The UNT men's basketball team held Wisconsin to no points over the final nine minutes of the game to beat the Badgers 56-54 in the National Invitation Tournament semifinal on Tuesday at the Orleans Arena and advance to the championship game on Thursday night.

The Mean Green were led by Tylor Perry who scored 16 points. But it was Rubin Jones who scored all 12 of his points in the second half to lead the team to the 14-point come from behind win. On the defensive end, UNT held Wisconsin's Chucky Hepburn to zero points in the second half after he torched them for 15 in the first half. The Badgers made just one of their final 16 shot attempts.

"That's a fantastic Wisconsin team that we have a lot of respect for," said UNT head coach Grant McCasland. "But man, we have a tough group. To hold them to no points and no baskets over the last nine minutes and to hold them to 13 second-half points is awesome. I thought our team just got more active as the game went on."

North Texas (30-7), which picked up its 30th win of the year on Tuesday — its first 30-win season in program history, forced nine Wisconsin (20-15) turnovers in the second half. UW entered the game as one of the best teams in the country at not turning the ball over.
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This is the first time in program history UNT has advanced to the NIT title game. They are now 11-3 in the McCasland era in NCAA postseason games. North Texas had never won a NCAA postseason game prior to the McCasland's arrival in 2017.

"Our guys hung on attacking and at halftime believed that we could win," McCasland said.

UNT will face the winner of UAB and Utah Valley in the championship game Thursday at 8:40 p.m. CT on ESPN2 and the Mean Green Sports Network.