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Henson, UTSA eye postseason possibilities in CBI or CIT

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The UTSA Roadrunners are in discussion about the possibility of playing in the postseason beyond the Conference USA tournament, coach Steve Henson said Monday.

Henson and the Roadrunners have two games left in the regular season, both on the road, against North Texas and Rice.

UTSA plays at North Texas on Thursday and at Rice on Saturday.

After that, the team will re-focus for the conference tournament, which is set for March 7-10 in Frisco.

Winning the title in Frisco is the goal, because, with it, the team also would get a ticket to the NCAA tournament.

But Henson said even if UTSA comes up short of the dream scenario, it still could play in either the College Basketball Invitational or the CollegeInsider.com tournaments.

“Very strong possibility of that,” Henson said. “With the overall record right now (17-12) those tournament directors … are already fielding inquiries from a lot of teams in positions like us.

“I think there’s a very good chance of that happening.”

UTSA is playing well, having won three straight and seven of eight.

Regardless, the team knows it faces the possibility of playing the rest of the way without injured star Jhivvan Jackson.

Jackson suffered a left knee injury early in Saturday night’s home victory over Louisiana Tech.

As a result, UTSA’s leading scorer had an MRI on Monday and wasn’t practicing Monday afternoon.

Henson said it’s possible that Jackson has an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which traditionally takes months of recovery time.

“We’ve been playing a lot of guys lately, the coach said. “A lot of guys have been producing. The guys are ready to step up and move on and hope we get some good news.”

Virginia claims No. 1 ranking for third straight week

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Virginia is the No. 1-ranked team in college basketball for the third straight week, according to the Associated Press poll released Monday.

AP Top 25
Feb. 26

1 Virginia 26-2 ACC
2 Michigan State 28-3 Big Ten
3 Xavier 25-4 Big East
4 Villanova 25-4 Big East
5 Duke 24-5 ACC
6 Kansas 23-6 Big 12
7 Gonzaga 27-4 West Coast
8 Purdue 26-5 Big Ten
9 North Carolina 22-7 ACC
10 Cincinnati 25-4 American
11 Wichita State 23-5 American
12 Texas Tech 22-7 Big 12
13 Ohio State 24-7 Big Ten
14 Auburn 24-5 SEC
15 Michigan 24-7 Big Ten
16 Tennessee 21-7 SEC
17 Rhode Island 23-4 Atlantic 10
18 Clemson 21-7 ACC
19 Arizona 22-7 Pac-12
20 West Virginia 21-8 Big 12
21 Nevada 25-5 Mountain West
22 Saint Mary’s 27-4 West Coast
23 Kentucky 20-9 SEC
24 Middle Tennessee 23-5 Conference USA
25 Houston 22-6 American

Top 25 notable

Virginia clinched its third ACC title in five years by beating Pittsburgh, 66-37. Cavaliers held the Panthers to seven points in the first half…

Michigan State claimed the outright Big Ten championship with a 68-63 victory Sunday at Wisconsin. Sophomore guard Miles Bridges was cleared by the NCAA just before game time after he was linked in media reports to the college basketball corruption scandal …

Xavier was hammered by 16 at Villanova on Feb. 17 but rebounded last Wednesday to beat Georgetown 89-77. Freshman Naji Marshall was the man with a career-high 21 points. Xavier leads Villanova by one game in the Big East …

Villanova suffered a blow to its conference title chances when it lost Saturday at Creighton, 89-83, in overtime. Guard Phil Booth has returned to play the past two games after sitting out a month with a broken hand, but the Wildcats have lost three of their last six …

Center Marvin Bagley III has returned for Duke after sitting out four games with a knee injury. Bagley, a projected NBA lottery pick, scored 19 in a 60-44 home victory over Syracuse. Duke plays at Virginia Tech tonight …

Texas Tech point guard Keenan Evans is shooting just 2-for-13 from the field in his last two games while trying to play on an injured toe. The Red Raiders lost both games, at Oklahoma State and Kansas, to fall out of first place in the Big 12. Tech plays at West Virginia tonight on Big Monday.

