At one time, the University of Louisiana-Monroe (2-16, 1-4), then known as Northeast Louisiana had one of the longest season after season winning streaks in the NCAA with 22.  They had one of the longest winning streaks in a season. They went to or were vying for the NCCA Tournament every year and they were always on top the Southland Conference but that was in the 90’s. They did well into the early 2000 but they started to slip. Since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2007 they have declined to basically a ten win season team. At home they have won 74.8 % of their games. However, in the last five years they have struggled. In the last 11 seasons, the Warhawks have had only three winning seasons.

ULM is under the direction of Keith Richards now in his second season. In his first year the team went 7-24. Part of ULM’s fall from being a premier program is they have nine scholarship players and are banned from post season play because of NCAA APR sanctions.  Not a good recruiting tool.

While the losses have piled up, they did have a challenging out of conference schedule facing teams like Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and UNLV. They were in a lot of games losing five of them by five points or less.

Fred Brown, G, 6-2, 180, Sr., leads the team in scoring with 13.1 points a game. He is a transfer from Kansas State. Charles Winborne, G, 6-1, 185, So., is the second leading scorer with 10.6 points a game and is a transfer from Loyola-Chicago. They are hitting .685 from the free throw line, .355 from three point range and .409 from the field putting them 274 in the nation. When the total points per game are added up they average 58.9 points a game ranking them 324 in the NCAA.

Steven McClellan, C, 6-7, 250, So., leads the team in total rebounds with 7.7 a game. He was supposed to redshirt this season but got his first career start at Stephen F. Austin which was the seventh game of the season. Huge Mingo, G, 6-3, 175, Sr.,  is snaring 4.4. The team is pulling down 30.9 overall rebounds putting them 318 in the nation.

The game was supposed to start at 6 PM today but because the New Orleans Saints are playing about the same time, there was a fear the 1,286 fans that are normally in the stands would stay home to watch the game.  So the game was moved to 1PM.

So a quick look at teams. North Texas 4^th in the conference while ULM holds down the 11^th place slot. North Texas (10-8, 3-2) has a better win/loss record, better RPI 213 to 324, better average per game scoring 70 points to 58 and is a better rebounding team 38 to 30.  

Where North Texas falls short of ULM is the long ball. They hit for 35.5% from the beyond the arc while North Texas averages 29%. Brown’s 32 three point shots that went in beats North Texas’ Brandan Walton’s total of 24.

Last year the two teams went 1-1 with ULM getting the last win.  This year North Texas is 3-5 on the road while ULM is 0-8 at home.  North Texas holds a 28-21 all time record and an 8-1 record in the last nine meetings.

ULM’s two wins were against Nichols State 85-65 and Florida International 54-50.

There are three seniors on the team, no juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen.  A familiar name to Arlington basketball fans maybe R.J. McCray who went to Grace Prep Academy in Arlington.

This should by no means be a rollover game for North Texas. It is shaping up to be a close game until about halfway through the second half. It is about this points ULM fades because of lack of bench depth. What will keep them in the game will be their three point shooting.