From the Hardwood - North Texas
GAME BASICS
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ULM begins a two-game road trip at North Texas on Saturday at 7 p.m. inside The
Super Pit. ULM is coming off a 77-72 loss at home against South Alabama while
North Texas dispatched Troy 76-59 on Thursday. The game can be heard locally on
KLIP 105.3 FM in Monroe or online at ulmwarhawks.com, with Nick White
calling the action.
LAST GAME: SOUTH ALABAMA RECAP
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ULM rallied from large deficits in both halves, but it wasn't enough as South
Alabama held on for a 77-72 victory on Thursday inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
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The Warhawks shot 51.6 percent in the second half and scored a season-high 44
points after halftime to cut a 16-point deficit to as little as four (76-72) in
the final minute. ULM also trailed by as many as 17 in the first half and
trailed 36-28 at halftime.
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ULM's 72 points and 17 assists were season highs. The Warhawks also forced a
season-high 25 turnovers and held a 33-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
•
The Jaguars shot 59.1 percent (26-of-44) from the field for the game and
out-rebounded the Warhawks 39-15 (a season-low for ULM). The difference in the
game came at the free-throw line, where South Alabama held a 20-8 advantage.
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Junior guard Amos Olatayo came off the bench to score a
team-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Olatayo also connected on a pair of
high-flying dunks and saw his most significant action since returning from an
injury.
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Junior forward Millaun Brown registered a career-high 13 points
and junior guard R.J. McCray chipped in 10 points and five
assists for the Warhawks. Junior forward Jayon James added seven
points, six assists and a career-high five steals, but had his streak of
double-digit rebound games snapped at five.
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ULM's leading scorer, sophomore Trent Mackey, managed just six
points on 2-of-12 shooting on the night. Mackey entered the game averaging 19.3
points over ULM's previous three games.
ULM TRENDS
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ULM is averaging 68.7 points and shooting 46.3 percent (82-of-177) from the
field and 40.3 percent (25-of-62) from 3-point range over its last three games.
In comparison, the Warhawks averaged just 52.9 points and shot 36.7 percent
(133-of-362) from the field and 31.0 percent (36-of-116) from 3 through their
first seven games of the season.
ULM Head Coach Keith Richard has gone with the same starting lineup
(McCray, Hansberry, Mackey, James and Brown) in five straight games after
utilizing five different lineups in the first six games. Junior forwards
Jayon James and Millaun Brown are the only two Warhawks to start in
all 10 games this season.
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The ULM bench has now outscored its opponent in three straight games after being
outscored in six of its first seven games this season. ULM is +20 in bench
scoring over its past three games.
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Junior Amos Olatayo leads the Warhawks in scoring with 12.2 points per
game, including a pair of 20-plus scoring games this season. Olatayo is shooting
43.5 percent (27-fo-62) from the field, 33.3 percent (8-of-24) from 3-point
range and 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from the free-throw line in just six games
this season.
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Sophomore Trent Mackey ranks second on the team in scoring (11.9 ppg) and
is third in the Sun Belt in 3-point percentage (.433) and third in 3-point makes
per game (2.9). Despite just six points Thursday against South Alabama, Mackey
is averaging a team-best 16.0 points while making 18 of 41 3-point attempts over
ULM's past four games.
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Junior Jayon James has continued to fill up the stat page this season as
he averages 10.4 points per game while ranking fifth in the Sun Belt in rebounds
per game (7.7), third in assists per game (4.6) and tied for eighth in steals
per game (1.6). He is tied for fifth in the SBC with three double-doubles this
season. James finished just short of a triple-double against Southeastern
Louisiana (Dec. 10) with 10 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. He has led
the Warhawks in assists in eight of ten games this season.
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Freshman Kyle Koszuta has given ULM a nice spark off the bench
in its last three games. Koszuta recorded a career-high 15 points against UAB
(Dec. 20) and followed it up with career-highs in assists (6), steals (4) and
minutes (25) against Florida Atlantic (Dec. 29). Koszuta most recently finished
with seven points and four assists in 15 minutes against South Alabama (Jan. 3).
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ULM has had balanced scoring so far this season with six players averaging at
least 6.0 points per game. Olatayo leads the team with 12.2 points per game,
followed by Mackey (11.9), James (10.4), junior R.J. McCray (8.2), junior
Marcelis Hansberry (7.1) and Brown (6.0). Seven different ULM players
have scored in double figures at least once this season and three different
players have registered at least 20 points.
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The Warhawks do not have a regular starter back from last season and returned
just 28 percent of their scoring and 24 percent of their rebounding from a
season ago.
PREVIEWING NORTH TEXAS
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North Texas (6-9) picked up its first conference victory of the season with a
convincing 76-59 home victory against Troy on Thursday. Sophomore Tony
Mitchell netted a season-best 29 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to
lead the Mean Green to the easy victory. The Mean Green opened the conference
slate with losses to UL-Lafayette (80-76), Western Kentucky (70-64) and Middle
Tennessee (75-57).
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North Texas is averaging 68.0 points per game and shooting 40.2 percent from the
field, 25.0 percent (51-of-204) from 3-point range and 70.6 percent (231-of-327)
from the free-throw line this season. Mitchell leads the Mean Green in scoring
(14.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg) this season while shooting 46.9 percent
(75-of-160) from the field, 31.1 percent (14-of-45) from 3 and 71.3 percent
(57-of-80) from the charity stripe.
• Tony Benford
is in his first season as the North Texas head coach following four seasons as
the associate head coach under Buzz Williams at Marquette. Benford brings 20
years of Division I basketball coaching experience and has been part of 14
postseason teams. Benford has also spent time at Nebraska (2006-08), Arizona
State (1998-06) and New Mexico (1992-98) in his career.
ULM-NORTH TEXAS SERIES
ULM leads the all-time series 28-23, but North Texas has dominated lately with
wins in 10 of the past 11 meetings between the two schools. North Texas swept
the season series last season with a 68-55 victory in Monroe on Jan. 14 and an
86-51 victory in Denton on Feb. 16. ULM's lone victory over the past few seasons
came in an 82-75 triumph in Denton on Feb. 19, 2011.
LAST MEETING AGAINST NORTH TEXAS (Feb. 16, 2012)
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North Texas pushed out to an early lead and cruised to an 86-51 victory over ULM
inside The Super Pit.
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The Mean Green shot 47.8 percent from the field and were led by Tony
Mitchell's 18 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots. Alzee Williams
contributed 12 points, Tyler Hall had 11 points and Roger Franklin
chipped in 10 points for North Texas.
• Fred Brown
paced the Warhawks with 17 points and two assists, while Marcelis Hansberry
scored 10 points and pulled down a career-high nine rebounds off the bench.
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North Texas scored the first seven points of the game and never looked back,
leading by as many as 20 (35-15) in the first half. ULM made a run late in the
half to get within 41-28, but NT's Brandon Walton hit a 3-pointer to end
the half and give the Mean Green a 44-28 lead at the break.
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The Mean Green extended their lead with four straight points to open the second
half and the Warhawks never got closer than 16 the rest of the way. ULM scored
just two points in the final 8 minutes, 37 seconds of the game.
UP NEXT
The Warhawks wrap up a two-game road trip with a visit to Troy on Thursday (Jan.
10) for a 6 p.m. tipoff inside the brand new Troy Arena. The game will be
televised on the Sun Belt Network.