By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The North Texas Mean Green built a 22-point lead at halftime and then held on for an 81-62 victory Wednesday night in Denton, handing the UTSA men’s basketball team a program record-breaking 12th straight loss.
The 2022-23 Roadrunners held the previous record of 11.
This season, Mississippi Valley State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference has dropped 18 in a row for the longest streak in the nation. The Roadrunners and the Air Force Falcons of the Mountain West Conference are tied for second.
UTSA (4-15, 0-7) made a push late in the game to pull within striking distance. First, Jamir Simpson snared an offensive rebound and fed Austin Nunez for a layup.
Nunez followed it up with a couple of free throws, cutting the lead to 13 with 4:49 to play. From there, North Texas (12-7, 3-3) responded with 10 straight points to pull away.
Mean Green guard Je’Shawn Stevenson capped the streak with a three out of the corner. Stevenson, a sophomore from Chicago, led the home team with 27 points.
The Cleveland State transfer made 10 of 19 from the field and seven of 13 from the 3-point arc.
UTSA coach Austin Claunch told Andy Everett on the postgame radio show that his team’s 46-25 rebounding deficit was a problem, but he said the bigger issue centered on turnovers.
With Mean Green defenders gambling in the passing lanes, making steals and creating deflections, the Roadrunners had 12 of their 15 turnovers in the first half.
“Just a frustrating, frustrating, similar story,” Claunch said.
Simpson scored 14, Brent Moss 14 and Austin Nunez 12 for the Roadrunners, who shot 36 percent from the field. Forward Baboucarr Njie had seven points, three rebounds and a record seven blocked shots. The 6-foot-6 Njie broke the previous record of six blocks by Tom Oswald, set in 1996.
“He’s got great timing,” Claunch said. “He’s got great feel. He’s a good athlete. For somebody that’s 6-6 or 6-5, down there banging the way he does, it’s certainly impressive.”
A scary moment unfolded for UTSA in the second half when freshman guard Dorian Hayes collided with North Texas forward Dylan Arnett near the sideline. Hayes came out off the floor with 12:51 remaining clutching his shoulder.
He returned with 11:53 showing and continued to play, finishing with eight points on one of four shooting.
Records
UTSA 4-15, 0-7
North Texas 12-7, 3-3
Coming up
Temple at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m.
First half
Stevenson hit a 28-footer at the buzzer, a long-distance three pointer, as the North Texas Mean Green took a 45-23 lead into the dressing room at intermission.
Stevenson led the Mean Green with 16 points on six of nine shooting. He connected on four of six from 3-point distance.
The game was close in the first seven minutes, but UTSA never really had a rhythm because of North Texas’ gambling defense.
Despite a flurry of early turnovers, the Roadrunners trailed only 11-7 with after Brent Moss nailed a three from the wing with 13:10 remaining.
North Texas outscored UTSA 34-16 the rest of the way.
UTSA shot only eight of 23 from the field and one of 10 from three in the opening 20 minutes. The Roadrunners committed nine turnovers.
Notable
It’s been almost two months since UTSA last won a game. The Roadrunners’ last victory came on Nov. 25 in Jacksonville, Fla., against the Georgia Southern Eagles.
The 12-game skid started with non-conference losses to South Alabama, 12th-ranked Alabama, Colorado, USC and Seattle. Losses in conference have come to FAU, Temple, Charlotte, Tulane, Rice, Memphis and North Texas.
Seven of the losses in the streak have been on the road, with five at home. The Roadrunners have home games upcoming against Temple on Saturday afternoon and UAB on Jan. 28.
North Texas and UTSA will play again in San Antonio on Feb. 7. It will be the first appearance on the UTSA campus for first-year Mean Green coach Daniyal Robinson, who worked previously for three years at Cleveland State. He replaced Ross Hodge, who was hired at West Virginia.
North Texas suffered a blow to its season when guard Will McClendon, who was averaging 13 points a game, injured his knee on Nov. 12 at Oregon State. A player who might have been the team’s go-to scorer is out for the season.
McClendon, from Bishop Gorman High School in Nevada, played as a freshman at UCLA and as a sophomore last season at San Jose State.
Mean Green guard Je’Shawn Stevenson is a former first-team all-city player at Chicago’s Lindblom High School. He played as a freshman at Cleveland State.
North Texas guard David Terrell Jr.‘s father — David Terrell Sr. — played played in college at UTEP and in the NFL for Washington and Oakland between 1998-2004.