After its narrow defeat at No. 21 Memphis on Sunday, the UNT men's basketball team bounced back on Wednesday as it defeated Rice 81-59 at the Super Pit to improve to 9-0 at home for the year.

Atin Wright, who was held scoreless at Memphis, led the Mean Green (11-4, 2-1) in scoring with 21 points, all of which came in the first half. Wright tied a person and team high with seven field goals.
It was his second 20-point of the season, and his 21 points is the most a North Texas player has scored in the first half this year.

The Mean Green as a team shot 55 percent (27-49) from the floor and also from beyond the arc (11-20). They made 16 of their 17 free throw attempts (94.1 percent) and had a season low four turnovers. They are the only DI team in the last 15 seasons to go 55-55-90 and have five or fewer turnovers in a single game. UNT's 11 made 3-pointers were a season high.

Defensively UNT held the Owls (11-5, 2-1) to just 37.7 percent shooting and kept them relatively off the free throw. Rice, who is one of the nation's top teams at getting fouled came into the game averaging 26 free throw attempts per game. North Texas held Rice to just 18 on the night.
"We have a ton of respect for Rice and coach Lanier who I think has been the league's coach of the year so far," UNT head coach Ross Hodge said. "I thought our execution against their double team was really good and we got to our spots. [Atin Wright] got some good looks and he was great in that first half to get us going."

After going down 19-18 on an Owls 3-pointer with 9:27 remaining in the first half, the Mean Green took the lead back on a Wright 3-pointer and did not relinquish it for the remainder of the night.

North Texas' 81 points were its most against a conference opponent since the Mean Green scored 81 against Tulane in last season's AAC Tournament on March 14, 2024. It was the first 20-point win against conference for North Texas since March 9, 2023 when it defeated Louisiana Tech 74-46 in the first round of the Conference USA tournament.

The four turnovers were North Texas' fewest in a game since Jan. 30, 2020, a 98-78 win over UTSA.

Next up for North Texas is a trip to East Carolina on Tuesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT from Minges Coliseum.