Against Arkansas State (8-9, 2-1), North Texas (8-9, 2-2) lost the battle of the paint, lost the battle of the major stats,  lost the battle of breaks, lost the battle of the referees, lost the battle of strategy, lost the battle of the clutch and lost the game 72-75.

So far this season,  ASU has struggled inside the paint opponents managed to get points under the basket with ease. There was a role reversal against North Texas as ASU dominated inside the paint outscoring North Texas 42-22 under the rim.

North Texas ended up hitting 48.3% from the field while ASU managed to shoot 55.1%.

North Texas lost those little things that mean so much in a victory. Tony Mitchell once again got himself into foul trouble. In this game he was joined by Roger Franklin, Chris Jones, and Brandon Walton getting into foul trouble forcing the coaches to protect them by putting them on the bench. At the end of the game six North Texas players had at least three fouls each.

 Jones had a basket taken off the board because of charging call. An ASU player lost the ball but the referee called a reaching in call. While this is part of the game, against ASU there seemed to be a little more of it.

ASU was able to get 21 points off North Texas turnovers while North Texas only managed 11. ASU was able to get 11 fast break points to six for North Texas.  North Texas won the personal  foul stat committing 23 to ASU’s 15. While North Texas won the free throws percentage competition hitting for 77.8% to ASU’s 65.4%. ASU won the total points from the free throw line putting in 17 of 26 to North Texas 7 of 9.

The referees were not kind to North Texas and surely the home court advantage applied. While Mitchell swatted the ball out of there more times than a Texan in mosquito country, he was called five times for goal tending. When was the last time five goal tending calls were called in a game? Then figure that with how many were called on the same player in the game.

North Texas lost the strategy game, right after the second half began, North Texas hit for a basket and ASU immediately called a timeout with a couple of seconds gone. It calmed the Red Wolves down and they fought their way back to win the game. North Texas played for the last shot missed leaving about 2 seconds left giving enough time for ASU to score.

North Texas needed a clutch shot by Jones to win the game. He has done it in the past but against ASU the numbers got to him and he missed. However, ASU’s clutch playmaker hit for a 35 foot three at the buzzer to win the game. It was the second time this season he hit for a three to win the game as time expired.

North Texas comes home licking its wounds and will face Western Kentucky on Thursday, Jan.12^th at The Super Pit with tipoff at 7PM.