Mean Green as hot as any team in the country right now, improve to 15-1. Top 25 next?

Three UNT starters finished in double figures as the Mean Green held off Southern Miss, 65-62, in their best start in program history on Saturday at the Super Pit.

With a slow start for both teams, senior guard Jorden Duffy hit two 3-pointers as UNT (15-1, 3-0 C-USA) trailed Southern Miss (8-7, 0-3 C-USA) 19-16 with 10:39 left in the first half.

Roosevelt Smart gave UNT the lead, 24-23, with a strong and-1 bucket with under seven minutes remaining.

Smart sparked a 10-0 run by the Mean Green before Southern Miss’ shots started to fall closing the UNT lead to 36-30 at the break.

Everyone got involved in the second half, as Duffy, Smart and Michael Miller all had eight points to put UNT up 46-35.

Southern Miss closed the gap with a 7-0 run of its own to trail the Mean Green by three with five minutes left in Saturdays contest.

A pair of free-throws gave Southern Miss its first lead of the second half, 62-61.

Scoreless for nearly three minutes, Ryan Woolridge dished the ball to Miller for a lay-up to give UNT the lead, 63-62.

Both teams exchanged free-throws and freshman Umoja Gibson hit both buckets at the line to seal the Mean Green win.

Duffy finished with 13 points and Smart had 11. Miller added 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Mean Green shot 44 percent from the field and won the rebound battle 38-30.

UNT heads to El Paso to battle UTEP on Thursday with an 8 p.m. tip-off.

Georgia Southern 77, UTA 64

Tied at halftime, Georgia Southern used a 45-point second half to pull away from UT-Arlington to hand the Mavs their third-straight loss, 77-64, on Saturday at College Park Center.

Winning one of its last 11 games, UTA (4-11, 0-2 Sun Belt) came out firing as Radshad Davis and Jabari Narcis both connected from deep to put the Mavs up 11-6 with 13:27 on the clock.

Georgia Southern (9-6, 1-1 Sun Belt) standout Quan Jackson gave UTA trouble in the first half, dropping 15 points to tie the game at 27-27.

The Mavs didn’t look the same coming out the break.

Georgia Southern went on a quick 7-0 run followed by a 16-3 burst over five minutes to extend its lead, 62-46.

The Mavs failed to get within 13 points for the remainder of the game.

UTA’s shooting slump continued as the Mavs only hit 1-of-13 from beyond the arc in the second half.

Edric Dennis was the lone spark for UTA, scoring 13 of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Andres Ibarguen added 11 points and six rebounds.

The Mavs finished shooting 36 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point range.

Up next, UTA travels to North Carolina to take on Appalachian State on Thursday at 6 p.m.

UTA 74, Georgia Southern 53

The UTA women’s basketball team picked up its 650th career victory win a 74-53 victory over Georgia Southern on Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, GA.

The Lady Mavs (9-4) led wire-to-wire to earn their first Sun Belt Conference win of the season (1-1).

Cierra Johnson finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. Johnson’s 18 points moved her into 15th place on UTA’s career scoring list and give her 1,075 points in her collegiate career.

Brooke Alexander added 12 points after knocking down 4-of-7 shots from long distance. Terryn Milton chipped in with 11 points, five boards and five dimes, while Katie Ferrell finished with eight points, four assists and three rebounds.

UTA finished the afternoon shooting 56.6 percent from the floor (30-of-53), while holding Georgia Southern to just 33.3 percent from the field (17-of-51).

The Lady Mavs will now return home to College Park Center to host a pair of Sun Belt contests. UTA will battle Appalachian State on Thursday, Jan. 10 (7 p.m.) before hosting Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 12 (2 p.m.). Both games will air on ESPN+.

This story was originally published January 5, 2019 at 8:42 PM.