Saturday, February 15
Denton
1:00 PM
University of North Texas
vs
Old Dominion
Photo by: Ben Stewart
UNT Hosts Defending Champs
2/14/2020 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DENTON — With a chance to clinch the top seed headed into Conference USA Pod Play, the Mean Green men's basketball team hosts 2019 C-USA champions Old Dominion on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT at the Super Pit.
Saturday's game will be broadcasted on ESPNU and the Mean Green Sports Network (95.3 KHYI) or on the tuneIN app.
The Mean Green (17-9, 11-2 C-USA) are sitting in first place of the league standings and on a three-game winning streak after beating Charlotte 81-72 on Thursday. A win over ODU would clinch the top spot, which means UNT gets to host Western Kentucky and Louisiana Tech in Pod Play. However, the Monarchs (11-15, 7-6 C-USA) are also going to have a lot on the line. Old Dominion, which is in sixth-place is just on the outside looking in of the five-team top pod and needs a win Saturday and Charlotte loss at Rice to jump into the top five. Teams outside of the top pod can't win a regular season championship.
Old Dominion, who the Mean Green have never beaten ever, won the 2019 C-USA Regular Season championship with a 13-5 league record. They then went on to beat WKU in the league tournament finals and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Monarchs were led by B.J. Stith and Ahmed Caver. Stith was the C-USA Player of the Year and Caver was named first team all-conference. However, both were seniors and have graduated. ODU's Xavier Green, the C-USA Championship MVP, is still on the Monarchs and averaging 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Saturday's game pits the league's top offense in North Texas against one of its top defenses in Old Dominion.
GETTING STOPS LATE
North Texas coaches have emphasized the team's ability to get stops at the end game of the games as the reason they're in first place. In the 11 conference games won, UNT is holding opponents to 27.7 percent shooting after the last media timeout. UNT held UAB, UTEP, Rice (on 1/20 in Denton), LA Tech and Southern Miss to just one or no field goals following the final media timeout.
TOP 10 IN THE NATION
The Mean Green rank 9th in the nation in overall field goal percentage (48.7%). They've shot over 50% in six of the last seven games. Furthermore, UNT ranks 6th in the nation in 3FG percentage (39.4%).
BEST IN C-USA
In league play, redshirt junior Javion Hamlet leads C-USA in assists (70), assists per game (5.3) and assist/turnover ratio (2.8). He's also fifth in the league scoring (16.5 points per game).
NINE IN A ROW
North Texas has won nine straight home games.
GOING FOR SEVEN
North Texas is 6-0 in home conference games this year. They haven't won seven home conference games in a season since the 2009-10 season when they went 7-1 in home conference games. They played in the Sun Belt Conference in 2009-10. They won the 2010 SBC Tournament. It was the last time UNT reached the NCAA Tournament.
BACKCOURT KILLERS
North Texas' backcourt of Javion Hamlet, James Reese, Umoja Gibson and DJ Draper have shot a combined 42 percent from deep in conference play. Draper is shooting a league-best 58.3% from deep in league play and Reese has the third-best 3-point field goal percentage in league play (46.0%).
Saturday's game will be broadcasted on ESPNU and the Mean Green Sports Network (95.3 KHYI) or on the tuneIN app.
The Mean Green (17-9, 11-2 C-USA) are sitting in first place of the league standings and on a three-game winning streak after beating Charlotte 81-72 on Thursday. A win over ODU would clinch the top spot, which means UNT gets to host Western Kentucky and Louisiana Tech in Pod Play. However, the Monarchs (11-15, 7-6 C-USA) are also going to have a lot on the line. Old Dominion, which is in sixth-place is just on the outside looking in of the five-team top pod and needs a win Saturday and Charlotte loss at Rice to jump into the top five. Teams outside of the top pod can't win a regular season championship.
Old Dominion, who the Mean Green have never beaten ever, won the 2019 C-USA Regular Season championship with a 13-5 league record. They then went on to beat WKU in the league tournament finals and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Monarchs were led by B.J. Stith and Ahmed Caver. Stith was the C-USA Player of the Year and Caver was named first team all-conference. However, both were seniors and have graduated. ODU's Xavier Green, the C-USA Championship MVP, is still on the Monarchs and averaging 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Saturday's game pits the league's top offense in North Texas against one of its top defenses in Old Dominion.
GETTING STOPS LATE
North Texas coaches have emphasized the team's ability to get stops at the end game of the games as the reason they're in first place. In the 11 conference games won, UNT is holding opponents to 27.7 percent shooting after the last media timeout. UNT held UAB, UTEP, Rice (on 1/20 in Denton), LA Tech and Southern Miss to just one or no field goals following the final media timeout.
TOP 10 IN THE NATION
The Mean Green rank 9th in the nation in overall field goal percentage (48.7%). They've shot over 50% in six of the last seven games. Furthermore, UNT ranks 6th in the nation in 3FG percentage (39.4%).
BEST IN C-USA
In league play, redshirt junior Javion Hamlet leads C-USA in assists (70), assists per game (5.3) and assist/turnover ratio (2.8). He's also fifth in the league scoring (16.5 points per game).
NINE IN A ROW
North Texas has won nine straight home games.
GOING FOR SEVEN
North Texas is 6-0 in home conference games this year. They haven't won seven home conference games in a season since the 2009-10 season when they went 7-1 in home conference games. They played in the Sun Belt Conference in 2009-10. They won the 2010 SBC Tournament. It was the last time UNT reached the NCAA Tournament.
BACKCOURT KILLERS
North Texas' backcourt of Javion Hamlet, James Reese, Umoja Gibson and DJ Draper have shot a combined 42 percent from deep in conference play. Draper is shooting a league-best 58.3% from deep in league play and Reese has the third-best 3-point field goal percentage in league play (46.0%).
Players Mentioned
Guard
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Guard
/ Men's Basketball
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