Looking to stay in the battle for first place, North Texas plays host to Wichita State in a key American Athletic Conference battle on Monday.
North Texas (21-6, 12-3) trails first-place Memphis (14-2) by a game. Memphis, however, has beaten North Texas in the lone meeting this season. After the game with Wichita State, North Texas hosts Charlotte before ending its regular season at Temple. Memphis visits UTSA and ends with a home game against South Florida.
North Texas is the hottest current team in the AAC with a five-game win streak. The Mean Green are coming off Thursday’s 71-61 win over Florida Atlantic. That win clinched a double bye in the upcoming AAC tournament, putting North Texas in the quarterfinal round.
Brenen Lorient, a 6-foot-9 junior who is a transfer from FAU, scored 16 points while hitting all six of his field goal attempts. Guard Atin Wright added 13 points, the 100th double-digit scoring game of his career. Wright averages a team-high 13.6 points, while Lorient is second at 12.1. They are the only players averaging double figures for North Texas.
Wichita State (17-11, 7-8) had been the hottest AAC team until the Shockers saw their six-game win streak end with Thursday’s 80-72 home loss to UAB. Corey Washington, a 6-foot-5 forward, led Wichita State with 24 points. Meanwhile, 6-foot-2 senior Xavier Bell scored 17 points. Quincy Ballard, a 6-foot-11 senior, had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Bell averages a team-high 15.2 points, while Washington averages 13.9. Justin Hill, a 5-foot-11 junior, who missed four games due to a toe injury returned against UAB, but played seven minutes and shot 0 for 3. He averages 12.2 points.
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Wichita State at North Texas Odds
North Texas is a 7.5-point college basketball betting favorite on BetMGM with the Over/Under at 127.5.
The moneyline for North Texas is -350 while it is +275 for Wichita State.
Wichita State At North Texas On TV
The game between Wichita State and North Texas will be on ESPN2.
Tipoff is expected shortly after 9 p.m. ET.
Wichita State at North Texas Prediction
I like North Texas laying the points. The Mean Green are 13-1 at home. According to teamrankings.com, they are 13-9-1 against the spread. Wichita State is 4-5 on the road and 11-13-3 ATS.
These two teams played on Jan. 29 and North Texas won, 58-54, at Wichita State as 6-foot-9 senior Moulaye Sissoko scored a team-high 16 points, while Wright scored 15. North Texas won despite shooting just 3 of 12 (.250) from three-point range, but the Mean Green did make all 11 free throws. Wichita State was 3 of 15 from deep (.200) but shot 15 for 18 (.833) from the foul line.
The difference was in rebounding, which UNT led 38-28 and allowed the Mean Green to have five more field goal attempts than the Shockers.
The key is that North Texas is among the best defensive teams in the country. The Mean Green allow just 58.9 points per game, which leads the AAC and was second nationally only to Houston. The Mean Green are last in the AAC in scoring (68.2), but their 9.4 scoring margin is the best in the conference.
Wichita State averages 74.7 points and allows 73.0, for a scoring margin of 1.7.
A big difference is in three-point shooting. Despite not having a high-scoring offense, North Texas is shooting .359 from three, while Wichita State is at .303, which is the worst mark in the AAC.
North Texas shoots .766 from the foul line while Wichita State is .729.
