The Super Pit will be something of a foreign place for North Texas over the last couple of weeks of the regular season.
That didn't turn out to be a problem for UNT on Thursday, when it knocked off Florida International in Miami.
UNT will look to follow up that win tonight in the finale of a two-stop road trip at Florida Atlantic, the second opponent the Mean Green will face in a tough season-ending run. UNT will play four of its last six regular-season games on the road while looking to move up in the Sun Belt Conference standings and position itself to make a run in the conference tournament next month.
The top five seeds receive first-round byes.
"We are definitely trying to string these together and get two big road wins," UNT guard Brandan Walton said. "We have to learn how to close out close games."
UNT let FIU back into its game late but still pulled out a 68-61 win.
The Mean Green will take on the Owls in the second half of a doubleheader that will begin with the women's game at 2 p.m.
UNT will enter its game against FAU having won two of its last three, thanks in large part to Walton. The junior guard scored 11 straight points overall and 13 straight for UNT in the second half.
Walton's surge sparked a 15-2 UNT run that turned a close game into what appeared as if it would be a blowout until FIU capitalized on a few Mean Green turnovers late to cut its deficit back to single digits.
That late lapse did little to diminish the significance of the win for UNT, which heads into tonight's game in third place in the Sun Belt West Division. The Mean Green (14-10, 7-4) is just a half a game behind Louisiana-Lafayette (14-12, 8-4) and two games behind division leader Arkansas-Little Rock (12-13, 9-2).
Denver fell behind UNT in the standings when the Pioneers lost at FAU on Thursday.
UNT's win over FIU not only helped it move into a better spot in the standings, it also helped the Mean Green get back on track after falling in a tight game to overall Sun Belt leader Middle Tennessee a week ago.
"We have to keep it going," UNT forward Tony Mitchell said. "We were able to bounce back from that loss to Middle Tennessee. That was very important."
Mitchell posted his third straight double-double against FIU with 17 points and 12 rebounds and heads into today's game averaging 15.7 points and 9.7 rebounds a game.
Alzee Williams scored 16 points against FIU, giving him 45 points in his last two games and boosting his season average to 9.3 points a game.
Junior guard Greg Gantt leads FAU (10-14, 6-5) with an average of 14.7 points a game.
While the UNT men will look to build on a win in the first game of its road trip, the UNT women (13-11, 6-5) will aim to break out of a late-season slide that has seen the Mean Green lose its last two games.
UNT narrowly lost at home to MTSU, the last unbeaten team in Sun Belt play, and couldn't bounce back against FIU. The Golden Panthers edged the Mean Green 68-65, despite a frantic comeback in the final minutes by UNT.
UNT led by nine early in the first half.
"The first eight or nine minutes we were good, but after that we were lackadaisical," UNT head coach Karen Aston said. "We got beaten on the boards, which is indicative of effort and hustle. We got out-played tonight."
FIU finished with a 33-27 edge on the glass.
Getting back on track could be tough to do against FAU (13-9, 8-3). The Owls are in second place in the Sun Belt East Division.
Sophomore forward Chenise Miller is averaging 10.3 points a game and will go head-to-head with UNT's top player Jasmine Godbolt, who is averaging 13.5 points a game.
BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.
