North Texas looking to be Conference USA champs 3 times in a row?
The Mean Green are the back-to-back defending Conference USA champions. They won the 2020 Conference USA Regular Season Championship and the 2021 Conference USA Tournament title. UNT is coming off one of its most successful seasons in program history. North Texas earned its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament and upset Purdue in the first round, 78-69 (OT), for the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.
Last night they beat Charlotte at the Super Pit 65-51. This men’s basketball team knows how to play as a team and drive their field goals in no problem. It was super impressive how UNT’s pacing of the ball kept them in the lead the whole entire game.
“I’m proud of our team for fighting through some low offensive moments we had tonight,” said Perry. “We know we’re a really good team when we execute the game plan and play as a unit. I thought we did a really good job of that tonight but especially in the second half. Charlotte is a really good team so I’m really proud of how our team kept fighting.”
North Texas has won 10 of its last 11 games and has held the 11 opponents to a combined 54.9 ppg scoring average. During this 11-game stretch, UNT has held opponents to just 24.3 percent shooting from deep (43- 177) and UNT has made more than twice as many 3-pointers as its opponent (43/91).
In every game this season except versus No. 4 Kansas, North Texas has led with seven minutes remaining or less.
UNT features the nation's second-best scoring defense as they hold its opponents to an average of just 56.4 points per game. During this current 11-game stretch they've held opponents to just 54.9 points per game.
UNT also features the nation's best three-point defense as opponents only average 4.25 made 3-pointers per game against the Mean Green.
It wouldn’t be a good team without a superb coach. Grant McCasland is in it’s 5th season with UNT. His record with the team for the past 5 seasons are 91-55. He says his team is his family. Trusting your family is important and having his team trust him as a coach can help motivate the team to work together. McCasland knows that playing as a team is important than focusing on one individual. That’s how Coach McCasland aims to win.
You can see it in every game when UNT plays. UNT forms team circles on the court when someone makes a shot or before they shoot their free throws where they help motivate each other. You can tell as an audience member that UNT acts like a family. It shows how invested they are as a team and it shows when they play on the court. UNT has bright season ahead of them.
This Saturday they host Old Dominion. Tip-off starts at 5 p.m. CT. It will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Mean Green Sports Network.