North Texas Outlasts Southern Miss to Begin Homestand

Friday, February 12

Reed Green Coliseum

7 p.m.

Southern Miss

-713,310 CUSA

North Texas

-116,72 CUSA

North Texas

Southern Miss.

North Texas Outlasts Southern Miss to Begin Homestand

2/12/2021 10:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- North Texas overcame a first-half defensive struggle to shoot 56.5 percent in the second, and the Mean Green defeated Southern Miss 65-49 on Friday night.

The two teams will meet again Saturday at 4 p.m.

"North Texas has a good basketball team, and I was proud of our team for their fight despite two slow halves," head coach Jay Ladner said. "We had some momentum and had played well, but it's very difficult to overcome those things. This is one of those situations where I'm glad we are playing tomorrow. We're a competitive group and anxious to get back at it."

Southern Miss' defense prevented the game from getting out of reach early. North Texas built a 16-6 lead at the 13-minute mark but went scoreless for the next 6:22. The Golden Eagles, however, were only able to get seven of their own in that time.

LaDavius Draine's three-pointer in the waning seconds of the half pulled Southern Miss to within 28-22, but the Mean Green opened the second half on an 11-1 run that later become its largest lead of the night, 42-23, at 14:57. Southern Miss got within 12 at 7:48 and 6:32, but that was all it could get from there.

Javion Hamlet, C-USA's reigning Player of the Year, led all scorers with 16 points.

NOTABLE
-The Golden Eagles collected 10 steals on the heels of a season-high 11 last Saturday at Rice.
-Justin Johnson matched a team-high with nine points off the bench. Over his last four games, he is averaging 9.5 ppg on 16-for-26 shooting (61.5 percent).
-Heading into that stretch, he was averaging 3.0 points over 13.3 mpg.