North Texas will face arguably its biggest challenge of the season today at Arkansas without one of its top players.

Senior guard Collin Dennis, a preseason second-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection, missed the Mean Green’s practice on Thursday and did not make the trip to Little Rock, Ark., with the team.

“Collin had some problems on New Year’s Eve and is not with us on the trip,” UNT head coach Johnny Jones said Friday afternoon as the team made its way to Arkansas. “I will deal with the situation when I get back.”

Jones would not provide any additional information on Dennis’ situation. Dennis was not available for comment.

Jones said following practice on Thursday that he didn’t know where Dennis was and had not heard from him.

The South Florida transfer is the Mean Green’s fourth-leading scorer with an average of 10.1 points a game. He scored a season-high 21 points in a loss to UT-Arlington on Dec. 29.

Losing Dennis could make what appears as if it will be a tough game against the Razorbacks even tougher. Former South Alabama coach John Pelphrey has Arkansas off to a 10-1 start and just picked up the biggest win of his first season with the Razorbacks, a 96-88 win over fourth-ranked Oklahoma.

“We have played a lot of minutes without Collin this season and are prepared to go on without him,” Jones said. “We have [Collin] Mangrum healthy now and have some depth in our backcourt.”

Mangrum saw his first significant action since the 2007 NCAA Tournament in the Mean Green’s 89-80 overtime loss to Middle Tennessee on New Year’s Eve. The sophomore came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points while shooting 5-for-9 from 3-point range.

Mangrum could see additional time in the Mean Green’s rotation that will have a different look without Dennis, who started seven games, including the last three.

UNT (8-5) could turn to Dominique Johnson, a junior guard who started six games before being moved into a reserve role before a game against New Orleans on Dec. 22, to replace Dennis in the starting lineup.

Johnson is averaging 10.6 points a game, but at 5-10 gives the Mean Green a smaller backcourt. Dennis is 6-2 and one of UNT’s better perimeter defenders.

Pelphrey is familiar with UNT’s players from his time at USA, where he was the head coach from 2003-07. He posted an 8-1 record against UNT during his time with the Jaguars.

The Mean Green will be looking to break through for its first win in the 13^th game of its series against Arkansas, not to mention end Pelphrey’s personal run of success against UNT.

“He always seems to get pretty good athletes and is able to put them together,” UNT senior forward Harold Stewart said of Pelphrey. “He always had good teams at South Alabama.”

Pelphrey is up to his same old tricks at Arkansas, which has won eight straight games. Junior forward Michael Washington is averaging 15.9 points a game to lead the Razorbacks, while freshman guard Courtney Fortson is posting 15.5 points a game.

Washington scored 24 points in Arkansas’ win over OU.

“Arkansas is going to be a big challenge for us,” Jones said. “They are one of the top teams in the country. Coach Pelphrey has done an excellent job for them.”

UNT will enter its game against the red hot Razorbacks in a slump that has seen the Mean Green lose three straight.

“We have to take care of the little things,” Stewart said. “Our shots will start to fall again. What we need to do is play better defense.”

UNT has given up an average of 80.0 points in its three-game losing slide.

Sophomore guards Tristan Thompson and Josh White are averaging 12.8 and 12.6 points a game, respectively, to lead UNT.

The Mean Green knows from experience that it will need its top players to have breakout performances to compete with a Pelphrey-coached team, especially one as talented as Arkansas, without Dennis.

UNT women to face Sam Houston

The UNT women will look to break out of a slide that has seen the Mean Green lose five of its last six games today when they travel to Sam Houston State.

The Mean Green (5-8) has lost each of its last three games by at least 14 points following a 1-point win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Dec. 18.

UNT was hammered 72-52 at home by traditional Sun Belt power Middle Tennessee in its last game on New Year’s Eve.

Senior forward Amber Jackson is averaging 16.2 points a game to lead the Mean Green, but only had eight points against MTSU. Jackson took just six shots against the Blue Raiders.

Brittany Brooks is averaging 7.8 points to lead Sam Houston (2-10).

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