Jahmir Young scored 15 and Syracuse transfer Robert Braswell added 14 Saturday as the Charlotte 49ers turned back the energetic but short-handed UTSA Roadrunners, 62-53.
Young, the leading scorer in Conference USA, hit only 4 of 13 shots from the field.
But with a well-rounded game, he helped to hand the Roadrunners their fourth straight loss with six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
In a road game for UTSA played at Charlotte’s Halton Arena, only a few fans turned out due to impending bad weather and the Covid-19 threat.
The Roadrunners, playing without three starters, seemed to take advantage of the lack of energy in the building by erasing most of a 19-point deficit.
Down 32-13 early, they came back to pull within 42-37 with 10 minutes left.
In the end, without Jordan Ivy-Curry, Cedrick Alley Jr. and Dhieu Deing, they didn’t have enough firepower to sustain the momentum.
Deing (pro ball aspirations) and Alley (academics) are no longer with the team. They won’t be back this season. Ivy-Curry (Covid protocols) could return next week.
UTSA was concerned coming in that Charlotte’s offensive style, with cuts and back-cuts, would pose a problem.
While the 49ers didn’t hit a high percentage of shots from the field (34.7 percent), they did force their way to the free-throw line, where they hit 20 of 24, including 14 of 18 in the second half.
Another problem for the Roadrunners centered around decisions they made with the ball when they had it close to the basket.
A 13-1 lead for UTSA in second-chance points likely could have been an even wider margin, given a massive 19-5 edge in offensive rebounding for the Roadrunners.
Looking back, the Roadrunners probably wished they had either taken the ball stronger to the basket on the put-back attempts, or they should have dribbled out and re-started the possession.
Records
UTSA 7-11, 0-5
Charlotte 9-5, 2-0
Coming up
The Roadrunners were scheduled to return to San Antonio Saturday night. In coming days, they’ll begin preparations for a road game at UTEP on Thursday of next week.
Jan. 20 — UTSA at UTEP, 8 p.m.
Jan. 23 — UTEP at UTSA, 3 p.m.
Jan. 27 — FIU at UTSA, 7 p.m.
Jan. 29 — FAU at UTSA, 1 p.m.
Notable
UTSA forward Aleu Aleu apparently suffered an injury in the first half and didn’t return.
The Roadrunners shot 29.4 percent from the field (20 of 68). From three-point distance, they hit only 12.5 percent (2 of 16). Christian Tucker emerged as UTSA’s leading scorer with 10 points. Without the team’s other primary scoring threats on the floor, junior center Jacob Germany faced traps and double teams most of the afternoon, and as a result he hit only 2 of 9 shots.
Freshman Lamin Sabally and sophomore Lachlan Bofinger supplied good energy when they were on the floor. Sabally scored six points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Bofinger had six points and nine rebounds.
The Old Dominion Monarchs hammered the short-handed UTSA Roadrunners with a 19-2 run in the second half Thursday night en route to an easy 83-51 victory in Conference USA men’s basketball.
In the game played at Norfolk, Va., the Roadrunners were playing without starters Cedrick Alley, Jr., and Jordan Ivy-Curry and still were within 13 points with 16 minutes left.
The Monarchs answered by turning up the intensity behind Jaylin Hunter and C.J. Keyser to push the lead to 30, at 61-31, with 10:38 remaining.
From there, UTSA was doomed to an 0-4 start in conference, with one loss by 32, one by 28 and another by 16. Old Dominion shot 62 percent from the field on the way to a 2-0 C-USA record.
The Roadrunners shot 39 percent from the field. They hit only 1 of 13 from three-point range. Erik Czumbel scored a season-high 16 for UTSA and Jacob Germany 12.
For the Monarchs, Austin Trice had 19, while Hunter and Keyser added 16 apiece. Combined, the threesome hit 22 of 32 shots from the floor.
“Never got any rhythm going offensively, and defensively, it was pretty disappointing,” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the team’s radio broadcast.
