Sun Belt Sports Fans

North Texas 83, Arkansas State 64

The Sun Belt East is becoming more clear-cut with each passing week of basketball competition.

The Sun Belt West appears to be tightening up, as the one team with a strong overall record is making a concerted push for the top spot in one half of this far-flung conference.

They play basketball under the Sun Belt banner in places as far removed as Denver, Fort Lauderdale, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Another town in the Sun Belt family is Denton, Texas, and it’s here that the defending conference tournament champions are trying to assert their superiority once again. After a highly successful Saturday, the North Texas basketball team is that much closer to standing on top of the Belt once again.

Dominique Johnson had 21 points, tying a career-high, and North Texas rolled to its seventeenth straight home win at the Super Pit. The Mean Green found themselves up 46-24 at halftime on the reeling Red Wolves, who have now lost two straight games to the top teams in the West Division of the Sun Belt in embarrassing fashion. They fell to Denver (now 6-1 in the Sun Belt after a loss on Saturday) on Thursday and then fell again on Saturday to end their two-game road trip.

Johnson himself shot 7-of-8 from the field and 5-of-5 from three-point range, carrying a Mean Green offense that shot 55 percent from the field and 58 percent from long distance. Josh White added 19 points, Tristan Thompson had 16 and George Odufuwa had 14 points and 16 rebounds for coach Johnny Jones’s North Texas team. The Red Wolves struggled offensively again, getting just two double-digit scorers (led by Rashad Allison with 12) and shooting just 36 percent from the field and 10 percent from long-range.

North Texas, with the win and Denver’s loss to Middle Tennessee State, has moved within one game of Denver in the West, with both games against the Pioneers still left on the schedule, including one next Saturday. The Red Wolves, with two straight losses in the conference, have fallen from a second place tie into fourth place in the West and are struggling to find any offense at all. ASU coach John Brady has his work cut out for him as he tries to wake up his team. The Red Wolves have to gear up to face some of the weaker teams in the conference in the coming weeks. If a season is to be salvaged, time is running out in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Time seems to be accumulating, however, in the heart of Texas. The Mean Green are breathing fire, and Denver is now feeling the heat in the Sun Belt West.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer