GAME NOTES: An aggressive North Texas defense opens up Conference USA play on Friday evening when the Mean Green host the Miners of Texas-El Paso in the Super Pit.

As well as UNT has been playing on defense, with regard to field goal shooting percentage by opponents, the team is still just 6-6. The month of December was rather rough on the squad as it won only twice in six opportunities, and one of those was against a school called Langston.

North Texas closed out the 2014 portion of the schedule against Texas Tech earlier in the week with a 60-45 setback, its second in a row.

As for the Miners, they have come alive in the last three weeks with four wins in six chances. However, several of those victories came against questionable opponents (Incarnate Word, Southeastern Louisiana, Alcorn State), with the most recent victory being a slim 78-75 triumph over Kent State three days before Christmas.

As far as the all-time series is concerned between these two in-state rivals, the Miners own a 5-2 advantage overall and are 2-1 in Denton.

In a game that featured five ties and seven lead changes, the Miners were lucky to come away with the home win after they led by as many as 13 with under seven minutes remaining in regulation. Vince Hunter led five players in double figures with 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, followed by Cedrick Lang and Matt Willms with 12 points apiece. Also lending a hand in the close call were Earvin Morris and Julian Washburn with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Hunter is averaging a double-double for the Miners with team highs of 16.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per contest. In fact, he became the first player in more than five decades to start off a campaign with five straight double- doubles. Lang accounts for another 10.7 ppg and 5.7 rpg, second in both categories, for a unit that is outscoring opponents by 6.3 ppg.

The Mean Green came out on the short end of their meeting with Texas Tech, but the defense was still rather impressive for North Texas as it forced 19 turnovers and held the hosts to just 2-of-15 shooting behind the 3-point line. At the offensive end, the visitors were not nearly as potent as they finished with almost as many miscues (16) as field goals (18). The lone double-digit scorer for the group was Jordan Williams with 20 points as he made just 1-of-7 shots out on the perimeter.

One of only two players to have started every game, Williams is also the one person to be scoring in double digits with his 14.8 ppg. Also first on the unit with 30 assists and 20 steals, not to mention 5.2 rpg, Williams seems to be doing almost everything right, except for his woeful 29.3 percent shooting behind the 3-point line. As a unit, UNT is limiting foes to only 38.5 percent shooting from the field and 30.8 percent on the outside.

Having a strong defense is one thing, but if the Mean Green cannot supplement that effort with a measurable increase at the offensive end of the floor, they might be fighting an uphill battle.