Category Archives: College basketball

UTSA’s Aston ‘grateful’ for the opportunity to play in the WBIT

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston on Monday acknowledged the disappointment of coming up short in the team’s quest to reach the NCAA tournament, but she said she feels “extremely blessed and pleased we’re still playing.”

Karen Aston. The UTSA women's basketball teams celebrates at the Convocation Center after winning the 2024-25 American Athletic Conference regular-season title on Saturday, March 1, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Karen Aston Roadrunners will take a 26-4 record into a first-round WBIT game Thursday at Gonzaga. – File photo by Joe Alexander

The Roadrunners will play in the 32-team Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, opening on the road Thursday against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in Spokane, Wash. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. Central time.

It’s the second straight season that the Roadrunners have reached a national postseason tournament after last year’s squad competed in the WNIT.

“The fact that we were able to take another step this year and elevate the tournament that we’re playing in is a huge accomplishment for this program, in a short period of time,” said Aston, who is in her fourth season at UTSA. “So, just thankful (for the opportunity). I could say a lot of things about disappointment (and) all of those things of not making the (NCAA) tournament. But at the end of the day you wake up and you’re grateful for what you have and to still be playing.”

Last year, UTSA played at home in the WNIT’s opening round and knocked off Northern Colorado for the first national tournament victory in school history. The Roadrunners lost in the second round in a road game at Wyoming.

UTSA bid for three home games in this year but was dispatched to play in the state of Washington against the Bulldogs, who were co-champions (at 22-10, 17-3) of the West Coast Conference. In the WBIT, teams were seeded 1-4 in each of four quadrants of the bracket. The Bulldogs drew a No. 4 seed. The Roadrunners (26-4, 17-1) were not seeded after winning the American Athletic Conference regular-season title outright.

Both Gonzaga and UTSA went 0-1 in the respective conference tournaments, with the Bulldogs losing to Oregon State in the WCC semifinals and the Roadrunners falling to Rice in the AAC quarterfinals.

Asked how she felt about being slotted into the WBIT bracket, Aston said, “I feel good about the team. You know, I don’t have any qualms about us going on the road. Obviously, like you said, we went 17-1. We have the ability to have some road toughness about us, or we wouldn’t have accomplished what we did. So I feel very confident in that. You know, very disappointed that we’re not hosting for our players, our staff, all the people that made our home environment really special, that we could go undefeated (at home).

“Not sure I have an answer for why we’re not hosting when you look at four or five teams that are that are that we have a better NET (ranking and) we won our league. But as I told our players, everything doesn’t always end up the way you expect it to or want it to. And you have to respond to that. And that’s a life lesson and a life skill that comes in pretty handy along your way.”

The Roadrunners have experienced two major disappointments over the past week — first, losing in the AAC tournament and then, second, gathering on Sunday to get confirmation that they would not, after all, be playing in the NCAA tournament. Even for a team as talented as the Roadrunners, it may be a challenge for them to re-set and prepare for the WBIT in the wake of all the emotion.

“You have to dig into your competitive juices a little bit,” Aston said. “And I think for our program, every single step that we take — I mean, we got a postseason win last year. This is a very, very competitive tournament. There are multiple teams that should have played in the NCAA that are in this tournament. So there’s a ton that we’re playing for. We’re graduating two players (in Jordyn Jenkins and Nine De Leon Negron). So, what are the rest of them learning in this experience of what it feels like to be continuing to play in March.

“Like I told them, some people are done two weeks ago and (are) on the beach somewhere. For us to understand what it feels like to continue to grind and prepare and take care of your bodies and stay in the gym, like, all of those are learning experiences for young players. And if you’ve got six or seven, or five or six, or whatever we had, who had never even experienced what a Selection Show was, then there’s a lot of learning still ahead for our group.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the start time of UTSA’s game at Gonzaga. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. Central time on Thursday.

UTSA women will travel to play Gonzaga in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament

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UTSA will play on the road against the Gonzaga Bulldogs Thursday night in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.

The NCAA-sponsored tournament is in its second season of existence. Officials announced its 32-team field Sunday night and paired UTSA (26-4) against Gonzaga (22-10) as one of 16 first-round matchups.

The NCAA field of 68 was announced earlier Sunday night. As expected, UTSA did not get an invitation to play in the most prestigious of the tournaments in women’s college basketball. The WBIT is next, followed by the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, or WNIT. UTSA reached the second round of the WNIT last season.

This year, the Roadrunners went 26-3 in the regular season and 17-1 to win the American Athletic Conference, only to fall to the Rice Owls, 62-58, in the first round of the conference tournament.

UTSA likely needed to sweep three games at the AAC tournament to earn a bid into the NCAA field.

Going into its second year, the WBIT is owned and funded by the NCAA, and the first four teams out of the NCAA DI women’s basketball tournament — as determined by the DI women’s basketball selection committee — receive an automatic bid into the WBIT and also receive the first four seeds.

Regular-season champions of DI conferences not otherwise selected for the NCAA DI women’s basketball tournament also automatically qualify (if eligible and not reclassifying institutions). The remaining field is made up of at-large teams chosen by the WBIT selection committee.

