Tag Archives: Austin Claunch

UTSA’s Nick Bowman steps into a role as acting head coach

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The acting head coach of the UTSA men’s basketball program on Thursday expressed confidence in his ability to lead the team into Monday’s season opener at San Jose State.

For Nick Bowman, it’ll be an emotional moment as he steps in for suspended head coach Austin Claunch.

“I feel confident,” Bowman said. “We have a team of really, really good guys. Really, really good kids and good players, and more than that, we have a (coaching) staff of great men.”

UTSA assistant Nick Bowman has been elevated to acting head coach as the Roadrunners prepare for their season opener at San Jose State. – Courtesy photo

Claunch was arrested by Corpus Christi police at 6:07 a.m. Tuesday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. The third-year coach of the Roadrunners spent 13 hours at the Nueces County jail before his release at 7:05 p.m., a county spokeswoman said.

After Claunch ran a practice Wednesday at UTSA afternoon, the university announced the arrest and the suspension a few hours later.

In a news release, athletic director Dr. Lisa Campos said that Bowman would move up from his assistant’s role to be the acting head coach as the situation is reviewed.

Bowman, an Ohio native, has known Claunch for almost a dozen years and has worked on his staff at both Nicholls State (La.) and UTSA.

He seemed at ease as he discussed the situation with the team in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon.

Bowman said everyone in the building is leaning on each other.

“I’ve leaned on the team and leaned on the staff and tried to support them, really, with whatever I can do to help them be as comfortable as they can be as we open our season on Monday on the road,” Bowman said.

The coach said he met with several players individually Thursday morning but won’t see them as a group until Thursday night.

In initial meetings, Bowman said he told players that the Roadrunners won’t change anything.

“I just told them, in my mind, our style is our style,” he said. “We’re not one player and we’re not one coach. Obviously, coach Claunch is the leader, and he guides this program.

“But from a basketball standpoint, from a style of play standpoint, the guys know what we want to do. They know what we are trying to achieve every time we step out there.”

Coming off a 4-25 record last year, the Roadrunners have revamped the roster with 14 new players, heavy on shot-making and playmaking guards.

“We’ve had a great preseason, and I think what we’ve been able to do this summer and this fall, is to really develop the identity that coach Claunch has wanted to develop since he got here,” he said. “This group more than the previous two have bought into that. And so we’re just going to play UTSA basketball on Monday.”

Asked to describe the overall mood of the players, Bowman said, “I don’t know if I have an overall mood, but I think the players care deeply about coach Claunch. So the word I would use is just supportive. They’re supportive.”

The Roadrunners have posted a 16-44 record in the past two years, including 4-25 last season. Now with the uncertainty surrounding Claunch, Bowman fielded a question on what he would tell the fans, and he said to tell them the coaches remain excited about the program’s upside.

“We think we have made a lot of progress in this offseason with this team that we’ve put together,” he said. “We are incredibly excited about the 14 new players that have come in. We’re excited about our returner, Dorian Hayes. We feel like we have a balanced non-conference schedule, and it feels like a lot of work in previous years is about to really pay off for us.”

UTSA forward Ashton Smith will not play in the opener, a team spokesman said in a text Friday afternoon.

However, Smith may be getting close to a return after working his way back from an Achilles injury.

The 6-9, 265-pound forward ran hard and even dunked in Wednesday’s practice, but he did not participate in five on five.

The transfer from South Dakota is the grandson of the late Lucious Jackson, a San Marcos native who played on an NBA championship Philadelphia 76ers team with Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s.

UTSA suspends men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch following his arrest on suspicion of DWI

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Editors’ note: This story was updated at 11:51 a.m. on Thursday

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch has been suspended by the university effective Wednesday following his arrest Tuesday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated (DWI).

Austin Claunch. UTSA men's basketball practice on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the practice facility. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Austin Claunch ran practice on Wednesday prior to the announcement that he had been suspended by the university. – Photo by Joe Alexander

School officials are reviewing the circumstances and will determine appropriate next steps, including the length of his suspension, the release said.

