Jones stated winning the tournament was extremely important because the team knew the Sunbelt Conference basically gets one or maybe two bids to the Big Dance. They did not want to wait for “Selection Sunday” to see if maybe they got a bid but rather they wanted the guaranteed bid.

As far as he was concerned “we are excited about” getting the bid and “we are blessed and fortunate to be in this position.” Getting the ticket to the NCAA was “our focus” and important to the program.

The team knew that were playing well at the end of the season after they had gotten over “a series of injuries.” North Texas was starting to execute things during the second half of the season which enabled them to be in the position they are in.

Jones said he was excited about representing North Texas and the Sunbelt Conference in the NCAA Tournament.

He told his players in the locker room they “needed to play with urgency” but with a “controlled passion.” Jones wanted the team to control their play. What concerned him was the team had waited all day to get to the arena to play and “were chopping at the bits.” He was afraid they would “overextend themselves and play too aggressive.”

All season long North Texas was being prepared for the championship game. There was no easy game for the Mean Green because “we got everyone’s best shot all season.”  Every team in the conference was gunning for them since they were picked preseason favorites to win the West Conference.   

As for the tournament being held in Hot Springs, Arkansas, he said it was tremendous. “They embraced us” and there were fans with other teams logos watching the game. To him it was great to see fans there just to see a basketball game even if it was not their team.