Photo by: Rick Yeatts Photography
Mean Green Beat Defending Champs, 64-47
2/15/2020 3:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DENTON — The North Texas men's basketball team beat the Conference USA defending champion Old Dominion Monarchs 64-47 Saturday afternoon at the Super Pit to improve to 12-2 in conference and remain in first place ahead of the league pod play. The Pod Play schedule will be announced Sunday.
It's the Mean Green's (18-9, 12-2) first win over ODU (11-16, 7-7 C-USA) in program history and the 47 points they gave up is the fewest they've allowed against a C-USA opponent under third-year head coach Grant McCasland.
Saturday, the Mean Green were led by redshirt junior Javion Hamlet who scored a career-high 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Right behind Hamlet was redshirt sophomore Umoja Gibson who scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers. The two nearly outscored the entire Monarchs team as they combined for 45 points.
"We know we're going to get everyone's best every time we go out there," said redshirt senior DJ Draper. "We got some huge stops that really made a difference."
North Texas held Old Dominion to just 17 points in the first half on 24 percent shooting. Meanwhile UNT, which owns the league's top offense, shot a blistering 52.6 percent and finished the game with a 51.3 field goal percentage. It's the seventh game in the last eight UNT, who owns the nation's seventh-best field goal percentage, shot over 50 percent from the field.
"The stops really opened things up for our offense," Draper said. "Especially at the end of the first half."
Old Dominion missed its final seven shots in the first half while North Texas went on a 11-0 run.
For the entire game, the Mean Green forced 15 turnovers and limited Old Dominion to zero fast break points and just two total assists. Both assists came in the first half.
"We have the utmost respect for Old Dominion and coach Jones," McCasland said. "We made sure to tell the team towards the end of the game 'these guys are the defending champs. We can't let up.' They know what it takes."
Saturday, UNT gave the the Monarch's their worst lost of the year in conference. ODU hadn't lost a league game by more than six points prior to Saturday.
With the win, North Texas enters C-USA Pod Play as the No. 1 seed, which means they'll host No. 2 Western Kentucky and No. 3 Louisiana Tech and travel to No. 4 and No. 5. The exact dates and times of the games will be announced Sunday.
It's the Mean Green's (18-9, 12-2) first win over ODU (11-16, 7-7 C-USA) in program history and the 47 points they gave up is the fewest they've allowed against a C-USA opponent under third-year head coach Grant McCasland.
Saturday, the Mean Green were led by redshirt junior Javion Hamlet who scored a career-high 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Right behind Hamlet was redshirt sophomore Umoja Gibson who scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers. The two nearly outscored the entire Monarchs team as they combined for 45 points.
"We know we're going to get everyone's best every time we go out there," said redshirt senior DJ Draper. "We got some huge stops that really made a difference."
North Texas held Old Dominion to just 17 points in the first half on 24 percent shooting. Meanwhile UNT, which owns the league's top offense, shot a blistering 52.6 percent and finished the game with a 51.3 field goal percentage. It's the seventh game in the last eight UNT, who owns the nation's seventh-best field goal percentage, shot over 50 percent from the field.
"The stops really opened things up for our offense," Draper said. "Especially at the end of the first half."
Old Dominion missed its final seven shots in the first half while North Texas went on a 11-0 run.
For the entire game, the Mean Green forced 15 turnovers and limited Old Dominion to zero fast break points and just two total assists. Both assists came in the first half.
"We have the utmost respect for Old Dominion and coach Jones," McCasland said. "We made sure to tell the team towards the end of the game 'these guys are the defending champs. We can't let up.' They know what it takes."
Saturday, UNT gave the the Monarch's their worst lost of the year in conference. ODU hadn't lost a league game by more than six points prior to Saturday.
With the win, North Texas enters C-USA Pod Play as the No. 1 seed, which means they'll host No. 2 Western Kentucky and No. 3 Louisiana Tech and travel to No. 4 and No. 5. The exact dates and times of the games will be announced Sunday.
Team Stats
ODU
UNT
FG%
.360
.513
3FG%
.294
.350
FT%
.500
.810
RB
25
31
TO
15
19
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Players Mentioned
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