DENTON, Texas The North Texas basketball team added a physical scoring guard to its arsenal with the addition of Paris’ Shannon Shorter on Wednesday.
The 6-foot 4-inch, 200-pound slasher is pouring in 12.0 points per game and hitting at an astonishing 65.2 percent clip, a team-high through six games this season. Shorter and the Dragons (6-0) are ranked No. 16 in the NJCAA National Preseason Rankings.
"Shannon will be a great addition to our basketball team," said North Texas head coach Johnny Jones. "Because of his size and strength, he has the ability to defend the one, two, and three spots, and on the offensive end he creates matchup problems for our opponents. He also brings great leadership qualities to the floor."
Not just a scoring threat, the Houston native is averaging 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game for the Dragons this season. Shorter transferred to Paris after a season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, where he averaged 2.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game as a freshman. His free throw average of 76.9 percent was tops among all Islanders with at least 20 free throw attempts, and he ranked fourth on the team with 26 assists.
A knack for the boards, Shorter hauled in 45 rebounds for TAMU-CC, including 11 on the offensive glass as a freshman.
A standout at Westside High School in Houston, Shorter was named the team’s most valuable player after leading the team in scoring (22.0), rebounding (13.0) and assists (5.0) his senior season. He was named first-team all-district and fourth-team All-Greater Houston, and set the all-time scoring and rebounding records for his school.
North Texas is coming off back-to-back 20-win campaigns, and features the Sun Belt’s reigning Freshman of the Year in Josh White, and Newcomer of the Year in Collin Dennis. The Mean Green opens the 2008-09 season on Friday with a throw-back era game at the Snake Pit versus Cameron.
