North Texas Daily

The North Texas men’s basketball team (20-7, 8-6 Conference USA) fell to Florida International (16-11, 7-7 C-USA) in their final regular-season game by a score of 59-69.

The Mean Green ended their season on a three-game losing streak to conference opponents. This win puts the Golden Panthers at .500 in conference play to end the season. Currently, Florida International holds the No . 8 seed in C-USA with North Texas sitting at the No. 5 seed in C-USA after their third consecutive conference loss.

Florida International led North Texas at the end of the half by a score of 34-45 after the Golden Panthers shot 61 percent from the field (14-of-23) and 56 percent from the three-point line (10-of-18). North Texas finished the first half of the game shooting 50 percent from the field (13-of-26) and 36.4 percent from beyond the arc (4-of-11).

Florida International outrebounded North Texas 8-13 to end the half. Senior guard Michael Miller did not register a field goal in his last regular season game (0-of-6) but managed to get three points from the free throw lines. Miller lead the team in offensive rebounds (3), total rebounds (7) and turnovers (4).

 Junior guard DJ Draper made his second career start in place of junior guard Ryan Woolridge, who was out with an injury. Despite averaging 3.5 points per game Draper dropped a team high 19 points as well as led the team in three-point attempts (9). Draper’s 19 points are tied for his season high when he scored 19 points against Angelo State earlier this season. Draper has only scored in the double digits three times all year.

Florida International freshman guard Antonio Daye Jr. was 0-of-7 the last four games from behind the arc coming into the game and averaged 8.2 points. The freshman guard scored  20 points, 15 came from behind the arc (5-on-8). He ended the game shooting 63 percent the 3-point line.

Junior  guard Roosevelt Smart was second behind Draper with 15 points, but struggled to hit perimeter shots after shooting 2-of-7 from three. In the last three game stretch, Smart has attempted 21 shots from beyond the arc and made four.

Alabama-Birmingham (17-11, 9-6 C-USA)  would need to lose in order for North Texas to retain their No. 5 seed spot in the C-USA tournament. The Blazers are the sixth seed and a half game behind North Texas. They’ll be facing off against Western Kentucky (16-11, 9-5 C-USA) today who is 1.5 games back from the top seed held by Old Dominion.

Featured Image: Mean Green senior forward Michael Miller leads the fast break through several Hilltopper defenders at the game against Western Kentucky on Feb. 9, 2019. Image by: Trevon McWilliams.