Mean Green’s NCAA Run Ends

INDIANAPOLIS - North Texas redshirt senior Javion Hamlet continued his furious postseason run by scoring a game-high 25 points in Sunday's Round-of-32 NCAA tournament game against Villanova, but it wasn't enough to continue the Mean Green's Cinderella run as they fell to the fifth-seeded Wildcats 84-61 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

North Texas' season ended after Villanova snapped a five-game win streak dating back to the Conference USA tournament when the Mean Green won four games in four days to secure an NCAA tournament bid before upsetting four-seed Purdue in the Round of 64 on Friday night.
Villanova (18-6) went on a 29-6 run to close the first half and took a 20-point lead into the locker room, as Villanova shot 50% from beyond the arc and made 15 3-pointers after struggling in recent games from long distance.

North Texas led by as many as eight points at 21-13 8 ½ minutes into the game, but that was quickly followed by the big Villanova run that pushed the Wildcats' lead to 47-27 at the half after they shot 9-for-15 from beyond the arc in the first half. The Mean Green's last lead was 21-20 with 9:26 left in the first half.

"Give them all the credit," UNT head coach Grant McCasland said. "That's a tremendous program and a championship program and one we aspire to be like. They took it to us offensively. They had 15 3s and when they're making those perimeter shots and you're trying to defend that and they're getting in the paint, it gets you on your heels."

"They've been struggling from 3, but they weren't struggling tonight."

Aside from his game-high 25 points, Hamlet also added six rebounds and four assists to cap off a fantastic postseason which saw him earn a Conference USA Tournament MVP award and score 24 points to go with 11 rebounds in the upset win over Purdue.

"I ain't got nothing to hang my head over," Hamlet said. "We let the world know who UNT is. I really ain't got nothing to hang my head over. As I look back to when I first came here to UNT, we were seventh in Conference USA. We were seventh to first and a conference championship. Then we came back this year and won the tournament. We weren't supposed to be here. We got here and made it to the second round. It's not what I came here for - I came here to win - but I ain't got nothing to be mad about."

With 51.3 seconds remaining in the game, the Mean Green (18-10) made wholesale substitutions, while Hamlet and his fellow seniors got hugs from everyone on the bench in what could have been the final game of their collegiate careers.

"I can't even put into words what he's meant to this program and what he's done," said a choked up McCasland about the exchange. "I just told him he's a warrior and I loved him."

Hamlet echoed the sentiment.

"It hurt. I didn't want it to end," he said. "But I just hugged (McCasland) and I told him I love him, and I appreciate him for giving me the chance to lead this team and sticking with me. When everyone was talking down on me, he kept believing in me. The whole staff - they stuck with me through the downs and they stuck with me through the ups."

McCasland said this current group of seniors - James Reese, Hamlet, Jahmiah Simmons, JJ Murray, Thomas Bell and Zachary Simmons - along with last year's crop of seniors that lost out on this year's experience because of the COVID-19 pandemic helped build a championship program that he said will be in Denton for years to come. Reese scored 10 points, while junior Mardrez McBride rounded out the double-figures scorers with 11.

"The blessing of coaching guys who care more about others than their own accomplishment is that it carries on," McCasland said. "That's how you move forward - when the greater purpose isn't about your individual accomplishments. That's what these guys did along with guys like DJ Draper, Mike Miller, Deng Geu, those guys. You have to have that mentality. There's always hope and that's what those guys established is that there was hope for a greater day. Now we can build on the fact we made the tournament and won a game and no one wants to go out this way. The culture has been established because of the unselfishness and heart to serve one another."

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Team Stats

Javion Hamlet

Mardrez McBride

James Reese

Zachary Simmons

Players Mentioned

Thomas Bell

DJ Draper

Deng Geu

Javion Hamlet

Mardrez McBride

JJ Murray

James Reese

Jahmiah Simmons

Zachary Simmons

Players Mentioned

Thomas Bell

DJ Draper

Deng Geu

Javion Hamlet

Mardrez McBride

JJ Murray

James Reese

Jahmiah Simmons

Zachary Simmons

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