UIW beats A&M-Corpus Christi, snaps 17-game losing streak

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The beleaguered Incarnate Word men’s basketball program snapped a 17-game losing streak Saturday afternoon, beating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 69-62, on the road in the Southland Conference.

Charles Brown III, Shawn Johnson and Augustine Ene scored in double figures for the Cardinals’ first victory since Dec. 16 when they beat Missouri-Kansas City at home.

“It was a great team win with a lot of people contributing,” UIW coach Ken Burmeister said. “It was nice to hang in there when the game got tight.”

Brown produced 18 points and eight rebounds for the Cardinals, who improved to 6-20 and 1-15 in the SLC.

In addition, UIW’s Shawn Johnson had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Augustine Ene had 12 points and four assists.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi allowed UIW to hit 11 3-point shots in falling to 9-17 on the season and 6-10 in conference.

Joseph Kilgore (23 points) and Sean Rhea (18) led the Islanders, who shot 39 percent from the floor and 25 percent from three (5 of 20).

Coming up

UIW hosts two games next week, taking on Houston Baptist Wednesday night and then closing the season against Abilene Christian on Saturday afternoon.

Jackson-led UTSA beats Charlotte in overtime, 97-89

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Freshman Jhivvan Jackson scored 30 points Saturday as the UTSA Roadrunners turned back the Charlotte 49ers, 97-89, in overtime.

In the game played at Charlotte, North Carolina, UTSA’s all-time freshman scoring leader reached the 30-point mark for the third time this season.

Jhivvan Jackson

He made 11 of 22 shots from the field and, for good measure, he also nailed 4 of 12 from three-point distance.

Freshman Keaton Wallace scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half for the Roadrunners, who barely escaped against the last-place team in Conference USA.

Charlotte has lost 12 straight. UTSA, meanwhile, bounced back from Thursday night’s 100-62 loss at Old Dominion.

The Roadrunners are 6-2 in their last eight.

Crunch time

With the game on the line, Jackson nailed two straight jumpers in the final 25 seconds of regulation.

After Jackson hit the first one, guard Andrien White completed a three-point play to give Charlotte an 84-82 lead.

With the clock ticking under 10 seconds, UTSA advanced the ball and found Jackson, who hit the tying shot with 2.9 ticks left.

Jon Davis missed the potential game winner off the front of the rim at the regulation buzzer.

Overtime heroics

Jackson scored seven points in the extra period to give him 30 for the game and 518 for the season.

Devin Brown held the UTSA freshman record of 483 points until Jackson surpassed it Thursday night at Old Dominion.

In the overtime against Charlotte, he showed that he can also do more than score.

The former three-time Puerto Rican junior national team member created opportunities for teammates.

Two of Jackson’s late drives to the bucket led directly to four points, on a layup and two free throws, by Byron Frohnen.

Records

UTSA 15-12, 8-6
Charlotte 5-20, 1-13

Quotable

“Exactly what I expected. I thought they’d be really, really good and that it’d be a fight the whole way, and it was. They have good players. They’re just a little snake-bitten. They can’t quite finish ’em right now. They have a couple of terrific guards. It was tough.” — UTSA coach Steve Henson.

Charlotte highlights

Junior guard Andrien White produced 25 points, six rebounds and four assists. Backcourt mate Jon Davis had 18 points and eight assists.

Coming up

Southern Miss at UTSA, 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22
Louisiana Tech at UTSA, 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 24

Stephen F. Austin builds early lead and cruises past UIW, 81-70

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UIW center Devin Wyatt beats the SFA defense for a dunk in the first half.

Forward Leon Gilmore III produced 22 points and 11 rebounds Saturday afternoon as Stephen F. Austin claimed an 81-70 victory at the University of the Incarnate Word.

