GAME NOTES
DENTON – Aiming to tie the school record for best start in the program's history, the North Texas men's basketball team hosts Louisiana Tech Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Super Pit.

The Mean Green (13-1, 1-0 C-USA) opened up league play with an impressive 103-87 road win at Rice last Saturday. In the game, UNT used a 17-1 run in the final three minutes of the second-half to pull ahead and beat the Owls for its fourth road win of the year.

North Texas, which has one of the most balanced offenses in the country with six players averaging over nine points per game, takes on a Bulldogs (11-3, 1-0 C-USA) squad that features seven guys who are averaging nine or more points per game, including DaQuan Bracey (13.0 ppg) who was voted to the Preseason All-Conference team.

Thursday's game is being broadcasted on ESPN+. Due to the Mean Green women's basketball team playing at LA Tech at the same time, Thursday's game can only be heard on the radio on KHYI 95.3 FM. However, fans can listen to the game wherever with the tuneIN app. Hank Dickenson and Paul Valamides will have the call on ESPN+ and Dave Barnett will be on the radio call.

In honor of the Mean Green's historic start to the year, which has surpassed the successful teams of the 1970s, North Texas has rolled back the clock and reduced ticket and concession prices to Thursday's game to the prices they were in the 1970s.
Fans can purchase tickets to the game for only five dollars online by using the promo code "History". They can also buy reduced price tickets at the Super Pit on game day.

Concession items such as popcorn and soda will be marked at just one dollar.

This is the first time since 1952-53 that North Texas has had a 13-1 record. The 1952-53 team began the year 14-1, which is the program-record for best start to a season.

UNT's success has garnered national attention as they are receiving top 25 national votes in both the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Poll. Following their victory at Rice, North Texas earned a NCAA NET ranking of No. 37, which was not only a season-high for the Mean Green but is also the highest ranking in Conference USA.

The North Texas and LA Tech matchup has been one that has been dominated by the Bulldogs, especially in this millennium. LA Tech has beaten UNT five straight times and 19 of their last 22 meetings.
Last year, the Bulldogs beat North Texas 66-65 in Ruston. Two free throws by LA Tech with 0.9 seconds left in the game sealed the victory.

But this North Texas team is far different. This time last year, the Mean Green were giving up 71.4 points per game. Now, they have held their 14 opponents to an average of just 61.7 points per game. Seven different UNT players have led the team in scoring this year. At Rice last week, Ryan Woolridge led the team as he dropped a season-high 24 points and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds for his fifth career double-double.

Woolridge is averaging 13 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game and is the only person in C-USA averaging 10+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ assists per game.

Since its meetings last year with LA Tech, UNT's Michael Miller has emerged as one of the best guards in the league. The senior who only played a total of two minutes in the two meetings against the Bulldogs last year, scored a career-high 35 points on Dec. 20 versus Arkansas Pine Bluff and since being inserted in the starting lineup five games ago leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.6 point per game.

Furthermore, despite being just 6-foot-3, he has one of the best field goal percentages from inside the arc at 67.3 percent. Out of all the players in the nation listed 6-foot-3 or shorter, only NC State's Markell Johnson has a better two-point field goal (68.8 percent).
 
PAINT POINTS
Despite being one of the smallest teams in the country and on pace to set the school record for three-pointers, North Texas has recently dominated the paint. At New Mexico on Dec. 18, UNT outscored the Lobos 44-18 in the paint. Then at Rice outscored the Owls 50-26 in the paint. For the year, North Texas has outscored its 14 opponents combined by 134 points in the paint, which averages out to +9.5 more paint points per game for UNT than its opponents. The only two opponents to outscore UNT in the paint were Oklahoma (+14) and Maine (+2). UNT has outscored its last four opponents in the paint by 78 points (+19.5 per game).
 
18-OF-20
UNT has won 18 of its last 20 games (dating back to the start of the CBI). It is the first time in program history they've won 18 of 20.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
North Texas has won 11 straight games at home, which as of Wednesday is tied for the 24th-best active home winning streak in the nation and is the best active home winning streak in C-USA behind Old Dominion's 12 consecutive wins. The last time UNT won 10+ games in a row at home was from 2009-10 when they won 19 in a row.
 
GETTING BACK TO SIX
Last week North Texas was the only team in the country that had six guys averaging 10+ points per game. However, after Jorden Duffy scored just four points at Rice on Saturday, his season average dipped down to 9.8. In order for him to get back to a double-digit average, Duffy needs to score at least 13 points against LA Tech to get back to a 10.0 or better average. The five other guys (Umoja Gibson, Ryan Woolridge, Zachary Simmons, Michael Miller and Roosevelt Smart) who are currently averaging double digits can score zero points on Thursday and maintain their double-digit average.