Records
UTSA 7-10, 0-4
Old Dominion 7-8, 2-0
Schedule
Saturday — UTSA at Charlotte, noon
Pre-game
When the Roadrunners stepped on the court against the Monarchs, they were without two starters, power forward Cedrick Alley Jr. and guard Jordan Ivy-Curry.
A UTSA spokesman said in a text that Alley is out for the year because of academic eligibility. Ivy-Curry is in Covid protocols, he added.
Alley played 15 games and started 14 for the Roadrunners. He averaged 9.3 points and a team-leading 6.8 rebounds. With Alley out, it means that the Roadrunners have lost two starters for the season in the last two weeks.
Last week, UTSA announced that Dhieu Deing was no longer on the team and planned to pursue a professional career. Deing was UTSA’s leading scorer with 15.3 points per game.
Ivy-Curry apparently did not travel, so he will be out a minimum of two games, against Old Dominion and against Charlotte on Saturday. It’s the second time that Ivy-Curry, the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 15.1, has been in Covid protocols this season.
He also sat out two games in December.
The game at Old Dominion marked the first of three straight for the Roadrunners in conference away from home.
First half
Old Dominion built a 33-21 lead in the first half. Perhaps predictably, the Monarchs jumped on the Roadrunners early, forging leads of 7-0 and 16-2. Outside of scoring bursts from Erik Czumbel and Jacob Germany, UTSA trailed by double digits for most of the rest of the half. Forward Austin Trice hit 7 of 7 shots from the field for 15 points to lead the Monarchs. As a team, ODU hit 15 of 25 for 60 percent. UTSA was 7 of 25 for 28 percent. Czumbel hit 5 of 7 for 11 points.
Middle Tennessee men’s basketball has announced that its Conference USA home games scheduled for this weekend against UTSA and UTEP have been postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests within the Blue Raiders’ program.
The Middle Tennessee – UTSA game was set for Thursday afternoon. Middle Tennessee – UTEP was scheduled for Saturday. Both games were set for the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro.
All Middle Tennessee players have been vaccinated, according to a news release on the school’s website.
C-USA will work to reschedule the games at later dates. The Blue Raiders’ next scheduled games are Jan. 6 at Rice and Jan. 8 at North Texas.
UTSA is scheduled to play Saturday, on the road in Alabama, against the UAB Blazers. The Roadrunners (6-6) and the Blazers (10-3) are set to tip off at 3 p.m.
Junior guard Antonio Reeves produced 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Illinois State Redbirds downed the short-handed UTSA Roadrunners, 81-64, Tuesday afternoon in Normal, Ill.
Missouri Valley Conference-based Illinois State shot 55 percent from the field, including 59 percent in the second half, to subdue UTSA.
The Redbirds led by 11 points at halftime and pumped the advantage to as many as 23 twice with about 10 minutes remaining.
Playing without three players, the Roadrunners stayed in the game for most of the first half before fading to their second straight loss.
In the end, they couldn’t keep pace with the Redbirds, falling to 0-2 without starting point guard Jordan Ivy-Curry.
Ivy-Curry and reserve forward Aleu Aleu have been out the last two games in Covid-19 protocols.
Reserve center Phoenix Ford didn’t play as he prepares for the birth of his first child, a school spokesman said in a text.
Center Jacob Germany led the Roadrunners with 17 points and five rebounds. Dhieu Deing, the team’s leading scorer, had a tough day with five of 16 shooting. He finished with 14 points.
Reserve guard Christian Tucker came off the bench for a career-high 12 points.
Once again, offense was a struggle for the Roadrunners, who finished with 37 percent shooting. UTSA hit only 3 of 20 attempts from 3-point territory.
Records
Illinois State 8-5
UTSA 6-6
First half
Behind the outside shooting of Reeves, the Redbirds shot 51 percent from the field and rolled to a 39-28 lead at intermission.
Illinois State was effective in transition and in half court sets in hitting 17 of 33 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
UTSA started with a burst of energy on both ends of the floor to take a 10-7 lead. Deing hit a three-pointer and Germany nailed two baskets, including a converted three-point play.
