University of North Texas
-184,111 CUSA
Rice
-1410,66 CUSA
UNT Runs Away With 10th Straight Win
2/12/2022 3:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The win keeps the Mean Green alone atop the Conference USA standings with an 11-1 league record and keeps them undefeated in road games this season (6-0). They are just one of two teams in the country who are still undefeated in road games — No. 2 Gonzaga is the other.
Saturday North Texas was led by senior Thomas Bell who matched his career-high with 21 points. Sophomore Abou Ousmane grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.
"A really locked in performance today," said head coach Grant McCasland of his team. "I don't think we played our best offensively but Rice is a really dangerous offense and the guys executed the defensive game plan really well. JJ Murray was a monster out there."
UNT (18-4, 11-1 C-USA) held the Owls (14-10, 6-6 C-USA) to just 3-of-13 (23.1%) shooting from deep and 15-of-47 (31.9%) overall. The 44 points Rice was held to was 33 points below their season scoring average entering Saturday.
North Texas held the Owls to 43 points in their first meeting on Jan. 1 in Denton with a 75-43 win.
"They're a team that can really get going once they start hitting threes," Murray said. "We did a great job of preventing them from getting good looks really anywhere on the floor. But to hold them to no 3-pointers in the first half was huge."
UNT held Rice's top two leading scorers to a combined 5-of-18 (27.7%) shooting. The Mean Green led 34-18 at the half and built the lead up to 25 points with seven minutes left in the game.
"We had no turnovers in the second half," Murray said. "That's awesome."
With the win North Texas has now won 16 of their last 17 and improves its scoring defense to a national leading 55.5 points per game. They've held every league opponent to 10 or more points below their respective season scoring average. Only one league opponent has scored over 65 points on the Mean Green. Kansas is the only opponent to score more than 70 (71) on UNT this entire season.
Saturday marks the seventh time this season UNT has held a league opponent to under 60 points and the third time they've held a league opponent to under 50 points.
"We believe when we're locked in defensively we can beat anyone," Murray said. "I'm proud of this team."
Next up for the Mean Green is a road trip to Florida Atlantic on Thursday and then at UAB on Saturday.
