DENTON, Texas — Furman played hard, as it did all season. North Texas played great defense, as was its reputation.

In the second half, the Paladins’ shots stopped falling with the same frequency, and the result was a 75-64 victory by the Mean Green, the Dallas Regional’s second seed, in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday night at the Super Pit.

The Mean Green, which improved to 25-8 overall and 16-1 at home this season, advanced to host No. 3 seed Arkansas State in second round action this weekend. The Paladins concluded their season at 25-10.

“This team defied the odds in a lot of ways,” said head coach Bob Richey.

One reason for such odds in Texas was the absence of the relentless Ben Vander Wal, who fell ill. Another was a rather lenient style of officiating. It wasn’t particularly one-sided. It wasn’t sided at all. The Mean Green played mean. The Paladins shot four free throws — and hit two — the whole game. UNT was 11/13.

Trailing 34-32 at the halftime break, the Mean Green opened the second half with a 13-2 run to take a 45-36 lead that they did not relinquish the rest of the way. Furman kept the deficit in single digits throughout the majority of the second half but could not get closer than three points.

Leading 63-58 with under five minutes to go, Wright answered Nick Anderson’s triple with one of his own to start a 10-1 run to give North Texas a 73-59 lead with less than a minute remaining.

North Texas shot .538 from the field, connected on 8/18 three-point attempts and converted 11/13 foul shots to outscore the Paladins by nine at the charity stripe. North Texas won in the NIT for the fourth straight year (and won it all in 2023).

Floyd poured in a game-high 19 points to go with six rebounds, and seven assists while Wright went 7-for-14 from the floor to finish with 18 points. Moulaye Sissoko added 11 points and six rebounds for the Mean Green.

 Eddrin Bronson came off the bench to go 6/6 from the field, including 3/3 behind the arc, to lead the Paladins with 15 points. Tom House, starting in place of Vander Wal), scored 13 points and Anderson added 12.

 Furman shot .481, but the Paladins, who started the game 5/9 from 3-point range, finished 10/30 beyond the arc. The Paladins managed a 26-24 edge in points in the paint.

Take a look at the stats here.

Marcus Foster, who transferred to Xavier after last season, came up big for the Musketeers in their 86-80 victory over Texas in the play-in round of the NCAA Tournament.

Foster, an Atlanta product who played four seasons for the Paladins, scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds. During the rest of the season, his averages were 7.6 and 4.8.

Another ex-Paladin with a chance to shine in the NCAA’s is Joe Anderson of Maryville, Tenn., two seasons removed from Timmons Arena, who led Lipscomb into the post-season with 23 points in the Nashville school’s 76-75 victory over North Alabama in the Atlantic Sun Conference finals.

The Bisons (25-9) take on Iowa State on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Furman’s Audrey Ryu is Southern Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week, her fourth such recognition this season. 

 Ryu shot rounds of 71 and 76 at the Valspar Augusta Invitational, finishing in a tie for 12th in the 77-player field.  The Paladin sophomore fired a team-high six birdies during the two rounds of play.  A native of Dublin, Ohio, Ryu helped lead the Paladins to a fourth-place team finish.  

The Paladins return to competition at the St. John’s Golf and Country Club for the Coach Mo Classic in St. Augustine, Fla., on March 31-April 1.

If I had two nickels to rub together right now, I’d have loaded the truck on Tuesday morning and set out for Denton, Texas.

However, if there is anything the past year has proved, it is that I am too old for such adventures.
Just as was the case for most of the season, I tuned in the Paladins on ESPN+ and was damned glad to get it.

For the second season in a row, Presbyterian is playing in the College Basketball Insider tournament in spite of its 14-18 record. That’s a record that may never be broken. Then college basketball in my world will have ended, though I did fill out a bracket this morning.
I feel as if the world has passed me, not to mention my abdomen, by. As much as it took a physical toll on me, I wouldn’t have missed Asheville for the Final Four. Chattanooga and Samford also made the NIT field. Only the Mocs remain alive.
Most of my books are available at Amazon and other online bookseller sites. The most recent, The Latter Days, is a baseball novel, which you may enjoy in part because, well, the Paladins no longer play it. If you’d like to sample my fiction, Longer Songs is a collection of short stories derived from songs I’ve written.
Thanks for putting up with me.