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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - IUPUI fell into a huge early hole and was unable to climb back into the contest as North Texas rolled past the Jaguars, 80-66 in the third round of the NIT Season Tip-Off at John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus on Monday (Nov. 19). Sophomore Lyonell Gaines contributed his second career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.

Preseason All-American and Sun Belt Player of the Year Tony Mitchell led four North Texas (3-2) players in double-figures with 21 points and nine rebounds and Roger Franklin finished with a double-double of his own with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

"It's hard without Greg (Rice) and Ian (Chiles). That is taking its toll. (Greg) tried to go but was sick and just couldn't muster a sustained effort," head coach Todd Howard said. "When we get a healthy (Marcellus) Barksdale, Chiles and others, it'll give us a lift.

"We did a great job of cutting it back to eight or 10 today, but it was so physical that it made it hard to play through it. That was probably the most physical game we've been involved in this year and being short-handed worked against us. They're a good team and we kind of caught them at the wrong time."

IUPUI (2-3) started well, taking a quick 4-0 lead on buckets from Gibbs and Patton, but things quickly turned south for the Jaguars. North Texas' fast breaking offense answered with a 25-5 run, including 11 straight points to take an early 11-4 lead. Mitchell sparked the North Texas run with a two-handed dunk in transition and he later capped a possession in which the Mean Green had four shots at the basket, ending with his putback from in close.

Junior Donovan Gibbs temporarily stopped the bleeding with a three-point play along the baseline, but the Mean Green's lead swelled to to 25-9 with 8:33 left before halftime. IUPUI got back within 10 on a Gaines tip-in of a Mitchell Patton miss, but North Texas countered with back-to-back Jordan Williams threes to retake a 16-point lead. The Jaguars responded with a 7-0 run before going to the locker room down 41-31.

The second half started like the first as IUPUI opened with a bucket from Patton to make it an eight-point game, but North Texas countered with a 14-2 run to take a commanding 20-point lead.

IUPUI fired one final punch with an 8-0 burst punctuated by a John Hart steal and layup with 7:18 left, cutting the lead back to 65-52. After North Texas came up empty on its next offensive possession, the Jaguars had a pair of open three-point looks to cut the lead back to 10, but Hart misfired on both tries. The Mean Green landed the final haymaker with a 9-0 run before cruising to victory down the stretch.

Hart, Patton and #P.J. Hubert# all finished with 12 points and Gibbs closed with seven points and eight boards. Hart added four assists and a career-high four steals, but was just 4-of-14 from the floor as IUPUI shot a collective 37.5 percent from the field and 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from long range.

North Texas was an efficient 49.3 percent overall and 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from three in the win. The Mean Green also used an athleticism advantage to outrebound the Jaguars 43-37 and outscored IUPUI 44-34 in the paint. Jordan Williams finished with 13 points and hit all three of his three-point attempts and Jacob Holmen scored 12 off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting.

Gaines' 17-point effort came on the heels of having played a career-low five minutes in Saturday's loss to Bradley. The Louisville-native hit 7-of-9 shots and grabbed eight of his 12 boards off the offensive glass on Monday. Hubert's 12-point night was his most since scoring 15 in his IUPUI debut on Dec. 18, 2010.

"I loved the bench production today," Howard said. "We've needed that all year."

Monday's game was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

IUPUI will cap play in the NIT Season Tip-Off on Tuesday (Nov. 20) when the Jaguars play Lamar at John Paul Jones Arena at 4:30 p.m.. That contest can be heard on WNDE.com, IUPUIJags.com and on the free iHeartRadio app with pregame coverage beginning at 4:15 p.m..