We hosted FIU to kick off the second half of the Sunbelt slate. The guys got off to a solid start and we led by double figures at intermission. The Panthers started the second half on a 21-11 run and tied the contest at 43. From there on, it was a classic back and forth affair - as neither squad could get more than a 3 point advantage until the final buzzer. Josh White had 16, including some monster free throws to keep our advantage. Keith Wooden didn’t have a big game, but hit a timely lay up with under a minute to go that sustained us. Then Tristan Thompson gave us the winning margin 60-57. This was Johnny Jones's 100^th victory as the Mean Green head coach.

Next the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers visited the SuperPit. Courtney Lee and company took it to us right from the opening tip. We were down double figures before we knew what hit us. WKU shot terrific from the field, but aggressive play from us was getting us to the charity stripe, and we stayed within striking distance. For most of the affair we trailed from 7-12 points, we just needed that one run to make the Toppers sweat. We finally crawled to within five at one point, and it seemed like this was our shot. Instead, WKU is the team that went on a big run – eventually pushing the lead to 15. NT eventually lost 94-84. In all reality, we played quite well. The Mean Green had four players score in double figures (Josh led the way with 22) and the pace was very much to our liking. It was just a terrific effort by the Hilltoppers. Courtney Lee led all scorers with 31. Despite dominating the league in the past, lately the Toppers haven’t enjoyed the kind of success they are used to. Unfortunately for us, this year rekindled some of that old magic – as we all saw during the NCAA tournament.

It was time to go back on the road as we traveled to Little Rock to take on the Trojans. This was a contest that could have put us in great position in the West race as UALR was 6-5 in league play to our 5-6 mark. The Trojans led the entire first half as we appeared sluggish. Down 9 at halftime, the Mean Green started the 2^nd stanza on a run and stayed within a couple of baskets until we grabbed our first lead midway through. Walk on freshman Matt Mouzy was our biggest problem as his 17 points helped UALR establish a seven point advantage with four minutes to go. Once again, the Mean Green wouldn’t die as Josh White hit a trey and then made three free throws in the final minute of regulation. Adam McCoy had a shot at the buzzer, but it wasn’t true and we lost 82-80.

North Texas returned home where we got payback against Denver. The Mean Green defeated the Pioneers by 14, but the game probably wasn’t that close. We had a 15 point lead at the break and led by as many as 23 in the second half. Quincy Williams had 17 in the paint and our advantage down low is what proved to be the difference as we outscored Denver by 20 and out rebounded them by 17.

The revenge tour continued when Troy visited the SuperPit. We exploded for 90 points and won by 26. Collin Dennis was red hot as he put in a season high 34. North Texas dominated in basically every facet of the contest. Our defense shut down the normally high scoring Trojans and we rained in shots from beyond the 19’9 all night, our rebounding edge was 52-33, and we never were threatened.

Our luck on the road this season had not been good. So it came as an utter shock when we traveled to Monroe and absolutely crushed the War Hawks 72-40. After an even first few minutes the Mean Green buried ULM early. The War Hawks only managed 13 points in the first half – which was our strongest defensive stanza in nearly 15 years. This game started to make believers of many of the fan base yet again.

Up next was senior night as the NT faithful had a chance to recognize the efforts that Ben Bell, Quincy Williams, Keith Wooden and Dez Willingham gave to us. The first trio especially will all be remembered for years among the Mean Green nation. The Collin and Josh led the way in the 82-77 triumph over the Arkansas State Indians. The team shot a scorching 55% from the field and repelled a late charge. Ben, Quincy, and Keith all had big games and finished up their regular season careers at the SuperPit in style.

North Texas traveled for one last 2 game set to end the conference slate. First up was the ULL Ragin’ Cajuns. We still had designs on winning the West with our 9-7 conference mark, but we needed to sweep the last two and get some help. We couldn’t keep our end of the bargain as ULL defeated us 63-58. The Cajuns led pretty much throughout, but when we were down 12 with 9:08 – the squad made a comeback. We closed within 3 with just over a minute to go, but the deficit was too great. A bright spot for the future was the play of Adam McCoy who had 14 big points. Quincy Williams posted another double double (his third in a row in a season full of them). Nonetheless, this was a tough loss to take, as our Division Championship dreams vanished.

New Orleans had been a thorn in our side for the last several years with Bo McCalebb being a Mean Green killer. It looked like it would stay that way as the Privateers took a 40-37 lead to the locker room. Then down 5 with just over two minutes to go, we made our charge. Ben Bell nailed a 3 to tie the game, but McCalebb scored with 1:11 remaining, to put UNO back up a deuce. Collin Dennis then got a hoop and harm as we regained the edge. Free throws by both teams eventually had the game knotted at 77. Collin Dennis scored on a goaltending call with just over 3 seconds to go, and UNO’s shot at the equalizer (which was an open lay up!) bounced off the rim. In one of the more nail biting endings of recent memory we had prevailed.

Our record now stood at 19-10 (10-8), just like last season. We hoped that another magical run thru the Sun Belt tournament was in the offing, but things would not work out quite as well for us this season.