 (1-0, 0-0) |
Date | November 16, 2011 |
 (1-0, 0-0) |
PROBABLE STARTERS
| Position | Player | Ht/Wt | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Ty Nurse | 6-1/180 | JR |
| SG | Toddrick Gotcher | 6-3/190 | FR |
| SF | Terran Petteway | 6-6/185 | FR |
| PF | Jordan Tolbert | 6-7/210 | FR |
| C | Robert Lewandowski | 6-10/256 | SR |
| Position | Player | Ht/Wt | Class |
| G | Chris Jones | 6-2/195 | FR |
| G | Jordan Williams | 6-6/195 | FR |
| F | Alonzo Edwards | 6-7/230 | SR |
| F | Jacob Holmen | 6-8/225 | JR |
| F | Kedrick Hogans | 6-7/235 | SR |
PREVIEW
WHAT TO EXPECT | North Texas actually have quite a bit of talent and after watching North Texas in Denton last year, this is an excellent program that has had post-season success in the past few years. Like Texas Tech, they've only played one game, and they have some freshmen playing well for them. In fact, I think that UNT's Jones and TTU's Gotcher were high school teammates. Anyway, the Mean Green played St. Gregory and it wasn't much of a game. They didn't shoot particularly well from the floor, but UNT is also starting two freshmen guards, which is going to have an effect on the product on the floor. UNT did rebound the heck out of the ball, especially on the offensive glass, which is a bit worrisome for a Texas Tech team that might not have SF Jaye Crockett and C Kader Tapsoba. Still, I don't know how much you can tell from a win against St. Gregory (which I don't know where it is) for UNT. Against Troy, the Texas Tech guards played really well, but I'm not sure that the guards will have the offensive explosion that they did against Troy. Nurse was never a scoring guard at JUCO and I'd still like to see Lew continue to work on his low-post game and see Texas Tech work inside-out.
More after the jump.
KEY MATCHUPS | I'm interested to see how the UNT freshmen guards can and will play against tougher competition. Jones and Williams both had excellent games in their first game out, Jones had 8 assists to go along with his 12 rebounds and 4 points. Williams led the team in scoring with 16 points, while Hogans was the only other player in double-digits. Like against Troy, Lewandowski does have a height advantage against UNT. I'm really anxious for him to start figuring out how to use his body to create shots that don't get blocked by 6'6" and 6'7" players. That happened a couple of times against Troy and Lew should figure out by now that he's got to do a better job of using his body to create shots that an opponent cannot block. If I remember correctly, UNT is a man-to-man team and so it's going to be imperative for the post players to work inside-out and the guards will need to beat their defender off the dribble and the team needs to figure out a way to get to the line.
FOUR FACTORS |
Fancy basketball glossary found here.