Guard Kevon Harris scored 19 points as the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks handed the University of the Incarnate Word its seventh straight loss, 83-63, Saturday night in Nacogdoches.
The losing streak is the longest for UIW since it joined the Southland Conference in 2013 and started its move up to NCAA Division I.
Last-place UIW (5-10, 0-5 SLC) outscored SFA 8-0 in the opening minutes before the home team started to click.
By halftime, the Lumberjacks (15-3, 4-1) built an 11-point lead at 42-31. But the Cardinals never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
Guard Shawn Johnson led UIW with 11 points and eight rebounds. Forward Charles Brown III and guard Cody Graham added 10 points each.
The Cardinals host slumping Lamar on Wednesday night in an effort to get into the win column in SLC play.
Senior guard Gerdarius Troutman hits a three with nine seconds left to give Florida Atlantic the lead.
UTSA coach Steve Henson admitted Saturday afternoon that his team is searching for an answer in the wake of a 73-69 home loss to Florida Atlantic.
The Roadrunners have lost three in a row and four of their last five.
“We’re just not playing right,” the coach said. “We’re not playing well enough, not together enough. Not tough enough, the things that we’re always talking about.
“Not playing hard enough on the defensive end of the floor, and the ball’s not moving the way it was earlier in the year.
“We’re searching. We’re searching, and we got to figure it out fast because it doesn’t get any easier from here.”
Florida Alantic (8-9, 2-3 in Conference USA) beat UTSA at the end with a low-post offensive attack led by 7-foot center Ronald Delph.
With the game tied 61-61, the Roadrunners (9-10, 2-4) couldn’t stop Delph in the paint as he scored seven points in a key stretch.
Delph hit three free throws and two shots in close to give the Owls a 68-66 advantage with 1:33 remaining.
From there, UTSA regained the lead by one when freshman Jhivvan Jackson buried a three from the corner.
But in the final seconds, the Owls went up 71-69 when Gerdarius Troutman knocked down a wide-open trey from the wing, off an assist from Anthony Adger.
With time running out, UTSA point guard Giovanni De Nicolao turned it over on the dribble trying to take it to the basket, forcing the Roadrunners to foul.
Troutman hit two free throws with three seconds left for the final points. He led the Owls with 19 for the game.
Three other FAU players finished in double figures, including Delph (15), Justin Massey (14) and Jailyn Ingram (13).
UTSA sophomore forward Byron Frohnen works his way inside for a layup off a miss by George Willborn III.
What has happened to the UTSA offense?
In two games at home this week, the Roadrunners finished with sub-40 percent shooting from the field.
Against Florida Atlantic, the Roadrunners went cold in the second half with 32.1 percent shooting, finishing at 37.1 for the game.
Freshman guard Keaton Wallace and junior forward Deon Lyle, two mainstays of the Roadrunners’ attack, were off the mark against Florida Atlantic.
The two combined for 2 of 14 from the field.
After starting the season with three weekly honors as C-USA Freshman of the Week, Wallace has fallen into an extended slump.
The 6-foot-3 lefty hit 2 of 10 against the Owls to make him 16 of 60 over his last six games.
Freshman Jhivvan Jackson played one of his better games of the year in defeat.
He scored 28 points. Jackson knocked down 8 of 15 from the field, 4 of 8 from three and 8 of 9 from the line.
UTSA leads Florida Atlantic 36-33 at intermission Saturday afternoon.
The Roadrunners rallied at the end of the half by hitting five of their last seven shots.
UTSA’s last bucket was emblematic of how hard it had to work to get a shot against FAU’s defense.
Moving without the ball, Jhivvan Jackson (see No. 2 in the video above) finally gets an open look and buries it.
Guard George Willborn III is leading UTSA with 11 points at the break.
UTSA freshman Jhivvan Jackson drives for two against Florida International
For nearly a week after Hurricane Maria pounded Jhivvan Jackson’s native Puerto Rico, he may have been one of the most stressed-out freshmen in the UTSA athletic department, if not on the entire campus.
Jhivvan Jackson (left) and his grandfather, veteran coach Flor Melendez
The first month of the fall semester in September is hectic for anyone in college. But for Jackson, a basketball prodigy who grew up in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, it was nerve-wracking.
