Monthly Archives: December 2024

What happened to homecourt advantage in AAC women’s basketball openers?

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners women seemingly have everything going their way right now — a 10-2 record, a win on the road in their American Athletic Conference opener. Also, a home game looms Wednesday night, with a chance to get out of the gates at 2-0 in the AAC race.

With all that being said, if the Roadrunners dig into the details of games played on opening weekend in the conference, they might take note of a curious development. Namely, the lack of any noticeable homecourt advantage anywhere.

Five of six visiting teams in The American came away with road victories on Sunday afternoon. Of course, one of the visiting teams was UTSA, which clobbered the Charlotte 49ers with a 17-3 run in the opening minutes and then went on to claim a 64-50 victory.

Also of note, the UAB Blazers emerged as one of the humbled homecourt losers. The Temple Owls rolled past the Blazers, 97-74, in Birmingham. So, what happens Wednesday when the 9-4 Blazers visit San Antonio and the Convocation Center, where the Roadrunners are 4-0 at home this season?

Will the homecourt matter all that much, on New Year’s night, with students still on holiday break? Or, will the Roadrunners need to plan on generating most of the energy on their own after the 6:30 p.m. tipoff, no matter how many fans are in the stands?

Asked about the results of Sunday’s games on a Monday morning zoom call, UTSA coach Karen Aston said they speak to the depth and the quality of talent in the conference.

“Honestly, I don’t think there’s a bad team (in the AAC),” Aston said. “The parity is across the board. I don’t think it’s necessarily going to matter whether you are at home or on the road.

“You’d like to think it does. You’d like to think your crowds give you some momentum, and you get to sleep in your own bed, and all of that.

“But, from a talent perspective, across the board, I don’t think there’s a lot of difference. You’re going to have to bring it every night.”

Trying to stay on an even keel throughout the season will be important, the coach said, noting, “You know, not getting too high or too low, is the good and the bad of it.”

The Blazers are not the same ball club that won 18 games and reached the first round of the WNIT in 2023-24. Their top two players from last season moved on to power conference programs via the transfer portal, Denim Deshields to Mississippi State and Mia Moore to Clemson.

But they do have a talented squad. Forward Jade Weathersby leads the AAC in rebounding. Guard Maddie Walsh and forward Sarah Bershers rank among the AAC’s top 3-point shooters. Point guard Journey Armstead is third in the conference in assists.

In addition, the Roadrunners only had one day to practice for a team that runs a different offense than what they faced Sunday in Charlotte against the 49ers. The Blazers like to shoot from deep, hitting an average of 9.8 from behind the arc.

“They hunt 3-point shots every trip down the floor,” Aston said. “They’re hunting paint touches and threes, which is considerably different than the style that Charlotte played, so we have to switch gears pretty quickly.”

Sunday’s results

South Florida wins at Rice, 74-64
North Texas wins at Wichita State, 62-56
Tulane wins at FAU, 91-71
UTSA wins at Charlotte, 64-50
Temple wins at UAB, 97-74
Tulsa wins at home, beating East Carolina, 93-84

Wednesday’s games

Rice at Tulane, 2 p.m.
East Carolina at Temple, 3 p.m.
Wichita State at Memphis, 3 p.m.
Tulsa at North Texas, 4 p.m.
Charlotte at South Florida, 6 p.m.
UAB at UTSA, 6:30 p.m.

Notable

The Roadrunners are looking for their first 2-0 start in league play since the 2009-10 team won its first three in the Southland Conference. UTSA has won its first four games at home this season and seven in a row overall dating back to last season.

The Roadrunners have the second-best record in school history after 12 games. In 1985-86, the sixth year of the program, they started 11-1 before losing their next two. They finished the season 18-9.

UTSA leads the conference in both scoring defense (54.8) and field goal percentage allowed (36.0). Over the team’s last five games, the Roadrunners have been particularly stingy, holding opponents to an average of 52.6 points on 31.5 percent from the field.

