For the first time in program history TXST will participate in the NIT. First round matchup is in Denton vs. North Texas Tuesday at 7pm. Coincidentally its also UNT's first ever NIT appearance.
Here's the full bracket:
NET Rankings
47. North Texas
129. Texas State (-11)
TXST News
North Texas clearly had a great year winning the CUSA regular season championship and being fairly close to getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney. They come in as the 2-seed in our side of the bracket and have an overall record of 24-6. Best wins on the season for UNT are on the road at UAB (12-seed in NCAA tourney), at Wichita State, and on a neutral floor against Drake (top overall seed in the CBI). They really don't have any terrible losses, their worst was a week and a half ago at UTEP and of course their heartbreaker in the CUSA tourney final to La Tech.
The top player for UNT this year is 5'11" Jr. G Tylor Perry. Oddly enough Perry comes off the bench yet was named to the All-CUSA 1st team and, as you'd expect, he was the conferences 6th man of the year. Perry averaged 13.6 PPG off the bench to lead the team and had game winning shots vs. La Tech and UAB. He was the JUCO national tournament MVP last year and is in his first year with UNT. Perry is the team's best 3-point shooter at 42.5% and FT shooter at 85.7%.
The 2nd leading scorer is 6'6" Sr. F Thomas Bell. Bell averages 12.6 PPG and is the team's top rebounder at 6.9 RPG. Bell was named to the All-CUSA 2nd team as well as the CUSA-All Defensive team. 6'1" Sr. G JJ Murray was also named to the CUSA-All-Defensive team. He doesn't score much (4.1 PPG) but he led the team in steals with 47.
The O/U for this game is under 120 for a reason. These are two defense-first teams. First to 60 may win. UNT's scoring offense was 2nd-to-last in CUSA at 64.9 PPG but they have the top scoring defense in the country by almost a full 3 PPG at 54.97 PPG. They allow opponents to shooting just 41.1% and just 27.7% from 3. Their scoring margin was 2nd in CUSA at +9.93. They also have a +4.6 rebounding margin so they're a good rebounding team as well. The one thing this team does very poorly is shoot FTs. Perry is automatic, but as a team they shoot just 65% from the line.
Series History
Not sure how far back the history goes but per sports-reference we've played them 22 time since the 1949-1950 season (feels like it should be more than that) and we're 9-13 in those games. The last meeting was way back in 2010 when we were terrible and UNT won easily 85-62. Back in the 90s these teams were conference mates in the Southland for awhile but not sure for how many years.
Coverage/Betting Odds
Game will be on ESPN+. The entire NIT will be on the ESPN networks, unfortunately our game wasn't picked up for linear TV in the first round.
North Texas opens as 9 point favorites. I figured it'd be about 10 when I heard the matchup so sounds about right.
North Texas Message Board
Here's the full bracket:
NET Rankings
47. North Texas
129. Texas State (-11)
TXST News
- I think we all know how the regular season ended and SBC tourney went at this point. Texas State won their final 9 games (longest win streak in 28 years) of the regular season to win their 2nd consecutive SBC regular season championship just to go 0-1 in the SBC tourney to miss the NCAA tourney for the 2nd straight year. I don't want to look it up but I'm curious if any team in history has ever won consecutive regular season championships and got bounced in their first tourney game in back-to-back years in any conference before. That may have been a first.
- TXST finished the season at 21-7 overall going into this game.
- Not that it means much if you can't win in March, but I'm pretty sure our 20 game February win streak is the best in the nation.
- SBC accolades this year:
- Terrence Johnson Coach of the Year:
- Caleb Asberry 1st-team:
- Mason Harrell 2nd-team
- Terrence Johnson Coach of the Year:
- Over the past 4 seasons TXST has the best overall record and the best conference record of any team in the SBC. The 84 overall wins over that stretch is the most in a 4-year stretch in program history since 1978-1981.
North Texas clearly had a great year winning the CUSA regular season championship and being fairly close to getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney. They come in as the 2-seed in our side of the bracket and have an overall record of 24-6. Best wins on the season for UNT are on the road at UAB (12-seed in NCAA tourney), at Wichita State, and on a neutral floor against Drake (top overall seed in the CBI). They really don't have any terrible losses, their worst was a week and a half ago at UTEP and of course their heartbreaker in the CUSA tourney final to La Tech.
The top player for UNT this year is 5'11" Jr. G Tylor Perry. Oddly enough Perry comes off the bench yet was named to the All-CUSA 1st team and, as you'd expect, he was the conferences 6th man of the year. Perry averaged 13.6 PPG off the bench to lead the team and had game winning shots vs. La Tech and UAB. He was the JUCO national tournament MVP last year and is in his first year with UNT. Perry is the team's best 3-point shooter at 42.5% and FT shooter at 85.7%.
The 2nd leading scorer is 6'6" Sr. F Thomas Bell. Bell averages 12.6 PPG and is the team's top rebounder at 6.9 RPG. Bell was named to the All-CUSA 2nd team as well as the CUSA-All Defensive team. 6'1" Sr. G JJ Murray was also named to the CUSA-All-Defensive team. He doesn't score much (4.1 PPG) but he led the team in steals with 47.
The O/U for this game is under 120 for a reason. These are two defense-first teams. First to 60 may win. UNT's scoring offense was 2nd-to-last in CUSA at 64.9 PPG but they have the top scoring defense in the country by almost a full 3 PPG at 54.97 PPG. They allow opponents to shooting just 41.1% and just 27.7% from 3. Their scoring margin was 2nd in CUSA at +9.93. They also have a +4.6 rebounding margin so they're a good rebounding team as well. The one thing this team does very poorly is shoot FTs. Perry is automatic, but as a team they shoot just 65% from the line.
Series History
Not sure how far back the history goes but per sports-reference we've played them 22 time since the 1949-1950 season (feels like it should be more than that) and we're 9-13 in those games. The last meeting was way back in 2010 when we were terrible and UNT won easily 85-62. Back in the 90s these teams were conference mates in the Southland for awhile but not sure for how many years.
Coverage/Betting Odds
Game will be on ESPN+. The entire NIT will be on the ESPN networks, unfortunately our game wasn't picked up for linear TV in the first round.
North Texas opens as 9 point favorites. I figured it'd be about 10 when I heard the matchup so sounds about right.
North Texas Message Board