In the WBIT, UTSA will need to win five games to win the title. All first-round games are Thursday night. The second round is a week from today, on March 23, followed by the third round on March 27.

If a team wins three games, it would move on to Indianapolis for the semifinals on March 31. The tournament finals are set for April 2. Semifinals and finals will be played at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler University campus.

Texas sneaks in to the field of 68, joining Houston, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor in the NCAA men’s tournament

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Five teams from the state of Texas have made the 68-team NCAA men’s basketball tournament field. The biggest surprise was the 15-loss Texas Longhorns, who will play in the Midwest Region in a First Four, or, a round of 68 game, against Xavier (Ohio) on Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio.

The Longhorns (19-15) are one of a record 14 teams from the Southeastern Conference to make the NCAA field.

Xavier (21-11) is a Big East team based in Cincinnati, Ohio, meaning the Musketeers will only need to travel about 48 miles to the game site at the Dayton Arena. The winner will advance to round of 64 on Friday against Illinois in Milwaukee.

Games involving Texas teams on Thursday will be:

*Big 12 regular season and tournament champion Houston (30-4) against SIU Edwardsville (22-11) at Wichita, Kan., in the Midwest region. The winner would get either Gonzaga or Georgia in the Round of 32;
*Texas Tech (25-8) against the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (27-7), also at Wichita, in the West. The winner would draw either Missouri or Drake in the Round of 32;
*Texas A&M (22-10) against Drake (22-7) at Denver, in the South. The winner would play either Michigan or UC San Diego in the Round of 32.

Games involving Texas teams on Friday will be:

*Baylor (19-14) against Mississippi State (21-12) at Raleigh, N.C. in the East. The winner would advance to play either top-seeded Duke or 16 seeds American or Mount St. Mary’s.

AAC men’s tournament: East Carolina ends UTSA’s season, 70-65

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The season is over for the UTSA men’s basketball team. The East Carolina Pirates held off the Roadrunners in a thriller that went down to the final seconds, winning 70-65 in the second round of the American Athletic Conference tournament in Fort Worth.

As a result, the sixth-seeded and 19-13 Pirates completed a 3-0 sweep of the Roadrunners this season and will advance to play in the quarterfinals Friday night against the three seed UAB Blazers.

No. 11 UTSA finished its first season under Coach Austin Claunch at 12-19 overall and 6-12 in conference. Last year’s team finished 11-21 and 5-13 and then had all but one of its scholarship players leave in the wake of Steve Henson’s dismissal as head coach.

Coming in from an assistant’s job at Alabama to rebuild from three straight losing seasons, Claunch couldn’t prevent a fourth straight, but he said he felt like the program made progress.

“I’m so proud of this step our program took this year,” said Claunch, who previously won two regular-season titles in a five-year run at Nicholls State in the Southland Conference.

“Certainly,” the coach added, “going from an increase in win total from last year, both total and in conference, I’m proud of the work not just that the record shows, but the work that these guys as a group put in.

“Our seniors, like Primo (Spears) and Damari (Monsanto), they’ve been really fun to coach. If I sit here and talk about ’em too long, I’m going to get emotional. I’m sure I will at some point anyway.”

It’s been an emotional ride all season for the Roadrunners, with two players lost to injury and three others leaving for non-injury related issues during the season. Raekwon Horton was the latest non-injury departure. A major contributor with 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds, he played his last game on March 1.

Claunch announced on Tuesday, the day UTSA left for Fort Worth, that Horton would not be available for the tournament. It left Claunch with eight scholarship players available. Against the Pirates, seven players played for the Roadrunners, including freshman walkon Baboucarr Njie.

They played hard and with heart but failed to avoid becoming the fourth straight UTSA men’s team to lose its first game in a conference postseason event. A bright spot in the postgame interview came when Roadrunners sophomore Marcus Millender said he would likely return to UTSA next season.

Millender led the Roadrunners against East Carolina with 24 points and seven rebounds.

East Carolina coach Michael Schwartz praised the UTSA coaches and players, calling the Roadrunners “dynamic” and saying that his team for the third time this season was fortunate to win.

The Pirates lost their final regular-season game against the FAU Owls and were able to bounce back, mainly because their players “locked in” during preparation for the trip to Fort Worth, the coach said.

“Everybody kept asking about playing a team for a third time, and we said that is irrelevant,” Schwartz said. “That’s not what makes this game hard, playing UTSA a third time. What makes this game hard is playing UTSA because they’re a really good team. So that’s where our focus was, preparing as if this was the first time we played them.”

Starting with a Feb. 5 home game against Tulane, UTSA played nine games decided by single-digit margins and lost eight of them. In a maddening finish to that stretch of heartbreak, the Pirates rallied from a four-point deficit with 11:47 left and rode the hot hands of Jordan Riley and RJ Felton to claim the victory.