Men’s college basketball: Army holds on to defeat UTSA, 78-75

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Boosted by 27 points from Jalen Rucker, the Army Black Knights held on to win in the final minute Sunday afternoon, snapping the UTSA Roadrunners’ three-game winning streak, 78-75, in non-conference play at West Point, N.Y.

“Give them a ton of credit,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said on the team’s radio broadcast. “Jalen Rucker’s obviously a heck of a player and played well … Just not our best effort today.”

At the end, the Roadrunners threw a scare into the Black Knights, who led by 15 early in the second half.

For UTSA, Primo Spears scored on a drive off an assist from Raekwon Horton with 36.6 seconds left. The bucket trimmed Army’s lead to four.

Trying to advance the ball, the Black Knights turned it over, but the Roadrunners also committed an error, throwing it away themselves.

From there, the game turned essentially into a tactical battle of free-throw shooters. Ryan Curry hit two for the Black Knights, and then Spears knocked down a pair for the Roadrunners with 14.3 seconds left.

After Curry hit another two, Army had a 78-72 lead with 13 seconds to go. But the game was hardly secure, and UTSA’s Tai’Reon Joseph made it interesting, knocking down a three from the corner.

Up 78-75 at that point, Army inbounded to Curry, its best free-throw shooter. But he missed the front end of a one and one with 4.9 seconds left, giving the Roadrunners another shot.

Marcus Millender advanced the ball full court on the dribble and positioned himself for an open look to tie, only to see his shot glance off the side of the rim.

Records

UTSA 6-6
Army 6-6

Coming up

x-UTSA at Tulane, Jan. 4, 5 p.m.
x-American Athletic Conference opener

Individuals

UTSA – Primo Spears had 22 points and nine rebounds. Tai’Reon Joseph added 16 off the bench. Raekwon Horton contributed 15 and seven boards.

Army – Jalen Rucker scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. He knocked down five 3-pointers. Ryan Curry had 15 points and AJ Allenspach 12.

Notable

UTSA was missing two big men, with starting center Mo Njie and forward Jaquan Scott not playing. Scott has been away from the team for a few weeks and has missed four games in a row.

Njie has played in 10 games, including UTSA’s two recent wins over the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and one over the non-Division I Southwestern Adventist Knights. The win over Southwestern Adventist came on Dec. 19, the Roadrunners’ last game before the break.

UTSA women beat Charlotte 64-50 to win AAC opener

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Stepping up with their defense and playing the passing lanes, the UTSA women won an American Athletic Conference opener Sunday afternoon, coming away with a 64-50 road victory against the Charlotte 49ers.

“Any win on the road in conference play is tough,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said on the team’s radio broadcast. “I especially think the first game … there’s a lot of nerves. I think we’ll play better as conference play rolls along.”

UTSA held Charlotte to 29.4 percent shooting from the field and forced 25 turnovers in claiming its seventh victory of the season by a double-digit margin.

Forward Jordyn Jenkins scored 18 for the Roadrunners, who improved to 10-2. Sidney Love and Maya Linton scored 11 points apiece and Nina De Leon Negron added 10.

On the boards, Linton and Idara Udon prevailed. Linton snared nine and Udo eight.

For the 49ers, who fell to 5-7, guard Haleigh Breland led the way with 21 points and Alexis Andrews had 11. UTSA held everyone else to single digits.

First half

Jordyn Jenkins scored nine points, and UTSA drilled five 3-point baskets to take a 34-21 lead on Charlotte at intermission.

UTSA entered the game with its best non-conference record and came out firing, nailing seven of its first eight shot attempts.

A 3-pointer by Linton and a steal and fast-break layup by De Leon Negron pushed the Roadrunners into a 17-3 lead with 6:02 left in the first quarter.

The 49ers never got closer than eight for the remainder of the half.

Defensively, the Roadrunners showed off the prowess that makes them No. 1 in the AAC in that category. They limited the 49ers to six of 31 shooting over the first two quarters for 19.4 percent. Breland led the 49ers with 11 points.

