LSU 67 @ North Texas 58 FINAL Geaux Tigers!

LSU Hoops (8-3) at North Texas (6-5) 7PM TV:NONE Radio:100.7

LSU heads to North Texas to play a game vs the Mean Green. They are led by 2 true freshman Chris Jones and Tony Mitchell who went to the Mean Green supporting a 5 star rating by recruiting sites. So far, he has been everything UNT had hoped. He leads the team in scoring (15.3) and assists (3.6). His main downfall has been his high turnover rate of 3.8 per game.

They have yet to beat a major competitor but have played teams such as Texas Tech close. Like LSU they are playing their best basketball at the present and are on a 4 game winning streak and are 4-0 at home. Most UNT fans are very excited about this team that lost a ton of players from last year when they beat the Tigers75-55. UNT is a team that has struggled extremely from behind the arc but they rarely shoot from out there anyway.

On defense they play a man to man and like to force turnovers. They have been very good at it also. They are much smaller than the Tigers down low (who isn’t) but not as much as some other teams we have played. They play a ton of freshman (4 play at least 30% of their minutes) and they have been major contributors so look for a team that will be inconsistent.

Top players (by minutes):

Chris Jones (PG 6’2” 195 Fresh) 15.3PPG, 4.2RPB, 3.6APG, 2.3SPG, 85%ft, 31%3pt

Alzee Williams (G 6’4” 170 Soph) 7.5PPG, 2.4RPG, 92%ft, 31$3pt

Roger Franklin (G 6’5” 215 Jr) 7.3PPG, 4.4RPG, 41%fg, 67%ft

Tony Mitchell (F 6'8" 220 Fresh) 12PPG, 9RPG, 1.5BPG, 59%fg

Jordan Williams (F 6’6” 190 Fresh) 11.1PPG, 5RPG, 73%ft

Kendrick Hogans (F 6’7” 222 Senior) 5.5PPG, 4.6RPG, 44%fg, 48%ft

They have 8 players averaging more than 5 points per game and as a team they average 39 rebounds per game. They are inconsistent but they have the players to be good in the future. I see the Tigers playing down to their competition a little this game and letting UNT keep it close.

Tony Mitchell plays some solid ball down low and the team has been much better since he has began playing (only 2 games thus far). Getting him into foul trouble needs to be priority #1.

Overall LSU needs to get the ball down low and look to draw some fouls. They were good at this in the Marquette game, but struggled to hit free throws. I don’t see that being a problem this game.

Prediction: LSU 74 UNT 62