From there, the Redbirds controlled the action, with Reeves hitting six of eight from the field and two 3-pointers.
Reeves, a 6-6 junior guard, finished the half with 14 points and six rebounds. His 3-point shot with 5:11 remaining lifted the Redbirds into a 32-20 lead with 5:11 remaining.
For UTSA in the first half, Germany had nine points. Cedrick Alley Jr. had six points and five rebounds. The Roadrunners were shooting 38.7 percent from the field.
Notable
A UTSA home game against Our Lady of the Lake, originally scheduled for Wednesday night, has been postponed because of Covid issues in the OLLU program.
So, for the time being, the next game on the Roadrunners’ schedule is Dec. 30, when they travel to play at Middle Tennessee State in the Conference USA opener.
Quotable
“They got a bunch of guys that can shoot the basketball, and they got some transition buckets. We just couldn’t slow them down,” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the team’s radio broadcast. “Our offensive struggles were pretty apparent in both halves. (Christian Tucker) was the one bright spot there. Gave us some great penetration on multiple occasions.”
On the break for Christmas, Henson said he will give his players the rest of the week off with a plan to return to practice on Sunday.
“We’re not playing the way we want to, but our guys are doing a pretty good job of staying together,” Henson said. “They understand that we’re not there, but we’re not that far off.”
When the team gathers again to resume workouts, Henson said he hopes to have everyone back.
“It’s a fresh start,” Henson said. “We got to take the positives and build on ’em. Got to stay together. Got to keep getting better. Hopefully we’ll get Jordan and Aleu back (and) get Phoenix back.”
Added Henson: “It’s (about) to get real, real hard, real real soon. But I think our guys are going to be up for it.”
Wagner grad Kevin McCullar and the 25th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders are down 15 to No.5 Gonzaga with eight minutes left. Game on CBS. https://t.co/HMdLTPkVH8
UTSA guard Dhieu Deing and coach Steve Henson had a rough night Friday as the Roadrunners lost at home by 18 points. With two UTSA players sidelined in health and safety protocols, UT Rio Grande Valley won 68-50 to snap a five-game losing streak. – Photo by Joe Alexander
With two players sidelined in health and safety protocols, the UTSA Roadrunners experienced a horrible start and an even worse finish to a basketball game played on their home court Friday night.
Objectively speaking, though, the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros had a lot to do with Roadrunners’ misery both early and late.
The Vaqueros held the home team to 3 of 17 shooting in the game’s first eight minutes, and then they hit 57 percent from the field themselves in the second half to claim a 68-50 victory at the UTSA Convocation Center.
UTRGV’s determined play notwithstanding, the Roadrunners clearly missed starting point guard Jordan Ivy-Curry.
Both Ivy-Curry and reserve forward Aleu Aleu were forced to sit out in protocols designed to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Against slumping UTRGV, the Roadrunners failed to make up for what Ivy-Curry gives them as a scorer, as a defender and as a floor leader.
“We just missed some real, real easy (shots) early in the game, and then forced some things,” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the UTSA radio broadcast. “Didn’t get any rhythm.”
After falling behind by 13 points in the first half, the Roadrunners briefly found a spark, surging behind Jacob Germany to pull within one at intermission.
Cedrick Alley Jr. came off the bench to produce 15 points and seven rebounds. Alley played 28 minutes despite missing a few practices earlier this week with an illness. – Photo by Joe Alexander
In the second half, they played well early, forging a 34-28 lead at one point. But after that, the Roadrunners just couldn’t hang on against a team intent on breaking a five-game losing streak.
The Vaqueros went on a monster 29-5 run to blow the Roadrunners out. During the streak, the Roadrunners went scoreless for nine agonizing minutes.
Associate head coach Mike Peck told Henson that UTSA went 15 straight possessions without a basket.
“You can be pretty good defensively, and you go 15 straight trips without putting the ball in the hole … at some point, it’s really, really going to stress your defense,” Henson said.