Records

UTSA 10-2
Charlotte 5-7

Coming up

UAB at UTSA, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

UTSA women open play today in the AAC at Charlotte

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After losing only twice in the first few months of the season, UTSA women open conference play today on the road against the Charlotte 49ers.

The Roadrunners (9-2) will carry high hopes of making an American Athletic Conference championship run into a meeting with the 49ers (5-6) at 1 p.m. at Halton Arena.

Blessed with a dynamic scoring threat in forward Jordyn Jenkins, quality guard play and a defense yielding only 55 points per game, UTSA has won six times by double-digit margins.

The Roadrunners have had a week off since routing Texas State, 70-54, in San Marcos on Dec. 21. On that same day, the 49ers also played on the road and lost by 27 at Davidson.

In falling 82-55, Charlotte failed to score 60 for the eighth time this season.

Playing under the guidance of new coach Tomekia Reed, the 49ers’ best hope today might be in controlling the pace and locking down on the defensive end, where they’re holding opponents to 64.2 points.

Charlotte has won three games this year during which it has limited opponents to fewer than 50 points. The 49ers won at Mercer on Dec. 5 by 43-42. They did it again at home on Dec. 16 when they beat Winthrop, 55-47.

Jackson State transfer Hayleigh Breland leads Charlotte, averaging 11.9 points and 5.2 rebounds. Forward Keanna Rembert, who averages 9.9. points and 6.0, was one of the players who faced the Roadrunners last year in San Antonio.

Rembert played 37 minutes and scored 10 points as the Roadrunners downed the 49ers 81-80 in double overtime.

Records

UTSA 9-2
Charlotte 5-6

Coming up

UAB at UTSA, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

Notable

Both the UTSA women and men will play today for the first time since the holiday break, and both are on the road.

The men (6-5) will take on the Army Black Knights (5-6) at West Point, N.Y. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. It’s the last non-conference game for the Roadrunners before they open AAC play on Jan. 4 at Tulane. Tai’Reon Joseph, Raekwon Horton and Marcus Millender are expected to play.

Joseph and Horton sat out UTSA’s last game, on Dec. 19, against Southwestern Adventist. Millender exited the game in the first half with an injury.

After a phoned-in pep talk from Jeff Traylor, the UTSA women rout Texas State

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

SAN MARCOS – As the UTSA women’s basketball team bus rolled north-bound on Interstate 35 Saturday morning, Coach Karen Aston’s phone rang. It was Roadrunners football coach Jeff Traylor, who had something to say.

On speaker phone, the message came through loud and clear. “He said we have to beat Texas State by 39 because that’s how much they lost by,” UTSA guard Sidney Love recalled.

The Roadrunners’ women couldn’t quite erase the sting of the football team’s 49-10 loss to the Bobcats in September, nor could they quite win by 39, but they made an emphatic statement nevertheless that they’re ready for all comers in the American Athletic Conference.

Closing out their non-conference schedule, the defense-minded Roadrunners blew the game open in the second quarter and built leads as large as 23 points in the second half, before they ran off the floor at Strahan Arena with a 70-54 victory.

With their first win over the Bobcats since 2016, the Roadrunners improved to 9-2 going into next week’s AAC opener at Charlotte. The win-loss record is the best in school history going into conference play. Moreover, six of their victories have come by double digits.

“We’ve got our foot on the gas and we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon,” Love said. “We just have our eye on the prize. We have our eye on the main goal, which is to become a championship team.”

Jordyn Jenkins led a balanced attack by producing 17 points to lead the Roadrunners, who shot 49.1 percent from the floor and had 11 players hit the scoring column. Love added 15 points and Cheyenne Rowe had 10 off the bench as UTSA improved to 5-2 away from home and 3-2 on the road.

Point guard Nina De Leon Negron contributed nine points, eight assists and six rebounds. A graduate transfer from Incarnate, she also had five steals.