After ECU caught up and forged a three-point advantage with 2:35 left, UTSA responded with a few defensive stops and five points from Millender to reclaim the lead. The Roadrunners had a one-point edge with 1:17 remaining when Millender drove baseline for a layup and a 63-62 lead. In turn, Felton muscled inside to spark a 6-2 run into the final seconds of the game.

East Carolina, with a three-point advantage, called time with 6.1 seconds left. As UTSA inbounded the ball to Jonnivius Smith, the Pirates elected to foul on the catch. The ploy worked, as Smith missed the front end of a one and one. The Pirates rebounded, and Jayshayne Woodard ended up dunking for the game’s final points.

Individuals

UTSA – Marcus Millender scored 24 points on nine of 20 shooting from the field. He was two of five from three. Spears, who fell late in the game and hurt his surgically-repaired left arm, went to the bench momentarily but later returned to finish it on the court. A second-team, all-conference performer, he finished with 19 points. Damari Monsanto hit five threes and scored 17. Both Millender and Monsanto pulled down seven boards each. Jonnivius Smith had three points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

East Carolina – Jordan Riley led the Pirates with 22 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 Temple transfer sparked the Pirates in the second half with a few monster dunks. Guard RJ Felton had 17 points and Cam Hayes 16

First half

Tempers flared at the end of the half as East Carolina forward CJ Walker bumped into Njie as players were leaving the floor. Despite poor shooting, the Pirates led the Roadrunners 34-28 at the break. At the end of the halftime break, it was announced that Walker had been hit with a technical foul. The Roadrunners were awarded free throws and hit both without any time having run off the clock

Records

UTSA 12-19, 6-12
East Carolina 19-13, 10-8

Notable

UTSA entered the tournament looking for its first win in a conference postseason game since 2021 when the Roadrunners beat the Charlotte 49ers 72-62 as members of Conference USA. That was the fourth and final season for former Roadrunners stars Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace.

The Roadrunners lost their tournament openers in 2022, 2023 and 2024, all by margins of three points or less. In 2022, Southern Miss defeated UTSA, 67-64. In 2023, Rice eked out a 72-71 victory over the Roadrunners. Both of those contests came in the C-USA postseason. Last season, the Roadrunners lost to Temple, 64-61, to cap their first season in the American.

In the past four years, the Roadrunners have finished 10-22, 10-22, 11-21 and now 12-19, giving the program 10 losing seasons in its last 13. UTSA hasn’t qualified for the NCAA tournament since 2011. The 14-year drought is the longest in school history. The Roadrunners, who started play in 1981-82, made NCAA tournaments in 1988, 1999, 2004 and 2011.

UTSA guard Primo Spears fell late in the East Carolina game and injured a left arm that was badly damaged eight years ago. But, after coming out for a short time, he returned to play the final minute. After the game, he said he was OK.

In 2017, in between his freshman and sophomore year of high school, Spears had surgery following a nasty fall in a summer all-star game in New York City. Spears dislocated his left elbow, fractured the radial bone and tore ligaments, an injury that required at least three surgeries to repair and knocked him out all of his sophomore year.

This season, the Roadrunners appeared to have momentum going into February. A 54-50 road victory against 23-win North Texas capped a 4-5 record in the AAC at the halfway point of the schedule. But they struggled to hold leads in close games down the stretch and finished in a three-way tie for ninth.

Raekwon Horton won’t play for UTSA in AAC tournament

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Raekwon Horton at UTSA men's basketball senior day 2025.

Raekwon Horton averaged 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 34 minutes per game for the Roadrunners. His most memorable moment came when he scored a season-high 23 in UTSA’s 54-50 road victory over the North Texas on Feb. 1.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

If the UTSA Roadrunners men’s basketball team hopes to make noise in the American Athletic Conference postseason tournament, they’ll have to do it without senior forward Raekwon Horton.

“He won’t be with us on the trip and obviously you won’t see Raekwon for the rest of the year,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said.

Primo Spears. Memphis beat UTSA 75-70 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Primo Spears was named second-team all conference in the AAC on Tuesday. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Claunch made his remarks on Tuesday afternoon, just before the Roadrunners boarded a bus and headed for Fort Worth.

While the AAC men’s tournament opens in Denton on Wednesday, the remainder of the tournament starting Thursday will be in Fort Worth at Dickies Arena.

The 11th-seeded Roadrunners will play their first game Thursday at 8 p.m. against the No. 6 East Carolina Pirates. It’ll be the fourth of four second-round games played that day.

Horton played a major role for the Roadrunners in his one and only year with the program, averaging 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 34 minutes.

He played 25 games, notched three games with 20 or more points, produced 13 in double figures and added four with double-figure points and rebounds.

His most memorable contribution came on Feb. 1 when he scored a season-high 23 points as the Roadrunners upset the North Texas Mean Green 54-50 in Denton.

The Mean Green went on to construct a 23-7 season, including 14-4 in the AAC, good for a No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Horton played his last game for the Roadrunners on March 2.

In his finale, he was honored on Senior Day in a pre-game ceremony. Then he started and played 19 minutes as the Roadrunners routed the Rice Owls, 84-56. Horton finished with two points and seven rebounds.

