North Texas Daily

North Texas men’s basketball went to Charlotte looking for its first road win of the season, while the University of North Carolina – Charlotte looked to snap a three-game losing streak.

But 21 turnovers cost the Mean Green (6-7, 0-1) a chance to open Conference USA play — and end 2016 — with a win, as the Niners (6-6, 1-0) downed North Texas 101-76 in a near end-to-end blowout.

“They took advantage of turnovers,” head coach Tony Benford said.

The loss drops the Mean Green to 0-4 this season away from Denton. Senior guard J-Mychal Reese led the way for North Texas with 16 points, with freshman Ryan Woolridge followed closely with 15 points of his own. Woolridge was averaging 4.7 points per game in his three games at North Texas coming into Saturday’s contest.

Ultimately, however, Woolridge knows the Mean Green must eliminate turnovers if they are to have success moving forward.

“It has to change,” Woolridge said. “They got way too many points off of turnovers. Once we cut those down we can hang around in these games.”

After North Texas jumped out to a quick four-point lead to begin the game, Charlotte stepped on the gas. The Niners lit it up from deep, shooting 9-of-11 from beyond the arc led by sophomore Andrien White, who finished with 20 points, three rounds and three steals.

The Mean Green also attempted 11 shots from deep in the first half, but in a stark contrast, made just one. Charlotte finished the first half with lengthy 20-9 run to enter the locker room at halftime up 52-30.

“We took some quick shots,” Benford said. “We have to stop taking bad shots.”

The second half opened with a hard foul on Woolridge as he was shooting that sophomore center Rickey Brice Jr. took offense to. After a staredown with a Niners player, Frazier stepped in and said something, and the referees hit him with a technical foul. The McDonald’s All-American shot just 1-of-11 from the floor, highlighting the difficult shooting day for North Texas.

The Mean Green will get a chance to even up it’s 0-1 conference record at 4 p.m. Monday when it faces Old Dominion University. 

“It’s big,” Reese said of the upcoming game against Old Dominion. “We want to win every game we play. We never want to follow a loss with another loss. It has nothing to do with the road. We dug ourselves a hole.”

Featured image: North Texas senior guard Keith Frazier stands while waiting for teammate Ryan Woolridge to take a free throw. Colin Mitchell