DENTON — The North Texas men's basketball team cruised to an opening-day 39-point victory at home on Tuesday night.

The Mean Green beat Oklahoma Christian 79-40 behind 16 points from newcomer Thomas Bell in route to their seventh straight season opening win.

"It was good getting the first win on the first day," said Bell. "We have to do some things better, like taking care of the ball, but it always feels good to get a win."

Bell, a transfer from Kaskaskia College in Illinois, started on the bench Tuesday but entered the game quickly and made a fast impact making his first two 3-pointers and getting to double-digits scoring before anyone else.

Defensively the Mean Green shined.

UNT (1-0) held the Lone Star Conference's OCU without a point for nearly 11 minutes during the middle of the game. At that point North Texas increased its lead from seven points to 30 points.

Bell was a big catalyst for that run but also joining in on the action was junior Zachary Simmons.

The Mean Green big-man finished with 14 points and six rebounds but controlled the paint as his team held OCU to 28-percent shooting (13-of-46) and only 21-percent from deep (4-of-19).

"Our defense was outstanding tonight," Simmons said. "To force 22 turnovers is big-time. We have to take care of the ball better but our rebounding helped us a lot and the guys playing well together helped too."

Eight guys who played Tuesday were either newcomers or players who redshirted last season. 

Of the eight, James Reese, Javion Hamlet and Deng Geu got starts in the season-opener. But as a whole the seven players combined to score 38 points — 16 of which came from Bell — and play sound defense. 

North Texas will be back in action on Friday when they travel to No. 25 VCU. The Rams came away with a 72-58 win over Saint Francis on Tuesday at home. 

Friday's game will be broadcasted on the Mean Green Sports Network and on ESPN+. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.