North Texas (7-7, 0-1 SBC West) vs. Troy (5-7, 0-1 SBC East)
Denton, Texas • The Super Pit (10,500)
Dec. 31, 2011 • 3:00 p.m. CST
Radio: 88.1 KNTU-FM, 100.7 KWRD-FM
• George Dunham, Hank Dickenson
TV: NTTV (Denton Charter 22, Verizon 42)
Live Stats & Webcast: Meangreensports.com
Series: NT leads 7-3 • Last: NT 83-69 on 3/5/11 (SBC 1st round)
Game Notes
DENTON, Texas – Thursday’s game against UALR was a rematch of the 2011 Sun Belt Tournament title game, and on Saturday the Mean Green will take on its foe from the 2010 championship game when Troy comes to town.
In last year’s Sun Belt Tournament meeting, NT’s George Odufuwa turned in huge numbers - 17 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high six assists - to lead the Mean Green to an 83-69 win. The victory gave the Mean Green its 20th victory for a school record fifth straight season. Dominique Johnson poured in a team-high 18 points, including 14 in the first half, as NT went on to shoot 46.6 percent. NT went on to record wins over No. 1 Florida Atlantic and No. 3 Western Kentucky before falling to No. 5 UALR in the finals.
North Texas leads the overall series with Troy, 7-3, including 3-1 record at the Super Pit and a 2-0 record in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. NT and Troy first met in 2006 in the Trojans’ first season in the Sun Belt Conference. The Mean Green split a pair of meetings last season.
North Texas has eliminated the Trojans from the last two Sun Belt Conference Tournaments. The top seeded Trojans and the No. 2 seed Mean Green tied for the conference’s regular season title and went on to meet in the 2010 SBC title game - a 66-63 NT win. Last season, the No. 4 seeded Mean Green topped No. 5 Troy 83-69 in the opening round.
Quick Hitters
• Brandan Walton has made 7-of-14 three-point shots over the last four games.
• NT is 34-12 (73.9 percent) in the month of December since the 2006-07 season.
• North Texas is 39-1 (97.5 percent) since 2009-10 when leading at the half.
Jonesing For A Triple-Double - Chris Jones nearly topped a couple of decades old milestones in just missing a triple-double against UALR. Jones tallied eight points, eight rebounds and nine assists, which was just a few plays shy of the first NT triple-double since Jesse Ratliff in 1993. Jones’ nine assists tied for the 19th most in school history, and are the most since Terence White had 13 in 2000. Jones ranks 4th in the Sun Belt in scoring (14.5 ppg), 3rd in steals (2.2 spg), 6th in assists (3.9 apg), 9th in defensive rebounds (4.1 rpg) and 10th in assist to turnover ratio (1.0 A/TO).
Sharp Shooter - Alzee Williams has been one of NT’s most consistent shooters all season, and he might be the biggest beneficiary of Tony Mitchell’s arrival. The sophomore guard is 18-of-30 (60.0 percent) from the floor since Mitchell‘s debut five games ago. Over the last three games, Williams is 14-of-21 (66.7 percent) from the floor. For the year, he is shooting 47.7 percent, which is the highest amongst NT guards and tied for 15th overall in the Sun Belt.
Nearing A Milestone - North Texas head coach Johnny Jones is nearing his 200th career win. Including his stay as the interim head coach at Memphis in 1999-00, Jones is 194-155 (55.6 percent). Jones, in his 11th year at NT, has won at least 20 games in each of the last five seasons and has taken the Mean Green to three of the last five Sun Belt Tournament finals.
