North Texas will host Jackson State this Sunday.  Head Coach Tevester Anderson is starting is ninth year at the helm of the program which has been mostly successful ones. Last year he guided the Tigers to an overall 17-15 record, 12-6 in the SWAC before bowing out of the tournament semifinals. At the beginning of the season he had an overall school record of 234-198 but to date his school record is 236-207.

The Tigers are 2-9 this season after starting a very challenging out of conference schedule. They faced four teams that are ranked in the top 25. The team opened the season at Florida losing 59-99, at Baylor falling 59-92, at Wright State 39-56, at Ohio State 41-85 before having two games at home. They hosted Concordia-Selma winning 73-63 then Tulsa losing 51-57. They went on the road to North Florida losing 60-69, at Memphis 45-70, at California falling 46-73 at St. Marys (CA) then travelled to Dallas where they knocked off SMU 59-58 and are now visiting North Texas.

The main player is #1, Jennirro Bush, G, 6-7, 190, Sr., a Collegehoops.net preseason All-SWAC selection. He was also named the SWAC conference player of the year last year after leading the team in steals with 42, was third in the SWAC in scoring with 14.2 points a game, shooting 43.1 from the floor putting him 10^th in the SWAC and had 21 double figure games. He can score against anybody and his career high 31 against Louisville proves it.

Bush is battling his teammate #12 Kelsey Howard, G, 6-3, 190, Fr., for the scoring lead. It was Howard’s career high 27 points against the Mustangs helping the Tigers to the win. While he is #2 in scoring with 13.9 points a game with Bush #1 at 14.8 a game, Howard leads the team in rebounds while Bush is second. Howard is the teams outside shooter. He is hitting .476 of three point attempts putting it 20 of 42 attempts. Number 1 for the team three point shot average is Johnathon Lewis hitting 4 of 8 for a .500 average. 

Coming off the bench is the team’s leading scorer #13 Christian Williams, G, 6-1, 180 with 7.4 points a game.

The two big guys in the center is #34 Jamarious Sykes, C, 7-2, 270, So., and #44 Raymond Gregory, C, 6-10, 260, Jr.

JSU is -4.3 in turnovers this season turning the ball over 17.9 times a game while only get back 13.6 turnovers. They are outscored 53.2-72.6 points a game an average deficient of 19.5 points per game and they are outrebounded 29.9 to 37.1 a game.

While they look to be a pushover, this team at times can jump up and bite anyone. The SMU (5-4) win as well as the close loss with Tulsa points that out. While shutting down Bush seems to be the game plan for most teams it doesn’t always work. SMU’s defense shut down Bush and ignored Howard, which cost them the game. If North Texas is to win they have to watch both scorers.

Head Coach Johnny Jones young talented team may get younger and more talented for this game. At this posting, North Texas had not heard from the NCAA if Tony Mitchell was cleared to play for the team. If the clearance comes down today, Friday, he is expected to practice with the team on Saturday and play some minutes on Sunday.

This will be a perfect game for him to start his college career. The offense will be running on limited plays against a team that is more than just a pushover but not a top 25 team either. It will give Mitchell his first foyer into the college ball, kick off some rust and allow him get a better feel at the speed the game. While he has been on the USA Team during the summer, the last several months he has been basically playing pick-up ball. It will give him and the rest of his teammates a good game to learn each other’s game day skills.