Frisco, Texas – North Texas was coming off their first Conference USA win in 4 years after defeating FIU 71-57 Wednesday evening. The Mean Green would have their hands full against the second seed Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. UNT could not get any rhythm offensively and the shots that were falling against the Panthers Wednesday night were much harder to come by against the stingy WKU defense. The Hilltoppers held the Mean Green to 30% shooting including 5-27 from beyond the arc.
The sophomore forward Zachary Simmons was coming off a dominant 19 point and 16 rebound performance but struggled to get the easy points against the more physical frontcourt duo of WKU. Simmons finished with 8 points and 13 rebounds. Umoja Gibson, who was the hot hand against the Panthers, leading all scorers with 21, went ice cold from three and got in foul trouble early. Gibson finished just 2-8 shooting and 7 points. The Mean Green shot just 18% from the three point line. The lone bright spot for UNT was junior guard Ryan Woolridge who led UNT with 13 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds despite playing through some knee pain late in the contest.
The Hilltoppers were led by Taveion Hollingsworth with 23 points on 9-15 shooting. Freshman center Charles Bassey had a near double double with 9 points and 8 rebounds and was a nuisance down low for UNT as he tallied 4 blocked shots. Western Kentucky looks to advance to the Conference USA final, but they’ll have to get past Cortez Edwards and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Southern Miss knocked off the defending champs and Conference USA all-time leading scorer Jon Elmore and the Marshall Thundering Herd late Thursday evening, 82-73. The 21 wins for North Texas this season were one more than last season’s CBI championship campaign. The Mean Green finished the year 21-12.