The North Texas Mean Green men's basketball team represents the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

(UNT) in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

, competing as a member of

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

. For most of its history, the Mean Green have had patches of success, starting in the 1970s when the team received its first ever top-20 ranking under head coach

Bill Blakeley Billy Buie Blakeley (June 13, 1934 – October 27, 2010) was an American basketball coach. He coached at the high school, college, and professional levels. Coaching career High school (1957–1966) Blakeley served as the head basketball coach ...

as well as success in the late 1980s and early 1990s under head coach Jimmy Gales and then again in the mid to late 2000s under head coach Johnny Jones. Blakeley coached three consecutive 20-win seasons: 1975–76 (22-4); 1976–77 (21-6); 1977–78 (22-6). North Texas has appeared in the NCAA tournament on four occasions:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, recording their first-ever tournament win in 2021. The Mean Green went on an especially strong run in the 2006–2010 era, with two tournament appearances, two conference championships, and posting more wins over this time period than any other Division I team in the state of Texas. The 2011–12 and 2012–13 teams featured the only 5-star recruit to play for North Texas in Tony Mitchell. In one season, he became the program's all-time leader in blocks. Despite Mitchell being highly touted, his performance in his second year suffered and he ended up struggling under new head coach

Tony Benford Tony L. Benford (born March 22, 1964) is an American basketball coach who is an assistant coach of the TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball team. Biography A native of Hobbs, New Mexico — and 1982 graduate of Hobbs High School — Benford played ...

eventually falling to the 2nd round of the NBA draft. On April 16, 2012, longtime head coach Johnny Jones was formally introduced as the next head coach of his alma mater

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. His replacement,

, was not able to capitalize on the program's momentum, resulting in a disappointing final year in the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

and then more struggles in the Mean Green's new conference

. Prior to 1973, the Mean Green played in the

Ken Bahnsen Gym Ken Bahnsen Gym, formerly known as the Men's Gymnasium, is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, United States. The Men's Gymnasium was home court for the North Texas Mean Green men's ba ...

, nicknamed the Snake Pit. They now play in

The Super Pit The UNT Coliseum is a 9,797-seat multi-purpose arena located in Denton, Texas, United States, built in 1973. While the arena's formal name is the UNT Coliseum, the building is more commonly referred to as the Super Pit, a nickname derived from ...

which derives its name from the Snake Pit.

Championships

Conference tournament

;

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

: *1988 ;Sun Belt Conference: *2007, 2010 ;

: *2021

Conference regular season

;Sun Belt Conference: *2009-10 ;Conference USA: *2019-20

Conference division

;Sun Belt Conference (West Division): *2009-10 ;Conference USA (West Division): *2021-22

CBI Tournament

*2017-18

Rivals

The Mean Green's major rivals within Conference USA include the

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders are the men's and women's athletic teams at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. MT athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I ( Bowl Subdivision in football) in Conference USA. MT ...

and the

UTSA Roadrunners The UTSA Roadrunners is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The UTSA Roadrunners are also commonly referred to as "UTSA", "Roadrunners", "Runners", “The Meep Meeps”, or simply “The Bi ...

. Non-conference notable rivals include the

University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks The UT Arlington Mavericks (abbreviated UT Arlington, UTA, and Mavs) are the athletic teams that represent the University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The Mavericks currently compete in the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Confer ...

(games between the schools are well-attended due to geographic proximity and both schools being large universities) and the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

Coaches

Postseason results

NCAA tournament results

The Mean Green have appeared in the NCAA tournament four times. Their combined record is 1–4.

NIT results

The Mean Green have appeared in one

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

(NIT). Their combined record is 1-1.

CBI results

The Mean Green have appeared in the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...

(CBI) once, winning it in 2018. Their record is 5–1.

NAIA Tournament results

The Mean Green have appeared in the NAIA Tournament two times. Their record is 3–2.

Broadcasts

North Texas games are broadcast on the radio by the Mean Green Sports Network, part of

Learfield IMG College LEARFIELD, formerly Learfield IMG College, is a large collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and ...

on 88.1 KNTU and 95.3 KHYI. Former Texas Rangers and

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

announcer

Dave Barnett David Lane Barnett (born April 27, 1958) is a play-by-play broadcaster who calls Big 12 baseball games on Fox Sports 1, college basketball on American Sports Network, and football and men's basketball for the University of North Texas (UNT). He h ...

does play by play, along with Hank Dickenson on color commentary. Television broadcasts are carried by

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications ...

, and C-USA TV.

Professional players

* Jeremy Combs (born 1995), basketball player for Israeli team Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim * Chris Jones (born 1993), basketball player for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:North Texas Mean Green Men's Basketball