DENTON — SMU and North Texas have not been known as traditional college basketball powers, but their men’s teams are having great seasons as they progress through American Athletic Conference play.
Both teams entered Thursday night’s contest in Denton amid a logjammed conference race and with the chance to pull further within striking distance of first place — tied for third behind No.22 Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, and South Florida and just ahead of No.19 Memphis.
“This is a really good league,” UNT head coach Ross Hodge told the media Thursday night. “To me, it’s easily a three-bid league, and multiple teams could win the conference tournament as of today.”
North Texas emerged victorious with a 68-66 win in the first of two meetings with SMU this season, holding on in a game that saw neither team lead by more than five points as SMU’s Jalen Smith missed a potential game-winning three-pointer as time expired.
“That was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever played in my life,” North Texas guard Jason Edwards said postgame. “Huge shoutout to the fans. I don’t think we would have won that game without them. That environment plays a really big role in games like this, especially when SMU is right down the street.”
“… We definitely know that local games are a big deal to the community, and we don’t take games like that for granted because the last time we played SMU was in 2002,” Edwards continued. “It’s definitely a big rivalry, and it’s definitely a big game for everyone around us, but we try to come in with the same mindset. We don’t get three wins for beating them. We don’t get three losses for losing, and it’s the same game plan: stay together 40 minutes and play hard-nosed North Texas basketball.”
The Mean Green is now just half a game out of first place with 12 games remaining in the regular season.
North Texas is no stranger to fighting for first place, with three Conference USA titles since 2020. But in its first year in the AAC, the Mean Green found itself competing quickly for another.
On the other hand, SMU has not been in this position for quite some time. The Mustangs went 10-22 in Rob Lanier’s first year on the Hilltop but have already eclipsed that win total this season. They’ve already beaten Charlotte once and put up a great fight in a close road game against Memphis, which makes a return trip to Dallas in February.
“I never thought this was gonna be an overnight proposition, but everything I said at the [introductory] press conference I still believe, and I believe it even more now than I did when I said it,” Lanier said after the win over Charlotte.
“I definitely think we’re trending in the right direction, but I also feel like we’ve got a long way to go,” he continued. “I think what’s happening now is that we’re starting to develop a greater level of ownership among the players for this year’s team that our identity is starting to take hold. That’s a credit to them and the staff that they are starting to realize what it takes to win, and these guys are learning how to win in real-time.”
After the loss, SMU dropped to 4-2 in the conference but is only a game and a half behind the first-place teams. The rematch with UNT in Dallas next month looms large, as the Mustangs could have some ground to make up if both teams work through their next few games unscathed.
Regardless, both teams appear to be contenders in the AAC, which is good for college basketball in the DFW area.