He has not played in UTSA’s last two games, including a five-point loss at home to AAC champion Memphis and a three-point road victory at Charlotte. Claunch said after the Memphis game that Horton was away from the team on personal leave.

Without Horton at the tournament, the Roadrunners likely will play with a seven-man rotation initially, though others could be pressed into action if they get hot and start to win.

“We feel good,” Claunch said. “We’ve won two out of three, and even during that losing streak, we felt like we played some really good ball. I know that’s easy to say. You got to find a way to win those games.

“That’s sort of the next progression of our program. Not just be in big games but find a way to win big games.

“It was great to finally win one of those close ones at Charlotte. We played really well against Memphis. We played great against Rice. And now we’re playing a good ECU team that we played two really competitive games against.

“So, we’re certainly excited to get on the bus and go compete.”

To win the tournament, the Roadrunners would need to win four games in four consecutive days. If they beat the Pirates on Thursday, they would play the No. 3 UAB Blazers on Friday at 8 p.m.

Potentially they would play No. 2 seed North Texas on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the semifinals. The finals would be played on Sunday at 2:15 p.m.

Records

East Carolina 10-8, 18-23
UTSA 6-12, 12-18

Coming up

UTSA vs. East Carolina, Thursday, at 8 p.m., at Fort Worth, Dickies Arena
(AAC tournament second-round game)

Notable

Guard Primo Spears was the only UTSA player honored in the AAC’s postseason awards announced on Tuesday. Spears, from Hartford, Conn., was named second-team all conference. He averaged 19.8 points and 4.0 assists.

Guard Marcus Millender enjoyed the best season of any UTSA player not named in conference’s honors list.

He averaged 14.6 points, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals. Since Jan. 11, Millender played 16 games, scored in double figures in all of them and notched at least 20 seven times.

In his first season at UTSA coach, Austin Claunch has led the Roadrunners to a 12-win season going into the tournament.

Though two of the victories came against sub-Division I competition, it’s the most total wins for a Roadrunners team since the 2020-21 season when they finished 15-11 under a previous staff led by former head coach Steve Henson.

The six conference victories are also the most for a UTSA team since the ’20-21 ball club posted a 9-7 record in Conference USA. That was the last season for former four-year UTSA standouts Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace, the Nos. 1 and 2 scorers in school history.

Rice women upset top-seeded UTSA in AAC tournament

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UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins, the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, scored a game-high 22 points as the Roadrunners fell to the Rice Owls in the AAC tournament quarterfinals. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The Rice women’s basketball team cooked up some of its American Athletic Conference postseason magic on Monday in Fort Worth, upsetting the top-seeded UTSA Roadrunners, 62-58.

As a result, the No. 9 Owls will move into the semifinals with two victories under their belt, hoping to repeat last year’s four-game run that ended with a trophy for the AAC crown and a ticket to the NCAA tournament.

The loss leaves UTSA’s postseason destination in question.

At 26-4, the Roadrunners will hope for an at-large bid into the NCAA. But perhaps a more realistic path forward will lead to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, or, the WBIT.

Guard Sidney Love matched her jersey number with 11 points and had five assists for the Roadrunners. – Photo by Joe Alexander

As the AAC’s regular-season champions, UTSA is an automatic qualifier for the WBIT and is expected to play in it should the program not receive the NCAA invitation.

On Monday morning, UTSA earned mention as a team receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time in the program’s 44-year history.

In turn, Rice seemed undeterred by the prospect of facing a team that had won nine straight games and had swept through the AAC regular season with a 17-1 record.

For the most part, the Owls carried the fight to the Roadrunners in the game played at Dickies Arena.

Rice outplayed UTSA in both the second and third quarters and then withstood a UTSA charge in the fourth to salt away the victory.

“I’m just really, really proud of our fight and our preparation for this game today,” Rice coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “We had a little bit of a get-back mentality. We’ve had two battles (with UTSA) this season that we felt could have (gone) our way but didn’t.”

In the first of two regular-season meetings, UTSA roared from behind with a 24-9 fourth quarter to beat the Owls 67-58 on Jan. 8 in San Antonio.

In the rematch, on Feb. 22 in Houston, UTSA jumped out to a 22-6 lead deep into the first quarter and then held on to win 57-55 when Rice’s Dominique Ennis missed a three at the buzzer.

“Today we wanted to play 40 minutes, and we did that,” Edmonds said. “It was a well-balanced attack … a great win. Really, really impressed with our composure and poise.”

Karen Aston. Rice 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday, March 10, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Karen Aston’s Roadrunners will leave Fort Worth with a 26-4 record. They’re guaranteed a bid in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament if they don’t get an at-large bid to the NCAA, – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA started a run at the outset of the fourth quarter, scoring the first eight points in an 11-3 stretch over five minutes and 20 seconds. When Jordyn Jenkins hit a driving layup, the Roadrunners pulled to within 52-51 with 4:40 remaining.

From there, Rice guard Victoria Flores nailed two three-point shots to ignite an 8-0 run, lifting the Owls into a 60-51 advantage and sending UTSA into scramble mode.