For the Vaqueros, the win was sweet. It was their first victory since Nov. 23 when they registered a 72-67 decision over Cal Fullerton. The Vaqueros had lost five in a row since then, falling in difficult road games at Illinois and at Texas along the way.
Coming into the game, UTSA was just starting to find a rhythm on offense. The Roadrunners had won five of seven games. In their last game, they hit 47 percent of their shots from the field in a five-point, neutral site victory over Sam Houston State.
Against UTRGV, the Roadrunners were held to a chilly 25.7 percent from the field. With the Vaqueros packing their defenders inside to stop the 6-foot-11 Germany, UTSA couldn’t capitalize, making only 2 of 21 from three-point territory.
Records
UTSA 6-5
UT Rio Grande Valley 5-7
Coming up
Tuesday — UTSA at Illinois State, 2 p.m.
Wednesday — Our Lady of the Lake at UTSA, 7 p.m.
Individuals
UTRGV — Forward Marek Nelson produced a team-high 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Guard BJ Simmons scored 12 and Xavier Johnson came off the bench to add 11. Both knocked down three, 3-point baskets. Justin Johnson, UTRGV’s leading scorer, was held to four points on 2 of 10 shooting.
UTSA — Center Jacob Germany had 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Cedrick Alley Jr. went for 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Dhieu Deing, UTSA’s leading scorer, had his toughest night of the season with only seven points to break his string of 10 straight games in double figures. Deing was held to 3 of 18 shooting.
Notebook
The UTSA trainer delivered the news to Henson about Ivy-Curry and Aleu late Wednesday night. On Thursday, the two players were not at practice, and Henson acknowledged their status. Henson said he wasn’t sure how long they would be out. UTSA opens Conference USA play on Dec. 30 at Middle Tennessee State.
Jacob Germany scored 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds. In his last four games, Germany has averaged 16.5 points and 7.8 boards. – Photo by Joe Alexander
Sidelined by COVID-19 protocols, high-scoring UTSA guard Jordan Ivy-Curry is not expected to play Friday night when the Roadrunners host UT Rio Grande Valley. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Starting guard Jordan Ivy-Curry and backup forward Aleu Aleu, a promising newcomer, have landed in COVID-19 protocols and are not expected to play for the UTSA Roadrunners when they host the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros Friday night.
UTSA coach Steve Henson didn’t say whether either one had tested positive, only that they were in protocols. But he did say that neither is feeling symptoms. He said he isn’t certain how long the two will be unavailable.
“We got all this news late last night, very late last night,” Henson said following a Thursday afternoon practice. “Don’t know all the details. But, certainly (neither will play) tomorrow.”
Neither attended the team’s practice.
Even though the Roadrunners have won three of four and five of their last seven, they have done so in spite of a stretch of adversity covering most of the past three weeks.
Guard Darius McNeill went down on Nov. 24 with a foot injury and has been out for three straight games nursing a case of plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
Forward Cedrick Alley Jr., one of the team’s hottest shooters of late, battled an illness that caused him to miss most of the team’s practices this week.
Both worked out Thursday and appear to be ready to go for the game against the Vaqueros.
At the same time, the loss of Ivy-Curry and Aleu is troublesome, given that the Roadrunners play three games in the next six days.
“It is what it is,” Henson said. “Juice is obviously a key guy. The role he’s played the last few games, getting almost all the minutes at the point guard spot, I liked the progress he was making in that regard. He was feeling pretty good. I liked what he was doing.”
Ivy-Curry, a sophomore from Houston, has emerged as the team’s second leading scorer. He is averaging 14.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 10 games.
Aleu Aleu (above) played 22 minutes on Saturday in Houston and had come on strong in recent practices. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Slowed by injuries to start the season, Aleu, a 6-foot-8 native of Africa, has played in only four games, the last four, averaging 10 minutes as he worked his way back.
Last Saturday, he played a season-high 22 minutes in Houston against Sam Houston State, hit his first three-pointer and contributed with an all-around game.
The former Austin High School and Temple College standout had started to come on strong for UTSA in recent practices, as well, showing off a sweet stroke on three-point shots.
