UTSA graduate senior Nina De Leon Negron is averaging 11.8 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. She’s also making 53.3 percent from three going into two games this week in her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. – File photo by Joe Alexander
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Ever since Nina De Leon Negron signed with the UTSA Roadrunners last spring, she has been excited for a chance to travel home and see family and friends on Thanksgiving.
The journey is happening, indeed, as UTSA (4-1) will take on the UNC Greensboro Spartans (6-1) on Thursday and the Towson Tigers (0-6) on Friday in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
UTSA coach Karen Aston has credited her team’s play at point guard this year for her team’s improvement on offense. Nina De Leon Negron and Sidney Love both start and alternate in bringing the ball up as playmakers. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Earlier this week, the Roadrunners’ graduate senior point guard sat and talked at the Convocation Center about how far she has come since she left home five years ago to live in the United States.
As a kid, she once was just another Puerto Rican ball player with dreams.
“It was fun,” she said. “It’s definitely different than the United States. I feel like kids here start training (early) with skills trainers. They’re young and they develop a lot of stuff. Like, they get good when they’re younger. They lift weights and stuff like that.
“In Puerto Rico, we don’t have those big facilities. So it’s kind of like, harder.”
Even though De Leon Negron took a different route to a starter’s role than most athletes in NCAA Division I, she made the most of it.
After a year at Montverde Academy in Florida, she began her college career with two seasons at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn.
The former U17 player on the Puerto Rican national team then transferred to the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio for another two seasons. Now she’s a key player for the Roadrunners, who are among the favorites in the American Athletic Conference.
Combining with junior Sidney Love to give the Roadrunners a talented dual point-guard look, De Leon Negron has sparked the team to three wins in a four-game streak going going into San Juan.
As the first Puerto Rico native in UTSA women’s basketball history, she’s averaging a robust 11.8 points and 3.8 assists. After sitting out the second game of the season with a heel injury, the 5-foot-6 spark plug has found her offensive groove with games of 14, 13 and 16 points.
Not bad for someone who grew up, basically freelancing, as a young player on the Caribbean island.
“It was fun, but we were mostly playing instead of training,” De Leon Negron said. “You’re playing more than you’re training, which, I don’t think that’s the correct way. But, that’s kind of how it works there. But it was always fun. I always had my parents’ support. They were always like, you want to go shoot? You want to do this? I’ll take you. They were always there for me.
“So I’m definitely excited to go back and play for them.”
For De Leon Negron, another obstacle to achieving success in the college game came in overcoming the language barrier. It was a challenge for the Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican to learn English on the fly, starting in 2019 when she moved to Florida.
“I was not fluent (in English),” she said. “I barely knew (it). I moved to Montverde and, in Florida, there are a lot of Hispanic people in the schools. So I would speak Spanish, and then just English on the court. When I went to my first school, Austin Peay, there were no Hispanics there. I just knew one person who was Hispanic. So, that’s where, like, I learned English.
“I had to. I had no other choice.”
At Austin Peay, De Leon Negron played 55 games, starting all 33 as a sophomore when she led the team in assists (3.4) and ranked second in the Ohio Valley Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.95). Moving on to San Antonio, De Leon Negron took off as a player at UIW.
She averaged 11.7 points in 58 games over a two-year period, at one time scoring 25 in a victory over the Roadrunners as a junior.
Twice, she made all-Southland Conference. De Leon Negron was placed on the SLC second team as a junior and first team last season. Looking for “something new,” she entered the transfer portal last spring and hoped for the best. De Leon Negron found a new home with UTSA.
Initial workouts at the Convocation Center with grad assistant (now assistant coach) Angel Almaguer led to her introductions with all her new teammates.
“I would come in here with him and see the other girls, so I was already creating that bonding,” she said. “And then everyone was really welcoming. Like, the coaches and players … We’d always talk about the goals, to win the championship.
“It was really good, an easy transition,” she said. “Like, I’d been in San Antonio for two years, so it was easy. I like San Antonio, So I really feel comfortable. It was like a home.”
UTSA coach Karen Aston said the team’s appearance at the multi-team event in Puerto Rico was set up more than a year ago, well before De Leon Negron entered the portal.
“Was not aware of her being available or anything like that,” the coach said. “Obviously it ended up being maybe a good recruiting tool for us, because when we started recruiting her, we had the schedule. But it was a stroke of luck, for her, you know. She’s never played in front of her family. Just a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for a young lady … It’s well-deserved.”
When players visit their home locales on road trips, sometimes the emotion of a homecoming can be a distraction for them. But Aston said she’s not concerned about that with De Leon Negron.
“I don’t worry much about Nina,” the coach said. “She came here for legitimate reasons. She wanted a different experience, and she wanted to make the most of her experience, whatever that was. If that was learning something new, learning how to lead a different team, you know, Nina is all in.”
Aston said she doesn’t think De Leon Negron will feel any pressure. Rather, she said she thinks her playmaker will love the experience.
Puerto Rico native Jhivvan Jackson (left) is the all-time leading scorer for UTSA men’s basketball and recently signed to continue his professional career in Germany for the Wuerzburg Baskets. Jackson scored 2,551 points in his UTSA career (2017-2021) to become the all-time leading scorer from Latin America in NCAA Division I. His grandfather, veteran international coach Flor Melendez (right), traveled to San Antonio and attended a few UTSA practices during his grandson’s freshman year. – File photo, by Jerry Briggs.
“She has the opportunity to go down there and play in front of probably family and friends,” the coach said. “Her intention is to go right back to Puerto Rico when she finishes her season here and start her professional career. So I think this is just, kind of, a feather in her cap. It wasn’t expected.
“It’s not why she came here. But it’s a little bit of icing on the cake for her last year in college basketball.”
De Leon Negron’s face lights up when she’s asked about playing a college game on her home turf for the first time in her career.
“Yes sir, the first time, and I can’t wait,” she said. “I have all my family and my friends ready to go and watch me and support the team. I don’t know, I’m just so excited for it. I’ve been looking forward to it since coach told me.”
Coming up
UTSA vs. UNC Greensboro, Thursday, 10 a.m.
UTSA vs. Towson, Friday, 1 p.m.
Both games at San Juan, Puerto Rico
Records
UTSA (4-1)
UNC Greensboro (6-1)
Towson (0-6)
UTSA game by game
Nov. 7 — At Texas A&M, L, 51-55
Nov. 9 — UTRGV, W, 74-69
Nov. 14 — At New Mexico State, W, 75-61
Nov. 16 — At UTEP, W, 78-73
Nov. 20 – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, W, 62-43