. He's now made a 3-pointer in 19 straight games. On the second 3-pointer, Gibson was fouled and converted the and-one opportunity at the free throw line. Gibson finished the game 5-for-5 at the line. He's now made 24 straight free throws.
The defensive tide turned for the Mean Green in the first half when senior Roosevelt Smart was inserted and had three steals in less than six minutes. He finished with a career-high four steals.
"(Smart) was huge for us on both ends," McCasland said. "This was a great win for our team and proud we were able to do it in a tough environment."
UNT returns to the Super Pit next week as they host Florida International on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Florida Atlantic on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Team Stats
UNT
MARM
FG%
.490
.396
3FG%
.385
.300
FT%
.700
.727
RB
32
31
TO
18
17
STL
11
11
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
15
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Men's BasketballGuard
/ Men's Basketball
Guard
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