Johnny Jones crew is facing another tough battle as they travel to Austin to take on Texas (3-2). North Texas (1-3) is coming off its second pounding in a row as they fell to Mississippi State on Sunday. 

The Longhorns are the preseason favorite to come in #5 in the Big 12. They are much in the same position as North Texas in a rebuilding year. They lost all their starting players from last year’s NCAA Tournament team to graduation.  However, the cupboard is not bare, they had an extremely good recruiting class which is expected to carry the team back into the NCAA Tournament this year.

Coming back is #14 J’Covan Brown, Jr., G, 6-1, 197 who is the Longhorns only player with a scholarship returning with any game experience. He is a good one. Coming in off the bench last year he averaged 10.4 points a game. He is not afraid to take the tough shots.  This year he is putting in 23.2 points a game.

One of the players poised to help Texas back into the NCAA is McDonald’s All-American Myck Kabongo, F, G, 6-2, 170. Look for him to be at the point and is now fourth on the team in scoring with 9.6 per game. Shelton McClellan, F., G, 6-5, 190 is a five star prospect who is considered a slashing type player who can hit for points. Presently he is third on the team in scoring with 11.2 a game.  Freshman Forward #10 Johnathan Holmes, F, 6-8, 230 is second on the team in scoring adding in another 12 points a game. 

 Freshman #0 Julien Lewis, G, 6-3, 190 is solid guard averaging 9.6 points a game and #20 Alex Wangmene, Sr., F/C, 6-7, 248 is the sixth main player on the team putting in 8.4 points a game.

In this young season Brown is the guy for Texas. He is scoring and directing the offense. The team has been plagued in games by poor shooting, turnovers and everything else associated with playing with a lot of freshmen and not having a lot of experience on the team.  They have the talent, but at this point in the season they have not gelled much like North TExas.

While they get a total of 37.8 rebounds a game opponents are right there with them snaring 36.6. They out block their opponents 21-16, out steal 38-30 and outscore opponents 81.4 to 70.6 points a game.

North Texas will see another big crowd as Texas packs in 9,664 fans per game.