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UTSA (11-15, 6-7) @ North Texas (7-18, 1-12)
Site – Super Pit, Denton.
Time – 3 p.m. Saturday.
Radio/TV – KTKR (760), ESPN3.
Sagarin ratings – UTSA 284, North Texas 302.
Point spread – North Texas by 1½.
Series – North Texas leads 12-10, including a 70-66 triumph on Jan. 1, 2016, in their last meeting. The Mean Green lead the series in Denton, 5-4.
UTSA projected starting lineup – F Jeff Beverly 6-6 jr. (16.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg), C Lucas O’Brien 6-10 sr. (7.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg), G Giovanni DeNicolao 6-3, fr. (8.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.1 apg), G Gino Littles 6-0 jr. (6.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.3 apg), G Byron Frohnen 6-5 fr. (8.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg).
North Texas projected starting lineup – F Derail Green 6-7 sr. (7.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg), F Shane Temara 6-9 jr. (6.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg), G Ryan Woolridge 6-3 fr. (9.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.6 apg), G A.J. Lawson 6-5 fr. (11.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg), G J-Mychal Reese 6-2 sr. (10.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.3 apg).
UTSA factoids – The Roadrunners will be looking for their second road victory of the season after losing 13 of their 14 away from the Convocation Center … UTSA has lost two straight and six of their last eight after their 80-68 defeat at Rice Thursday night … UTSA tied the game at 65 with 5:20 left, but Rice finished with a 15-3 spurt to cruise to the victory … Jeff Beverly went for 20 points against Rice to give him nine 20-point games this season, including six in Conference USA play … UTSA won their most recent in Denton with a 71-61 triumph in the Super Pit on Jan. 4, 2015 … The Roadrunners are among six teams that have doubled their win total from last season with 11 triumphs after claiming five in 2015-16. The other teams to accomplish the feat are Minnesota, Jacksonville State, Illinois-Chicago, UMBC and Southeast Missouri State.
North Texas factoids – The Mean Green are coming off a disappointing 77-71 overtime loss to UTEP in a game where they did not trail in the entire second half … The Mean Green led by as many as 10 points before falling to the Miners … Ryan Wooldridge had a monster game against the Miners as he produced his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and almost had a triple-double with nine assists … Four of the five Mean Green scored in double figures against UTEP … North Texas has lost seven straight home games and 13 of their last 14 overall … A.J. Lawson is the leading scorer among Conference USA freshmen with 269 points. UTSA’s Giovanni DeNicolao is third with 213 points and Byron Frohnen is fourth with 208.
They said it:
UTSA coach Steve Henson on his team’s reaction to the loss at Rice: “I like the fact our guys aren’t sitting in there thinking we tied it or what ver it was late. They aren’t content with that that and that’s very important. We’re not trying to just hang in there with good teams and beat good teams.”
UTSA coach Steve Henson on putting aside the Rice loss with North Texas looming: “I have confidence our guys will bounce back in the right way. I hope they aren’t feeling good right now because I felt like that was a game we had a chance to win. You have to make plays down the stretch. Make baskets and make plays, whether it’s a rebound or a steal or something. They made them and we didn’t.”
Tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
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