The Bobcats entered the game on a four-game winning streak, but they couldn’t get much going offensively, shooting 34.6 percent. The Bobcats committed 21 turnovers in the face of a pressing and trapping defense by the Roadrunners.

For most of the game, UTSA players just looked more alive, more energized. It was particularly evident in the second quarter, when they outscored the Bobcats 27-12 en route to a 39-20 lead. Jenkins said the motivation stemmed partly from recent history in the I-35 rivalry.

“We haven’t beat Texas State in the last two years that we’ve been here, and I think it’s been even longer,” she said. “So, we knew that we had to come out here and punch ’em in the face. So, it worked out.”

Texas State, in fact, had won the last six meetings and eight of the last nine. UTSA hadn’t won in the series since a 2016 game in San Antonio. UTSA hadn’t won a game in San Marcos since 2013. For most of the afternoon, the Roadrunners played with pace that the Bobcats’ couldn’t match.

“I just think our kids like to play up-tempo,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “I think this game, particularly, we had a lot of good energy off the bench. I thought people came off the bench and added energy, enthusiasm … It wasn’t always pretty, but I thought the kids played with a lot of juice today.”

First half

The Roadrunners employed defensive pressure to create several easy baskets en route to a dominant second quarter and a 39-20 lead on the Bobcats.

Playing on the Bobcats’ home court, the Roadrunners led by four points after one low-scoring quarter, and then exploded out of the gates with 13 unanswered points to start the second.

Jenkins started it off by hitting a three-pointer, then made a steal guarding an inbounds pass and scored five points overall in the run, which lifted the Roadrunners into a 25-8 lead.

Freshman guard Damara Allen also made her mark, scoring four points in the streak, one on a fast-break layup and another on a jumper, also at the end of a breakout.

After Jaylin Foster scored inside for the Bobcats, the Roadrunners scored eight more unanswered, including four by Sidney Love and four more by Cheyenne Rowe.

As Rowe deftly sank a left-hander on a post move, UTSA had its largest lead of the half at 33-12.

In all, UTSA’s defense made four steals and created six Texas State turnovers in the period. On the other end, the Roadrunners hit 11 of 19 shots from the field for 57.9 percent.

It was easily one of the better quarters of the season for the Roadrunners, who open AAC play at Charlotte on Dec. 29. The team’s AAC home opener is on Jan. 1 against the UAB Blazers.

Records

UTSA 9-2
Texas State 6-4

Coming up

UTSA at Charlotte, Dec. 29, 1 p.m.
UAB at UTSA, Jan. 1, 6:30 p.m.

Notable

Kansas State transfer Ja’Mia Harris led the Bobcats in scoring with 10 points on four of seven shooting from the field. Takeira Ramey contributed nine points and four assists. Western Kentucky transfer Jaylin Foster, Texas State’s leading scorer, had a tough day by hitting only one of nine from the floor. The former standout from San Antonio-area Steele High School finished with six points. Incarnate Word transfer Destiny Terrell, another weapon for the Bobcats, finished with two points and eight rebounds.

Women’s basketball: UTSA faces a road test at I-35 rival Texas State

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UTSA players warm up in Strahan Arena in preparation for a noon tipoff against the Texas State Bobcats. – Photo by Jerry Briggs

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

SAN MARCOS — The UTSA women’s basketball team is 8-2 this season leading into Saturday’s date with the Texas State Bobcats. If the Roadrunners can win in Strahan Arena, the Roadrunners would take the best record in school history into conference play when they open on the road in The American next week at Charlotte.

Even though UTSA might have its best team in years, with premium guard play, quality depth and a prominent inside scoring threat in Jordyn Jenkins, the task might not be an easy one.

Texas State has won six straight in the series against UTSA, including a 3-0 record against Roadrunners coach Karen Aston. UTSA hasn’t won a game in the Interstate 35 rivalry series since 2016 and hasn’t won in San Marcos since 2013.

Additionally, the Bobcats are 6-3 and playing well, having won four in a row. In their last outing, they traveled to meet the the University of Denver last Sunday, downing the Pioneers 63-60. Kansas State transfer Ja’Mia Harris, a 5-11 sophomore, led the way with 16 points.

