North Texas Basketball travels to Huntsville this Wednesday to face a very good Sam Houston State. This will be a battle of two NCAA Tournament teams from last year. SHSU won the Southland Championship Tournament and regular season title while North Texas took the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The Bearkats (4-2) are coming into the game with a overtime home loss against last year's Conference-USA's Tournament Champion Houston, 71-75. Their other loss was on the road against #21 ranked Texas 50-84. They have recorded wins over Mary Hardin-Baylor 72-47, Northwestern Oklahoma State 90-68, Colorado State 92-81 and Saint Thomas 54-46.

The Bearkats are under the direction of first year Head Basketball Coach Jason Hooten. He was promoted to the position after serving six years as assistant coach under former Head Basketball Coach Bob Marlin who is now at the helm of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. Hooten helped the team to their 25-8 record last year and recruited a lot of the players on the team.

SHSU sports only three seniors on the team and all three are starters from last year's team. They are Gilberto Clavell, F,

6-6, 230, Sr., with 20 points and 8.5 rebounds a game; Josten Crow, F, 6-4, 210, Sr., with 13 points a game and 6.7 rebounds a game and Lance Peverhouse, G, 6-2, 185, Sr., with 7.8 points and 3.5 rebounds a game. All three players get the majority of time on the court averaging close to 30 minutes per game. Clavell and Crow are the only players in double figures.

North Texas will get to see the Southland Regular and Tournament Championship and NCAA banners raised before the game.

There were projections the team would not be as good this year as last year because they lost three players that accounted for 40 points and 13.2 rebounds a game. There was concern about how this years team would play together. So far things seem to be working out for SHSU.

When watching the game, North Texas fans need to watch Crow. He is the spark plug to the team. The four year senior flat out can play. He can make the adjustments in the game that helps the other players around him become better.

Clavell is an All-Conference player known to get technical fouls because of his temper. This maybe something North Texas will try to exploit. Their style of play is bombs away from three-point range but he is the inside man when the long ball doesn't work.

Drae Murray is their point guard who is faster then greased lightning. When he is in the game, the tempo increases. He will be a handful to defend.

SHSU is averaging 71.5 points a game while holding opponents to 66.8 points per game. They grab 41.8 rebounds a game and opponents garner 39.5. They hit .390% from the floor while opponents are able to hit for .406% of their shots. From three-point range they hit .285% as opposed to .217% and at the line they are hitting .635%.

This will be the second biggest test for North Texas so far this year. A win at SHSU will give an indication if they will be ready for conference play and another shot at getting into the NCAA. If they lose a close game, North Texas will know what they have to fix to make a run into the tournament.

The Bearkats average close to 1,600 fans a game.