North Texas opened the Sunbelt Tournament with a home contest against the Florida Atlantic Owls. As the 4 seed we drew the 13 – and therefore it was supposed to be an easy match up. Early on FAU stuck within striking distance, but two surges – both led in part by massive dunks (one by Odufuwa the other McCoy) gave the Mean Green a comfortable 11 point lead at intermission. Mike Jarvis got his team rejuvenated at the break and the Owls slowly whittled the deficit down. Late in the game FAU pulled within a bucket, but a huge board by Eric Tramiel led to some game icing free throws by Dominique Johnson and we prevailed 79-73. The game was won in no small measure by our shooting from the charity stripe as we connected on 29-35 for the evening. Josh White was also huge with 23 (and Tramiel added 21 himself). We traveled to Hot Springs with a lot of confidence.

Waiting for us in Arkansas was Middle Tennessee. After having split the two games in conference action, no one really knew what to expect for the rubber match. North Texas jumped on the Blue Raiders early 7-2 and never trailed. Throughout the first half NT methodically built its lead. We were extremely aggressive, which paid off in numerous free throw attempts. Once again our excellent shooting from the line helped tremendously (we hit our first 20). Josh once more came up large, with 27. Tristan Thompson was our second threat in this game as he dropped in 19. NT led by double digits throughout most of the stanza, until a late charge by MTSU cut the lead to 6 with under a minute to go. But NT closed out the 88-79 victory at the stripe. This game marked our 20^th victory of the season, only the seventh time in school history that we achieved that plateau. It also set up a semifinal with league heavyweight Western Kentucky in what looked to be a classic.

In our first match up with the Hilltoppers, we led through most of the contest before WKU nipped us at the tail end. So we went in with a lot of confidence that we could beat Western. Things got started poorly as the Toppers got out to a 9-2 lead. However we quickly responded with an 11-4 run of our own, tying the game at 13. From there the two teams stayed close, until a 13-0 run by the Mean Green pushed us out to an 8 point advantage. Not only was our long range shooting working, but Harold Stewart was keying our defense AND offense in the paint as an injury hampered Tramiel played few minutes. By intermission WKU had clawed back to three. The battle was joined once more. The second stanza stayed close throughout. The Toppers eventually built a 5 point lead (perhaps helped by Collin Dennis, our best lockdown defender being injured early in the half) with around six minutes left but the Mean Green forced two straight turnovers and tied the game at 58. Then, as pulses quickened on both benches, AJ Slaughter once again made the difference. On consecutive trips down the floor he nailed treys pushing WKU’s lead to 6. The lead grew, but Adam McCoy lit up the scoreboard in the final few minutes as we put a late scare in the Toppers. But their free throws iced their 77-70 victory.

One could argue that in some ways this might have been the best team Coach Jones has had. We didn’t win the conference race, but we had more wins in league play than any of his previous ones. They also found a way to win the majority of their league road games. We also had six players that scored 20 or more in at least one game. Historically NT passed the 1000th victory in program history.

We lost four key seniors to the squad. Justin Howerton while never a full time contributor had several memorable games in his career – including against WKU in the 2007 Sunbelt tournament. Collin Dennis had a tremendous Junior campaign and though he had major ups and downs in his Senior season still had some great games. He was also our best defender on the perimeter, proving instrumental in our last defensive stand against NMSU early in the year. Adam McCoy was perhaps one of the most explosive players who has ever suited up for the Mean Green. We only saw glimpses of his potential until late this year, where he looked all-world. Nonetheless some of his late season heroics will be talked about for years to come. Finally Harold Stewart – always a favorite of mine. He was the ultimate glue guy, rarely putting up scoring numbers. But if you needed someone to go after that loose ball, hack an opposing player, or take the key charge, he was your man. He DID have some truly fantastic offensive performances, especially in the 2007 Sunbelt Tournament where he keyed 2 of our victories (especially the epic overtime game against ULM). Stewart and Howerton also went down as the all-time winningest players in program history.

As we look ahead to the ’09-’10 season expectations are high. This appears like it could be a truly historic year for NT basketball provided we have few injuries. Our squad is stacked with junior and senior contributors. The season opener against Cameron can’t come soon enough for this fan.