Annual basketball fan-event “Mean Green Madness” showcases both teams
Torie Mosley | Staff Writer
This Thursday the North Texas men’s and women’s basketball teams displayed their talent in front of an excited home crowd to usher in the 2015 season at the annual Mean Green Madness event.
Newly acquired women’s basketball coach and Mean Green alum Jalie Mitchell embraced her new team and fan base by running out of the Super Pit tunnel behind the women’s squad and doing the “Wobble” dance with junior guards Stabresa McDaniel and Candice Adams to set the tone of the festive night.
“That’s what tonight is all about, just having fun and showcasing our talent,” Mitchell said. “I’m not really a talented dancer, but I thought I did enough to get by.”
The DJ of the event kept the crowd pumped prior to the event with Drake, Future and Fetty Wap blasting with the Mean Green faithful singing and dancing along. The Phi Mu Alpha chorus SingCerity began the festivities by serenading the Super Pit with the National Anthem. The Mean Green drumline picked up the tempo next with a commanding performance to get the crowd riled up for the night to come.
The loudest cheers for the women’s team introduction came when Mitchell ran out towards her new roster. She thanked fans for coming out to support the basketball programs and encouraged all in attendance to return to the Super Pit to support the Mean Green throughout the upcoming season.
“It feels amazing to have the turnout even in the rain,” Mitchell said. “It means a lot to the girls to have this support.”
The women’s squad scrimmaged for 15 minutes with the Green team beating the White team 38-35 in overtime in a friendly exhibition match.
“It feels great to finally be out [on the court],” senior forward Acheil Tac said. “We’ve been working really hard. We’re all ready for the season to start.”
The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity performed a step show following the scrimmage. Team Definition kept the dancing festivities going with an African-based dance routine by a few dozen male and female dancers taking turns performing to a variety of genres of music.
Next came the men’s basketball team.
Each player ran out of the smoking tunnel dancing to Future’s “March Madness,” the team’s theme song, with head coach Tony Benford thanking the crowd for supporting North Texas basketball.
“There wasn’t much defense tonight [and] I don’t think we’ll see that many dunks all year that we had tonight,” Benford joked. “But tonight was great for the young guys to get in front of a crowd and show what they can do.”
Redshirt junior guard Deandre Harris made three consecutive three-pointers for the Green team as one of North Texas’ bright spots on offense. The closely contested match ended with a two-point victory for the Green team, 48-46.
“It felt great,” sophomore forward Jeremy Combs said. “The team has been working hard to get ready for this season, and we’re doing our best to get better every day.”
After the men’s scrimmage, both teams and dance crews joined each other at center court to teach the crowd how to do the “Swag Surf” dance. The whole Super Pit was swaying back and forth in unison.
Then both the men’s and women’s teams showcased their skills with a three-point contest. Senior guard Kasiney Williams from the women’s team and freshman guard DJ Draper from the men’s team won the mixed-gender shooting competition for the Mean Green.
The night concluded with the main event dunk contest. Harris and reigning dunk champion Combs shined in the contest and had two sudden-death playoffs to decide the winner.
Combs connected on a 360, one-handed dunk to take the crown and repeat as the dunk contest champion.
“It was nice, but I knew I was going to win,” Combs said. “I’m just ready to get back out there when the season starts.”
The women’s squad plays its first game at home against Texas Women’s University on Saturday, Nov. 7th, and the men open their season on Friday, Nov. 13th at the Super Pit against Jarvis Christian University.
The dance team, Definition, takes the floor at the Mean Green Madness event on Oct. 22, 2015. Dylan Nadwodny | Staff Photographer
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