In the final 1:41, the Roadrunners could get no closer than the final margin of four, and that came with no time left on the clock when Jenkins followed in a missed three at the buzzer.

“Sometimes you need a little time to reflect on a loss like this,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “(Rice) played with a lot of intention, a lot of energy today, and we couldn’t seem to match it.

“We tried. I thought there were times that we tried to rally ourselves in timeouts, but we just couldn’t match the energy they played with.”

Senior Malia Fisher led the way for the Owls with a team-high 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Fisher assisted on the three that gave the Owls the late nine-point lead.

Also, freshman Aniah Alexis enjoyed her second strong tournament game with 15 points and nine rebounds. Ennis scored 13.

For the Roadrunners, Jenkins scored 22 points but missed her first eight field goal attempts and finished nine of 25 from the floor. The AAC Player of the Year also had seven rebounds and two steals.

Cheyenne Rowe scored 12 points on five-for-five shooting, and guard Sidney Love added 11. Nina De Leon Negron struggled, shooting zero for nine from the field. She produced two points, six rebounds, three assists and a couple of steals.

Records

Rice 16-16
UTSA 26-4

Coming up

The NCAA bracket will be revealed on Sunday. If the Roadrunners don’t get a bid, they’re expected to play in the WBIT. First-round WBIT games are scheduled for March 20.

First half

Fisher and Alexis combined for 18 points in the first half as the Owls took a 32-28 lead on the UTSA Roadrunners.

Nina De Leon Negron. Top-seeded UTSA lost to ninth-seeded Rice 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday, March 10, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA point guard Nina De Leon Negron had two points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. She shot zero for nine from the field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Rice held Jenkins scoreless in the first period and for much of the second before Jenkins came alive with seven before halftime.

Both teams went without scoring a point for almost the first three minutes of the game before UTSA’s Idara Udo hit a jumper with 7:14 remaining.

UTSA kept battling and forged a five-point advantage with 39 seconds left on a Cheyenne Rowe driving layup.

Fisher, who scored eight in the quarter, hit a shot at the end to bring Rice to within 13-11.

In the second quarter, the Owls picked up the pace, with Alexis stroking jumpers from the perimeter.

The freshman from Cypress Lakes High School in Waller scored eight in the quarter.

Notable

Rice played on Sunday in the second round and advanced through to the quarterfinals with a 76-63 victory over the UAB Blazers. In that game, Alexis led the Owls with 18 points and five rebounds.

UTSA was playing its first game in the tournament, as it had claimed a double bye to the quarterfinals by way of a top-four finish in the regular season.

The Roadrunners had reached the conference tournament semifinals in each of the past two seasons, in Conference USA in 2022-23 and in their first year in the American last year.

Cheyenne Rowe. Top-seeded UTSA lost to ninth-seeded Rice 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday, March 10, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Forward Cheyenne Rowe hit five for five from the field and scored 12 points off the bench. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Becoming friends: UTSA’s Jenkins and De Leon Negron reflect on the journey

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Jordyn Jenkins and the UTSA women's basketball teams celebrates at the Convocation Center after winning the 2024-25 American Athletic Conference regular-season title on Saturday, March 1, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners to AAC regular-season title and into the tournament as the No. 1 seed. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA point guard Nina De Leon Negron and forward Jordyn Jenkins grew up in different worlds, and yet they are so connected, so in tune with each other on the basketball court, that when they play you almost expect to hear a symphony in the background.

When fans of the Roadrunners watch these two, they see passes from De Leon Negron thrown into the post, right on Jenkins’ fingertips.

Nina De Leon Negron. The UTSA women's basketball teams celebrates at the Convocation Center after winning the 2024-25 American Athletic Conference regular-season title on Saturday, March 1, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA point guard Nina De Leon Negron (right) had a few things to say to broadcaster Carlie Heineman after the Roadrunners clinched the AAC regular-season title. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Or, they’re thrown from the paint to the perimeter on a drive and kick, with Jenkins set up perfectly for a three-point shot. Two wondrously talented kids, making it look easy.

Moreover, they also seem to have a tight, sister-like bond off the court. You can see it in their occasional in-public, chit-chats with one another and also in their whimsical displays of mock outrage and disagreement on the silliest little things.

For instance, De Leon Negron recently joked in a news conference about a claim that Jenkins wanted to buy a ranch in Texas one day.

She questioned irreverently the notion that her friend could run a ranch, noting that after the team’s trip to Puerto Rico last Christmas, she came away with the impression that Jenkins is afraid of animals.

“Like, which one?” Jenkins said, her eyebrows arching.

“In Puerto Rico,” De Leon Negron replied, “you were scared of everything.”

Oh, well.

One thing that is not open for debate, is that Jenkins and De Leon Negron will work as a unified force for the Roadrunners to win the American Women’s Basketball Championship this week.

They’ll lead the top-seeded Roadrunners into the quarterfinals on Monday in Fort Worth against the Rice Owls, with tipoff at noon at Dickies Arena.

