Family bragging rights will be up for grabs when Juhreece Thompson and Wayland Baptist make the trip to Denton to take on North Texas on Saturday afternoon. The 6-6 senior will have a little more incentive to take down the Mean Green, a squad coached by his uncle, Tony Benford.
Thompson is shooting an unbelievable 72.7 percent from the floor this year, and is averaging 10.5 points per game for a Pioneers squad that knows how to light up a scoreboard. WBU ranks second in the nation among NAIA teams with a +28.3 scoring margin.
“Juhreece is a great kid,” Benford said. “He’s a pretty skilled player, and he’s a part of a really good team at Wayland Baptist. We have a ton of family coming in for the game, including my mother, so it should be a fun afternoon.”
Wayland Baptist is off to a 7-1 start that has them receiving votes in the NAIA top 25 poll. They are the only NAIA team in the country to rank among the top 10 in scoring offense and defense. In fact, the Pioneers rank in the top 10 of seven major statistics.
Exactly 39 years have passed since North Texas and Wayland Baptist met on the hardwood. NT leads the overall series, 5-1, with the Pioneers.
The 1973 meeting between these two programs, a 107-73 NT victory, was just the second ever game held at the Super Pit, and was a record-setting tilt. The building had been christened just five days earlier with a 109-93 win over cross-town rival, TCU. NT knocked down 47 field goals against WBU, which still ranks fourth in program history. NT’s 71 rebounds that day are tied for the third most ever by NT.
