DENTON – The offense did not come easy for North Texas in a 57-41 loss to Utah State where only five Mean Green scored as the team shot under 26-percent from the field Saturday afternoon inside The Super Pit.
The lack of scoring was unexpected considering UNT (4-5, 0-0 C-USA) put up 100 points three days ago in a rout of Houston Baptist. The 41 accrued against the Aggies (4-5, 0-0 Mountain West) was the lowest total since Dec. 4, 2015, in a three-point loss to Weber State, while the 25.9-percent shooting equaled the mark set Jan. 28, 2017, in a 62-47 defeat at Old Dominion.
Terriell Bradley was the lone North Texas player in double figures with a game-high 16 points.
Madison Townley and
Anisha George each totaled eight,
Trena Mims had five, and
Grace Goodhart four. The UNT bench went scoreless throughout the afternoon.
"We held an opponent under 60 which is good, but we have to figure out when the ball isn't falling to create opportunities to score," head coach
Jalie Mitchell said. "We have to be more intentional."
The Mean Green began the game with eight unsuccessful shot attempts before Bradley put them on the board after nearly five minutes of play with a jumper from the free throw line. A lob from
Velma Mitchell to Townley added two more, and the third field goal of the quarter came from Bradley on a three from the left wing for a score of 14-7 in favor of Utah State.
A jumper by Townley and a Goodhart 3-pointer from the left baseline cut the deficit to 14-12 two minutes into the second quarter, and a shot from Mims knotted the score at 16-all with 3:16 on the clock. A Mims free throw handed UNT their first lead of the game a point later, but the Aggies rattled of an 11-3 run to close the half for a 27-20 USU advantage.
Utah State began the third with a layup, but North Texas lessened the gap to 33-27 with two free throws at the 6:33 mark. The Aggies once again closed the quarter on a run, outscoring the Mean Green 11-2 for a 44-30 lead.
Townley hit a jumper in the paint to bring UNT within a dozen before the Aggies tallied six straight points to stretch the lead up to 50-34 with seven minutes remaining. A basket by Bradley along with three free throws had UNT within 11, but the Mean Green were only able to muster one more field goal in the loss.
The Mean Green travel to New Orleans to take on Xavier University of Louisiana Dec. 16 at 4 p.m.