UIW freshman guard Augustine Ene sparked a rally that cut what had been a 20-point SFA lead near the end of the first half to six with 12:17 remaining in the game.

But SFA just had too much firepower and sent UIW reeling to its 16th straight loss.

“The guys could have folded, and it could have been a 30- or 40-point loss,” UIW coach Ken Burmeister said. “But they came back in the second half and gave us great effort.

“We made some threes and Augustine gave us some open-play ball where he was going downhill.

“He picked up the pace. (But) their size just hurts us. Gilmore and (AJ) Holyfield hurt us pretty good.”

With the loss, hard-luck UIW fell to 5-19 overall and 0-14 in the Southland Conference. SFA improved to 22-5 and 11-3.

The Cardinals have already been eliminated from contention to play in the SLC postseason tournament.

“I give Incarnate Word all the credit for battling back the way they did in the second half,” SFA coach Kyle Keller said. “We got some frustration in us on the defensive end. They just attacked us on the bounce and had some shots go in.

“Whether it’s a double-figure win or close to it, you’ll take that on the road anytime.”

Kevon Harris scored 22 and Shannon Bogues added 19 for the Lumberjacks, who have won four straight and six of seven.

For UIW, Shawn Johnson had 23 points and eight rebounds. Sam Burmeister chipped in with a season-high 18 points.

UIW notebook

Sidelined and not in uniform for UIW were center Konstantin Kulikof and guard Jorden Kite.

Kulikov was held out because of a compliance issue, a school spokesman said.

Burmeister declined comment on Kulikov’s situation. The coach said that Kite has a wrist injury.

UIW has been without starting point guard Jalin Hart for the past 12 games.

Hart, who averaged 15.9 points per game in 2016-17, is out for the season because of academics.


SFA’s Aaron Augustin takes a charge to force a turnover late in the first half of Saturday’s game at UIW.

Lamar hits 10 threes in 85-62 victory over Incarnate Word

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Nick Garth came off the bench for 19 points Wednesday night as the Lamar Cardinals routed Incarnate Word 85-62 at Beaumont in Southland Conference men’s basketball.

Garth hit five of Lamar’s 10 three-pointers in handing UIW its 15th straight loss.

Shawn Johnson led UIW with 27 points and 7 assists.

Records

Incarnate Word 5-18, 0-13
Lamar 16-11, 8-6

Coming up

Stephen F. Austin at Incarnate Word, Saturday at 3 p.m.

Evans scores 26 as No. 7 Texas Tech beats Oklahoma, 88-78

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Texas Tech’s best season in 13 years just got a little better.

Guard Keenan Evans scored 26 points Tuesday night as the seventh-ranked Red Raiders pulled away late to down No. 23 Oklahoma, 88-78, in a Big 12 game at Lubbock.

Alone in first place in the conference, the Red Raiders (22-4, 10-3) held OU freshman Trae Young to 19 points in running their winning streak to seven.

Texas Tech hasn’t won 22 games in a season since 2004-05, when the Bob Knight-coached Red Raiders finished 22-11.

Young entered the ESPN national-television game leading the nation in scoring (29.5) and assists (9.4).

In a strategy that proved effective, Tech employed traps with taller perimeter players in holding Young to 4 of 16 shooting.

Guarded alternately by Jarrett Culver, Zhaire Smith and Niem Stevenson, all of them with at least a three-inch height advantage, the Red Raiders hounded the 6-2 Young into an 0-for-9 night from 3-point range.

It was a eventful homecoming for Young, a Lubbock native whose father played for the Red Raiders.

Not only was the Tech defense all over him, so were the fans who booed and chanted.

“I get that everywhere I go,” Young told newsok.com. “Just because I’m back here in Lubbock, I didn’t think I was going to get a welcome-home type of feel.

“I wasn’t expecting anything different tonight.”

In the beginning, Oklahoma jumped out to an early five-point lead and hung on to lead by one at the half.

The Sooners (16-9, 6-7) continued to play well as a team and mustered a 64-63 lead with 8:51 remaining.

