UAB Faces Familiar Foe North Texas In AAC Semis
By Steve Irvine
FORT WORTH, TEXAS - March 15, 2025
Perhaps the only difference between UAB and North Texas during American Athletic Conference play was the Mean Green didn’t play Memphis twice.
Both teams lost to each other by three points on the other team’s home floor. Both had a pair of conference losses to teams below them in the standings, including one on the final Sunday of the regular season. Both lost to Memphis at the FedExForum. What separated second place North Texas in the regular season standings was that the Mean Green didn’t get a return trip from the AAC champs on their schedule.
Now, UAB and North Texas get together in the AAC Tournament semifinals on Saturday at Dickies Arena with the possibility of playing Memphis in the championship game. The top seeded Tigers get things started on Saturday with a semifinal game at 2 p.m. against No. 4 seed Tulane. About 20 minutes after they are done, UAB and North Texas will play with the other spot in Sunday’s championship game on the line.
“It's going to be a slugfest,” said UAB head coach Andy Kennedy. “You got to win the physical battle to have a chance against North Texas. It started with Grant (McAsland), and then Ross (Hodge) has taken the reins and they play the same way. Atin Wright, man, what a terrific newcomer to this league. This league is full of newcomers, and he's as good as there is. And with the ability to make shots late in the clock from Tylor Perry to (Jason) Edwards to now him, they're a good basketball team. They're not going to give you anything free. It's been a minute since we played them. We'll get back (to the hotel), we'll immediately try to get right physically, and then our guys know what to anticipate as it relates to style of play. We know it's not going to be easy, nor should it be when you're playing for survival in late March.”
North Texas advanced on Friday with an impressive second half that propelled them to a 77-59 victory over No. 10 seed Tulsa. Wright led North Texas with 24 points but made just 3-of-11 shots from outside the 3-point arc. The Mean Green limited Tulsa to 29.2 percent shooting from the field in the second half and 34.1 percent overall. North Texas also won points off turnovers (21-8), points in the paint (26-16) and second chance points (23-7).
“They're going to grind you up as it relates to possessions as well,” Kennedy said. “We're a pretty high-possession team, one of the highest in the country. They're not going to give you as many of those, especially if you don't do a good job on the glass. We hadn't been doing as good a job on our offensive and defensive glass as we did tonight. I'm glad to see that improve as we're plus 14 off the glass against a physical team. We're going to have to win those areas again (Saturday) to have an opportunity to advance.”