“We were going to try to expand his role rather significantly,” Henson said.
Coming up
UT Rio Grande Valley (4-7) at UTSA (6-4), Friday at 7 p.m.
Notebook
The Roadrunners are scheduled to travel on Monday and then play on Tuesday afternoon at Illinois State in Normal, Ill. On Wednesday night, they’re scheduled to play at home against San Antonio-based Our Lady of the Lake University.
After a break for Christmas, they open Conference USA competition on the road the following week. The Roadrunners will play at Middle Tennessee State on Dec. 30 and at UAB on Jan. 1.
Senior Darius McNeill said it’s “very important” for the team to continue playing well in the three non-conference games.
“If we just stick to how coach wants to play, moving the ball around, playing hard on defense, (we’ll be OK),” he said. “You’ve seen us. Everyone’s touching the ball, everybody’s just flowing … We’re playing like a team — like a winning team.”
McNeill says he’s feeling much better after the bout with the plantar fasciitis, his second such bout in two seasons. He said the injury knocked him out of the lineup for “four or five” games last season at SMU.
McNeill returned to workouts on Monday and did a little more on Tuesday. He said his workout on Wednesday was his first “going up and down” in a game-like situation this week.
“When I was scoring and (doing) certain things off my foot, it felt good,” he said. “I was just playing with a clear mind. Mentally, I’m in a very good space.”
In a continuing effort to upgrade athletics facilities, UTSA has submitted a request for $10 million in funding through the 2022 City of San Antonio bond program to help build a basketball and volleyball training center on campus.
The financing plan calls for UTSA to leverage an additional $19.5 million through “philanthropic gifts” to construct the $29.5 million facility, according to a document released Wednesday afternoon by an official in the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department.
Officials from the university formally presented the request Tuesday night to members of a community bond committee overseeing parks proposals.
Final recommendations on all proposed projects — including streets, drainage, parks, facilities and housing — will be forwarded from the five community committees to the City Council and the mayor for consideration in January.
It is expected that the bond will be decided by the voters in May of 2022.
UTSA officials have said the 49,774-square foot training facility would be built adjacent to the Roadrunner Athletics Center of Excellence (RACE) on the west end of campus.
The facility would serve as a practice venue for the UTSA men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams. In addition, the community would have access to it for youth sports events.
University officials in recent years have made clear their intentions to upgrade all their facilities.
University president Taylor Eighmy has likened it to “pushing this big rock up a hill” in an effort to create an athletics program “as excellent as the rest of the university.”
The rock continued to roll again last month when UTSA announced that it would move all its 17 sports teams from Conference USA into the higher-profile American Athletic Conference.
On Oct. 21, at the press conference announcing a move to the new conference, Eighmy unveiled the school’s intentions to request funding from the city bond for the basketball/volleyball training center.
The request is in keeping with the university’s longstanding partnerships either with the city or with Bexar County to bolster athletics.
UTSA football, for instance, plays downtown at the Alamodome, which is a city-owned facility. The university also has accessed public funds for projects built at the UTSA Park West complex, the home of the school’s track and field and soccer programs.
Most recently, the university utilized $10 million from the 2017 city bond program to build the $40 million RACE complex.
The RACE serves as an all-purpose building housing athletic offices, in addition to areas for weight training, sports medicine, rehabilitation and academic support. Also, outside the building are practice fields for the football program.
The basketball/volleyball training center is planned as a facility that will connect with the RACE complex and will be used by varsity athletes for practice only. Games will continue to be played on campus at the Convocation Center, for the time being.
In the future, the university has said it wants to pursue other projects, including:
* New baseball and softball stadiums; * A “standalone” facility, or an athletic building, for track and field and soccer at Park West. * Also, a 10,000-seat competition arena for basketball and volleyball.
Senior transfer Darius McNeill enjoyed a solid practice Thursday afternoon at the UTSA Convocation Center. – File photo by Joe Alexander
UTSA coach Steve Henson says that he’s getting “pretty close’ to identifying his playing rotation leading into next week’s season opener.
