North Texas beats Wisconsin, advances to NIT finals

North Texas’ men’s basketball team will play for the NIT title on Thursday.

The Mean Green beat Wisconsin 54-52 on Tuesday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

North Texas will play for the NIT title on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Alabama-Birmingham, their Conference USA rival. UAB beat Utah State in Tuesday’s other semifinal.

North Texas overcame a 41-29 halftime deficit, outscoring Wisconsin 27-13 in the second half to improve to 30-7 this season. Wisconsin finishes 20-15.

Tylor Perry scored a team-high 16 points, including 3 of 9 on three-point field goals. Kai Huntsberry and Rubin Jones added 12 each for the Mean Green.

Wisconsin led the throughout the game until Jones’ jumper tied the game 54-54 with 2:48 left. Moulaye Sissoko’s layup with 2:08 pushed North Texas ahead 56-54.

It was NT’s only lead in the game. And it was the last score of the game.

Wisconsin did not score in the final 9:08 of the game. The Badgers led 54-46 at that point.

This story was originally published March 28, 2023 at 8:17 PM.