Mean Green Goes Cold In First Loss Of Season

greenminer · November 23, 2007

10:50 AM CST on Friday, November 23, 2007

By Brett Vito Staff Writer

ARLINGTON — For the first time this season, North Texas ran into a puzzle it couldn’t solve — UT-Arlington’s zone defense.

The Mavericks held the Mean Green to a season-low scoring total and went on to hand UNT its first loss of the season, 72-64, in a showdown of unbeaten Dallas-area rivals at Texas Hall.

UNT had won its first three games of the season and knocked off Oklahoma State, but struggled in its first road game against a red-hot UTA team that improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

“It was disappointing to get into a situation like this, playing a good basketball team in our first road test,” UNT head coach Johnny Jones said. “It was an opportunity to see just where we are at this point in the season. We grade ourselves after each game and we didn’t pass the test tonight.”

UNT trailed by as many as 14 late in the second half before making a run to cut its deficit to four in the closing minutes. UTA held off the Mean Green by hitting six straight free throws to ice the game.

UNT was forced to try to scramble back in the closing minutes because it couldn’t get on track early offensively.

UNT’s previous scoring low came in a 78-69 win over Indiana State on Saturday.

Keith Wooden scored a game-high 17 points to go along with 13 rebounds and led four UNT players who scored in double figures. Josh White added 15 points, while Tristan Thompson and Quincy Williams added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Mean Green spent much of the night trying to shoot over UTA’s zone defense and saw two of its main outside shooting threats struggle. Ben Bell went 1-of-12 from the field, while Dez Willing-ham was 2-for-10.

“We just didn’t hit shots,” Bell said. “I didn’t step up and only hit one shot today. We missed a lot of shots that we normally hit.”

UNT had one less option on the outside when Collin Dennis missed the game with a sprained ankle he suffered in the Mean Green’s win over ISU.

Dennis came into the week as the Mean Green’s second-leading scorer with an average of 15.7 points a game, despite coming off the bench in each of UNT’s first three games.

UTA took a 64-50 lead on a Jermaine Grif-fin basket before UNT made one final push.

Thompson scored five quick points, a run he started with a 3-pointer to spark a 10-0 surge by the Mean Green, which pulled to with in 64-60.

UNT just couldn’t complete the comeback.

“You have to try to extend your defense and pick your spots,” Jones said. “We cut it to four, but we picked up a foul and they ended up knocking down their free throws.”

UNT struggled to hit shots all night and fell behind 30-21 at halftime. The Mean Green hit just 1-of-11 shots from behind the 3-point arc in the first half. The 21 points in the first half was its low for a half this season, falling well short of the 37 points it scored in the second half of its win over Indiana State on Saturday.

Jones said UNT wasn’t as aggressive as it needed to be early in the game.

UNT got on track offensively in the second half and went on an 8-0 run to pull to within 41-33 before UTA Ro’ger Guignard answered with a 3-pointer from NBA range.

The Mean Green made one final run in the closing minutes, but couldn’t complete the comeback on a night it struggled to find its rhythm against UTA’s zone defense.

“We got good looks, we just didn’t knock shots down,” Jones said. “They did a good job of taking some of our post guys away. We stretched it and made some shots inside. We just weren’t consistent enough. We were capable, we just weren’t sharp.”

Jones said Dennis would return to UNT’s lineup in its next game against Western New Mexico in the first round of the Lou Henson Classic in Las Cruces, N.M., on Nov. 30.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.