Assistant coach Nick Bowman will serve as acting head coach during his absence. UTSA opens its season on Monday at San Jose State, the first of eight games for the Roadrunners in November.

The 36-year-old Claunch is coming off a disastrous 4-25 season and is 16-44 in two years as UTSA’s coach. Momentum for the program had ticked up since last spring with the addition of 14 new players in a 15-man roster.

UTSA’s play in preseason had been promising as the team had shown the ability to score in a fast-pace attack. The Roadrunners forged a 2-1 record in three preseason scrimmages, including an 85-73 win at Incarnate Word last weekend.

“UTSA Athletics holds its coaches, staff, and student-athletes to high standards of conduct and accountability,” the university’s release said. “We take this matter seriously and will address it in accordance with university policies and procedures.”

The statement included a comment attributed to Claunch, who apologized for “a grave error” in judgment.

“I deeply regret my actions and the disappointment I have caused,” he said. “I sincerely apologize to the young men I have the privilege of coaching, my fellow coaches and colleagues, President (Taylor) Eighmy, Dr. Lisa Campos and the entire Roadrunner community.

“I recognize the responsibility that comes with being a head coach and the example I am expected to set, both on and off the court. I fell short of those expectations, and for that, I am truly sorry.

“I take full responsibility for my decisions and am committed to learning from this experience and earning back the trust and confidence of those who have placed their faith in me.”

Claunch was arrested by Corpus Christi police at 6:12 a.m. Tuesday, a Nueces County spokeswoman said.

He was booked into Nueces County jail and released later in the day at 7:05 p.m., the spokeswoman added.

By Wednesday afternoon, he was back in San Antonio coaching the team and later was interviewed by the media at the practice facility. A few hours later, UTSA announced the arrest and the suspension in a release sent out on email.

According to information published in the wake of Claunch’s hire in the spring of 2024, he has three years remaining on a five-year contract. The deal runs through March 31, 2029.

In August of 2024, the UT System Board of Regents published details of the contract, which included possible annual compensation “in excess” of $1 million.

His base salary was listed at $400,000 annually, supplemented by $150,000 for media and fundraising appearances and a bonus package worth up to $500,000, according to the document.

UTSA men win two of three scrimmages leading into a new season

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10 Preston Turner. UTSA men's basketball practice on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the practice facility. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Eastern Illinois transfer Preston Turner scored 23 points in a closed scrimmage Sunday against Incarnate Word – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Preparing to open the season Monday in California against the San Jose State Spartans, a revamped UTSA men’s basketball team has generated confidence and momentum coming out of three closed scrimmages.

Roadrunners third-year coach Austin Claunch said Wednesday that he’s “fired up” to tip off the season after playing Division I programs each of the past three weekends, winning two and losing one.

32 Ashton Smith. UTSA men's basketball practice on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the practice facility. - Photo by Joe Alexander

The playing status of power forward Ashton Smith is uncertain leading into Monday’s opener at San Jose State. The 6-9, 265-pound native Texan from the Houston area practiced Wednesday but sat out a segment of five-on-five scrimmage at the end. – Photo by Joe Alexander

From the start of official practice to the scrimmages, the coach said his team has played “really good” basketball.

“These guys have done a great job establishing the identity of what we want our program to be about and how we want to play,” Claunch said.

On top of that, the coach said it’s just a “fun group” to work with on a daily basis.

Over the past three weeks, UTSA opened with a pair of neutral site scrimmages, losing the opener to the UTEP Miners before bouncing back to rout the New Mexico State Aggies.

With Preston Turner scoring 23 points and JJ Kelly 18, the Roadrunners closed with an 85-73 victory on Sunday at the University of the Incarnate Word.

Turner, a 6-6 guard transfer from Eastern Illinois, said it felt good to see his shot start to fall.

“Coach drew up a play to get us going in the second half. (We) came out and executed it and hit the shot,” said Turner, from Ellsinore, Mo. “From there, it started warming up. (I) just started letting it fly.”

Notable

UTSA held a practice open to the media on Wednesday and unveiled its new 15-man roster, working for more than two hours at the Basketball and Volleyball Training Center.

