RUSTON – Louisiana Tech is set to play a pair of conference home games this week, starting on Thursday night against North Texas. The Bulldogs will play four of its last six league games inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Feb. 16 | 6 p.m. CT
Location: Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court (Ruston, La.)
TV/Stream: ESPN+
Talent: Lyn Rollins (pxp), Chris Mycoskie (analyst)
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats | LA Tech Athletics app
Radio: LA Tech Sports Network | LA Tech Athletics app
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (13-12, 6-8 C-USA)
With six conference games remaining, LA Tech is in a tie with WKU for seventh place (just one and a half games back of fourth).  The Bulldogs dropped both road games this past week, including a heartbreaking 90-85 overtime loss at league-leader Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
 
The Bulldogs managed to erase a 15-point deficit in the second half and force OT, but got outscored, 14-9, by the Owls in the extra frame.  It was the fourth overtime game of the season for the 'Dogs, tied for the most in C-USA.
 
Isaiah Crawford was a beast against the Owls, playing a career-high 41 minutes while tying his season high with 25 points (fifth game of 20+ points this season). He also an­chored the Bulldogs with a season-high nine rebounds to go along four steals and two assists.
 
The forward is second on the team in scoring at 13.0 points per game, shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc.  He also leads the lead in rebounding at 5.2 boards per contest.
 
Cobe Williams added 20 points in the loss to FAU, scoring 20+ points for the sixth time in the last eight games. He has scored 20+ points in 11 games this season, the fourth most in C-USA and the second most by a Bulldog in the last decade (Alex Ham­ilton did it 15 times in 2015-16).  He is averaging a team-best 18.8 points per game, which ranks fourth in the league.
 
ABOUT NORTH TEXAS (21-5, 12-3 C-USA)
North Texas is currently second in the confer­ence standings at 12-3, just two games back of first. The Mean Green are riding a six-game winning streak and are coming off one of their most dominant performances of the year, which was a 67-43 victory over Charlotte.
 
UNT sports one of the top defenses in the country. The Mean Green are allowing just 55.6 points per game, the second best scoring defense in the nation behind only Houston. They also rank first in the conference in field goal percentage defense (40.3) and three-point field goal percentage defense (31.0).
 
Offensively, UNT is led by point guard Tylor Perry who is averaging 17.3 points per game, which ranks fifth in C-USA. He is one of the best shooters in the league, ranking first in three-point field goal percentage (45.0) and third in free throw percentage (84.3).  North Texas' other two scoring threats are Kai Huntsberry (11.8 points per game) and Abou Ousmane (11.2 points per game).
 
THE SERIES
LA Tech leads the all-time series with North Texas, 28-16.  In the first meeting this season, the Bulldogs erased an 18-point deficit to tie things up with 18 seconds to go, but Kai Huntsberry sank a midrange jumper with four seconds later that proved to be the game winner in a 67-65 win.
 
Over the last five seasons, 12 of the 13 games played between LA Tech and North Texas have been decided by seven points or less (and six of the 13 have been decided by two points or less).
 
The two teams first played one another back in the early 50s and eventu­ally became league foes in the Southland Con­ference from 1982-87. They reunited as con­ference opponents when both schools joined Conference USA in 2013.
 
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