Back at home where he once spent carefree days shooting hoops on his grandfather’s backyard court, members of his family – including his mother and an older brother – did their best to hunker down and weather the Category 5 storm that hit the island on Sept. 20.
For five days after 150-mph wind and rain strafed the island, Jackson tried unsuccessfully to find out what had happened. Over and over again, he’d call and leave a message on voice mail.
“I couldn’t get through for about a week,” Jackson said, “because there was no (phone) service. I just believed. I just knew everything was going to be good.”
Finally, on the fifth day, his phone buzzed with the good news he was praying for. His mother was calling to tell him that everyone was OK.
“It just relieved all the stress I had,” Jackson said. “It was stressful.”
All of which makes Jackson’s ensuing rise in stature as one of the top freshmen in the nation this season all the more remarkable.
As UTSA prepares to play a 2 p.m. home game today against Florida Atlantic, Jackson has emerged as the seventh leading freshman scorer in NCAA Division I.
Only the likes of Trae Young at Oklahoma, Marvin Bagley III of Duke and Collin Sexton of Alabama rank ahead of Jackson, who leads the Roadrunners with 18.4 points per game.
A proud grandfather’s support
Veteran Puerto Rico basketball coach Flor Melendez, who is Jackson’s proud grandfather, said it isn’t a surprise to him that his grandson could set aside the family’s storm-related concerns to focus on school and basketball.
“It’s not a surprise for me,” Melendez said after a recent practice at the Convocation Center. “Jhivvan start to play at six years old. Practice. Practice. Six, seven, eight years old. Every day, working hard. Shot. Shot. Ball handling. Behind my house, on the court, I see him. Shot. Shot.”
Jackson’s grandfather has a long track record of success in the sport.
According to an online bio confirmed through the FIBA communications office, he played for the Puerto Rican national team in the 1968 Olympics.
Later, after a pro career, Melendez started coaching in the late 1970s and coached national teams for Puerto Rico, Argentina and Panama, along with pro teams in Spain and Venezuela.
In Spain, in the late 1980s, he said he coached former Spurs great George Gervin for TDK Manresa.
In 2004, Melendez served as an assistant coach for the Puerto Rican team that defeated the Tim Duncan-led U.S. squad at the Athens Olympics.
Jackson knows him more on a personal level, as the man who put up the basketball court behind his Bayamon home.
It became a haven where Jackson and his older brother, Jalen, would play for hours on end as kids.
Later, both brothers moved to the Dallas area to live with their father, Leroy Jackson, a Panamanian who played in the early 1990s at Oregon State.
Signing with UTSA
Jhivvan Jackson, a 6-foot combo guard, enjoyed a standout four-year career at Euless Trinity High School through 2017.
After a single recruiting visit, he signed with UTSA coach Steve Henson in early signing period at the start of his senior season.
“He just said he knew it’s where he wanted to be,” said his mother, Yanira Melendez.
By the next summer, Jackson reported to summer workouts at UTSA., ready to go to work.
Now, about halfway through his first season with the Roadrunners, he has notched two 30-point games and six others in the 20s, all while shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from three-point range.
Henson said he is surprised with his young combo-guard’s efficiency.
“Big scorers (from high school) usually come in and struggle with their percentages,” Henson said. “They find a way to get it in the hole. But it takes more shots to do it. With Jhivvan, he’s hanging in there at a very high level.”
Jackson, who plays off the bench, said he didn’t know he was the No. 7 freshman scorer in the NCAA.
“It really just comes down to how much my teammates and my coaches trust me with the ball and give me the right to make plays” he said. “They trust me to do that.
“That’s really what I’m doing. Trying to win as many games as possible for this team. Just, making the right play and making everyone better.”
UTSA has lost two in a row, including a 79-76 setback at home Thursday night against Florida International.
Jackson likely won’t let it get him down for too long.
Weathering the storm
After all, he comes from a basketball family that knows how to fight through adversity.
Last fall, his brother and his grandfather braved the hurricane in Bayamon by wading into thigh-deep water in front of the house to unclog debris from the sewer drains in the road.
“They both had to be tied together with ropes so that the current wouldn’t get ‘em,” Jackson said. “The current (in the water), the wind, it was bad.”