During the practice, 6-foot point guard Josiah LeGree stood out with his aggression, athleticism and both his playmaking and shot-making ability.

Power forward Ashton Smith, recovering from Achilles surgery, ran up and down in most of the drills and dunked a few times.

Smith, originally a Texas A&M recruit out of the Houston area Legacy School of Sport Sciences, sat out at the end when the team engaged in full-on, five-on-five action.

It remains uncertain whether the 6-foot-9, 265-pound transfer from South Dakota will be allowed to play when UTSA opens its 46th season on Monday.

November schedule
(UTSA men’s basketball)
2 – UTSA at San Jose State, 2 p.m.
7 – VMI at UTSA, 4 p.m.
11 – UTSA at Seattle, 9 p.m.
15 – Texas State at UTSA, 7 p.m.
18 – Florida A&M at UTSA, 7 p.m.
21 – Air Force at UTSA, 4 p.m.
26 – Army at UTSA, 11 a.m.
29 – UTSA at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 3 p.m.

1 JJ Kelly. UTSA men's basketball practice on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the practice facility. - Photo by Joe Alexander

University of Ohio transfer JJ Kelley, a 6-6 guard, scored 18 points Sunday against Incarnate Word. – Photo by Joe Alexander

With a road test looming at South Florida, UTSA’s Claunch brushes off questions about his job

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UTSA coach Austin Claunch. Tulane beat UTSA 85-52 in American Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch dismisses the idea that he would like to turn the season around so that he can quiet speculation about his job status. Rather, he says he wants it as a reward for his players, who have worked hard enough to deserve it. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The questions for UTSA men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch keep getting tougher and tougher.

Even though his team played a more competitive brand of ball twice in the past 10 days, the Roadrunners lost twice at home, once by six points to Temple, and then by 10 to UAB, extending a troublesome, program-record losing streak to 14 games.

By the weekend, a story was published in the San Antonio Express-News that suggested his job might not be secure. Claunch, in the second year of a five-year contract, said Monday he wasn’t surprised to be asked about it.

“We’re in a competitive sport,” said the coach, who is 16-36 with the Roadrunners. “We’re at a high level (in the American Conference). Our expectation is to win, especially coming off (our first year). We thought we were really close. Where we were, I think we finished tied for ninth.

“But a lot of those games were in the balance. You felt like you were closer, in the middle of the pack (in the standings). Certainly, we felt like we did things in the offseason that put us in a position to take a step (forward), and so far we haven’t, right.”

After a 12-19 season a year ago, with a 6-12 record in the American, the Roadrunners are currently 4-17 and 0-9, respectively, going into the second half of the conference slate. It’s a nine-game stretch that starts with a road contest against the South Florida Bulls on Wednesday.

“For me, it’s all about figuring out how to improve where you are,” Claunch said. “At the end of the day, when you’ve lost however many we have in a row, and your record is where it is, you deserve to get those questions.

“Trust me, I hope everybody’s frustrated, fans … we want to win. We’re here to win and we’re here to win championships at UTSA. That goal is never going to change. So, that’s certainly still our goal. And, of course, we want that to happen right now.”

Claunch said he doesn’t take being the head coach of the Roadrunners lightly.

“It’s a privilege anywhere you’re a head coach in the country,” he said. “There’s only 365 of these things. So you better have an urgency every time you come in here, to figure out how to take the next step.”

The next step is figuring out how to slow down the high-scoring Bulls, now 14-8 and 6-3, who average a league-best 89 points per game.

Led by first-year coach Bryan Hodgson, the Bulls play a crowd-pleasing style. In conference, they have scored triple figures once, in a 109-106 double-overtime home loss to UAB, and they have twice notched 90 or more in wins at Tulsa and Tulane.

UTSA will travel with the second-longest active losing streak in the nation, but Claunch is a competitor, and he wants more than anything to lead off the second half of the conference slate with a victory.

Asked what it would mean to him, to win at South Florida a few days after he has fielded questions about whether he thinks he’ll be given a chance to return in his job next season, Claunch answered carefully. He said the South Florida game is not about him.