But the Red Raiders were too tough down the stretch.

After Evans drove for a dunk to give Tech an 81-74 lead, OU never got any closer.

Young even dribbled off his foot for a turnover on one possession.

Evans, a senior from Richardson, hit 9 of 15 shots from the field. He also tied a season high with 4 three-point buckets on 7 attempts.

Three other Texas Tech players reached double figures in scoring, including center Norense Odiase with 14. Smith scored 13 and Stevenson had 12 off the bench.

“We’re defending. We’re locking people down,” Odiase told lubbockonline.com. “We’re really harping on defense. … We’re tightening it up together in these last six to seven games. We’ve been playing on that end.”

Surging Texas A&M returns to the national rankings at No. 21

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Texas A&M capped a successful week on the court with some bad news off the court on Sunday, followed on Monday with a return to the national rankings.

What?

Let’s start with the on-court success, two impressive wins in the Southeastern Conference.

First, A&M won on the road at top 10 Auburn and then returned home Saturday to club Kentucky.

On Sunday, the team acknowledged that guard J.J. Caldwell had been dismissed from the team and Jay Jay Chandler had been suspended indefinitely.

Newspapers in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio were reporting that the two had been arrested for marijuana possession.

Finally, on Monday, the AP poll was released.

Texas A&M had returned to the rankings (at No. 21) for the first time since last month during an 0-5 start to the SEC schedule.

Altogether, it looked as if A&M’s season was spinning out of control on Jan. 28, when the Aggies lost by 11 at Kansas in the SEC/Big 12 challenge.

At the time, A&M was 2-6 in the SEC and 2-7 in January.

Since then, the Aggies have whipped Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn and Kentucky in succession.

A&M’s 85-74 home victory Saturday over Kentucky served as an exclamation point to the team’s return to form.

Freshman T.J. Starks scored 17 points and forward Rob Williams sparked a 59-44 second half with several dunks.

As far as the Aggies are concerned, they’re not satisfied with a .500 record in conference.

“Now we’re sitting at 6-6, but we still have a hole to dig out of,” A&M junior guard D.J. Hogg told reporters after the Kentucky game, according to the AP.

Starks, a freshman from Lancaster, averaged 20 points in the two victories.

AP Top 25
For Feb. 12

1. Virginia 23-2 ACC
2. Michigan State 24-3 Big Ten
3. Villanova 23-2 Big East
4. Xavier 23-3 Big East
5. Cincinnati 23-2 American
6. Purdue 23-4 Big Ten
7. Texas Tech 21-4 Big 12
8. Ohio State 22-5 Big Ten
9. Gonzaga 23-4 West Coast
10. Auburn 22-3 SEC
11. Clemson 20-4 ACC
12. Duke 20-5 ACC
13. Kansas 19-6 Big 12
14. North Carolina 19-7 ACC
15. Saint Mary’s 24-3 West Coast
16. Rhode Island 20-3 Atlantic 10
17. Arizona 20-6 Pac-12
18. Tennessee 18-6 SEC
19. Wichita State 19-5 American
20. West Virginia 18-7 Big 12
21. Texas A&M 17-8 SEC
22. Michigan 20-7 Big Ten
23. Oklahoma 16-8 Big 12
24. Nevada 21-5 Mountain West
25. Arizona State 19-6 Pac 12

Prince or frog? Texas Tech’s Beard wary of Big 12 hype

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The Texas Tech basketball program on Sunday discovered yet another sign that the Red Raiders have joined the conversation as a dark horse candidate to play deep into March during the NCAA tournament.

In Jerry Palm’s latest projection for CBS Sports, the Big 12-leading Red Raiders are pegged as a No. 2 seed in the West region, headed for Dallas to play in the round of 64.

Of course, a month remains before Selection Sunday.

But both the experts and amateurs alike are busily trying to sort out what the bracket might look like.

