Box Score

North Texas UNT 21-11

FIU FIU 19-13

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
North Texas UNT	39	32	71
FIU FIU	22	35	57

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 3/13/2019 10:56:00 PM

Third Time's A Charm

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FRISCO — A third time's a charm for the North Texas men's basketball team.

Playing the Florida International Panthers for a third time in the less than a month looking for their first win over FIU, the Mean Green finally got them with a 71-57 win Wednesday night in the first round of the 2019 Conference USA Basketball Championships at The Star in Frisco.

The win is North Texas' (21-11) first conference tournament win since the 2014 C-USA Tournament and pins the No. 10 seed Mean Green against No. 2 seed Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. CT. he game will be streamed on Stadium and on the Mean Green Sports Radio Network.

"We made a few adjustments that were pivotal," said head coach Grant McCasland of the differnce between the first two times they played FIU (19-13) and Wednesday's meeting. "The way we competed was the difference."

On Wednesday, North Texas was led by sophomore Zachary Simmons and redshirt freshman Umoja Gibson who combined for 40 points. Gibson led the way with 21 points and tied his career-high with seven three-pointers. Simmons had 19 points and was 7-for-7 from the field, which is the second-best postseason performance in school-history behind Adam McCoy's 8-for-8 performance in the first round of the 2008 Sun Belt Tournament. Simmons also added 16 rebounds on Wednesday, which was a season-high.

"We got beat twice by FIU and that was not a good feeling," Simmons said. "We told ourselves we didn't want to go out like that."

FIU, who led the nation in tempo and is an elite team at scoring in transition, was forced to try and score in the half-court and struggled to do so. The 57 points they scored is a season-low for the much improved Panthers who for just the second-time in over 20 years will finish with a record above .500. FIU's season-low prior to Wednesday was 66 but on the year they averaged 83 points per game.

"We had a really good effort from a lot of our guys tonight," McCasland said. "We had some guys play with some guts. I'm really proud of them."

UNT jumped out the gate on Wednesday, scoring 10 points on its first 10 possessions. They built up a double-digit lead thanks to the three ball that was falling early. They made 11 on the night but had made five in the first few minutes. North Texas then withstood expected runs from FIU who tried desperately to speed up UNT with its signature full-court press. Struggling to gain any momentum, the Panthers maybe lost all hope at the halftime buzzer when UNT's Ryan Woolridge blocked a three-point attempt from FIU's Brian Beard Jr. and then collected the blocked shot and chucked up an 80-foot shot from the opposite free throw line into the basket as the halftime buzzer went off. As the shot went in at the buzzer to give the Mean Green a commanding 39-22 lead, the primarily North Texas crowd went wild and Woolridge's teammates mobbed the point guard on the court in celebration as if the shot literally won the game.

Ending the first-half on a 10-0, North Texas saw its lead shrink briefly early in the second half but foul trouble to the Panthers' second leading scorer put them in a tough position and Simmons went to work on the glass. Simmons had five of the Mean Green's season-high 20 offensive rebounds and all those offensive boards turned into 21 points.

And while Simmons finished with a season-high 16, ten of his 16 came in the second-half alone. In the first 10 minutes of the game, Simmons had just one rebound but the sophomore went to work in the second frame and even finished with a career-high three blocks as North Texas never let FIU get anything going in transition and came away with win to end its seven-game skid it was on.

"We're fighters," Simmons said. "From our coaching staff down. We weren't going to let this one get away."

QUICK SHOTS

- This marks UNT's first Conference USA tournament win since the 2014 tournament when 10th seed North Texas knocked off 15th seed Rice 63-62 in overtime in El Paso.
-North Texas is now 17-3 when leading at the break in 2018-19.
- North Texas led by 17 at the half following a sequence by junior guard Ryan Woolridge where he blocked a shot on one end and knocked down a buzzer beater from the opposing free throw line.
- UNT closed the first half on a 10-0 run.
- UNT is now 15-2 this season when scoring 70 or more points.
- With the win, UNT picked up its third win of the season on a neutral court.
- The last time they won three games at a neutral site was the 2009-10 season when they won three Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to win the conference tournament championship.
- The win gives UNT one more win than it recorded last season, when it won the College Basketball Invitational, finishing at 20-18.
- Zachary Simmons had his third career double-double (second this season). Simmons posted 18 points and 11 boards in the win over Marshall on 2/7.
- North Texas is now 9-1 this season when Simmons makes five or more field goals. He shot 7 for 7 from the field, all in the first half. He's the first Mean Green player to start 7 of 7 from the field since George Odufuwa was 7 for 7 against Arkansas State on 2/20/08.
- Simmons set a season-high in rebounds (his previous high was 12 at Oklahoma on 11/27).
- Redshirt freshman Umoja Gibson tallied his fifth game this season with 20-plus points after posting 21 on Wednesday. His last game with 20-plus came when he scored 21 vs. Marshall on 3/3. It is his 21st game this season in double figures.
- Gibson entered play with 91 three-pointers this season, and after hitting seven on Wednesday, he has the second-most in program history for a single season.