How did they know to take such action?
“Just years of experience,” Jackson said, matter of factly. “There’s a lot of hurricanes that come through Puerto Rico.”
Only recently has electrical power been restored at his grandfather’s home after one of the most intense storms in history.
“In the center of the island, they probably won’t get power for six months,” Jackson said. “Maybe a year. It’s crazy.”
Asked if the delay in service makes him mad, he said it does.
“Of course, but you always got to believe in the man on top,” the UTSA freshman said. “(God), he got us. He looking over us. All we can do is pray and hope things get better. That’s how things are now.
“Things are getting better in Puerto Rico, and I’m happy for that. People are starting to get power, most people.”
Jhivvan Jackson hits a step-back three against FIU
UTSA sophomore guard George Willborn III fires up the home crowd down the stretch with a tomahawk dunk.
Trailing by a dozen points with 12:10 remaining Thursday night, the UTSA Roadrunners finally started to show some spunk against the Florida International Panthers.
They started pushing the pace. Attacking the basket. Putting some pressure on the visiting team.
Unfortunately for UTSA, it was not enough.
The Panthers held off the fast-closing Roadrunners 79-76 before 1,218 fans at the Convocation Center.
“We had some opportunities to win,” UTSA guard George Willborn III said. “(But) … we can’t wait until the last minute of the game to try to get things going.”
With the victory, FIU improved to 8-9 on the season and 2-2 in Conference USA. UTSA, in losing its second straight, fell to 9-9 and 2-3.
FIU’s Eric Lockett drives to the bucket early in the second half.
The Panthers’ backcourt dominated the game.
Point guard Brian Beard produced 20 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Trejon Jacob had 16 points and Eric Lockett 15.
When Jacob and Lockett weren’t hitting long three-pointers, they were dominating on the glass. The two combined for 15 rebounds.
For the most part, FIU held UTSA’s top scorers in check. At the half, Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace were a combined 1-for-11 from the field.
Jackson got going in the second half, finishing with a team-high 22 points. But Wallace struggled throughout, shooting 0-for-7 from the floor and 0-4 on three-pointers.
Willborn, making his first start, finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds, a steal and a block.
UTSA forward Byron Frohnen gets to the hoop in the first half.
Florida International led, 47-37, at intermission on the strength of its long-distance accuracy.
FIU hit seven three-point shots, including three by Jacob.
UTSA, meanwhile, couldn’t get its offense out of neutral.
The Roadrunners shot 38.7 percent from the field and turned it over six times in falling behind by double digits at the break.
Playing on emotion for a cancer-stricken teammate, the Texas Longhorns claimed a 99-98 victory in double overtime Wednesday night against 16th-ranked TCU.
“We all had one mind-set — win this for Andrew Jones,” Texas guard Matt Coleman told the UT radio broadcast in Austin. “Unfortunate news what he has. It’s sad. I know he wants to be out here with us.
“So, we just had one mind-set, win this for Andrew.”
Jones, a sophomore from Irving MacArthur, is hospitalized with leukemia.
The diagnosis was released by the family through the UT athletic department earlier in the day.
Texas coach Shaka Smart said it’s been a difficult few days for the Longhorns.
“After we talked to the team yesterday about Andrew, they were really, really upset,” Smart said. “(I was) just trying to help the guys understand what we could do over the next 24 hours.
“I said, ‘Well, no one should have a bigger ‘why’ than you guys when you take the floor.’ ”
Trailing by two points with less than a minute remaining in the second OT, the Longhorns retaliated when Coleman drove for a layup to tie it, 98-98.
On the other end, TCU’s Desmond Bane missed a jumper with 13 seconds left.
After the Longhorns rebounded for possession, TCU forward Kenrich Williams fouled Jericho Sims.
Sims stepped to the line and hit the first of two free throws for the game’s final point.
TCU’s Jaylen Fisher missed a driving layup with a second left.
Guard Eric Davis scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Longhorns.
Both forward Dylan Osetkowski (20 points, 6 rebounds) and Coleman (17 points, 12 assists) played 49 minutes.
For TCU, forward Kenrich Williams hit 7 three-pointers en route to a game-high 26 points.