“I don’t think about it in terms of my job security,” Claunch said. “I think about it more for these (players). The way they’ve been working, they certainly deserve to finish the regular season on a high note. The way they’ve worked and continued to fight.

“And so, South Florida, North Texas, East Carolina, Wichita (State), whoever it is, we want to continue to work and win as many games as possible and see where that puts us here in the next nine games. It doesn’t really have anything to do with me.

“We knew that this was a process and we knew that we had an uphill battle. And, certainly, I love to coach. And I’m going to show up and be who I am every single day. Right? And these guys (the players) have done the same thing, which is why we believe their success for this program is right around the corner, in some way, shape or form.

“Whether that’s Wednesday or Saturday, whatever it is, these kids will deserve it, and that’s the biggest thing that I’m focused on and why we continue to work the way we do.”

Records

UTSA 4-17, 0-9
South Florida 14-8, 6-3

Coming up

UTSA at South Florida, Wednesday, 6 p.m.
North Texas at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Notable

Last summer, after almost all of his roster entered the transfer portal, Claunch and his staff re-stocked the roster with 10 new scholarship athletes. Vasean Allette, the top player recruited out of the portal, has not played and is out for the year for personal reasons.

Three others, Macaleab Rich, Stanley Borden and Pierce Spencer, have all sat out long stretches of the season with injuries. Rich and Spencer are out for the season. With only half the conference slate to be played, Claunch said it’s possible Borden will be redshirted.

UTSA’s Claunch to open the season against a ‘Phi Slama Jama’ legend

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Thirty-five-year-old UTSA coach Austin Claunch cut his teeth on the game of basketball in Houston, a decade or so removed from the crowd that grew up with ‘Phi Slama Jama’ in the 1980s.

Back in the day, while center Hakeem Olajuwon was perfecting the “Dream Shake” in the post under Coach Guy V. Lewis, he was flanked by the likes of Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, Larry Michaux and Michael Young.

At the University of Houston, the Phi Slama Jama Cougars reached the NCAA Final Four in 1983 and 1984 and established an identity that is remembered fondly today, even in an era when Coach Kelvin Sampson’s team always seems to arrive in March with 30 wins and a No. 1 seed.

All of which brings us around to Claunch and the second installment of his UTSA basketball reclamation project.

Young, once a burly, highly-skilled, left-handed shooting guard for the Cougars, is now in his second year as head coach of the nascent Houston-based program at the College of Biblical Studies.

His team, in its third year of existence, will be the opposition in the season opener for Claunch’s Roadrunners at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Convocation Center. Claunch said it’ll fun for him to coach against a guy with Young’s chops.

“Just understanding what he and those (Houston) teams did for the city,” Claunch said. “I would expect their team to play a lot like he did, just that pace, in that frenetic offensive style.”

“It’s going to be an interesting challenge on night one (for us), where (we’re) still trying to iron out some things defensively, and not turn the ball over … and be clean. I would imagine that they’re going to come in and push the pace.”

With 11 newcomers, the Roadrunners haven’t scratched the surface yet in becoming the team they hope to be.

They’ve lost twice to teams in the Southland Conference, first faltering in a neutral-site, closed scrimmage against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, and then coming up short with a spirited second-half comeback against the Incarnate Word Cardinals.

Claunch said his practices since the UIW exhibition have been good and that he’s excited for the week, which will include a home game Friday against SIU-Edwardsville.

“I just think we have a clear vision of what we need to do,” the coach said. “We’re much more clean on the things we expect. Our non-negotiables. And, obviously, when the lights turn on, you got to go perform. As coaches, we’ve got to have our guys better prepared.

“We certainly want to show that same fire and aggression that we have in practice, show that when the lights come on … I would expect to see that wholeheartedly on Wednesday and Friday.”

One bit of positive news for the Roadrunners has been the return to form of guard Austin Nunez, who sat out the UIW game with an undisclosed ailment.

A 6-foot-2 guard, the Arizona State transfer is expected to give the team a veteran presence, as well as a speed component.

“He’s been in (practice) all week and he looks great,” Claunch said. “He’ll be full go come Wednesday. He’s looked good. Listen, if (the exhibition) had been an NCAA tournament game, we probably would have gotten him out there.

