DENTON, Texas – Wrapping up the 2024 calendar year, the App State Mountaineers (6-5, 0-1 SBC) will conclude their three-game stretch away from home with a matchup in Denton, Texas, against American Conference foe North Texas (7-3) on Friday. The Mountaineers' trip to Denton will mark the first installment of a home-and-home series that was announced in October. Tipoff from The Super Pit is slated for 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) and can be streamed on ESPN+.
App State is set to make its lone trip to Texas this season and the first trip in program history to Denton. In the Kerns era, the Mountaineers are 1-5 in games played in Texas, with the lone win coming at UT Arlington on Feb. 5, 2022. Since 2019, the Mountaineers are 5-5 against foes from the Lone Star State and are 1-0 this season.
Friday's contest with The Mean Green marks the sixth and final opponent App State will face in nonconference play that won at least 19 games a season ago. North Texas won 19 games in 2023-24 and made a second-round appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. Through the first five games this year against teams that won at least 19 games last season, App State is 2-3 with wins over Sam Houston and Colgate.
Additionally, North Texas will be the fourth opponent App State will face this year that made a postseason tournament last year. The Mountaineers have squared off with 2023-24 NCAA Tournament participants Wisconsin and Colgate in November and the College Basketball Invitational runner-up High Point last Saturday. The Mountaineers are 1-2 in those games this season.
The Matchup
- Who: App State at North Texas
- Where: The Super Pit // Denton, Texas
- When: Friday, Dec. 20 // 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT)
Tune In
- Watch: Watch (ESPN+) | Kyle Youmans (PxP), DJ Draper (Color)
- Listen: FLAGSHIP 97.3 (North Wilkesboro), 96.3 (Winston-Salem/Greensboro), 1350/96.1 (Asheville), 1250/103.9 (Marion), 790/93.7 (Johnson City) | Matt Present (PxP)
- Live Stats: appstatesports.com
Last Time Out
In the team's Sun Belt opener, the Mountaineers struggled out of the gate and couldn't overcome a double-digit halftime deficit as they fell 68-62 to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns on Wednesday. App State scored just five points in the first 12 minutes of play.
Dior Conners,
CJ Huntley and
Myles Tate each eclipsed double figures in the contest with Conners' 15 points pacing all scorers. Conners tallied 11 of those 15 points in the second half and scored efficiently as he shot 6-9. Huntley's 11 points inched him closer to the 1,000-point club as he needs just six more points to become the 37th member of the prestigious club.
The Mountaineers did make things interesting late despite trailing by as much as 18 in the first half. With just two minutes to play, a Conners three brought the Mountaineers within six points, but the Ragin' Cajuns' timely free-throw shooting helped seal their win. Louisiana missed just four free throws in the game.
Scouting the Mountaineers
App State is 6-4 against nonconference foes this season, posting double-digit wins over Colgate and Queens. Friday's matchup with The Mean Green will mark the conclusion of the early portion of App State's nonconference schedule. Since head coach
Dustin Kerns took over in 2019, the Mountaineers are 41-29 against out-of-conference foes.
Continuing the trend of the past three seasons, the Mountaineers enter Friday's contest as the Sun Belt's leader in scoring defense, allowing just 64 points a game. Over the last six games, App State is giving up just 61.8 points a game and has kept three opponents (Sam Houston, Colgate and Queens) at least 15 points below their season average. App State currently boasts the 39th-best scoring defense in the country.
The Mountaineers have been especially stellar at defending the three over the last 10 games, keeping their opponents to just 66 made 3-pointers on 254 attempts (26 percent). During this stretch, App State has held three of its opponents (St. Andrews, Queens and Sam Houston) to a season-worst amount of made threes. Entering Friday, the Mountaineers boast the 14th-best defense against the three, keeping their foes to just 27.6 percent from the long line.
Huntley and Tate lead the way offensively for the Mountaineers as both sit in the top 15 in the Sun Belt in scoring. Huntley is scoring 14.3 points a game, which is nearly double his career average and is good for the fifth-best tally in the league, while Tate is one of 10 Sun Belt players with at least three 20-point outings this season. As a duo, Tate and Huntley score 27 of the Mountaineers' 71 points a game.
Scouting the Mean Green
Fresh off a victory over Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday, North Texas is 7-3 on the year. The Mean Green have already posted two wins over high-major foes (Oregon State and Minnesota), marking the first time since 2010 that they have beaten two high-major opponents in the same regular season.
Entering Friday's game, UNT is ranked 63rd in the NCAA NET Rankings, marking the second-highest ranked opponent App State will face this season. The Mean Green have been ranked as high as 59th this season.
North Texas prides itself on its defense as since 2020, it has allowed just 59 points a game, which is the second-fewest over that span (Houston is first). Coming into Friday's game, The Mean Green force a turnover on 25.7 percent of its defensive possessions and lead the American Athletic Conference in steal percentage.
Series History
App State and North Texas will play one another for the first time in exactly 34 years on Friday. The two teams last met on Dec. 20, 1994, in Honolulu, Hawaii, as part of the Pre-Holiday Classic. UNT took home an 89-83 win in that contest.
The Mountaineers' meeting with North Texas on Friday will be the Mountaineers' first matchup with a current AAC opponent since Dec. 2, 2022. The Mountaineers are 46-67 all-time against American Conference teams. App State's last victory over an AAC team came back in Dec. 2020 when the Mountaineers took down the Charlotte 49ers in Charlotte.
Jackson Threadgill boasts four games of experience against The Mean Green when he was a member of Charlotte. He has played two games at the Super Pit and is averaging six points a contest. Kerns has never faced North Texas and head coach Ross Hodge.
Next Up
The Mountaineers will return to their conference schedule and the Holmes Convocation Center following Friday's matchup, welcoming the Troy Trojans to Boone on Jan. 2. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
