Frisco, Texas — If you made the drive from Denton up 35S to Frisco, the Mean Green made it worth your while. North Texas women faced off against Southern Miss in the first round of the of the Conference USA tournament at the Star ⭐️ and defeated the Lady Eagles 49-46. They’ll have a date with the #1 seed Rice and #CUSA player of the year Erica Ogwumike Thursday morning. The Mean Green men had to wait until 8:30pm to earn their first trip to the second round in 4 years and snap their 7 game losing streak. The defending CBI champs UNT defeated FIU 71-57. Mean Joe Greene was in attendance and the atmosphere felt like the Mean Green were playing at the Super Pit. The first half provided plenty of fireworks including a buzzer beating three from the opposite free throw line by Ryan Woolridge to give UNT a 17 point lead at the break 39-22. The Mean Green overcame 19 turnovers by converting on second chance points, almost doubling up FIU in the rebounding column and hitting 11 triples. They led wire to wire and held the Panthers to 26 points below their season average and 35% shooting. Zach Simmons tallied 19 points and 16 boards to go with 3 blocks and Umoja Gibson was on fire from deep connecting on 7-15 for a game high 21 points. FIU guard Brian Beard had 13 points and 5 assists to lead the Panthers and big man Osasumwen Osagahe had 10 points and 6 blocks. The Mean Green were thankful to play the Panthers outside of Miami and avenged two earlier losses. FIU finishes the season 19-13 and North Texas improves to 21-11 and they’ll face 2 seed WKU tomorrow evening.