“He really wanted to play, but knowing what we have coming up, what lies ahead, it was important for us to (hold him out). He’s such a competitor, and he’s only got one speed. He’s 100 percent every time he’s in the game.

“So, sometimes as a coach, you got to protect ’em from themself. He’s looked great in practice, and he’s ready to go. He’s excited for Wednesday.”

Nunez came out of high school in San Antonio at Wagner in 2022, when he averaged 28.5 points and 6.2 rebounds.

He spent his first season in college at Arizona State, transferred to Ole Miss the next year and then returned to Arizona State last year.

Coming up

Wednesday – College of Biblical Studies at UTSA men, 6 p.m.
Thursday – UTSA women at Texas Tech, 6 p.m.
Friday – SIUE at UTSA men, 12:30 p.m.
Saturday – UTSA women at Houston, 7 p.m.

Notable

The Roadrunners men on Friday will host SIU-Edwardsville, an Ohio Valley Conference team that won 22 games and reached the NCAA tournament last season.

UTSA men aim for success with a bigger, more physical team

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Daniel Akitoby. UTSA basketball Rowdy Jam on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Daniel Akitoby, a 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward, comes to UTSA from Morgan State University. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA coach Austin Claunch is hardly one to dwell on old news, but evidence exists that his first season as head coach of the UTSA Roadrunners wasn’t as disheartening as the record would indicate.

The Roadrunners finished 12-19 overall, and they tied for ninth among 13 teams in the American Conference at 6-12.

But for context, consider that two of his players were lost for the season due to injury and three others left the program prior to the final game for non-injury related reasons.

For most of the last few months, the Roadrunners played with post players that were 6-feet-10 and 6-9.

In the end, they traveled to Frisco for the conference tournament as the 11th seed — with eight on scholarship — and nearly knocked off the sixth-seeded East Carolina Pirates before falling, 70-65.

It was a painful end, though almost fitting, as UTSA was 1-8 in games decided by single digits since the first week of February.

“I think any time you play through the league one time, it’s important,” Claunch said in his office Friday afternoon. “Every league is different. I think this is a physical league. It’s a strong league.

“It’s a relatively athletic league.

“So, with us (recruiting) more size and athleticism (this season), hopefully that can manufacture more wins, by way of getting to the free-throw line more, offensive rebounding better and defensive rebounding better.

“We just need to be a more physical group.”

As anyone who attended the Rowdy Jam event for fans on Thursday night can attest, UTSA is a much bigger team than last year, with taller and longer athletes at every position.

The Roadrunners are set to play their one and only closed scrimmage of the fall on Saturday and then will host Incarnate Word on Oct. 25 in an exhibition.

UTSA’s season opener is Nov. 5 at home against the College of Biblical Studies, a third-year program based in Houston coached by former University of Houston star Michael Young.

Claunch seems pleased with his team’s progress since he welcomed most of the new players to campus in June.

“We’re building our identity on both sides of the ball, what we want to do, how we want to play,” Claunch said. “I think we’re starting to see it a little more. Just getting the shots we want to get offensively, the pace that we want to play, you know, how we want to execute.”

A focus for the Roadrunners during summer workouts centered around defense after last year’s squad finished 12th in the American in points allowed and field goal shooting and 11th in three-point percentage.

“Defensively we’re looking at, obviously, improving from where we were last year, (working on) how we’re going to guard the ball screen,” the coach said. “I just think we got to use our collective length better than we did last year.”

Guard Vasean Allette, a junior transfer from TCU, appears to be the player to watch this season.

“I still really don’t know who’s going to start,” Claunch said. “We’ll look at some different things tomorrow (in the scrimmage). I think we have a really deep team. I think we have to lean into that.

“I think we got to embrace the fact that we’re really deep and understand that that’s going to be a big part of our success.”

