WHO: North Texas (9-14, 4-6 C-USA) at Old Dominion (13-10, 6-4 C-USA)
WHEN: Thursday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m. EST
WHERE: Ted Constant Convocation Center – Norfolk, Va.
---MEDIA---
TV: American Sports Network (ASN)
TV Announcers: Dave Barnett (Play By Play) and Blaine Taylor (Color)
Cox: 2 & 1002 (HD)
Verizon FIOS: 11 & 511 (HD)
Direct TV: 33
DISH: 33
Charter: 9 & 709 (HD)
Over the Air: 33 WTVZ (MyTV)
---RADIO---
The game will air across the Commonwealth on ESPN Radio 94.1 in Hampton Roads, Sports FM 100.5 in Central Virginia and WLVA 94.1 and FOX Sports 580 in Lynchburg.
(Ted Alexander and Dave Twardzik’s live pregame show begins at 6:30 p.m. EST)
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion (13-10, 6-4 C-USA) will look to win its fourth consecutive game, when the Monarchs welcome North Texas (9-14, 4-6 C-USA) to the Ted Constant Convocation Center on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will air on television on the American Sports Network with Dave Barnett handling play-by-play duties and Blaine Taylor taking care of the color commentary.
Old Dominion enters Thursday's contest in a tie with LA Tech for fourth place with a 6-4 mark in conference play, in which the Monarchs own the tiebreaker. Marshall sits alone in the third slot with an 8-4 record in Conference USA play.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES – NORTH TEXAS vs. OLD DOMINION
Old Dominion leads the all-time series against North Texas, 3-0. The Monarchs took down the Mean Green in both games last season. NT is 0-2 when playing at the Ted. ODU has won all three games in this series by at least 10 points (10, 11 and 13).
LAST TIME OUT FOR OLD DOMINION
ODU redshirt senior guard Trey Freeman poured in a career high of 38 points and drilled a contested three-pointer with nine seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game into overtime, where ODU took down Charlotte (7-15, 4-6 C-USA) by a 74-69 score on Saturday night at Halton Arena. Freeman’s 38 points is the most by any Monarch since Alex Loughton dropped 45 in a double-overtime loss against Charlotte on Dec. 6, 2003.
Charlotte rallied back from a 10-point second half deficit to take a lead late in regulation, but Freeman’s three pointer at the end of regulation forced overtime, where the Monarchs outscored the 49ers, 9-4. The Monarchs are now on a three-game winning-streak.
ODU’s Brandan Stith went for a double-double, netting 14 points on 7-10 shooting from the floor to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds in the winning effort. Old Dominion led for a total of 41:04, while Charlotte held a lead for 3:23. The Monarchs defense held Charlotte to 26.9% (7-26) shooting from the floor in the first half and 22.9% (2-9) in overtime.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS FOR OLD DOMINION
For the season, Trey Freeman is leading the way for the Monarchs averaging 21.3 ppg and 4.0 rpg. Aaron Bacote is averaging 13.7 points a contest, while Brandan Stith is netting 9.4 ppg to compliment 8.6 boards per contest. Zoran Talley is averaging 8.2 points and 5.1 rebounds, while Nik Biberaj is chipping in 5.2 points per outing to go along with 3.9 boards. Denzell Taylor currently leads ODU with 169 total rebounds (6.8 per game), as well as offensive rebounds with 94.
Old Dominion is averaging 67.7 points a game, while holding opponents to 62.1 points on 40.1% shooting from the floor and 31.2% from long-range. The Monarchs only turn the ball over 9.3 times per game.
TREY FREEMAN
Freeman was named the Conference USA Player of the Week for games through Feb. 6, becoming the first player to ever win the award three weeks in a row. Freeman poured in a career-high 38 points to lead the Monarchs to a thrilling win at Charlotte on Saturday.
Freeman maintains his spot atop the C-USA scoring chart at 21.3 points per game for the season, which ranks 16th in the country. In Conference USA play, he is averaging an astonishing 27.8 points per game.
The senior captain from Virginia Beach, Va. has scored 21 or more points in each of the past 10 games, including 24 or more points in the past eight contests, and has been the game’s leading scorer in the past nine games. Freeman’s eight-straight games of 24 points or more is the longest such streak in the country this season. He is now just 43 points shy of recording 2,000 for his career.
Freeman is averaging 30.6 points per contest over last six games.
MEET NORTH TEXAS
North Texas has climbed the Conference USA standings sitting in a tie for eighth place at 4-6 with eight league games remaining.
The Mean Green are coming off a comeback win against LA Tech Saturday scoring 50 second half points to erase a 10-point halftime deficit. Junior Deckie Johnson proved the spark with 19 second-half points, including an impressive stretch of 15 straight points to give North Texas its first lead of the game. Sophomore Jeremy Combs added 16 points and senior Eric Katenda finished with 16 points off eight of 11 from the free throw line.
Combs leads the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game and in rebounding at 10.6 per game. The Dallas native is 14th in the nation in rebounds per game and 13th in total rebounds (243). Junior J-Mychal Reese is second on the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game and leads the team in assists at 4.1 per game (94 total). Johnson is third at 14.0 points per game and has hit a team best 49 made three pointers.
As a team, North Texas is 49th in the nation in field goal percentage (47.0), 15th in free throw attempts (625) and 69th in free throws made (389).
DON’T MISS THE ACTION!
Monarch basketball season tickets are on sale now for the 2015-16 season at YNottix.com or by calling the box office 757-683-4444.
TICKETS (Single Game)
Adult Lower Bowl - $17
Adult Club - $31
Military/Seniors/Youth/Faculty Staff - $15
Group pricing available by calling Todd McKeating at 757-683-7087
WHAT A DEAL! - VOUCHER BOOKS
Get 10 tickets to use at any home ODU basketball games during the 2015-16 regular season. Use them all at one game to bring family and friends, or spread them out over the season. The choice is yours! The price is $120 for a men’s basketball voucher book. That’s a $50 savings over purchasing at the ticket window. Purchase now at www.ynottix.com.
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