While the coach is not naming any names, it has become evident to anyone watching practices that point guard duties and floor leadership responsibilities will fall to senior transfer Darius McNeill.
McNeill, who has played at the University of California and at SMU, looked sharp in running the show in practice on Thursday afternoon.
When he wasn’t finding cutters to the basket with crisp bounce passes, he was pulling up to knock down shots, showing that he’s capable of hitting from both inside and outside the 3-point arc.
“He’s getting more comfortable,” Henson said. “I think he’ll continue to do that. Just trying to get him to free up his mind a little more. He’s very, very talented.
“He’s thinking too much right now. Part of it is, everything’s new. New terminology. New schemes.”
Even though the team is sort of in search mode right now with lineups and rotations, Henson agreed that McNeill is starting to find a rhythm.
“(Today) was one of his better days,” he said. “I just thing every day he’s with these guys and around the terminology and the coaches, I think he’ll continue to get more comfortable. That’s very important to him. Trying to free his mind up. (Trying to) use his talent right now.”
With the Roadrunners set to play eight games in November, an intriguing question centers on how much of an impact that talented, 6-9 freshman forward Josh Farmer can make right away.
“It’s going to be fun watching him,” Henson said. “There’s not a question of if (he can play). I mean, he’s so talented, and he’s very coachable. Got a great basketball IQ.
“You tell him something once and he’s got it. Great attitude. He’s going to be a big contributor.”
“We need to speed up that process. We’ve talked about that with our coaches, with some of our players, as well. They know it. They can see it. Anybody walks in the gym whether you know anything about basketball or not, you can see his talent.
“We just got to speed that process up and see how he can impact games. You know, right now, he’s behind some other guys. But he’s also got a ton of upside.”
Injury slows Germany
Slowed by a soreness in his right foot, center Jacob Germany sat out most of Thursday’s practice as the UTSA Roadrunners continued preparation for their season opener, now less than a week away.
The adversity involving one of the team’s top offensive weapons comes at an awkward time with the Roadrunners trying to fine-tune for their season opener next Tuesday night at home against cross-town neighbor Trinity University.
Henson said Germany suffered the injury in practice on Wednesday.
“I was pleasantly surprised when I walked out here (today) and saw he wasn’t in a boot,” Henson said. “He went down really hard. Twisted it badly. He was in a ton of pain yesterday. Sure thought he’d be in a lot worse shape than he is today.
“That was pretty encouraging when I walked out and saw him walking around a little bit.”
Germany participated in a shooting drill and then didn’t do much else the rest of the afternoon.
“Nothing anywhere near game speed but the fact that he wasn’t sitting around in a boot was good news,” the coach said.
From time to time, it gets pretty wild at the UTSA Convocation Center.
If you need evidence, check out a video taken at the end of a comeback victory for the Roadrunners over the Old Dominion Monarchs (see above) from the 2018-19 season.
UTSA president Dr. Taylor Eighmy addresses the media Thursday, explaining the school’s move to the American Athletic Conference. — Photo by Jerry Briggs
Alas, the nights of passion in the ‘Bird Cage’ may be numbered.
UTSA president Dr. Taylor Eighmy on Thursday acknowledged the school’s long-range plans to build a new, 10,000-seat competition arena on campus for basketball and volleyball.
“That is a downstream project that we want to develop, using a public-private partnership,” Eighmy said.
The president made his comments after a campus news conference, during which he announced that UTSA would move all of its 17 NCAA Division I athletics programs to the American Athletic Conference.
The school’s move from Conference USA to the AAC is expected to be made after the next two or three years.
The arena is part of a bold facilities push for UTSA, which first fielded intercollegiate athletics teams in 1981-82.
Since then, both men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball have played their games at the Convocation Center on campus.
Over the years, officials in past UTSA administrations have talked about the need for a new arena to replace the aging ‘Bird Cage,’ but nothing of substance has been discussed until now.
The arena report came nestled in a Thursday morning AAC news release that announced UTSA as one of its six new members.