UTSA roster

Dorian Hayes 6-5 freshman guard
Kaidon Rayfield 6-8 freshman forward
Austin Nunez 6-2 senior guard
Vasean Allette 6-2 junior point guard
Brent Moss 6-6 junior guard/forward
Pierce Spencer 6-3 graduate guard
Macaleab Rich 6-7 junior guard/forward
Jamir Simpson 6-5 graduate guard
x-LJ Brown 6-2 redshirt senior guard
x-Mo Njie 6-11 graduate center
Daniel Akitoby 6-9 graduate forward
Stanley Borden 7-0 graduate center
Matheo Coffi 6-8 freshman forward
x-Baboucarr Njie 6-6 sophomore forward/guard
x-Jackson Fazande 6-3 redshirt sophomore forward

UTSA men’s basketball looking forward to a new season

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Baboucarr Njie. UTSA beat Rice 84-56 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Forward Baboucarr Njie emerged as a pleasant surprise last year for the Roadrunners, playing in 24 games and starting two as a freshman. – File photo by Joe Alexander

With 11 newcomers on the roster, UTSA men’s basketball is working toward a new season under second-year coach Austin Claunch.

The Roadrunners, hoping to bounce back from a 12-19 season a year ago, hosted the media Thursday for an afternoon workout at the Convocation Center.

Coach Austin Claunch at UTSA men's basketball practice at the Convocation Center on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. - photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch. – photo by Joe Alexander

Among the new faces this season, four played last year for Power Four programs, including guards Vasean Allette from TCU and Austin Nunez from Arizona State, along with guard-forward Macaleab Rich from Kansas State and Stanley Borden from Duke.

Allette averaged 11.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals with the Horned Frogs. Nunez, who played at Wagner High School in San Antonio, has spent time at Arizona State, Ole Miss and Arizona State again in his college career.

Returning players include brothers Mo and Baboucarr Njie. Also returning are LJ Brown and Jackson Fazande.

UTSA will host Rowdy Jam at the Convo on Oct. 16 to introduce both the men’s and women’s teams to the fans.

The event starts at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Cupid, the Linedance King is scheduled to perform.

Moving forward, UTSA women and men’s teams will play exhibitions at the Convo on Oct. 25. The women will take on Texas A&M-San Antonio at 1 p.m., followed by the men against Incarnate Word at 3:30 p.m.

NCAA Division I teams open the regular season on Nov. 3, but the early portion of the UTSA men’s schedule hasn’t been announced.

Claunch’s program has announced road dates against three Power Four conference teams, including games at Alabama on Dec. 7, at Colorado on Dec. 13 and at USC on Dec. 17.

The American Conference opener is set for Dec. 31 at Florida Atlantic, with the trip continuing at Temple on Jan. 3.

UTSA will tip off the conference slate at home on Jan. 7 against Charlotte and on Jan. 10 against Tulane.

The conference tournament will be played in Birmingham, Ala., with games set for March 11-15.

UTSA men’s team roster:

Dorian Hayes 6-5 freshman guard
Kaidon Rayfield 6-8 freshman forward
Austin Nunez 6-2 senior guard
Vasean Allette 6-2 junior point guard
Brent Moss 6-6 junior guard/forward
Pierce Spencer 6-3 graduate guard
Macaleab Rich 6-7 junior guard/forward
Jamir Simpson 6-5 graduate guard
x-LJ Brown 6-2 redshirt senior guard
x-Mo Njie 6-11 graduate center
Daniel Akitoby 6-9 graduate forward
Stanley Borden 7-0 graduate center
Matheo Coffi 6-8 freshman forward
x-Baboucarr Njie 6-6 sophomore forward/guard
x-Jackson Fazande 6-3 redshirt sophomore forward

x-returning players

UTSA’s Claunch reached out to console one of his star players after a heart-wrenching loss

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Primo Spears. UTSA men's basketball lost to Tulsa 82-77 in American Athletic Conference action on Monday, Jan. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Guard Primo Spears and the UTSA Roadrunners will try to bounce back from two tough losses at home as they prepare to play road games this week at Wichita State and Tulsa. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Not too long after UTSA coach Austin Claunch left the Convocation Center Saturday night, he sent a text to Roadrunners point guard Primo Spears.

Knowing the inner fire that drives Spears as one of the most competitive players in the American Athletic Conference, the coach wanted to reach out to make sure he wasn’t taking the Roadrunners’ 80-79 loss to the East Carolina Pirates too hard.

