Mercer Set to Meet North Texas in CBI Quarterfinals Monday Night

Jordan Strawberry and Mercer travel to meet North Texas in the quarterfinals of the CBI this evening. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. at the Super Pit on the campus of North Texas

Mercer Set to Face North Texas in Second Round of CBI

Mercer was able to continue its 2018-19 season Wednesday night, with a 78-73 win at Grand Canyon and will now meet North Texas Monday night in the quarterfinal round of the College Basketball Invitational. North Texas posted a 90-77 win over South Dakota in its first-round matchup in the CBI.

The Bears enter Monday night’s clash with a 19-14 record this season, while the Mean Green have posted a 16-17 mark so far this season. Monday night’s game for the Mean Green will mark the first time North Texas has ever hosted a game in the college basketball postseason.

The Mean Green play as members of Conference USA, and have made three NCAA Tournament appearances in their history, with the last of those coming in 2010. Monday night’s meeting will mark the first-ever meeting between the two.

The Mean Green are under the direction of head coach Grant McCasland, who is in his first year as the head coach of North Texas. He helped lead the Mean Green to an 8-10 conference record this season, which was good enough for a seventh-place finish in the league standings.

McCasland is trying to lead North Texas to a winning season for the first time since the 2011-12 season, when the Mean Green finished the campaign with an 18-14 overall mark. The Mean Green’s highest RPI win so far this season came on the road in mid-December, posting an 86-83 win at No. 144 San Diego.

A win by the Bears Monday night would give the Southern Conference five team with 20 or more wins, which would be a Southern Conference record. Mercer finished in the top four of the Southern Conference regular-season standings, posting wins in their final eight games of the regular-season, finishing with an 11-7 record in conference play. The Bears come in having nine of their last 10 games, including a 78-73 road win in the opening round of the CBI against Grand Canyon.

All-time, Southern Conference teams are 6-8 in the CBI since College of Charleston made the inaugural appearance in the postseason tournament for the conference back in 2009. The Bears welcomed back leading scorer Ria’n Holland to the backcourt last time out against Grand Canyon, and the senior guard ended up as one of four Bears in double figures by posting 10 points.

Mercer is one of the veteran-most teams in the country, featuring three players that have scored 1,000 or more points in their respective careers. North Texas counters with a starting five that features two sophomores, two juniors and a freshman. After winning just eight games last season, a win Monday night would give the Mean Green a nine-game improvement, and would put North Texas at .500 for the season.

The Southern Conference is 1-2 against Conference USA this season, and the league’s participant in all three games this season was Chattanooga. The Mocs dropped decisions to Marshall (L, 70-66) and UAB (L,89-47), while the lone win came against Charlotte (W, 64-50). 

Mercer is making its eighth appearance in the college basketball postseason, and sixth under current veteran head coach Bob Hoffman. The Bears are 9-6 all-time in postseason games, including winning the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Who To Watch:

The Mean Green has proven time and time again that it can shoot the perimeter throughout Grant McCasland's first season as head coach, and their 14 triples against South Dakota last Wednesday night broke the school record for single-season three-pointers made, having now made 264 threes this season.

North Texas enters the matchup with a relatively young lineup, which as mentioned above, with a relatively young starting five, as the lineup does not feature a senior. Interestingly enough, last time out against South Dakota, two Mean Green players garnered their first-ever starts, as junior guards Jorden Duffy (6.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 0.9 APG) and Michael Miller (2.6 PPG, 1.9 RPG) made their debuts in the starting five. Both juniors are JUCO transfers, and Duffy scored a career-high 19 points in the win to go with seven boards. Duffy also finished going 3-for-6 from downtown. 

Miller also added a career-high 19 points in the win over South Dakota. His 19 points were more than the 18 he scored in his previous 10 games combined. Miller switched his shooting hand from left to right hand during the regular season, and it equaled a 19-point performance, including hitting four triples. 

