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It was now time to begin Sunbelt play. On December 18th the Mean Green traveled to Lafayette to meet the Ragin’ Cajuns. The squad jumped on ULL early 8-2, and then near the end of the half exploded to take a 23-10 lead. The Cajuns whittled that advantage down to a bucket early in the second stanza. Another huge run (16-2) effectively put the game away and we coasted to the 78-64 victory. Tristan Thompson put up 27 huge points leading the way, but Josh White and Eric Tramiel also got into double figures. After this game, spirits were truly buoyed. Near disaster was just around the corner.
NT continued the road swing down into New Orleans to take on the Privateers. Once more UNO gave us fits as Kyndall Dykes notched 25 points in the 71-66 defeat. Josh had 19 and Dominique Johnson put up a bakers dozen, but shooting woes did us in. The first half especially was brutal as NT barely made 30% of its field goal attempts. Meanwhile the Privateers shot over 50% for the game. The contest broke our four game win streak and took some of the luster off the ULL game for many.
The Mean Green returned back to the friendly confines of the SuperPit where our metroplex nemesis UT-Arlington was awaiting us. They have owned us in recent years and this time was no different. Despite shooting poorly once again, we had a four point lead at intermission. UTA shot a sizzling 56% from the field for the game and eventually widened out a close contest to 11 with four minutes remaining. We made a final push coming to within 78-75 with seven seconds left, but Dom missed a 3 and UTA hit free throws to pout the game out of reach for the 80-75 final score. Josh White spearheaded our free throw shooting which was a sparkling 12 of 13 for the game. Collin Dennis led the Mean Green with 21 as he carried us in the 2nd half, but it was not enough.
NT ended 2008 on New Years Eve with a tilt against Middle Tennessee. MTSU was the preseason favorite to win the league, and despite a rocky non conference performance, was starting to round into form. Once again we had trouble from the floor in the first half, but held a tenuous one point lead at intermission. Tristan Thompson and Collin Mangrum each had 19 points – most of which was in the second stanza. Late in the game MTSU held a two point advantage, but a key lay up by Tramiel sent the game into overtime. In the extra session MTSU converted two 3 point plays and we never recovered, eventually losing 89-80.
Another road trip commenced – this time to the state of Arkansas. First up were the Razorbacks who we played in Little Rock. An Alltel Arena crowd of 15,687 came out for the game and saw the Mean Green grab an early 16-13 advantage. Arkansas grabbed a lead soon after before NT exploded with 15-0 run which gave us a lead going into the half. The Razorbacks were led by Michael Washington’s 34 big ones, as he led a 2nd half effort that put us away 86-75. It was a good effort by the Mean Green as we dropped in 9 treys, but it wasn’t enough.
Our following game was also in Little Rock – this time against UALR. As is typical with recent battles with Little Rock – it was a nail biter. The 78-77 overtime loss was devastating in many ways. For the 5th game in a row we lost a contest we felt was winnable. This time NT jumped out to an early lead & led at halftime. UALR grabbed the advantage in the 2nd, but Eric Tramiel's 21 led NT as we never let the Trojans get away. Josh White hit a big three plus the harm to draw us within a point late in regulation. After Tramiel gave us the lead shortly thereafter AULR tied the game sanding to OT. In the extra session we jumped out to a six point lead but frittered it away. Then with the game tied at 78 and 1.9 seconds to go UALR’s Steven Moore drew a foul and hit one of two for the winning margin. This marked our 5th straight defeat and exasperation was setting in.
We returned home to Denton knowing that the season was on the brink of unraveling completely. The Arkansas State Red Wolves came calling, in what was arguably the most exciting game of our season. After a relatively standard first half, ASU led at 29-26 at intermission. ASU put a run on us early in the 2nd and suddenly we were down 11 with just under thirteen minutes remaining. NT responded with a 9-1 run capped by a Johnson trey. From there we eventually managed to grab the lead, and in a loose ball scrum Tristan Thompson hit a huge shot to give us a 58-55 lead with 1:22 to go. However the game was far from over, as ASU tied the game at 59 with fewer than 20 seconds to after Josh only went 1 of 2 at the stripe. In overtime both teams tried to knock each other out, but a late lay up by Josh moved the game into a 2nd OT. In Double overtime, Dominique drilled a couple of gigantic treys and seemed to give us an insurmountable lead – however free throw shooting (which was a problem for us all game as we barely shot over 50%) came back to bite us and the game moved into a 3rd overtime. Finally in the 3rd overtime Josh White put the game away for us at the stripe as we survived 86-86 in a game for the ages. It tied a 1984 contest with SW Louisiana as the longest game in SuperPit history.
Our next game in Denton might have been even more remarkable. Denver dominated the first half in every conceivable way, building a 21 point lead at one point. Down 17 at halftime to a school that hadn’t won a true road game in years was a stunner. In the second half and early 21-7 run by the Mean Green vaulted us back into the contest (and brought the SuperPit crowd to its feet), but Denver wouldn’t back down. They kept us at bay until just under 5 minutes when we took our first lead. Collin Dennis led the way with 14, but Dom’s 8 point burst in just over a minute late in the game put us over the top. Once we grabbed the lead we didn’t relinquish the lead and held on for a 69-62 win.
After the last two dramatic games, the following game against FAU proved to be remarkably “normal.” After feeling each out in the opening minutes, NT got a nine point margin led by Eric Tramiel’s 14 first half points (on his way to 19). FAU used a big run to tie the game at 47 with about ten minutes remaining, but NT then had a 10-0 run of its own that effectively put the game away. NT won comfortably 69-60. In addition to Tramiel, Dennis and Johnson also ended up in double figures on the night. In a well rounded effort, Tramiel pulled down 13 boards – in what would be the first of many double doubles in the weeks to come.
Up next was a trip to Miami to challenge the FIU Panthers. Our guards didn’t seem to make the trip at times as we struggled from the perimeter. However Odufuwa, Kedrick Hogans, and Tramiel heeded the call as they each had big games. Eric especially came up with huge with 22 points, 15 boards, and one authoritative dunk that changed the momentum of the game with about 12 minutes remaining. Before that FIU had gotten the better of it, but afterwards we controlled the game, eventually holding on for an 80-75 victory. It was a huge road victory and our 4th straight overall. The five game losing streak seemed behind us.
NT returned to Denton to take on Troy. Troy and NT had been the two hottest schools in the conference in recent weeks; so many teams watched our game with interest. The first half was a nip and tuck affair, which the Trojans led by 1 after twenty minutes. Once again we had trouble shooting from the perimeter and our guys on the inside had to do a lot of work. Odufuwa pulled down 18 boards and Eric Tramiel led the scoring with 19. We had a 67-63 lead after Adam McCoy led run (he went 5-10 from the behind the arc the rest of the team 2-16), but Troy wasn’t done and ended the game 14-2 charge. The final was 77-69 and hurt our momentum as the first half of league play ended.
Midway thru the Sunbelt slate we stood at 5-4(12-8 overall) and behind UALR. We still had designs on winning the West, but those were becoming dimmer by the day as UALR refused to lose. Our early strength had been our backcourt, but now the interior was carrying us. We sensed if both worked simultaneously we’d be tough to beat. The remainder of the season would bare that out. |
