North Texas hoops rewind -- UNT 74, Rice 64: Mean Green avenge loss to Owls

Now what?: The Mean Green will return home for what will be a huge game against UAB on Thursday. The Blazers were the preseason favorite in C-USA and have won four straight games. UAB has Jordan Walker, one of the top players in the league, back in its lineup after he missed some time due to injury.

Star of the day: Kai Huntsberry scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting. The senior also had five assists and four rebounds.

Say what?:

“Rice beat us at our place. There was a clear understanding that we needed to be more competitive from tip to buzzer, not the first 15 like we did at our place. There was a real feel to compete for 40 minutes. That was big.”

— Grant McCasland, UNT coach on the Mean Green’s approach against Rice

Our take: One had to figure that UNT would come back with a vengeance after Rice stunned the Mean Green in Denton earlier this year in the second meeting between the teams.

That was certainly the case on Saturday night. UNT was only up 22-21 midway through the first half. The lead ballooned to 40-29 at halftime.

UNT cruised the rest of the way. The Mean Green have been playing better and better in their last few games.

UNT will find out exactly where it’s at when it faces UAB. The Blazers snapped Florida Atlantic’s 20-game winning streak just a few days ago.

There might not be two hotter teams in C-USA than UNT and UAB. They’re on a collision course now.