During the winning streak, the Bobcats have won at UT-Rio Grande Valley and Tarleton State, at home against the University of Texas at Dallas and then on the road again at Denver.

Forward Jaylin Foster, who played in high school at Cibolo Steele in the San Antonio area, leads the Bobcats, averaging 10.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals. Guard Destiny Terrell, a transfer from Incarnate Word, averages 8.8 and 5.9 rebounds. Harris is averaging 8.6 points and Morgan Hill 8.2

UTSA is coming to the end of a busy week. Traveling to the West Coast last weekend, the Roadrunners played well against an NCAA-caliber team in Stanford and lost, 62-57. UTSA returned home for a few days of practice and then downed UT Arlington, 76-61, on Thursday afternoon.

Coming up

UTSA at Texas State, Saturday, noon

Records

UTSA 8-2
Texas State 6-3

Notable

Texas State coach Zenarae Antoine, in her 14th year at Texas State, is 9-5 against UTSA. Last year, the Bobcats came into San Antonio and rallied late to tie the score in regulation, before knocking off the Roadrunners, 65-57, in overtime. Jenkins, UTSA’s best player, wasn’t available to play as she was in the midst of rehabilitation from knee surgery. Two years ago in San Marcos, Jenkins had a big game, producing 18 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. But a second-half rally propelled Texas State to a 60-55 victory.

Aston’s Roadrunners have soared into the top 60 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. They’re No. 55 as of Saturday morning. The Roadrunners have scored five double-digit victories, with their only losses in single digits on the road in power-conference settings, at Texas A&M and Stanford. Defense is UTSA’s calling card, as the Roadrunners are holding teams to 36.8 percent shooting. They’re also outscoring opponents by 13.8 points and outrebounding them by 11.6.

Jenkins is averaging 19.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.5 steal. She’s also averaging 1.3 blocks. The guard tandem of Sidney Love and Nina De Leon Negron is clicking. Coming off a 21-point game, Love is averaging 10.7 points, 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals. De Leon Negron, in her first year with the team, is humming with 9.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists.

LJ Brown brings his father to tears in UTSA’s 117-58 victory over Southwestern Adventist

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Former UTSA great Devin Brown (left) was on the television broadcast Thursday when his son, LJ Brown, made his debut for the Roadrunners. – Photo by Jerry Briggs

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Emotions flowed freely toward the end of UTSA’s 117-58 blowout victory Thursday over the Southwestern Adventist Knights, with much of the happiness generated by a walk-on guard by the name of LJ Brown, who made his debut for the Roadrunners a memorable one.

With 7:33 left in the game, Brown saw a lane open up and took it to the basket for a layup, his first field goal in a UTSA uniform.

After he hit it, players on the UTSA bench jumped up and cheered, with one, Primo Spears, running onto the floor to offer a hearty chest bump.

Meanwhile, at press row, Brown’s father was in tears. Former UTSA great Devin Brown, who was on the television broadcast as a color commentator, talked about the moment later, his eyes reddening as he was asked about his son’s first bucket as a Roadrunner.

“Well, you know, you prepare yourself for moments like that,” Devin Brown said. “But when it actually happened, obviously I was live on the broadcast, and I lost it. I started crying. Just very happy for him.”

The Roadrunners toyed with a non-NCAA Division I opponent for the first minutes Thursday and then turned it to win in a blowout for their third straight victory.

With the win, UTSA improved to 5-2 in their last seven games and to 6-5 on the season.

Byron Fields knocked down two free throws with 15 minutes left in the first half to bring the Knights to within 17-9 of the Roadrunners, who play in the Division I American Athletic Conference.

After that, the first game of a holiday basketball doubleheader at the Convocation Center turned into a runaway, with UTSA coach Austin Claunch emptying his bench.

