For nearly all his basketball life, Ben Bell has been in charge on the floor.

At Irving MacArthur, Weatherford College, San Jacinto College and for his first season at North Texas, Bell played the point guard spot with the kind of skill that has built his reputation as one of the underrated players in the Sun Belt Conference.

DRC/Gary Payne

UNT’s Ben Bell, right, drives to the basket in February at the Super Pit. Bell has adjusted to lineup changes this season.

What might be even more impressive is what he has done for UNT this season – giving up that role and learning to play off the ball as a senior to clear the way for Josh White, perhaps the best freshman in the Sun Belt.

The switch has been a challenge for Bell, who has adapted and helped the Mean Green start the season 8-2 heading into its Sun Belt Conference opener at Denver (3-6) tonight. Only UNT’s 1975-76 and 1976-77 squads that started 9-1 have fared better than this season’s Mean Green through 10 games.

“I am just starting to find my way now,” Bell said of playing on the wing. “At first I was just shooting threes, but I have never been just a three-point shooter. I know now that I need to attack the basket. That has been working for me.”

Bell scored a career-high 23 points in a win over Hartford on Dec. 8 and is averaging 8.7 points a game to go along with a team-high 38 assists.

What might be even more important than the points Bell has scored is how he has helped solidify a guard rotation that has proven to be one of the Mean Green’s strengths, despite being in constant flux.

Collin Dennis, a South Florida transfer who is UNT’s second-leading scorer with an average of 13.0 points a game, has battled a high ankle sprain all year and missed two games. Dez Willingham, who transferred to UNT from SMU for his senior season, missed a game early in the year while White has missed the Mean Green’s last two games with a hamstring injury.

Bell has not only helped fill the voids those injuries have created; he has also combined with White to give the Mean Green the pair of ball-handlers it lacked last season. When Bell went to the bench last season, UNT often fell apart.

“Ben is playing an even more important role for us this year than he did last year,” UNT head coach Johnny Jones said. “We had a couple of scorers on the wing last season. Now that we have Ben there he can score on any given night, create for other people and he is a great defender. That is an area we struggled with last year. We put Ben on the other team’s best shooter.”

Bell was happy to make the move because he could see the talent White brought to the floor.

“I get along great with Josh,” Bell said. “It’s exciting the way he can shoot the ball. I have never played with a guy who is that small who is that big of a threat.”

White, who is generously listed at 5-10, leads UNT with an average of 18.6 points a game. He has filled the typical point guard role Bell did last season, bringing the ball up the floor and setting up the Mean Green’s offense.

When White was forced to the sideline with his hamstring injury, Bell stepped back in at point guard and UNT didn’t miss a beat.

“What you really need is depth,” Jones said. “Josh has been starting for us and when he got hurt we were able to come back with a guy who made the all-conference tournament team last season. He did a great job of running the team from start to finish. That’s a good sign of the type of depth we have.”

White and Bell are just two of the players who have UNT looking like a threat to win the Sun Belt West Division title and repeat as Sun Belt tournament champions. UNT has already beaten Oklahoma State and a Centenary team with a win over Texas Tech on its resume.

UNT has seven players averaging at least seven points a game and appears to be getting healthy just in time for Sun Belt play. Senior center Keith Wooden scored l2 points against Centenary, has scored in double figures in both of his games since returning from arthroscopic knee surgery and is averaging 12.3 points a game. Dennis also appears to be back at full strength.

Depth proved to be critical in the Mean Green’s run to the NCAA Tournament last season, when UNT was able to overcome the loss of starting shooting guard Kendrick Davis to the flu in the conference tournament.

Bell ended up helping fill the void by averaging 10.8 points in UNT’s five postseason games.

That performance made it appear as if Bell would play an even bigger role this season. Bell has done just that. Only it isn’t the role most expected.

“Ben had to go to the shooting guard spot when Dez got hurt and has handled it really well after being used to playing the point guard spot,” White said. “These last few games you can really see how he has started to adapt. … I admire the way he has handled the move.”

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