North Texas News

Coming off a strong defensive effort to earn their first C-USA road win of the season over UTSA Thursday night, UNT goes for back-to-back wins Saturday afternoon as they travel to El Paso, Texas to take on UTEP.
 
It will be the 20th all-time meeting between UNT and UTEP in a series that dates back to the 1980-81 season. The Miners lead the all-time series 11-8 and the two teams have split the season series every year since the 2018-19 season.
 
UTEP comes into the contest at 13-5 overall and 6-3 in C-USA play. The Miners are currently in third place in the C-USA standings and hold a strong 7-1 record when playing at home this season. 

Quick Hitters

• Senior Quincy Noble leads UNT offensively with 17.0 points per game this season, a figure that is second Conference USA. Noble has scored in double figures 17 times this season for North Texas and ranks ninth in program history with 1,129 points in her collegiate career.
• Sophomores Kendall McGruder and Aniyah Johnson have been on a tear since the start of C-USA play. Both are averaging double figures in conference-only games with McGruder scoring 13.1 points per game and Johnson averaging 11.3 points per contest.
• UNT has two of the top eight players in C-USA in blocked shots this season in Tommisha Lampkin and Aniyah Johnson. Lampkin sits fifth in the league with 1.3 blocks per game while Johnson is eighth at 1.1 BPG.
• In total, the Mean Green rank third in the conference with 3.5 blocks per game as a team.
• Freshman Ereauna Hardaway ranks fourth in C-USA with a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio on the year. She also leads the Mean Green with 3.4 APG.
• UNT has been one of the top teams in C-USA in distributing the basketball this season. The Mean Green lead the league with 14.1 assist per game in conference-only games this season.
• In C-USA matchups, UNT has two of the top seven assist leaders in the league as McGruder and Hardaway are in sixth and seventh, respectively, in the conference in assists per game
• After starting the 2023 calendar year with a 27-point, 10-rebound game against WKU, Johnson has been a force for the Mean Green. Since the start of 2023, Johnson is averaging 12.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
• Johnson has scored in double figures five times in her collegiate career. All five have come since the calendar turned in January.
• Through the first eight C-USA games this season, sophomores McGruder and Johnson have turned their game to a new level. In conference-only games this season, both McGruder and Johnson are averaging in double-figures with McGruder scoring 13.1 points per game and Johnson averaging 11.3 points per contest.
• McGruder ranks 11th in scoring and sixth in assists per game in C-USA only contests.
• Johnson is now averaging 6.8 rebounds per game in C-USA contests. That figure is the fourth-most in conference-only games this season.
• Through 16 games this season, the rebound battle has been an indicator of success for UNT. The Mean Green are 3-10 this season when losing the team rebounding battle and are 4-2 when outrebounding their opponents.

Series History

• UNT and UTEP have had a tightly contested series throughout the years, as the Miners hold a slight 11-8 edge all-time.
• Neither team has won more than three straight contests in the series and the two teams have split the season series every season dating back to 2018-19.
• Head coach Jalie Mitchell is 5-6 all-time against UTEP at UNT and holds a 2-4 record against the Miners in El Paso.

Matchup with the Miners

• UTEP heads into the contest in third place in C-USA at 13-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play.
• The Miners are 7-1 inside the Don Haskins Center this season and hold a 38-13 combined record in El Paso over the last four seasons.
• Jazion Jackson and N'Yah Boyd are the leading scorers for the Miners. Both players transferred from UNT last season and are averaging 12.3 and 11.9 points per game, respectively.
• UTEP is one of the top teams in the country at taking care of the basketball as the rank 23rd in Division I with a +5.11 turnover margin and 49th in the country with just 13.9 turnovers per game.

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