The crowd became energized at the end by a few dunks from 6-9 forward Jonnivius Smith and also the debut of Brown, whose father Devin reached the NBA after a college career at UTSA. Devin Brown, one of the program’s leading scorers, paced the Roadrunners to the NCAA tournament in 1999.

LJ Brown, who attended Johnson High School in San Antonio, played 9 minutes and 51 seconds at the end of the game against the Knights. He scored five points on two of seven shooting from the field.

“Felt really good,” Brown said, who knew before-hand that there was a chance he could play. “Felt really good getting out there. Emotions were high, but they were easy to control.”

Southwestern Adventist, from Keene, Tex., in the Fort Worth area, plays in the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association.

The UTSA women were scheduled to play the second game of the double dip later Thursday afternoon against the UT Arlington Mavericks.

Damari Monsanto led the UTSA men with 22 points. He hit six of 12 from 3-point distance, his fifth game of the year four or more makes from beyond the arc. Skylar Wicks had 20 points and eight rebounds Wicks was four of seven from three. Meanwhile, Primo Spears, one of the nation’s leading scorers, contributed 16 points in 25 minutes. Smith finished with 13 points, 17 rebounds and three steals.

Orlando Goodwin and Domonique Wilkins scored 19 points apiece to pace the Knights.

First half

UTSA played without regular rotation players Raekwon Horton and Tai’Reon Joseph, who were both on the bench but did not get into the game. Starting guard Marcus Millender left the court with 14:27 remaining in the half with what looked like an ankle injury. He didn’t return in the half. Damari Monsanto led the Roadrunners with 16 points by hitting six of 11 from the field and four of eight from three-point territory. UTSA led 61-24 at intermission.

Notable

The game was an exhibition for Southwestern Adventist, from Keene, Tex., in the Fort Worth area. The Knights play in the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association. Southwestern was playing back-to-back games. On Wednesday, they lost 117-63 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Records

Southwestern Adventist 1-8
UTSA 6-5

Coming up

UTSA at Army, Dec. 29
x-UTSA at Tulane, Jan. 4
x-AAC opener

UTSA women beat UT Arlington and move to 8-2 on the season

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-Video courtesy of UTSA athletics, via ESPN+

Editor’s note: UTSA Roadrunners guard Sidney Love drills a 3-point shot off a sweet step-back move in the second quarter to cap what is described as a ‘helter-skelter’ possession. Upon review, it looks as if UTSA nearly turned it over three times before Love hit one of her three 3-pointers against the UT Arlington Mavericks.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Guard Sidney Love got knocked down a few times, but she always seemed to get back up and make a play. Love produced 21 points and four assists Thursday afternoon, leading the UTSA Roadrunners to a 76-61 victory over the UT Arlington Mavericks.

Jordyn Jenkins scored 14 points and Idara Udo 10 as the Roadrunners bounced back from Monday’s loss at Stanford and improved to 8-2 on the season, including 4-0 at home. It is the first 8-2 start for the UTSA women since the 1997-98 season.

To cap a busy week, the Roadrunners will play Saturday in San Marcos against the Texas State Bobcats. It’ll be their final non-conference game before starting play in The American on Dec. 29 at Charlotte.

Love, a junior from San Antonio-area Steele High School, put on a master-class performance against the Mavericks.

She hit eight of 10 shots from the field and hit three of three from 3-point range. Despite pressure from the UT Arlington defenders, Love made only one turnover.

Koi Love (no relation to Sidney) led the Mavericks with 17 points and seven rebounds.

First half

For Sidney Love, the first half was an adventure.

Not only did she have 12 points to lead the Roadrunners, she also had four assists and a hand in one crazy play early in the second quarter. Skidding on the floor after she was bumped off balance, she gained control and then fired — still on her side — a cross court pass through traffic.

At that point, the Roadrunners tossed another pass high over the defense and into the corner, where it was saved from going out of bounds. The ball ended up in Love’s hands near the top of the arc, where she lined up a three and drilled it.

