BURN THE HORSE
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| UALR (3-10) vs. North Texas (7-6) 7 p.m. Thursday Denton, Texas |
On Thursday night, the Mean Green (7-6) open Sun Belt Conference play by hosting UALR (3-10) at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas.
Much like UALR, North Texas is a very young team. They’ll likely start three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior against the Trojans. And heralded recruit Tony Mitchell is just four games into his college career and continuing to get acclimated to what the Mean Green want to do.
Mitchell is a 6-8 freshman who was among the nation’s elite recruits two years ago. He signed with Missouri but couldn’t get cleared to enroll there because the Big XII didn’t allow partial qualifiers. He enrolled at North Texas last January and had to sit out until mid-December. Since then, he’s averaged 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in his four games. He’s also found himself in a bit of foul trouble early in his career.
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| Tony Mitchell |
Chris Jones, a 6-2 freshman, has been the Mean Green’s best this year. He averages 15 points per game and has been the top scorer in 9 of 13 games. He’s attempted 46 three-pointers but makes only 28 percent.
The rest of the starting lineup consists of 6-6 freshman Jordan Williams, 6-4 sophomore Alzee Williams and 6-7 senior Kedrick Hogans. Jordan Williams averages 10.4 points, while Alzee Williams attempts 4.5 three pointers per game and makes a team best 35.7 percent.
The first three off the bench appear to be 6-5 junior Roger Franklin, 6-2 junior Brandan Walton and 6-8 junior Jacob Holmen. Alton has 51 three-point attempts but shoots just 27.5 percent. Two others who may see action are 6-7 senior Alonzo Edwards and 6-0 freshman Trey Norris.
UALR and North Texas are very similar. Both shoot 41 percent and allow opponents to shoot 43 percent. North Texas shoots 25 percent from three-point, while UALR shoots 29 percent.
North Texas has been a better rebounding team with a +6 margin. UALR is out rebounding its opponents by 0.4 per game. North Texas has 70 more offensive rebounds than its opponents. And the Mean Green has been to the free throw line 34 more times than its opponents.