Spears made two costly turnovers in the final 21 seconds that led to the Pirates erasing a 79-75 deficit and stealing away with a victory.

“You know, this is a guy who’s had an incredible year,” Claunch said Monday morning, “and he’s going to continue to have an incredible year. (But), you know, physical mistakes happen.

“I just texted him (immediately after the game) and told him I love him, and we’ll grow from this. And, he knows. He wants to win. That’s a guy who’s a competitor.”

Claunch’s words were not hyperbole. Spears has emerged after an offseason transfer from Florida State as the Roadrunners’ leading scorer at 20.2 points per game. He’s led the team in scoring in 13 of 23 games and in five of their 10 victories.

From my vantage point, Spears has made some of the most jaw-dropping, athletic shots that I can remember of anyone in a UTSA uniform since Jhivvan Jackson.

Spears is a little like Jackson in another way, as well. He will shrug off an injury and play at less than 100-percent of his usual explosive self.

Recently, he went down with a left foot injury at practice and continued to play through it for a few games. UTSA coaches finally sat him down last week. He sat for one game last Wednesday, when the Roadrunners played the Tulane Green Wave at home.

As Spears watched from the side in a walking boot, the Roadrunners played well and appeared to have the game won a few times down the stretch. Led by sophomore guard Marcus Millender, they were up 10 with three minutes left.

Later, they were still up nine with two minutes left. Eventually, however, the Green Wave outscored the Roadrunners 12-1 over the last 2:48, including the last 10 points of the game, to win 61-60 on two Rowan Brumbaugh free throws with 2.5 seconds remaining.

All of which compounded the misery they felt Saturday night after they lost to East Carolina.

“Quite frankly, it’s two that we felt like we gave away,” Claunch said. “(We have) a sizeable lead against Tulane with two minutes left and they make the plays and we don’t. Then the ECU game, we’ve got a two possession lead in the final seconds … ”

In analyzing basketball, I like to focus on things a team does to win rather than dwell on what someone else does to lose. In keeping with that, I will tell you that the Pirates won the game because they were the aggressors in the final minute, on both sides of the ball.

They trapped in the backcourt, attacking Spears as he tried to dribble out of trouble and get over the midcourt line. On the replay, it appeared that UTSA’s Raekwon Horton was open beyond midcourt, on the other side of the floor.

A pass from Spears to Horton right there might have saved the Roadrunners, who were up by four.

But Spears kept pounding the dribble, trying to get over midcourt. ECU’s Trevion LaBeaux had other ideas. He came up with a clean steal, leading to a drive to the bucket and a three-point play by Jordan Riley with 17.9 seconds left.

Leading by one at that juncture, UTSA came out of a timeout and called on Damari Monsanto to inbound.

The ball was tossed up the side, parallel to the ECU bench, and as Spears came over and reached out to grab it, the Pirates swarmed him in the corner and forced a held ball, which gave them possession.

Ultimately, they inbounded, and eventually tossed it to C.J. Walker. The ECU power forward made a sweet move, spun and knocked down a 14-foot jumper with four seconds left for a one-point lead. For the Roadrunners, they were left with one more desperation play, a 30-foot heave by Horton that missed.

Some in the Convocation Center might have been down on Mr. Spears after the shocking turn of events. But as for me, I just can’t be too critical of a kid who plays as hard as he does all the time. I’ve seen him do too many good things to help the team.

A reminder:

* Spears exploded for 15 of his 29 points in the last three minutes on Nov. 27 as the Roadrunners rallied from a late 14-point deficit to beat the Merrimack College Warriors, 76-74, in a neutral site game at Troy, Ala.

* On Dec. 3, at Moraga, Calif., he scored eight points in the last five and a half minutes of regulation and five in overtime in an 82-74 loss to the Saint Mary’s Gaels.

* And on Dec. 13, he poured in 10 of his 28 points in the final two minutes as the Roadrunners held off the North Dakota Fighting Hawks, 80-76, at the Convo.

