For those unable to make the trip, you missed a strong contingent of Mean Green fans at the Ford Center to support HeadCoach Johnny Jones and his basketball team. During the first game between BYU and Florida there were more North Texas Fans in the stands than Gator Fans watching their own team.

There seemed to be a sea of purple in the hallways and around the Ford Center but when you compared the North Texas fans in  their section versus the KSU fans in their section the green held its own. Now this sounds funny but because of the color of the seats, it was easy to see the North Texas fans in the Center because the green stood out. It was a wonderful site to see for Mean Green fans.

The North Texas fans need to stand up and applaud themselves for their support to the very end. While some fans may have left early, the biggest majority of the fans stayed cheering the team on to the very end. Even when the outcome was no longer in doubt Eagle fans were cheering North Texas onward.

North Texas and KSU started the first couple of minutes feeling each other out. North Texas did have the opportunity to take the early lead but the ball would not go in. It seemed to set the stage for the rest of the game. North Texas would miss the shots and KSU would get their rebound and score on the other end. When KSU would miss their shots, more often than not, KSU was able to get their own rebound or tip the ball back in for a score. In the end, rebounds were pretty close with KSU getting 39 and UNT 32.

KSU ended the evening with eight steals while UNT had just two.  There were several more times the Wildcats tipped the ball out of bounds. They were aggressive on defense and racked up more team fouls then UNT but their team speed getting to the passes was the difference in getting steals and knocking the ball from the passing lanes.

As a result of the aggressive defense KSU was able to get 15 turnovers. However, a time or two UNT threw the ball in play while none of their team mates were looking making it easy pickings for the Wildcats. UNT was able to record 11 turnovers.

During the second half it became more noticeable shooting by North Texas seemed as if the team was hoping the ball would go in while it looked like KSU knew their shots were true. When you start to hope your shots will go in, it wears on a team mentally and as a result poor shooting stats. When it was all done, the Eagles shot 17 of 55 for a 30% accuracy rate while KSU hit 31 of 61 hitting for 50% rate.

Josh White kept going into the land of the giants and his balls kept getting swatted out of there. Even at his time of the game, late in the second half, KSU just kept him out of the paint. If he managed to get a shot close in, the Wildcats just rejected it. KSU ended up with a total of ten rejections while North Texas did not record a single one. For the game, KSU’s Curtis Kelly has 4 rejections. It tied him with two other players on the first day of all the games that were finished. As a result of KSU’s play, White ended up with three points.

The play was physical with several players on both sides going to the floor but this was one battle that seemed to be in favor of North Texas. There was banging going on inside and three KSU players took hard hits and ended on the floor. They were not fouls done on purpose but rather fouls going for the loose balls.

Tristian Thompson was the big scorer for North Texas with 28 points landing him at the #5 spot for points scored for all the finished games on the first day of competition.

George Odufuwa continued to be a rebounding machine getting ten rebounds the high rebounder for the Eagles and also the high rebounder for the game.

Three Eagles scored in double figures, Thompson with 28, Eric Tramiel with 11 and Odufuwa with ten. KSU had four players in double figures. White had three points and Shannon Shorter put in two more for the North Texas cause.

Six players came in from the bench KSU and scored 17 points. For UNT, Collin Mangrum came in adding five points while Cameron Spencer contributed three more for a total of eight points for the second line.

While this season came to an end for North Texas, there are several things to look forward to for Eagle Fans. This year three players will end their careers, Tramiel, Dominique Johnson and Antwone Matlock. Next year eight players return as seniors. With that much experience returning could mean North Texas will be back in the Big Dance next year.