In dissecting how the Big 12 teams will be slotted, Palm has projected the surprising Red Raiders (21-4, 9-3) as a No. 2 and Kansas (19-6, 8-4) as a No. 3.

West Virginia is pegged as a No. 5 seed and the Oklahoma Sooners, who will roll into Lubbock to play the Red Raiders Tuesday night, are a No. 6.

TCU is viewed as a No. 10, with Texas and Kansas State slotted precariously on the No. 12 line.

All very interesting, except Texas Tech coach Chris Beard isn’t buying any of it.

Beard has joked that, in the Big 12, you can be a prince one day and a frog the next.

“A two-game losing streak feels like your life is over,” he told reporters Saturday night.

Life is good at the moment for Beard, whose team has won six in a row.

In their latest statement, the Red Raiders went on the road and convincingly whipped the Kansas State Wildcats, 66-47, to gain sole possession of the conference lead.

Pressed on what he is telling his players now that they hold a one-game edge on defending champion Kansas, Beard said the message is simple.

Stay the course.

“I’m getting this question a lot,” Beard said. “I wish I had a better answer for you. I’m not trying to be like Debbie Downer.

“(With our team) … the next day is the most important. We’re just trying to win the next game on our schedule.”

UTSA beats UTEP for first win in El Paso since 2011

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Forward Deon Lyle scored 18 points Saturday night, and UTSA held off the UTEP Miners, 63-59, for the program’s first victory in El Paso since 2011.

In a sloppy game with poor shooting by both teams, Lyle hit five 3-point baskets, allowing UTSA to sweep UTEP 2-0 for the first time in five seasons of Conference USA play.

The Roadrunners (14-11, 7-5) have won four straight and five of their last six to move into a tie for fifth in the C-USA.

Bewitched by 47 percent shooting from the free-throw line, the Miners (7-17, 2-10) lost their sixth in a row.

UTSA won in spite of shooting 39 percent from the field and 50 percent at the free-throw line (11 of 22).

“Coach said it was going to be ugly,” UTSA forward Nick Allen said on the team’s radio broadcast.

Added Allen: “It’s hard to come in here and win, you know, it’s a historical place, with a lot of pride.

“There’s a lot of support behind (the program).

“So, we knew it was going to be hard. We knew it was going to be chippy. But we got it done.”

Frustrating the home fans, UTEP hit only 18 of 50 from the field (for 36 percent) and 16 of 34 at the line.

UTSA coach Steve Henson said the Roadrunners “made it ugly” in the first half with their own lack of execution.

“A lot of stuff going on was our own fault,” the coach said. “(But) we kind of withstood it and responded well there at some point … and had a decent run.

“So many things to go back and look at. So many mistakes down the stretch (at the end of the game).

“Great learning opportunities. You know, we got some young guys out there and (we) made some mistakes, but it’s a lot better to learn from those when you win.”

The Roadrunners led by eight with 55 seconds left and nearly let the game get away from them.

After UTEP’s Isaiah Osborne made two free throws and missed a third with nine seconds left, the Miners had trimmed the lead to two.

Fortunately for UTSA, guard Giovanni De Nicolao put the game away with two free throws with five seconds remaining.

After De Nicolao made the first one, UTEP called time to try to ice him.

But after the break, the sophomore from Italy stepped up and hit the second one, as well, sealing the victory and improving UTSA’s record in C-USA road games to 3-2.

Forward Byron Frohnen produced 12 points and 7 rebounds for the Roadrunners. Allen had 9 points and 13 boards, as UTSA dominated on the glass, 48-35.

De Nicolao and Jhivvan Jackson had 10 points apiece. Jackson, the fifth leading freshman scorer in the nation, was held nine under his scoring average.

He hit 3 of 12 from the field, but Jackson also contributed nine rebounds and had a steal and a break-away layup that gave UTSA a 57-51 lead with 3:24 remaining.

For UTEP, center Matt Willms scored 12 and Paul Thomas and Kobe Magee, a freshman guard from Brandeis, both had 11.