Mean Green Wear Green And Beat Middle Tennessee, 70-63

[ADLER]

 

https://meangreensports.com/news/2022/1/8/mens-basketball-mean-green-beat-middle-tennessee.aspx

North Texas returned to wearing school colors on Saturday and subsequently returned to winning.

DENTON — The North Texas men's basketball team beat Middle Tennessee Saturday afternoon from the Super Pit 70-63 behind a season-high 25 points by newcomer Tylor Perry.

Perry scored 17 of his 25 in the second half as the Mean Green held off the pesky Blue Raiders.

Score By Periods

Team	1	2	F
Middle Tenn.	33	30	63
North Texas	36	34	70

"Give credit to Middle Tennessee," said head coach Grant McCasland. "I thought their pressure on defense really had us out of wack especially early. But proud of our team for how they fought through it and found a way to win late."

UNT (9-3, 2-1 C-USA) had a season-high 16 turnovers Saturday and eight of them came in the first nine minutes of the game. But a strong shooting night by the team as a whole kept them ahead of Middle Tennessee (9-6, 0-2 C-USA) for most of the game. The Mean Green were 10-of-17 (59 percent) from deep and 20-of-40 (50 percent) overall. 

"I thought this was one of our best shooting nights," McCasland said. "Anytime you shoot that well from three you give yourself a chance and it started with Drez (McBride) knocking down the first one."

Mardrez McBride chipped in 11 points and was 3-of-5 from 3-point range. He scored all 11 points in the first half. 

In the second half UNT kept the Blue Raiders honest by still attacking the paint and getting to the free throw line. The Mean Green made a season-high 20 free throws Saturday. 

But when Middle Tennessee was making one final push late in the game, it was Perry who extinguished any Blue Raider hope. With 49 seconds remaining, Perry hit the bottom of the basket on a 30-plus-foot  3-pointer with a hand in his face as the shot clock buzzer rang to give the Mean Green a 69-60 win.

"We tell him all the time to shoot," McCasland said with a smile. "He's got a special talent and is a unique point guard than we've had here in the past. He's built for those moments."

North Texas is on the road next week as they travel to Marshall on Thursday for a 6 p.m. CT scheduled tip-off and then play at WKU on Saturday for a 3 p.m. CT scheduled start.

 

 

[ADLER]

It was nice seeing the North Texas coaching staff and support personnel wearing Green and White.

Thank you guys. 

[UNTLifer]

Worst officiated game I think I have ever seen. Freaking CUSA should be embarrassed and shouldn’t let that crew work another game.