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University of North Texas
Southern Miss
Mean Green Host Southern Miss Thursday
2/23/2022 11:45:00 AM | Men's Basketball
(RV) UNT (20-4, 13-1 C-USA) has won 18 of its last 19 games and are sitting in first place of the Conference USA standings with just four games remaining on its schedule. In Tuesday's updated AP Top 25 poll, the Mean Green received two top 25 votes. They'll face a Golden Eagles (6-21, 1-13 C-USA) squad who they've beaten five times in a row headed into Thursday and beat 63-54 at USM earlier this season.
"We're excited to be back playing at home," said senior Thomas Bell who will be playing his final two home games this weekend. "We aren't paying too much attention to the outside noise. We know we have to take it one game at a time and focus on the now. We've done a great job of that so far and I think it's a big part of why we are where we are."
North Texas is coming off three straight road games and more recently a road sweep of Florida Atlantic last Thursday and UAB on Saturday. FAU had won 10 straight home games before falling to the Mean Green. UAB was 15-0 in its home arena this season before its 58-57 loss to UNT on Saturday in Birmingham.
The Mean Green head into Thursday's game one league win shy of tying the program record for conference wins (14). In 2019-20 North Texas won a program record 14 league wins in route to a regular season league championship. Head coach Grant McCasland who is 5-1 all-time versus Southern Miss will be going for his 100th career win at UNT on Thursday. He would be the fourth UNT head coach to reach 100 wins and the second fastest to reach that mark.
ACTIVE WIN STREAKS
North Texas' 12-game win streak is the fourth longest active win streak in the nation as of Wednesday.
Longest Active Win Streaks(wins)
1. Murray St. (16)
Gonzaga (16)
South Dakota St. (16)
4. North Texas (12)
5. Belmont (10)
Colgate (10)
ACTIVE ROAD WIN STREAK
North Texas' eight-game road winning streak is a program record and tied for the second longest in the nation.
Longest Active Road Win Streaks(Wins)
1. Gonzaga (11)
2. North Texas (8)
Murray St. (8)
4. South Dakota St. (7)
Wagner (7)
BEST IN THE COUNTRY
North Texas has the nation's best scoring defense holding opponents to 55.4 points per game. UNT has held eight of its last nine opponents to under 60 points.
TOP 5 SCORING DEFENSES
1. North Texas (55.4)
2. San Diego St. (57.1)
3. Texas (57.7)
4. Fresno St. (58.1)
5. UC Irvine (58.2)
North Texas has a top 10 national 3-point field goal percentage defense. They hold opponents to a .282 3-point field goal percentage, which ranks 6th in the country. North Texas is the only C-USA team that ranks in the top 100 in the country in 3-point field goal percentage defense.
DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
North Texas has the nation's 20th best defensive efficiency. They are giving up just 92.5 points per 100 possessions. UNT and UAB (77th) are the only Conference USA schools who rank in the top 125 in defensive efficiency. From 2002-2021, UNT only twice finished a year ranked in the top 100 in defensive deficiency. Both times have come in the McCasland era: Last year (48th) and 2018-19 (82nd).
