North Texas Wins NIT Title and Fans Want Respect for C-USA CBB with FAU in Final Four

The all-Conference USA NIT championship game went in favor of North Texas, as the Mean Green earned a 68-61 win over UAB on Thursday night.

This marks the first postseason basketball title for the North Texas men's program since the 2018 College Basketball Invitational.

Conference USA is having an incredible run of postseason success right now. Charlotte defeated Eastern Kentucky last week in the CBI championship game. Florida Atlantic will play on an even bigger stage when it faces San Diego State in the Final Four at NRG Stadium on Saturday.

Overall, C-USA is 18-2 in postseason play this season, and one of the two losses was a championship game between conference opponents.

Fans and analysts are showing respect to Conference USA for this recent run of success:

Kai Huntsberry and Tylor Perry did most of the heavy lifting for North Texas in Thursday's win. Huntsberry scored 21 points, including 14 in the first half, and did a terrific job as the primary defender on UAB leading scorer Jordan Walker.

Walker, who ranked fifth in the nation with 22.3 points per game, went just 6-of-14 from the field and committed five turnovers.

Perry scored 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting and had five steals. He scored at least 20 points in four of five games in the NIT.

UAB opened the second half on a 22-8 run to take a four-point lead with 10:44 left to play. Huntsberry and Perry scored on consecutive possessions to put North Texas back on top.

Perry's three pointer with 6:22 remaining gave the Mean Green a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

North Texas' 31 wins represent a new program-best—and by a wide margin. The previous record of 25 was set by the 2021-22 team. Head coach Grant McCasland is 56-14 over the past two seasons.