Records

UT Arlington 4-6
UTSA 8-2

Coming up

UTSA at Texas State, Saturday, noon
x-UTSA at Charlotte, Dec. 29, 1 p.m.
x-American Athletic Conference opener

Notable

Sophomore guard Aysia Proctor made her regular-season debut for the Roadrunners against the Mavericks. Playing point guard, she had two assists and a turnover in eight minutes. Proctor, a starter at shooting guard last season, took two shots and missed both. Before the start of the season, she stepped away from the team to deal with what Coach Karen Aston described as “off-court challenges.”

UTSA coaches applaud groundbreaking on basketball-volleyball training center

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Karen Aston. UTSA beat Northern Colorado 80-62 in the first round of the WNIT on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston likes the idea that her players will be able to work out at any time in the school’s new basketball-volleyball training center. Officials say the facility is expected to be completed by mid- to late-2026. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Editor’s note: The UTSA men’s basketball team will take on the Southwestern Adventist Knights Thursday at noon in the first of two games at the Convocation Center. The women will host UT Arlington at 4.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Seated behind her desk last July, UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston welcomed a reporter into her office and waited for the interview to begin. Right off the bat, she was asked if she had been talking to her players and recruits about the prospects of a new, on-campus training base.

After all, the final details on construction of a proposed practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball seemed all but certain to come together by the end of the year. Aston, however, delivered a carefully measured reply.

“In the business we’re in now, you’re living in the moment,” UTSA’s fourth-year coach told The JB Replay at the time. “What you have (in terms of infrastructure), is what you have to focus on, just because of the ever-changing climate. So I think that as much as I want to sell the (new) practice facility to the recruits and all of that, the reality is, we’re just living in the moment.

“What we have, is what we need to do the best with. So, that’s kind of been my mindset. You want to stay in the moment and make the most of it. When that ground breaks, I think that’s when you can really start getting excited with your current players.”

That magical day for Aston arrived Wednesday when school officials, boosters and civic leaders gathered on the west end of the UTSA campus to cheer the start of construction on a complex that could very well alter the trajectory of basketball and volleyball at the school.

UTSA’s newest major facility for athletics is a $35 million project.

By the time it’s completed in 2026, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball will have a new home base, a structure measuring 53,000 square feet, complete with two practice courts, locker rooms, a team lounge for each of the three programs, a weight room, athletic training with hydrotherapy, meeting rooms and coaches’ offices.

Teams will continue to play games in the Convocation Center, but coaches are thrilled with the prospect of a more expansive setup for practices, with all the amenities on the premises.

“I think we’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Aston told reporters, “so it’s something I knew when I came here, and everybody that’s part of our athletic program knows, that this is a long time coming, and if you want the game to change for the basketball and volleyball programs, this has to be a piece of that.”

“I’m excited, for sure, but also appreciative of the people that gave the donations that allowed us to get this off the ground, (of) the commitment from the president (of the university, Taylor Eighmy) and (athletic director) Lisa (Campos). I think, all around, it’s a great day.”

A trio of coaches — Aston, men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch and volleyball coach Carol Price-Torok — met with the media after the groundbreaking and offered their views on how the facility could impact their programs and day-to-day operations.

Basketball and volleyball games will continue to be played at the Convocation Center, just as they have since the 1981-82 season, but the lives of the athletes wearing UTSA jerseys will be changed. Coaches believe that their daily routines will be more conducive to high-level performance.

“I think it’s just gym time, to be honest with you,” Aston said. “If you’re trying to play at a high level, you recruit players that want to play at a high level, and the ones that (do) will be in the gym. They want 24-hour access. They’re different than we are. They want to take a nap, wake up at midnight and go shoot.”

With the new facility, it’ll all be possible for young and restless athletes willing to put in the time.

“(Athletes) want to be able to get in the gym any time, get in the weight room,” Aston said. “I just think amenities are fantastic. They make you feel like you’re headed in the right direction as far as having a respected basketball program. But, bottom line, it’s the gym time.”

Claunch said on a zoom call earlier this week that the facility promises to affect the athletes’ daily lives in many ways. Having a weight room in the same building as the practice court. Having a team room to watch film.

