Mean Green Battle To 52-42 Win Over UTEP

Jonnyeagle · January 29, 2023

DENTON — The North Texas men’s basketball team, which features one of the nation’s best defenses, battled to a 52-42 win over UTEP Saturday afternoon at the Super Pit.

Seniors Tylor Perry and Kai Huntsberry once again made clutch baskets late to lead UNT to its third straight victory. The Mean Green backcourt combined for 30 points on 10-of-20 shooting. They scored eight of North Texas’ final 10 points in the final four minutes of the game and didn’t miss a shot attempt.

“Our ability to handle their pressure and not turn the ball over was the difference in the game,” said head coach Grant McCasland. “We knew going in (UTEP) was a team that scores a lot off turnover, and I thought that was the big flip.”

UNT (18-5, 9-3) committed a season-low seven total turnovers Saturday, which the Miners (11-10, 4-6) scored only six points off. On the other side, the Mean Green forced 17 turnovers and scored 17 points off them.

North Texas entered Saturday giving up only 55.3 points per game that, which ranked third-best in the nation. The 42 points they held UTEP to on Saturday is the fewest points an opponent has scored on them all year, though, the fourth time this season they’ve held a team under 50. UTEP was averaging nearly 70 points a game prior to Saturday.

“We were able to manage the game (late),” McCasland said. “We felt that if we could make simple plays and pass it to the open guy and not do too much that it would be the difference.”

Leading up to Saturday’s game, UNT was the only team in the 11-team league who had not had a bye yet. They finally get that day off as they don’t play again until Saturday. They’re at Rice next week. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Mean Green Sports Network, presented by Learfield.

UNT is the nation’s best road team by win percentage since the start of last year.