Damari Monsanto is coming off one of his best games of the season, a 21-point effort in which he hit six 3-point shots at UAB. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Editor’s note: UTSA guard Tai’Reon Joseph will not play for the second straight game.
With 15 minutes remaining before tipoff, Joseph is on the side in sweats and not on the floor warming up for the Roadrunners. Joseph, averaging 11.2 points in nine games this season, scored 19 at home against North Texas on Jan. 18 and then did not play at UAB on Tuesday.
Reserve forward Skylar Wicks also isn’t in the arena. A spokesman said neither Joseph nor Wicks are available, increasing to five the number of scholarship athletes who aren’t playing. Forwards Mo Njie (foot injury), guard Paul Lewis (foot) and Jaquan Scott (personal reasons) are the other three.
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the UTSA men’s basketball team. Hoping to regain traction in the American Athletic Conference race after two straight losses, the Roadrunners will host the Temple Owls Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
Temple, featuring high-scoring guard Jamal Mashburn, Jr., will be the third straight AAC contender that UTSA has faced in the past eight days.
On Jan. 18, UTSA had won two straight and was looking to get another boost with a home game against the North Texas Mean Green. But North Texas had other ideas, burying UTSA by 22 points at halftime en route to a 72-57 victory.
Traveling to Alabama at mid-week, the Roadrunners shot the basketball much better and had a chance at the end, but couldn’t make a play in the final seconds in an 81-78 loss to the UAB Blazers Tuesday night.
Both the Mean Green and the Blazers are currently tied for first place in the AAC. Now, in comes the Adam Fisher-coached Owls, one game out of first. Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch said he knows his team needs to improve defensively.
“We’re not happy with being 2-4 at this point,” he said. “But at the same time, we want to be playing our best ball come February, going into March. It’s a long season. There’s a lot of games left.”
Records
Temple 12-7, 4-2
UTSA 8-10, 2-4
Coming up
Temple at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.
UTSA at Florida Atlantic, Wednesday, 6 p.m.
UTSA at North Texas, Feb. 1, 5 p.m.
Notable
The Roadrunners have been good in some ways defensively, averaging a league-best 9.7 steals and 15.6 forced turnovers. But, at the same time, they rank last in opponent field goal percentage at (47.0) and 11th out of 13 teams in opponent three-point percentage (36.8).
With a couple of their big men out of the lineup, they’re also last in defensive rebounding and rebounding margin. Even with their problems, they have been hard to handle when they’re pressing and forcing mistakes and getting out in transition.
Guards Primo Spears, Marcus Millender and Tai’Reon Joseph and forwards Raekwon Horton and Damari Monsanto can all score in bunches in a fast-paced game. Six-foot-nine forward Jo Smith is also having a good year as a rebounder and rim protector, though he does need help.