North Texas (8-7, 1-1) takes to the road for the next two games as they first head to Mobile, Alabama to take on conference member South Alabama (8-4, 0-1) for their first game of the New Year this Thursday, 1-4-12 with tip off 7:05PM.  USA is coming into the game losing their conference opener against Middle Tennessee 52-68. North Texas is coming into the game with a home win against Troy 87-65. USA is trying to rebound from last year’s 12-15 season, their first losing season since 2005.

Augustine Rubit, F, 6-6. 235, So., Javier Carter,F, 6-6, 215, Jr., DeAndre Hersey, F, 6-6, 215, Jr., and Antione Lundy, F, 6-7, 240, Sr., are returning to bring experienced inside players.

Last year, USA was problematic from the perimeter so they went the junior college route to try to fix the problem. They brought in five junior college transfers and two high school signees that are shooters from the three point range.

Freddie Goldstein, G, 5-10, 165, Jr., transferred in from Motlow State Community College where he shot 43% of his three point attempts.

Trey Anderson, G, 6-3, 185, Jr., transferred in from Neosho County Community College where he scored 20.7 points and had 6.9 assists per game.

Xavier Roberson. G, 6-2, 180, Jr., transferred in from Paris Junior College where he averaged 14.9 and 2.9 three point shots per game, he originally signed with TCU out of high school.

Dallas Jones, G, 6-4. 215, So., played at Lon Morris Junior College where he averaged 12.7 points, hitting 58 three point attempts with 3.1 rebounds per game.

Wendell Wright, G, 6-5, 195, Jr., play for Santa Ana Community College where he averaged 15 points and 6.4 rebounds a game.

 Mychal Ammons and J.J. Holland are the two true freshman on the team.

USA plays in the 10,000 seat USA Mitchell Center which is known as “The Jungle” where it has been difficult for opponents to win there. They sport a home record of 130-54 with over 2,000 fans at the games.

This will be a great one to watch as North Texas’ Chris Jones (pic) and USA’s Rubit are expected to put on an offensive show.

Troy’s eight wins were against LSU, Mobile, UAB, Alabama A&M, Alcorn State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Georgia Southern and San Diego.  They lost against Mississippi State, Florida State, Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee.

The two teams faced the same opponents; Mississippi State and LSU.  USA lost at MSU 65-80 but won at LSU 79-75 in overtime. USA was 11 points behind LSU with about five minutes left but came back to tie the score in regulation then win in overtime. North Texas lost at MSU 59-82 and at home against LSU 58-67.  

Against Florida State, USA set a new NCAA record going 0-24 in three point attempts.

Last year’s Sun Belt “Freshman of the Year” Rubit is leading the Jags in scoring with 15.7 points per game and is the only player in double digits. Roberson, in seven games, is scoring 9.9 a game. He will be out for four to six weeks for a foot injury. After replacing Anderson at point guard, Goldstein is hitting for 9.7 points a game and the main three point shooter. So far this season he has tried 65 three point attempts or 5.4 a game making 1.9 a game.  Carter is putting in 9 points a game.

The other three point shooter on the team is Dallas Jones who has tried 36 three point attempts or 3.3 a game making 1.4.

Opponents drop in 6.8 three point attempts per game while USA hits for 3.1.

USA is a second half team. Opponents have outscored them 408-367 in the first half but USA comes alive in the second half where they are outscoring opponents 414-355. In one over time game, against LSU, they outscored the Tigers 10-6.

While opponents out steal USA 6.7 to 5.4 per game, they turn the ball over 2.9 more times or 5.4 to 6.7 per game. So, turnovers are pretty much even.

They are a pretty good free throwing team averaging .741% from the free throw line. From the field they hit 281 of 689 attempts for a .408 average.

Most of their games have been close with the average final score 65.9 to 64.1 giving USA a +1.8 advantage.

The strength of the team is rebounding where they grab +9.3 more rebounds per game or 41.1-31.8.

Rubit gets 5.8 defensive and 3.7 offensive rebounds a game and leads the team with a total of 9.4 total rebounds. Lundy is second in rebounds with 7 per game, 4.3 defensive and 2.7 offensive.  Lundy missed most of last year with a knee injury but appears to have no side effects.

They are starting true freshman Ammons from Vicksburg. He is third in total rebounds a game with 3.8 but he has a tendency to get into foul trouble and has fouled out of two games this year. J.J. Holland is the other true freshmen.

Fans will have their eyes on North Texas Chris Jones facing off against Rubit. The two are tied in second place for a season high points scored in one game in the Sun Belt Conference. Jones had 31 against Texas Tech while Rubit had 31 against Alcorn State. Both are tied for first in the conference by making 13 field goals in one game. Rubit is one ahead of Jones in field goal attempts with 22 and Jones with 21.  Jones has five 20 point games while Rubit has two.

Rubit is #1 in the conference averaging 15.7 points a game while Jones is in second scoring 14.9 points a game.

Rubit has six double-doubles which leads the conference. His teammate Lundy is tied with three in second place with two.

 Rubit has six 10 rebounds game which is first in the conference and Lundy is in third with three.

USA’s Carter is #15 in the nation with 2.9 blocked shots.

Jones is fifth in the conference averaging 4.3 assists per game. He is#3 in the conference and #26 in the nation with 2.3 steals a game.

While this is shaping up to be an offensive fireworks between Jones and Rubit this game will have more.

USA has won the battle of the boards in almost every one of their games so it looks like they might win it against North Texas. What is surprising Andre Gowins is their tallest player at 6-9, Lundy is their next tallest player at 6-7. For the most part, they concede the paint and are willing to go outside and shoot the three. They hope this will enable them to get the ball inside for the easier shots.  

USA plays an up tempo game in order to try to run North Texas out of the building. They will run up the court, shoot at a moment’s notice not waiting for the defense to setup. They are going to take the three shot from anywhere from anyone and they will get the rebound for put backs.

When they have been beaten by other teams, the other teams have been more physical. North Texas has the height and size advantage to be more physical so they need to take advantage of it.

No lead will be safe for North Texas. If they get the lead it will mean nothing because USA can come back quick when they fall behind and do it in a short time.