DENTON, Texas – The North Texas men's basketball team (2-1) used an 18-0 1st-half run and UT Arlington (1-3) was never able to threaten the Mean Green in a 64-36 setback Thursday night inside The Super Pit.
 
Playing its second opponent in three days which won a game in the NCAA Tournament last season, UTA shot just 29 percent from the floor (12-42) and had its second-straight game of 20+ turnovers with 21.
 
True freshman Montez Young Jr. led the Mavs with six points, while David Azore and Brandyn Talbot both tallied five. Young Jr. also corralled a game-high eight rebounds, while Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu secured seven boards.
 
QUOTABLE
"We didn't play our best basketball and that's a credit to North Texas – they were the much better team tonight," said UTA head coach Greg Young. "We have to learn to play better on the road; we've had two road games so far this year and we haven't well in either.
 
"We didn't score early, got in a hole and we need to get better offensively," Young continued. "It's a long year, and the schedule doesn't get any easier for us. But we're going to keep coaching them, we're going to be positive and we're going to get this going right at some point."
 
BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• After allowing UNT to shoot 48 percent (13-27) from the floor in the 1st half, UTA held the Mean Green to just 22 percent (6-27) in the 2nd half en route to actually out-scoring them, 24-21.
• UNT only finished at 35 percent (19-54) from the field for the night, but the 21 UTA turnovers compared with 11 for the hosts resulted in a +17 edge in points off turnovers (26-9).
• Thomas Bell led a trio of UNT double-figure scorers with 19 points and also posted six rebounds. Tylor Perry tallied 12 points off the bench, and Abou Ousmane notched 11 points and seven rebounds.
• The 36 points for UTA are the 3rd-fewest in a single game in program history (31 at SMU on Dec. 16, 1989 and 35 versus Denver on Dec. 31, 2012).
• The 12 made field goals for the Mavs are tied for the fewest in program history with a dozen at the aforementioned SMU contest.

GAME FLOW
UNT jumped out to an 8-0 lead – aided by four UTA turnovers – in the opening minutes, opened up its first double-figure lead of the game at 13-3 at the 14-minute mark and following the 18-0 run held a 26-3 lead with seven minutes remaining which for all intents and purposes ended the game.
 
The Mean Green held a 43-12 halftime lead, with the 12 points for UTA matching the fewest it has ever scored in a 1st half in the 62+ year history of the program (12 at then-No. 1 Kentucky on Nov. 25, 2014).
 
THIS AND THAT

• UTA wore new black uniforms for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
• UNT was already the third opponent for UTA this season which played in the NCAA Tournament last year (Oklahoma State, Abilene Christian). The Mavs will play eight total non-conference games against 2021 March Madness participants – believed to be the most of any team in the nation.
• The Mean Green are the back-to-back defending Conference USA champions having won the regular-season title in 2020 at the tournament crown in 2021.
• UNT defeated Purdue in overtime of the NCAA Tournament for its first-ever March Madness win.

NEXT UP
UTA continues its challenging stretch when the Mavs head to California to face San Diego State on Saturday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. local Pacific (9 p.m. Central). SDSU is 1-1 on the season entering a contest with Arizona State at home Thursday night. The Aztecs have a 66-53 win over UC Riverside and a narrow 66-60 loss at BYU, which went to Eugene and destroyed #12 Oregon on Monday, 81-49, also so far this season.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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