Leading the way for the Mean Green entering Monday night’s clash with the Bears is sophomore guard Roosevelt Smart (19.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG). Smart comes into the game against the Bears having posted a 34-point performance in the win at South Dakota the last time out.His 34-point effort in the win last time out marked the fourth-highest scoring total for a player in CBI history. 

Smart will represent one of the best scoring guards and one of the most versatile guards the Bears have faced on the hardwood this season. In a game in early January against Rice this season, Smart became the 14th player in the history of North Texas hoops to cross the 40-point threshold, posting 42 points in an 85-78 win in Houston over the Owls. 

The fourth guard in the North Texas starting rotation also just happens to be the Mean Green's second-leading scorer, with Ryan Woolridge (13.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.6 APG). Woolridge is the Mean Green's playmaker on offense, having dished out nine assists in the CBI-opening win over South Dakota. 

The man in the low-post for the Mean Green Monday evening will be 6-9 freshman forward Zachary Simmons (5.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG). Simmons, who made his second-straight start against South Dakota, brought down 17 rebounds in the win at South Dakota. He has a 63.7% (79-of-124) field goal percentage this season, and has started 24-of-32 games for the Mean Green. 

The main player to keep an eye on coming off the bench for North Texas is 6-5 sophomore guard A.J. Lawson (9.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG), who has started 30-of-32 games this season, and has scored in double figures in four out of the past five games. 

The Bears counter with five senior veterans that look will look to carry the Bears one step closer to a second postseason tournament trophy since 2012. 

The Bears have experience and a talented backcourt, which will both present challenges to the Mean Green Monday night. Jordan Strawberry (11.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 5.0 APG) has been playing as well as any guard in the Southern Conference over the past month of the season, having to pick up some of the scoring slack for Ria'n Holland (18.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG), who missed the entire final month of the season with a wrist injury. 

The good news for the Bears is that Holland will be back Monday night and should be as good or even better than he was in his first game back against Grand Canyon last Wednesday night. His quickness and scoring ability only enhances the talented Mercer backcourt. 

Holland may not be in the starting lineup tonight, due to so much missed action over the past several weeks, however, he will inject even more scoring into the offense whether he comes off the bench or is in the starting five. Strawberry's 492-career assists rank him third in school history in that particular category. 

In Holland's absence, another player that has come on and really performed is sophomore sharp-shooting guard Ross Cummings (8.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG). Cummings enters the matchup as one of Mercer's top perimeter shooters this season, having connected on 54-of-124 (43.5%) from three-point range this season, and has scored in double figures in 10 of the past 12 games for the Bears, including tying for team-high honors the last time out, as he posted 21 points in the win over Grand Canyon. He scored a career-high 22 points earlier this season against Wofford.

Off the bench, keep an eye on freshman guard Marcus Cohen (5.9 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 83 asts), who has excelled season and at times, has shown maturity beyond his years. 

Demetre Rivers (11.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG) is Mercer's third-leading scorer and maybe its most versatile overall talent, possessing the ball-handling ability and athleticism of a guard, while his 6-8 frame allows him to go in the paint, post-up, and create shots for himself as a forward. He is Mercer's best athlete, and his inside-outside ability makes him a difficult matchup. Rivers is connected on a team-best 89.7% from the charity stripe this season. 

Seniors Stephon Jelks (9.7 PPG, 7.3 RPG) and Desmond Ringer (9.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG) will occupy the paint and low-post scoring for the Bears. Jelks is versatile, in that he can also step out and hit the outside shot, but he has been one of the best rebounders and overall individual players in the SoCon over the past three seasons. He has hit 44 triples this season, while connecting on 45.4% of his downtown shots on the season. He is one of five Bears that has hit at least 42 triples this season. Jelks ranks second in the SoCon to only UNCG's James Dickey in rebounding this season. 

Ringer rounds out the starting five for the Bears. He is playing some of the best basketball of his career, including tying a career-high with 22 points in a loss earlier this season at Furman. 

Who Wins: Mercer 71, North Texas 66