By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Not much will be expected from Josiah LeGree, KJ Tenner and the rest of the UTSA Roadrunners when they walk into a California Bay Area gymnasium on Monday afternoon to face the San Jose State Spartans.

Even though the Spartans won only nine games last season, they’ll be favored against the Roadrunners in the season opener scheduled to be played in the school’s Provident Credit Union Event Center.

San Jose State fans likely already know that UTSA head coach Austin Claunch won’t be there, suspended in the wake of his arrest on a driving while intoxicated charge last week.

On top of that, acting head coach Nick Bowman, a longtime Claunch assistant, will work a game as a head coach for the first time in his career. All this, from a program that produced a tepid 4-25 record a year ago.

What the West Coast fans may not know, though, is the depth of inner confidence that LeGree and Tenner have built in themselves over the years.

All that the San Jose State fans may know is that both stand only 6 feet tall and weigh maybe a breakfast taco shy of 170 pounds.

But, in a twist, that is precisely why they shouldn’t be underestimated. Because, as both will explain, the two grew up in the game knowing what it felt like to be bullied by bigger players. To take an elbow to the face.

Or, to wear an ice pack on a swollen lip after a pickup game.

LeGree, a Morehead State (Ky) transfer from Baltimore, laid out the essence of the mentality in an interview last week.

He opened up when a reporter asked him what he would say to counsel young players, perhaps the smallest on their own playground, on what to expect when the bullies start to get physical.

“What if a big guy just lays you out on the playground?” LeGree was asked.

“Go get treatment,” the 6 foot, 165 pounder advised. “You just got to go get it. Treatment’s a good thing for you. Recovery is a key part to having a long stride of your career.

“Getting knocked down by those big guys. Running through them screens. Rebounding with them.

“Getting hit in the mouth. Bloody lips. All of it. That’s the fun of the game. It (comes) with the game. You just got to smile (through it all).”

Tenner, a Memphis native who played last year at Murray State (Ky.), admitted that he once heard the whispers around the pickup games. That he was too small. That he couldn’t play.

“Yes sir, all the time, because height is glamorized over the smaller guys,” said Tenner, who stands 6 feet and 170 pounds. “So of course I heard it a lot. I didn’t (pay) too much attention. I just believed in the Lord and believed in my abilities.

“Because … they may have height, but I have my quickness and my toughness about myself. So, I just always believed in my work and no matter how big a guy was, I still felt I had an edge over him.”

Both players showed off flashes of their abilities in a practice last week.

Tenner, once named as Tennessee Mr. Basketball at Cordova High School for his prolific scoring, received a pass on the right wing during a five-on-five drill.

With a taller player running at him as he elevated for a jumper, he double clutched to avoid getting blocked, and then swished it from 25 feet.

LeGree exhibited great explosion. In one sequence, he punctuated a fast break drill by throwing down a tomahawk dunk.

Alternately, during a halfcourt drill, he’d move on the dribble to find open space before elevating for an uncontested jumper.

“KJ (Tenner) and Josiah (Legree) are guys who are our primary ballhandlers,” Claunch said in an interview a few weeks ago. “They’ll play together a lot. They’ll play separate a lot. We’re going to play a lot of guys this year.

“So, KJ, (he’s) very steady. Just honestly an everyday guy … He’s got a great basketball IQ. He can really shoot it. You know, changes speeds. Josiah is a great athlete. Can really, really create space with the bounce and create shots for himself and his teammates.

“They’re both elite playmakers and passers. But they kind of do it in different ways.”

UTSA’s roster is stacked with big guards. The likes of Isaiah Watts, Isaiah Coleman, JJ Kelly, Preston Turner and Shea Eberwein are expected to play big roles. But LeGree seems to relish the idea that he and Tenner will play in tandem.

“Coach Claunch trusts us on the court together,” he said. “During practices. Even during our scrimmages, he trusts us … Me and KJ, (we’re) going to cause some problems for the American in that backcourt.”

Tenner said he likes to watch smaller guards in the NBA, like Jalen Brunson of the world champion New York Knicks. But he said he has also learned from playing with LeGree in practice.

“Man, I learned that it is truly possible,” he said, “seeing another small guard excel at this level, just seeing how much he believes in himself and how skilled he is. Just seeing a guy that’s doubted just like I am.

“The fact that he can come in every day and have the ultimate belief in himself. He’s just a fun guy to be around every day. Just seeing somebody as like-minded as me saying, we still have an edge.

“He’s a tough cookie. He’s a tough guard, just like me, and it’s fun to play alongside him.”

LeGree issued an animated response to a question about how he reached NCAA Division I, given his physical stature.

“God,” he said. “God is the first thing. That’s the only reason why I am here and why he wake me up every day. But, it’s like, with me and KJ, we go out there with no fear. We only fear God. Like, you can’t be 6 foot going against a 7-footer with fear.

“Like David and Goliath. David took down Goliath, because that was heart over height. Like, you got to have that will and power to go every day knowing you got the disadvantage to the person next to you.

“Me and KJ got big hearts. Like, we go and show you that no matter how tall, how strong you (are), that you’re not going through us or our team. Because, we’re the leaders on the team, and it starts with us.

“Having that mindset all these years, it develops to that killer mindset, where, you step on the floor (and if you’re defending) you’re not going to be able to do anything with me. No matter my size.

“Because I’m going to guard you. I’m going to score on you, and I’m going to have fun while I do it. And also talk mess while I’m doing it.”

Notable

UTSA forward Ashton Smith will not play in the opener, a team spokesman said in a text Friday afternoon.

However, Smith may be getting close to a return after working his way back from an Achilles injury.

The 6-9, 265-pound forward ran hard and even dunked in last Wednesday’s practice. Later, he did not participate in five on five.

The transfer from South Dakota is the grandson of the late Lucious Jackson, a San Marcos native who played on an NBA championship Philadelphia 76ers team with Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s.