Horned Frogs forward Vladimir Brodziansky added 19 points, including a bucket at the end of regulation and at the end of the first overtime to extend the game.
Jordan Howard with new @UCAMBB Division-I record 41 points – just 6th player in UCA history to score 40+ points in a game. Finishes with 41 points, 8 rebounds & 4 assists as Bears improve to 3-2 in Southland. #BearClawsUppic.twitter.com/4nA9tId55c
Senior Jordan Howard lived up to his reputation as one of the nation’s top scorers Wednesday night by pouring in a career-high 41 points in a 92-76 home victory for Central Arkansas over slumping Incarnate Word.
Howard, who ranks fifth in NCAA Division I in scoring, hit 11 of 22 from the floor, 4 of 9 on three-pointers, and 15 of 17 at the free throw line for Central Arkansas (9-9, 3-2).
Jordan Howard is the older brother of Marquette sophomore Markus Howard, who scored an NCAA season-best 52 points in an overtime victory at Providence last week.
Redshirt freshman Christian Peevy and junior Charles Brown III scored 24 points apiece for the Cardinals (5-9, 0-4), who lost their sixth straight game.
Trailing by 23 points at intermission, UIW out-scored Central Arkansas 25-9 in the first seven minutes of the second half to pull within 62-55.
But the Cardinals couldn’t sustain the run and got hit with an 18-7 run from the Bears to fall behind by 15, effectively putting the game out of reach.
UIW plays next on Saturday at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. on ESPN3.
University of Texas sophomore guard Andrew Jones has been diagnosed with leukemia, the player’s family announced.
“After undergoing a number of tests & and evaluations over the past week, Andrew has been diagnosed with leukemia.
“He has begun treatments, and we hope everyone will keep him in your thoughts & prayers.
“This is obviously a difficult situation for our family, and we hope everyone will respect our privacy at this time.”
Jones played limited minutes in two games and sat out Saturday’s game at Baylor after returning from a wrist injury.
“Speaking for our entire team and staff, we love Andrew and will do everything we can to support his family and help him get back to health,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said in a statement. “I want to thank everyone for being respectful of the privacy that the Jones family needs at this time.”
Jones, a McDonald’s All-American out of Irving MacArthur, is second on the team averaging 13.5 points.
He was the team’s leading scorer when he went down with the wrist injury at Virginia Commonwealth on Dec. 5.
Kentucky coach John Calipari was calling for toughness from his team Tuesday night in a Southeastern Conference struggle against Texas A&M.
For awhile, the Aggies out-toughed the Wildcats, playing on even terms for most of the night and then pushing out to a six-point lead with a little less than nine minutes remaining.
In the end, you could say the Wildcats heeded their coach’s call.
But after Kentucky’s late push allowed it to escape with a 74-73 victory at rowdy Rupp Arena in Lexington, you could also argue that A&M just simply let the game get away.
The Aggies turned it over too many times down the stretch, not to mention missing three key free throws.
As a result, the Wildcats (13-3, 3-1) took another baby step toward the excellence that their fans demand, while luck-less A&M (11-5, 0-4) lost its fourth straight.
Forward Tyler Davis and the Aggies, a team once ranked fifth in the nation a few weeks ago, put up a pretty good fight.
Davis hit 8 of 10 shots from the field and led A&M with 21 points.
Guard Admon Gilder added 14 in his first game back after sitting out five straight with a knee injury.
But the Aggies made far too many mistakes at the end to win.
Hamidou Diallo led the Wildcats with 18 points, while back-court mate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was everywhere and did almost everything, producing 16 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks.
In addition, PJ Washington scored 16 and Kenny Knox added 15.
A&M lost 69-68 to LSU on Saturday in College Station, when Tremont Waters hit a three with 1 second left to win it for the Tigers.
The end at Kentucky was almost as gruesome for the Aggies, who missed two wide-open, three-point shots in the final 23 seconds.
Trailing by the eventual final score, A&M also had a chance on the final play.
Kentucky missed two free throws and A&M kicked it out to the wing.
But when the Aggies tried to throw a long pass to the other end, it sailed out of bounds and over an A&M player tangled up with a Kentucky player in the paint.
Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said he thinks his team had opportunities in a hard-fought game.
“I thought when we needed to make … a big shot, we got good looks,” Kennedy said. “We just didn’t knock em down. We just didn’t make enough plays at the end and (we) put them at the free-throw line in one stretch that was critical.
“I think they shot six or eight free throws in a row. We had a hard time guarding them without fouling.”
Kennedy didn’t take issue with the non-call on the last play, but he did say his players were not happy with it.
“At the end, there, I didn’t see what happened,” he said. “That’s a tough call to make. Our guys tell me he was bear-hugged (by a Kentucky player).
“But I don’t know if the clock went out there. I don’t know what happened. It’s something I got to go watch.”
Calipari said later that his team still hasn’t reached the level of toughness it needs to play at a higher level.
“Look,” he said, “toughness doesn’t mean roughness.”
“Toughness means that you’re engaged, that you’re playing people before they catch the ball, that you’re meeting people before the ball hits the rim, that you’re sprinting the floor every time and bouncing, and you’re talking.
“We got closer but we’re still … that’s going to be a work in progress. And until we get real good at that, we’re going to be who we are.”
Villanova is No. 1 again in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday.
West Virginia has jumped to No. 2, up from sixth, in the highest ranking for the program since December of 1959.
Jerry West was a West Virginia senior at the time.
Texas Tech moved up to No. 8, the first time for the Red Raiders have been in the top ten since 1996.
Here’s the Top 25
1. Villanova (14-1) Big East
2. West Virginia (14-1) Big 12
3. Virginia (14-1) ACC
4. Michigan State (15-2) Big Ten
5. Wichita State (13-2) AAC
5. Purdue (15-2) Big 10
7. Duke (13-2) ACC
8. Texas Tech (14-1) Big 12
9. Oklahoma (12-2) Big 12
10. Xavier, Ohio (15-2) Big East
11. Arizona State (13-2) Pac-12
12. Kansas (12-3) Big 12
13. Seton Hall (14-2) Big East
14. Cincinnati (14-2) AAC
15. Gonzaga (14-3) West Coast
16. TCU (13-2) Big 12
17. Arizona (12-4) Pac-12
18. Miami, Fla. (13-2) ACC
19. Clemson (14-1) ACC
20. North Carolina (12-4) ACC
21. Kentucky (12-3) SEC
22. Auburn (14-1) SEC
23. Florida State (12-3) ACC
24. Tennessee (10-4) SEC
25. Creighton (13-3) Big East
Sitting around on a Sunday afternoon wondering about a few topics of discussion in the Big 12 basketball race:
First, how did West Virginia contain Oklahoma’s Trae Young? Young, OU’s sensational freshman, scored 29 points but had to work hard to get every one of them. West Virginia ended up winning 89-76 in Morgantown even with its own standout, Jevon Carter, on the bench in foul trouble in the second half. Mitch Vingle of the Charleston Gazette-Mail breaks it down.
? Lockdown Defense. Jevon Carter now has a nation-leading 55 steals this season. pic.twitter.com/PXoaezI2na
Second, who is Mitch Lightfoot, and why aren’t Billy Preston and Silvio De Sousa playing for the Kansas Jayhawks? Gary Bedore of the Kansas City Star has some answers. On Saturday, Kansas registered an 88-84 victory at TCU with Lightfoot playing a leading role.
“He told me to go out there and just play hard and that’s what I did.” – Mitch Lightfoot on what Udoka Azubuike said to him after he fouled out #KUbballpic.twitter.com/zVvPQdZQ26
Moving on, how did Baylor finally get its mojo back? Well, for starters, guard Manu Lecomte emerged from his shooting funk and hit a few key three-pointers as the Bears downed the Texas Longhorns, 69-60, in Waco. In addition, senior center Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. out-played UT freshman Mo Bamba. Here’s a recap from the Associated Press.
And, finally, what is going on in Lubbock? Texas Tech kept it rolling with its eighth win in a row Saturday, a 74-58 home victory over Kansas State. Carlos Silva Jr. of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal has the story. Keenan Evans scored 27 to pace the Red Raiders, 14-1, 3-0, who are tied with West Virginia for the early lead in the conference.
