North Texas Daily

Torie Mosley | Staff Writer

@toriemosley

The Mean Green men’s basketball team is now averaging 111 points a game after a 49-point blowout against the Texas College Steers Monday night.

The lopsided victory makes puts North Texas (2-0) in the school history books as the first team since 1979 to score 100 points in back-to-back games. Tonight’s 110 points also makes North Texas the fifth-highest scoring team in the nation.

The Mean Green’s stiff defense opened up opportunities for the offense to shine. The squad had six blocks and forced 10 steals as it ran away with the lead all game long.

“We did a good job of getting in the gaps, contesting shooters and making them make shots all over,” head coach Tony Benford said. “[The team] was able to get out and get defensive stops and get out in transition and push it.”

Five North Texas players scored in double digits, including junior guard Deandre Harris and sophomore forward Jeremy Combs who led with a game high 18 points each. Combs added six rebounds and Harris connected on half of the eight Mean Green three-pointers, going 4-for-4 and coming two points shy of his career high.

The ability to score from deep often made the North Texas offense even harder to stop.

“It balances out our offense because all of our guards can go to the hole,” Harris said. “And with a point guard like [J-Mychal Reese] with a vision like that, it creates open opportunities for me to score.”

Freshman center Rickey Brice Jr. made a big impact in the front court for the Mean Green. Brice had half of the team’s six blocks and five boards to dominate the paint for the 18 minutes he played in the contest.

The 7-foot center has made an immediate impact for North Texas, which Benford said does not surprise him.

“Rickey’s not a project. Rickey’s a good player,” Benford said. “If we’re going to have success, we’re going to need Rickey to keep improving because he [has] a physical presence inside.”

Notre Dame transfer forward Eric Katenda scored 15 points in just 18 minutes for the Mean Green in debut. He earned his stripes on defense as well with a steal and seven boards.

Combs led North Texas in scoring for the second straight game with 8-of-12 shooting, including four dunks. The sophomore felt impressed to see four of his teammates finish in double digit scoring with him.

“I feel like we’ve been improving since the summer,” Combs said. “We have to keep working hard to get better every day.”

Coach Benford said he’s excited to see the offense gelling and the defense playing hard after the 82-54 loss against Rice University in the Conference USA tournament to end last season.

“That loss is behind us,” Benford said. “We have a different team, a different group. We’re well balanced and I think we have a good chance to have a good basketball team.”

Featured Image: North Texas freshman guard Ja’Michael Brown (3) hits a three point jumper against Jarvis Christian. Colin Mitchell | Intern Photographer