Rising above adversity

To understand their connection as players, it’s best to consider their back stories, and how both faced significant obstacles in basketball and life before they became recipients last week of major awards in the American Athletic Conference.

Jenkins, from Renton, Wash., overcame ACL injuries to both knees.

The first mishap came late in her career at Kentridge High School. As a result, she sat out her senior year and part of her first season at the University of Southern California. The next one came in 2023, about a month after completion of her first season at UTSA.

Though she returned to play for the Roadrunners late in the 2023-24 season, Jenkins wasn’t quite the same player that she was a year earlier, when she was named Player of the Year in Conference USA.

This season, Jenkins returned to form, winning Player of the Year honors in the AAC, while leading UTSA to a 26-3 record, including 17-1 in conference.

De Leon Negron also endured a long road to being named AAC Newcomer of the Year and second-team all conference. When the Puerto Rico native came to the United States as a teenager, she spoke very little English.

Nina De Leon Negron, Karen Aston, Jordyn Jenkins - USTA Senior Day.

Nina De Leon Negron, Karen Aston, Jordyn Jenkins at USTA Senior Day. – Photo by Joe Alexander

First, she moved to Florida to attend Montverde Academy, then to Tennessee for a two-year stay at Austin Peay University and later to San Antonio for two more years at the University of the Incarnate Word.

She admitted at times wondering whether she might be better off just going home.

UTSA coach Karen Aston said that with everything that Jenkins and De Leon Negron have been through, she wouldn’t wish it on anyone. In terms of leadership, Aston said the two know how to play off the coaches

For instance, if coaches are upset and “getting on” the players, then the two know how to become positive to lift up their teammates.

“Our staff is like that,” Aston said. “They’ve learned how to play off of each other too, and play off of me, and I think that’s always when you have a successful team is when your players can become an extension of your coaches. That’s kind of what (De Leon Negron and Jenkins) have become.

“Our team has a lot of personalities, but they are definitely in the lead as far as that’s concerned. They’ve learned what the team needs, and I think that’s probably because of the efforts that they’ve made off the court, to get to know their teammates and spend time together, so they probably know each other’s personalities a lot better than I even know that they do.”

Recalling their first interaction

In NCAA games played against one another, De Leon Negron is 1-0 against Jenkins, a fact that is the source of discussion between the two to this day.

It was in December 2022, when the 5-foot-6 De Leon Negron was in her first season at UIW and Jenkins, a 6-foot forward, was in her first at UTSA. It was also the first time that either had come face to face with one another.

De Leon Negron described the mood in the Cardinals’ camp as “really serious” at the time, playing a game that the school “needed to win.”

“I remember the scout (on) Jordyn Jenkins, like, we need to be all over her. She’s really good. She still had a really good game. But I do remember that I went for a layup and she blocked my shot and she yelled at my face.

“I don’t know what I did to her,” De Leon Negron said. “I actually wasn’t talking trash. That was our first encounter.”

The two talked about the game in a sit-down with UTSA media staff and media before a March 1 Senior Day game against Florida Atlantic.

Recalled Jenkins, “I honestly think that’s funny, how that was our very first interaction…like, me, getting switched on her. It was like a low clock. High ball screen switch. And, yeah, I blocked her shot. And, yeah, I don’t know what I said.”

Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA beat Florida Atlantic 60-52 on Senior Day to clinch the American Athletic Conference regular-season title on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at the Convocation Center.

In December 2022, Jordyn Jenkins and UTSA played on the road against Nina De Leon Negron and Incarnate Word at UIW. Jenkins blocked her shot, but De Leon Negron scored 18 of her 25 points in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals won, 56-53. It was the first interaction between players who would later become teammates. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Later in the game, De Leon Negron was starting to impose her will, in more ways than one. She was on a scoring binge, bringing the Cardinals back from a deficit, leading into what she recalled as “the free-throw incident.”

With UTSA’s Sidney Love at the line and a little more than a minute remaining, the first free throw was missed.

“So I was coming in, to go to my position.” De Leon Negron recalled, “and I just, like, tap her on the back and say, ‘Good shot. Do it again.”

UTSA’s Kyra White heard the exchange and took exception to it, and apparently some words were exchanged. Ultimately, referees started to blow their whistles to sort out what was going on.

“I actually didn’t do anything,” De Leon Negron said. “I just wanted to get into her head. We ended up getting a double tech, or something. But we got the win, and that’s all that matters.”

For the record, De Leon Negron and the Cardinals, playing at home, defeated Jenkins and the Roadrunners, 56-53.

She played a major role in the outcome, scoring 18 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter. Even though the Roadrunners were upset at the time, the game also left an impression on Aston, who stepped in to recruit De Leon Negron immediately after she entered her name in the transfer portal last spring.

Becoming a Roadrunner

Today, De Leon Negron is a Roadrunner, and she has become one of Jenkins’ biggest boosters. Likewise, Jenkins said she knew from the first practices last summer that the addition of De Leon Negron to the squad was a plus.

