North Texas had a few holes to fill in its lineup after its second-consecutive 20-win campaign last season.

After a couple of weeks of practices, it’s starting to look like the Mean Green has brought in the right players to fill its key needs heading into its exhibition opener tonight against Texas A&M-International.

UNT head coach Johnny Jones said he has been pleased with a number of newcomers who are expected to make an impact and is pondering redshirting Ben Knox, a freshman forward who has been one of the surprises of preseason workouts.

“Ben has put on 15-20 pounds and has done an excellent job,” Jones said. “He is 220-225 right now. He has good legs and has gotten bigger in the upper body. He could get to 240, is 6-10 and is still growing. He is young and has a lot of upside.”

That upside is evident not only in Knox’s frame, but in the way he has come in and competed right away in practice in his first college season after signing with the Mean Green out of Arlington Grace Prep.

“He runs the floor and is really basketball savvy,” Jones said. “It’s been about basketball for him for a long time. He understands the game and likes to play.”

Jones could sit Knox, let him develop in practice and then begin his playing career next season. UNT has several players who are expected to log significant minutes in the frontcourt this season, including a pair of seniors in Harold Stewart and Justin Howerton, one of UNT’s few true centers.

“It will be a tough decision for me soon,” Jones said. “We have a lot of guys in the post. We need to decide if we want to play him and get spare minutes or let him get bigger and stronger and redshirt.”

Jones said he hasn’t had the depth necessary to consider redshirting players in the past. That could change this season, thanks in part to the addition of forward Eric Tramiel and Arizona State transfer George Odufuwa, who will be eligible this season.

“Eric has done real well,” Jones said. “We are excited about him. He collided with Ben Knox the first day of practice, which kept them both out. He has given us great energy and can go inside and outside, which will give us more flexibility than we have had in the past.”

While the focus has been UNT’s newcomers in its frontcourt, the team also added a key player in its backcourt in Dom-inique Johnson. The junior-college transfer plays the point and is expected to take pressure off Josh White, last season’s Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year.

UNT lost point guard Ben Bell after last season.

“Dominique has been really good for us,” Jones said. “We will miss Ben Bell because of his ability to not only defend and score, but his ability to lead and toughness. Dominique will bring that to the team and is a good offensive player.”

UNT looking for a leader

UNT lost several of its key veterans last season, including Quincy Williams and Bell, a pair of players who provided the Mean Green with leadership on and off the court.

UNT is still looking for players to fill that void heading into the season.

“We have lost some guys who we consider our true leaders and guys we could look to,” Jones said. “That is something that is going to have to be answered on the floor. We don’t have a guy that stands out. We have good players like Josh [White] and Collin [Dennis], but we don’t have a person we can look to for leadership. If you asked me today who the leader is, I couldn’t say at this point.”

The leadership players like Williams and Bell provided was critical for the Mean Green during its run to the NCAA Tourna-ment two seasons ago.

“It’s very important to have leadership,” Jones said. “As a coaching staff, we have to provide that as well. If it is not happening on the floor, we have got to figure out a way to implement that. We hope that someone on the team will do that for us. It’s hard to tell someone that is what they are going to do. Guys are born with it. Its tough to teach.”

Women’s basketball

UNT to do a little experimenting early

New UNT head coach Shanice Stephens will do a little tinkering early in the season to see how the players on her team will fit together in her debut season.

That experimentation began with the Mean Green’s exhibition game against crosstown rival TWU on Tuesday night.

“We are still tinkering,” Stephens said Tuesday. “You will see a lot of different faces early. We are still seeing who is game-ready because sometimes players show up different in games than in practice.”

UNT has several of its key players back, including Amber Jackson and Brittney James, who were first- and second-team selections, respectively, on the preseason All-Sun Belt team.

UNT will look to the duo to help smooth the transition to Stephens’ up-tempo style.

“This is a great time to see who can do what at different times,” Stephens said of UNT’s exhibition game against TWU. “I have an idea, but in this situation will be telling. I want to give the girls a chance to get their feet wet in the college game.”

Stephens: Bailey could have early impact

UNT will take a long look at redshirt freshman post Brittani Bailey during the early part of the season, Stephens said.

Bailey played in nine games last season and showed signs of developing into an impact player before a knee injury cut her season short. One of her best games came in a loss to Valparaiso when she scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

“I am very confident about Bailey,” Stephens said. “She is a 6-3 athlete who is still learning the game and has a great upside. We are working on strength and endurance with her knee and the mental aspect of the game. She is going to be a great cog for us.”

Escalera making good impression in new system

UNT has spent much of the preseason adapting to a new up-tempo system under Stephens. The transition has been a little easier, thanks to senior point guard Yari Escalera.

“Yari is a good fit,” Stephens said. “We are working on consistency. Her style fits, but we need her assist-to-turnover ratio to be more along the lines of what I like. At the point guard spot sometimes you don’t have as much depth, but we have plenty this year.”

UNT also returns Kelli Buckley, who played 16 minutes a game last season, and freshman Mansa El, who has shown signs of being able to contribute in her first season at UNT.

Cross country

UNT heads to regional off solid performance

UNT will compete in the South Central Regional on Saturday after a solid showing in the Sun Belt Conference meet over the weekend.

UNT finished third in the men’s team standings and fourth in the women’s race.

Sophomore Patrick Strong finished third in the 8-kilometer race in a time of 25:26.41 to lead the UNT men, while Sarah Dietz was 10th in the 5-kilometer women’s race in 19:05.34.

Dietz was named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and joined Strong on the all-conference team.

“Brandon Cooper dropped out,” UNT head coach Robert Vaughn said. “Other than that, we ran very well. … You want everyone to have their best times at the conference meet. We had four out of six men and five out of seven women run their best times.”

Strong will have the best chance among UNT’s runners to advance to nationals. The top six finishers who are not members of teams that advance to the national meet earn individual berths.

“Patrick is really our only 10,000-meter runner,” Vaughn said. “Once you get past conference, it is a 10,000-meter course. He has a chance, but his best shot will be next year when he is a junior and a senior.”

Volleyball

UNT faces key stretch

The Mean Green knows what it needs to do to keep its hopes to advance to the Sun Belt Confer-ence tournament alive this week.

UNT (6-23, 4-12) must win its last two matches of the regular season just to have a shot. The Mean Green will host Arkansas State on Friday and Arkansas-Little Rock on Sunday. ASU (20-10) and UALR (23-6) both have at least 20 wins on the season.

UNT lost to UALR in four sets earlier this season, but did beat ASU in four sets. The Mean Green comes into the key two-match stretch off a difficult six-match road trip, the longest in school history. UNT won two matches during the road swing.

Player of the week

Sarah Dietz continued her solid freshman campaign with the UNT cross country team last week when she was named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year.

Dietz finished 10th at the Sun Belt cross country meet after completing the 5-kilometer course in a time of 19:05.34.

The former Prosper standout helped the UNT women finish fourth in the team race, up from sixth a year ago. For her performance, Dietz is the Denton Record-Chronicle UNT Player of the Week.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .