UTSA men show improvement in two-game sweep of North Dakota

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

While the UTSA Roadrunners made progress last weekend with two victories over North Dakota, giving them four wins in their last six games, room for improvement remains before conference play starts on Jan. 4, Coach Austin Claunch said in a Monday afternoon zoom call.

Austin Claunch. UTSA beat North Dakota 80-76 in non-conference men's basketball on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Austin Claunch’s UTSA Roadrunners improved to 5-5 on the season after two wins last weekend against North Dakota. – File photo by Joe Alexander

The Roadrunners downed the Fighting Hawks 80-76 on Friday night in San Antonio, and then traveled to Grand Forks, N.D. to complete the sweep with an 95-85 victory on Sunday afternoon. They’re 5-5 on the season going into a Thursday matinee (with a noon tipoff) at home against the Southwestern Adventist Knights.

“We played OK Friday night, and so on your day off you’re sort of thinking you want to make some adjustments, but you also don’t want to do too much. So you try to .. focus on yourselves and things that you can do better. Clearly, we shot it better up there than we did at home, which is good.”

UTSA hit 51.8 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from three on Sunday afternoon. Broken down, the Roadrunners knocked down a season-high 15 threes in 24 attempts.

“I think we’re starting to understand the shots that we want to key to offensively and how we want to flow on offense and what that needs to look like,” Claunch said.

The Roadrunners’ travel plan, utilizing a late-night charter out of San Antonio on Friday, allowing them to get to their hotel in Grand Forks by 2:30 a.m., was an added boost. Traditionally, UTSA has traveled on commercial airlines over the years. The charter to North Dakota was the first for the Roadrunners this season.

Claunch said it “makes a difference” to charter and avoid what would have been a long day of commercial travel on Saturday. “We got to the hotel at 2, maybe 2:30 (in the morning),” Claunch said. “You sleep in, maybe have some breakfast, and you can go ahead and get that film done in the early afternoon. Give them a few more hours off and then come back in the evening, and you can go shoot or watch some more film, or whatever.”

Given the cost factor, it’s likely not feasible for the Roadrunners to charter more than a handful of times this season.

“It makes a huge difference to sort of be able to get on that plane, get there, put that one to bed earlier in the day maybe earlier than you would if you didn’t charter,” the coach said. “It’s little things. It’s the little details. We’ve done it the other way. We’re not going to make an excuse either way. But when you do it, it certainly in my opinion is a competitive advantage. And so we’re really blessed to be able to do that.”

Notable

Claunch said UTSA remains “very much a work in progress” on defense. “Our man to man is coming along, but it’s not near the level it needs to be by conference play,” he said.

“We’ve thrown some zone in, and that’s been good for us,” the coach continued. “So to have a couple of different things we can go to has been nice. We’ve just got to get better across the board. Certainly, rebounding has got to improve.”

Through 10 games, UTSA ranks last in the American Athletic Conference in scoring defense (79.2) and field goal percentage allowed (46.3). The Roadrunners’ three-point percentage allowed (35.9) ranks 11th out of 13 teams.

UTSA fared better against North Dakota, holding the Hawks to 38.8 percent in the first game and 44.6 percent in the second. The Hawks hit 13 triples in a fast-paced game Sunday afternoon.

“We’ve thrown some zone in, and that’s been good for us,” Claunch said. “So to have a couple of different things we can go to has been nice. We’ve just got to get better across the board. Certainly, rebounding has got to improve. But again, to ultimately go 2-0 this week after two really tough, close games (at Saint Mary’s and Arkansas), to get back to .500 before the break (is good).”

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