A paragraph in the release started off by saying that the school in August opened the Roadrunner Center of Excellence, a 95,000-square foot facility that houses offices and training areas and is considered as the home for the school’s 24th-ranked football program.
In addition, the AAC release said, UTSA “is embarking on an expansive” capital campaign to develop several other projects, including:
*A new 10,000-seat arena for basketball and volleyball;
*New baseball and softball stadiums;
*A dedicated basketball/volleyball training facility;
*Also, a “standalone” facility for track and field and soccer.
Estimated cost for all of the above could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The administrative wheels are already moving on one of the projects.
Eighmy said UTSA has submitted a request to the City of San Antonio in an effort to gain assistance in funding the basketball/volleyball training facility.
The request is tied to the next city’s next bond project. Eighmy said it would be built adjacent to the RACE building.
“So,’ he added, “we’re already starting on systematic approaches to find resources, or mechanisms, to proceed with adding additional facilities.”
Eighmy declined to estimate what it would cost to build the basketball/volleyball competition arena or when he would like to see the teams move in.
“It’s obviously on our plans to get going,” the president said. “We have a bunch of things we have to tackle. We have to finish Park West (where the track and soccer teams compete).
“We really want to get this practice facility built, for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, but (the arena) is on our horizon. In my lifetime. How about that?”
UTSA men’s basketball coach Steve Henson said he’s excited about the pending move to the new conference and also about the talk of a new arena.
In regard to the challenge of playing in the revamped AAC, and competing against the likes of Memphis, Wichita State and SMU, he admitted that UTSA would be embarking on a league filled with teams that play “high level” basketball.
“The challenge will be great, but the excitement behind it will be great, as well,” he said.
Memphis, under coach Penny Hardaway, has been ranked 12th nationally in the preseason Associated Press poll. Moreover, teams in the AAC play in high-caliber arenas.
Memphis plays in the FedEx Forum. Wichita State plays in the sparkling Charles Koch Arena.
Told after practice that the AAC had sent out information on UTSA’s proposed 10,000-seat arena, Henson smiled and said, “Awesome. I look forward to seeing those plans.”
Henson said he knew about the proposed training facility but acknowledged that he had not heard specifics on UTSA’s arena project.
“I know our people are working like crazy to put us in this position (to change conferences),” he said. “I assumed we had to have some other things in the works to make it happen.
“But, no, I had not heard (about the arena).”
Henson admitted that an arena for his program would supply a boost for a program that has posted winning records in three of the last four seasons but has yet to break through with an NCAA tournament appearance.
An arena, he said, “would do wonders.”
UTSA athletic director Lisa Campos said a combined cost for the basketball/volleyball training center and the baseball and softball stadiums could range from $70 million to $80 million.
Campos added that the arena could cost “a couple of hundred million” dollars to complete.
Clearly, it will be a tall order for UTSA to raise that kind of money.
It could take years to do it, considering the magnitude of the investment and the current economic climate locally coming out of the pandemic.
“We’re going to be strategic about how we could find revenue sources,” she said. “Of course, we’re going to capitalize on the momentum for our philanthropic endeavors, and, winning breeds winning, and folks want to be involved in that.
“Someone had asked me earlier about fundraising, and really, our fan-base, our donor-base has continued to give to UTSA athletics.”
A UTSA master plan published in 2019 pinpoints the location of the proposed arena on the west end of campus. Eighmy said he wants it to be used for “multiple” purposes.
Asked if such a building of that scope could host NCAA tournament games, Eighmy didn’t rule it out.
“Those are the things we have to consider as we develop this public-private partnership,” he said. “We’re advocating all the time why our athletics programs benefit the entire city.”
Eighmy said he wants to invest in programs led by the likes of Henson, Karen Aston (women’s basketball) and Laura Neugebauer-Groff (volleyball) who work in the Convocation Center on a daily basis.
“Our Convocation Center is not a suitable facility for either practice or intercollegiate competition,” Eighmy said. “I mean, it served its purpose in its day, but we need to move on.”