The practice facility, he said, “is something that’s going to affect our student athletes every single day. Daily deposits to help them improve physically, mentally, and that’s … obviously, it’s a game changer.”

Claunch signed two players in the early period last month, guard Dorian Hayes from the Houston area and forward Kaidon Rayfield from Oklahoma City. He said he talked to both of them about the benefits that they would get from the new facility during their careers at UTSA.

“Absolutely,” Claunch said. “Obviously Dorian and Kaidon are fired up about what we’re doing, but also, when you’re talking about what they’re going to have in their sophomore year, I mean, that’s going to help their player development, it just makes their entire experience here easier and better and help them win more games.

“Quite, frankly it’s going to help us. It’s going to translate to more wins, you know, just in a lot of different ways.”

For the past 40-something years, all three UTSA teams have played and practiced in the Convocation Center. Currently, volleyball season starts in the late August and runs through mid-November. Basketball season starts the first week of November and runs through the first of March, generally.

Practices for all three sports are ongoing for most of the year, restricting teams to certain times of day without much wiggle room to re-schedule.

“Right now, we’re practicing in the morning, which is great, and we can make it work,” Price-Torok said. “But if we want to sleep in until 9 and then go from 9 to 12 (noon), we can’t. Because you’re in somebody else’s practice time. So, I think it gives us the freedom to make some of those changes … and give those players the time that they need.”

Price-Torok also talked about how the move should ease some of the burden of trainers, who currently move between the RACE building and the Convocation Center, which is about a five-minute walk across campus.

“For them to be housed in one location … it’s just going to be game-changing for them,” the coach said. “The time that our trainers spend every single day, to spread people out, because we’re all sharing this big training room … to be able to go in here (into the new facility) and make her time demand and her job a little bit easier, (it) will help us keep trainers longer (and improve) their quality of life.”

Milestone achievement: UTSA breaks ground on a basketball-volleyball training center

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Calling it “an awesome, celebratory day,” UTSA officials realized another goal in facilities development Wednesday morning with a groundbreaking ceremony for a $35 million basketball and volleyball training center.

UTSA president Taylor Eighmy, addressing a gathering in the foyer of the Roadrunner Athletics Center of Excellence, thanked university staff, boosters and civic leaders for their help in kicking off construction of a 53,000-square foot complex that is expected to be completed in 2026.

“Today is one of those important milestones (for) how we’re going to get where we want to be” in athletics, Eighmy told the group.

For Dr. Lisa Campos, the UTSA vice president for intercollegiate athletics, the groundbreaking represented a starting point for the third major construction project the department has undertaken since she was hired in 2017.

Under her watch, UTSA has built the RACE facility, which is considered the hub of the department, and also the Park West Fieldhouse, the training home for the track and field and soccer teams.

Campos said her excitement is “through the roof” in getting started on what will be the first major facilities investment in basketball and volleyball since UTSA started playing intercollegiate sports in 1981.

The complex is expected to include two full-sized NCAA practice courts, locker rooms, a team lounge for each program, a weight room, athletic training with hydrotherapy, meeting rooms and coaches’ offices.

“We hear from our student-athletes all the time,” Campos said. “They want to be honing their skills, and this is going to give them the opportunity. And from the recruitment standpoint, facilities do still matter. We know NIL matters, but facilities still matter.”

Campos said the construction timeline is about two years.

“We’re projecting that it will be done sometime mid- to late-2026,” she said.

Once the new facility opens, both basketball teams and the volleyball team will continue to play in the Convocation Center, which has been in use for more than 40 years.

The athletic department has prioritized upgrades to baseball and softball facilities, as well as adding a covered football practice field.

But, Campos said, in the long-term, she wants to see a basketball competition site on campus.

“Obviously, we are constantly looking at the Convocation Center,” she said. “We know that’s probably going to take a public-private partnership to get that done. So it is on our radar, but we do have some other projects ahead of that.”