“When Nina first got here, in the summer, I noticed how vocal she was and … knew how much of a hard worker she was,” Jenkins said. “She had already been getting shots up with one of our assistant coaches and one of our (former) players, as well. I knew that she was dedicated and that we were going to be on the same level mentally.”

The chemistry between the two developed quickly. Even in early practices last summer, De Leon Negron’s passes always seemed to be delivered to Jenkins with touch, leading to easy moves she could make around the basket.

“I mean, I kind of already kind of knew that I needed to get the ball to Jordy,” she said. “Not so we can score. But, like, kind of. It just makes everybody’s life easier, as I keep saying. But, she was just running the court and she was open, so I was just getting it to her.”

One day last summer, it looked to an outside observe like magic, as deft passes were delivered, and shots were made. It looked as if they had been teammates for months, not weeks.

“I feel like those practices in the summer, at the rec, they helped a lot,” De Leon Negron said. “Like, with our chemistry. I would see her running. It’s kind of hard sometimes with a post, because if they run, and one time you don’t give it to them, sometimes they get mad.

“Like, ‘I’m running. What are you doing? Why are you not passing it to me?’

“And I’ve never minded that. I’m like, ‘Jordyn, if you’re open and I don’t give it to you, tell me something.’ And she was kind of like, ‘I know you’re going to pass it to me every time I’m open.’ But I was like, ‘You need to tell me, because I need to know.’ Like, I like that.”

In explaining the early chemistry between the two, Jenkins said it’s always been her passion to work to get open for a shot.

“I’ve always played with a really good point guard,” she said. “I guess I know what they’re looking for and I think my IQ is really good, so … one thing I take pride in is … always trying to get open. Open in the post, however way I’m being guarded.

“You know, just trying to get my hand out. Catch any pass I can. I take pride in catching passes, as well, so I love assisting and I love catching passes.”

In the not-too-distant future, both players could be playing in the professional ranks. De Leon Negron is expected to have a chance to play pro ball, possibly in Puerto Rico. Jenkins could get a look from the WNBA.

De Leon Negron said Friday at UTSA that she wasn’t surprised her friend was named Player of the Year in the American.

“I’ve been telling Jordy all the time, ‘You’re good,’ “ she said. “Like, you should be in the league (in the WNBA). You’re going to be in the league.’ ”

Jenkins made it clear that she is focused on one thing, and that is winning the AAC postseason crown to assure a trip to the NCAA tournament.

“I’m just grateful, and just glad that we worked hard this season, and that we won all these awards,” she said. “But the job’s not finished, and we’re excited to keep going.”

Nina De Leon Negron. he UTSA women's basketball teams celebrates at the Convocation Center after winning the 2024-25 American Athletic Conference regular-season title on Saturday, March 1, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Five-foot-six UTSA point guard Nina De Leon Negron has been named as the Newcomer of the Year and second-team all conference in the AAC. – File photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA men down Charlotte 83-80 in regular-season finale

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners will take some momentum into the American Athletic Conference tournament after registering an 83-80 road victory over the Charlotte 49ers on Sunday.

UTSA finished the regular season with two wins in its last three games.

According to the AAC website, the Roadrunners will be the 11th seed in the tournament and will face No. 6 East Carolina on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Records

UTSA 12-18, 6-12
Charlotte 10-21, 3-15

Coming up

UTSA vs East Carolina, AAC tournament, Thursday at 8 p.m. at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth

Tournament glance

By winning twice in the last few weeks of the season, the Roadrunners avoided having to play Wednesday on the opening day of the tournament. At the same time, they will not have it easy, by any means, needing to win four games in four days for the title, starting with the East Carolina Pirates on Thursday.

East Carolina swept two games from UTSA this season, both in close battles that went down to the final seconds.

On Feb. 8 in San Antonio, the Roadrunners made a couple of turnovers and allowed a four-point lead to slip away in the final 48 seconds. The Pirates won 80-79 when C.J. Walker hit a turnaround jumper from 15 feet with four seconds left. On Feb. 23 at Greenville, N.C., RJ Felton scored 30 points and the Pirates claimed a 96-89 victory in overtime.

Notable

Playing with a seven-man rotation, UTSA was good on the offensive end, hitting 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from three, and Marcus Millender led the Roadrunners with 20 points and eight rebounds.

Primo Spears scored 19 to go along with six assists. Damari Monsanto also scored 19, knocking down a team-high four three-point shots in the process. Tai’Reon Joseph scored 11. Millender and Spears played 40 minutes and Monsanto 38.

The Roadrunners finished the last few minutes of the game without anyone taller than 6-foot-6 on the floor after both Jonnivius Smith and David Hermes fouled out. Raekwon Horton, announced last week as away on personal leave, did not play.

Six-foot-five freshman Baboucarr Njie played center for the last 1:58 of the game and made a big play to help secure the victory.

With UTSA leading by three, the Roadrunners put the ball in the hands of Spears, who dumped a pass off to Joseph cutting to the basket. Joseph missed the layup, but Njie crashed the offensive glass. He passed out to Spears, who was fouled and made two free throws with 11 seconds left for a five-point lead.

