Phelps' 22 not enough; SMU falls at North Texas, 68-66
SMU’s likely last appearance at The Super Pit in Denton ended in frustration. In a game where no lead was greater than five, Mustang guard Jalen Smith’s 3-pointer at the horn hit off the front of the rim as North Texas held off SMU.
Score: North Texas, 68, SMU 66
Record: 13-6, 4-2 in AAC
Next Game: The Mustangs play at Wichita State at 2:00 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2)
Player of the Game: G Zhuric Phelps. He had that dawg mentality throughout the second half and tried to will the Mustangs to victory. Phelps scored a team-high 22 points (15 in the second half) but did it mostly at the foul line. He was just 5-15 from the field but 12-13 at the line. Phelps also had a steal and a blocked shot.
Leading scorers: Phelps (22), Tyreek Smith (13, 6-6 shooting)
Sequence of the Game: Tied at 53 with five minutes to play, North Texas guard John Buggs III drilled consecutive threes that gave the Mean Green the lead and allowed them to keep it for the remainder of the game. His first three gave UNT a 56-53 advantage with 4:47 to play. Following a Smith Layup, Buggs drilled the second at the 3:55 mark to push it back to 59-55. The lead never grew beyond that. However, the Eagles were able to convert enough to hang on.
The rest of the story: A narrative is being defined for the Mustangs. They are now 0-5 in games decided by single digits including four that have been decided by two or three points. It simply comes down to execution and knowing what you want to run and who needs the ball in their hands at the end. What else was troubling is that second-leading scorer Chuck Harris (13.3 ppg) finished with eight points but didn’t score in the second half. He was 0-4 in the final 20 and took his last attempt with 5:15 to play. That was crucial because if hits it, SMU takes a 55-53 lead. Instead see above for the sequence of the season. Some credit to UNT’s defense. But this was more about Harris. He missed a couple of jumpers that went in and out and it appeared to shake some confidence.
Notable Stat I: North Texas was 10-23 (43.5 percent) from 3-point range against the nation’s top 3-point defense (25.6)
Notable Stat II: The Mean Green won this game despite going 8-19 at the foul line.
Final Word: In the five previous losses, SMU has found a way to re-group in the next one. Now, this is going to be a little different going on the road to Wichita to play the last-place Shockers (0-6) because they don’t have the luxury of playing at home. Every league win is paramount. Even league road win is cherished like gold. Had SMU won at Denton, there would have been two takeaways. The first was this team just stole a win. The second is this group takes a ton of confidence into Sunday. The Mustangs don’t have either. And the only thing they can rely is on their resiliency when they walk into Charles Koch Arena Sunday.
