McNeese falls at North Texas 85-47

DENTON, Texas – The McNeese men’s basketball team began its three-game road stint with a trip to the University of North Texas on Saturday, falling to the Mean Green 85-47.

The Cowboys top three scorers: Kalob Ledoux, James Harvey, and Jarren Greenwood would be allowed only five combined points in the contest. It would be the first time that K.Ledoux would be held to zero points in his career at McNeese.

“We looked like a team that hadn’t played in nine days; we were out of sync, our timing was off, and we missed too many shots” head coach Dave Simmons said.

The loss in Denton was the Cowboys lowest performance of the season, with only 47 total points and 26 rebounds.

The first five minutes on the court looked promising for McNeese, going back and forth with the Mean Green shot-for-shot. Starting at the 14:36 mark on the clock, UNT outscored McNeese 9-18, giving them an 11-point lead with only three minutes left before halftime.

Plagued by nine turnovers and a scoring percentage of only 23%, the Cowboys would head into the locker room at halftime trailing 18-33.

After 20 minutes of play, Stephen Ugochukwu would lead the offense with six points, while Quatarrius Wilson led the Cowboys in rebounds with five. Despite Wilson’s effort on the glass, the UNT held McNeese to only 13 rebounds in the first half, none of which came from an offensive possession.

For the Mean Green in the first half, every player off the UNT bench would score at least two points, and all but one of those players would pull down at least one rebound.

Returning from the locker room, the Cowboys would look to erase the 15-point deficit, but UNT would continue to dominate the McNeese squad, hindering them from getting shots off and pulling down rebounds.

With 15:21 left in the second half, North Texas had already outshot McNeese 58 to 35, forcing 13 turnovers from the Cowboys. UNT capitalized off these turnovers, adding 17 points to the board.

Ugochukwu continued to lead McNeese, and would end up finishing the game with 16 points and nine rebounds. His 16 points would be the best amongst all players in the contest.

Jacob Ledoux would be the only other Cowboy with double-digit points, Wilson would be the next highest scorer, with five points.

McNeese suffered from 17 personal fouls in the second-half alone, the 21 fouls totaled by the Cowboys would be tied for the most committed in a game this year. Adding salt to the wounds caused by the turnovers, McNeese struggling to execute the offense, sinking only 38% of shots from the field and 21% from beyond the arc.

Simmons added, “There was a lot of frustration tonight, and it showed. We knew we had a fight coming in and its obvious UNT came more prepare than we did, but there’s nothing we can do about tonight- it’s all about what we do going forward. Now we have the opportunity to turn a big negative into a big positive.”

McNeese gets back on the road next week, and fly to North Carolina Central (Dec.14) and Pittsburgh (Dec.16). Fans are encouraged to follow the Cowboys on Twitter at @McNeeseMBB for updates on all things Cowboy basketball.