DENTON – Prior to Thursday night, Conference USA play had not been kind to North Texas when it came to shooting from beyond the arc.

After entering conference play as the top long-distance shooting team, the Mean Green entered Thursday's game against Marshall as the 12th best in C-USA.

Roosevelt Smart hit three straight 3-pointers to start the second half, and UNT was well on its way to ending the skid on Thursday in a 78-51 win over Marshall, as the Mean Green shot 42.9 percent from beyond the arc and made 12 treys.

"That's a solid win for us," said Zachary Simmons, who was one of two UNT players with a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. "They have a great offense. They made the tournament last year. They are the team we want to be. So this feels good for sure."

Meanwhile, a Marshall team that makes its living from beyond the arc was held to just 5 for 24 shooting on 3-point attempts, while leading scorer Jon Elmore was held 16.9 points below his season average after scoring just four points before sitting for the final 10 minutes of a lopsided Mean Green win.

"The more we could guard the ball and keep it in front, as long as they were making contested shots, we knew we'd be fine," UNT coach Grant McCasland said. "I don't know anyone who's guarded Elmore better, but Ryan (Woolridge), DJ (Draper), Michael (Miller) and Umoja Gibson all did great on him. It was a really good effort all the way around."

The second of Marshall's dynamic duo behind Elmore, C.J. Burks, whose buzzer-beating shot knocked off North Texas last season, finished the night with just nine points on 3 of 15 shooting.

"From a physical guarding perspective, it couldn't have gone much better for us," McCasland said. "That was what our attention to detail and effort needed to be in order to give us a chance to separate against them."

The win gave North Texas its 20th of the season, improved the Mean Green to 8-3 in C-USA play, and tied the fastest in program history to reach 20 wins with the 1975-76 team.

Next up for the Mean Green is a pivotal game Saturday back at The Super Pit against Western Kentucky, which tips at 5 p.m.

"With the way the new pod schedule is set up, you have to win Saturday to put yourself in that top group," McCasland said. "It's a big one Saturday. Everyone was awesome tonight in the crowd, so let's keep it rolling."

QUICK SHOTS

• North Texas outrebounded Marshall 55-30, marking the largest margin of victory on the glass this season for the Mean Green.
• Michael Miller set a new career high for rebounds with 13.
• North Texas had four players score in double figures (Zachary Simmons, Ryan Woolridge, Umoja Gibson and Roosevelt Smart), and Simmons and Smart had 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively, to notch double-doubles.
• UNT has won 16 of its last 17 games at home and is 12-1 at home on the season.
• The Mean Green led wire-to-wire,and the 27-point win is the largest margin of victory in a conference game this season.