GAME NOTES: The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs will try to stay atop the Conference USA standings as they invade The Super Pit to face the North Texas Mean Green on Thursday night.

Louisiana Tech picked up its sixth straight win and improved to 5-0 in league play last Saturday with a 75-68 victory over Middle Tennessee at home. The Bulldogs are currently tied with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for first place in C-USA. LaTech paces the conference in scoring offense with an average of 75.6 ppg. All five of the Bulldogs' 80-plus point outings this season have occurred on the road.

Louisiana Tech's offense is charged by the dynamic scoring duo of Raheem Appleby (17.5 ppg) and Alex Hamilton (16.3 ppg). Appleby has scored in double figures in all but one of the Bulldogs' games this season, and he ranks second in C-USA in scoring. Hamilton stole the show in Tech's win over Middle Tennessee, as the 6-foot-4 junior guard set a new school record with 20 made free throws in the seven-point win. Hamilton tied the previous record for free-throw attempts with 23 as he paced the Bulldogs with 30 points. Appleby added 18 points, while Kenneth Smith produced 10 assists and seven rebounds to help Louisiana Tech maintain its perfect league record. The 20 made free throws was not the only school record set in the game, as the Tech defense also set a new program record of its own with 13 blocked shots. Smith leads C- USA in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.91) and assists (7.4 apg). Senior big man Michale Kyser is ranked seventh nationally with 3.2 blocks per outing. His season tally of 58 rejections is just five behind the Mean Green's team total of 63.

The Bulldogs are 19-7 versus the Mean Green in the all-time series, including a 90-75 decision when the schools last met on Feb. 8, 2014.

North Texas will be hoping to snap its two-game losing streak, which was extended last Saturday with a 61-50 loss at Old Dominion. The Mean Green are tied with Florida Atlantic for next-to-last place in the C-USA standings with a 1-4 ledger. Although coach Tony Benford's squad is just 7-10 on the season, it has gone 6-4 at The Super Pit.

The Mean Green stayed close to the Monarchs in the early part of their last outing. However, ODU pulled away from a 16-16 tie with a 14-0 run and never let its lead slip below nine the rest of the way. UNT came up short despite a solid showing by senior guard Jordan Williams, who finished 8-of-17 from the field for 23 points. Junior guard Maurice Aniefiok hit on just 2-of-10 attempts from the floor for seven points in the setback. The lack of help for Williams has been a common theme for the Mean Green this season. Williams provides 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 steals per outing. Jeremy Combs is UNT's second-leading scorer at 9.2 ppg and leader on the glass with 6.1 rpg.

Williams is an all-conference caliber player. Unfortunately, the Mean Green are not a well-rounded unit and fail in comparison to the visitors. LaTech is an elite mid-major program, capable of competing with just about anyone in the country. The Bulldogs should have no problem rolling to victory this evening.

Sports Network Projected Outcome: Louisiana Tech 82, North Texas 69