Kylan Blackmon scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half for the 49ers. Florida Atlantic transfer Nik Graves had 16 of his 21 in the first half.

Jenkins named AAC player of the year as four UTSA women win postseason honors

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA women’s basketball team cleaned up with four individual postseason awards Friday a year after they didn’t get any, another sign of growing respect for the Roadrunners in the American Athletic Conference.

Two of the awards were fairly obvious to everyone after the Roadrunners rolled to a 26-3 record, including 17-1 for the AAC regular-season championship, and those included Jordyn Jenkins as player of the year and first-team all conference, and Karen Aston as coach of the year.

Two others honored included point guard Nina De Leon Negron and forward Idara Udo. De Leon Negron, a transfer from the University of the Incarnate Word, was newcomer of the year while both players were all-conference second team.

Jenkins led the AAC in scoring with 18.7 points per game. She also showed off a multi-faceted skill set with 6.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks. Offensively, she was efficient, hitting 48 percent from the field, 36 percent from three and 82 percent at the free-throw line.

The honor was the second for Jenkins in her UTSA career. In her first season in San Antonio after a transfer from Southern Cal, she was named in player of the year in Conference USA for the 2022-23 season.

In April of 2023, she suffered an offseason knee injury that forced her to miss most of 2023-24 season in rehabilitation.

During the time that she couldn’t play in games, she worked extensively on skill development. It led to her developing a more dependable three-point shot to add to her prowess in the post and the mid-range.

With more versatility, she ended up scoring 20 or more points in eight of 16 conference games this season.

“The only surprise to me was that she wasn’t unanimous,” Aston said.

Aston was a unanimous selection for coach of the year after leading the Roadrunners to a historic season, including their first AAC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in tournament. UTSA’s 26 wins are a program record, while their 17 conference victories are the second-most in AAC history.

De Leon Negron was a steadying influence as the team’s primary playmaker, while Udo helped make UTSA the conference’s best in rebounding.

“I told the group a few minutes ago, anytime you get an individual award, it’s based on what the team does,” Aston said. “It’s a team award, and I think that those two feel that way, that everyone’s been a part of these individual awards that are being given, but there’s no question they showed a true reflection of senior leadership this year.

“I mean, they produced and it’s always about production in this business, but their leadership skills were tremendous, along with (guard) Sidney (Love). You know, Sidney’s was tremendous and she didn’t rewarded for that, but again, she got rewarded with a championship.”

Another possible oversight in the awards was the absence of UTSA forward Maya Linton from the all-defensive team.

Notable

UTSA will play in the AAC tournament at Fort Worth as the No. 1 seed, starting Monday at noon in the quarterfinals against either the UAB Blazers or the Rice Owls.

The Roadrunners likely will need to win three games in three days for the conference’s postseason championship to get rewarded with a trip to the NCAA tournament.

In other words, even if they win twice and reach the finals and lose in the title game, it’s uncertain whether they would get an NCAA at-large bid.

If the Roadrunners fail to make the 68-team NCAA field, they are assured of a spot in the 32-team Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament.

Aston said UTSA has an automatic bid to the WBIT based on its regular-season title, and she confirmed that UTSA would play in that tournament if it is not selected for the NCAA.

Last season, the Roadrunners were ousted in the second round of the AAC tournament and played in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), reaching the second round.

UTSA women open in AAC quarterfinals on Monday at noon

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The top-seeded UTSA Roadrunners will play either the UAB Blazers or the Rice Owls on Monday at noon in Fort Worth in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, according to the bracket released by the AAC.

Defending tournament champion Rice is the No. 9 seed, and UAB is No. 8.

Should UTSA win in the quarterfinals it would advance to Tuesday’s semifinals, scheduled for 6 p.m., against either Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, Tulsa or Temple. The highest seeds out of that group would include No. 5 Tulsa or No. 4 Temple.

If the other side of the bracket plays out according to seed, No. 3 South Florida would meet No. 2 North Texas in the other semifinal on Tuesday. Tipoff would be at 8 p.m.

The finals are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, with the winner of the title game earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Games in the AAC tournament will open on Saturday in Denton, with Sunday through Wednesday matchups at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. Rice and UAB are scheduled to play Sunday at noon.

The Roadrunners, who enter the postseason at 26-3, finished 17-1 in the regular season. They are undefeated against everyone in the 13-team tournament field except for South Florida.

UTSA beat UAB 67-56 at home on Jan. 1.

UTSA is 2-0 against Rice, having beaten the Owls 67-58 at home on Jan. 8. On Feb. 22 in Houston, the Roadrunners escaped with a 57-55 victory over the Owls when Dominique Ennis missed a three at the buzzer.

Last year, Rice entered the tournament as the No. 10 seed and won four games in four days to win it all. The Owls hoisted the trophy after defeating the ninth-seeded East Carolina Pirates in the finals.

A day earlier, East Carolina ended No. 4 seed UTSA’s season in the semifinals.

The Roadrunners haven’t won a conference tournament in women’s basketball since they did it in both 2007-08 and 2008-09 in the Southland.