In addition, I’ll offer some pure speculation. If the Roadrunners are faced with the same adversity again this week, with road games at Wichita State on Wednesday and Tulsa on Saturday, I’m certain Coach Claunch will be calling on Spears to make some plays.

Claunch, I suspect, will remain steadfast in Spears’ corner.

“It’s easy for me to play Monday morning quarterback right now and pause the film and say, hey, you’ve got to do this, that and the third,” the first-year UTSA coach said. “It’s a lot harder when you’re out there and you’re moving at a high pace.

“These guys want to win and … (they) got to continue to trust and believe in each other in these situations and (try to) find a way to get it done.”

Celebrating a milestone: UTSA’s Claunch enjoys the ride home from Denton

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Austin Claunch. UTSA beat North Dakota 80-76 in non-conference men's basketball on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch picked up his 100th career victory Saturday night in Denton against North Texas. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For first-year UTSA men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch, the bus trip home from Denton after Saturday night’s upset victory over the North Texas Mean Green turned into a special occasion.

And not just because it gave him a chance to savor a package of jerky that he bought at Buc-ee’s. First of all, the ride down Interstate 35 gave everyone a chance to celebrate a team achievement.

After losing by 20 on the road at Florida Atlantic earlier in the week, the Roadrunners rebounded to play their best game of the season, grinding out a 54-50 decision over a team that was tied for first in the American Athletic Conference.

Secondly, for Claunch, it gave him an opportunity to thank his coaching staff for helping him reach a milestone achievement — his 100th victory in NCAA Division I.

“You know, it’s funny,” Claunch said on his Monday morning zoom call with the media. “I sort of forgot. I knew I was getting close and then it took me a couple minutes until after the game, and somebody said something to me. You know, I love coaching, (and the milestone) is truly a program and family deal.

“As I told my staff, it’s not my 100th win. It’s our 100th win.”

One of his assistants, Nick Bowman, has been with him for all 100, including all 90 in five seasons at Nicholls State from 2018-19 through 2022-23. Trevor DeLoach and Joey Brooks also worked for three seasons with him at Nicholls, as well.

His other UTSA assistants include Joseph Jones and Robby Benavides.

“I’ve had a lot of great players and a lot of great support around me,” said Claunch, who turned 35 in November. “It was a lot of fun and it certainly felt good to get it against a really, really good team.”

Turning the corner to the second half of the AAC schedule, Claunch’s Roadrunners (10-11, 4-5) will host the Tulane Green Wave (12-10, 6-3) on Wednesday night and the East Carolina Pirates on Saturday night.

“Feels great to be home, but it’s not going to feel great if we don’t play great,” he said. “We’ve got to really lock in this week and understand what it’s going to take to win these games, and if we do, we’re going to put ourselves into a good position.”

Records

Tulane 12-10, 6-3
UTSA 10-11, 4-5

Coming up

Tulane at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
East Carolina at UTSA, Saturday, 7:08 p.m.

Notable

While it’s UTSA’s first meeting of the season against East Carolina, the Tulane game represents a chance for redemption after the Green Wave destroyed the Roadrunners 92-63 on Jan. 4 in both teams’ AAC opener.

Tulane, playing at home, shot 63.5 percent from the field, including 72.7 percent in the second half, and scored 46 points in the paint against the visitors from San Antonio.

The Green Wave will come into San Antonio tied for fourth place. Memphis (8-1) leads the race, followed by North Texas and UAB (both 7-2) and then Temple and Tulane (both 6-3). The middle of the pack consists of FAU (5-4), followed by East Carolina, South Florida, UTSA (all 4-5).

Rivalry weekend: Upset-minded UTSA men to host North Texas

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Austin Claunch. UTSA beat North Dakota 80-76 in non-conference men's basketball on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Austin Claunch’s UTSA Roadrunners are averaging 89 points in their last two games going into Saturday’s date with the North Texas Mean Green. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Like reddened eyes irritated by pollen blowing in the wind, the gnashing of teeth among UTSA basketball fans over the impending arrival of the North Texas Mean Green seems like a natural phenomenon.

“I haven’t been here long, but I’ve been here long enough,” first-year UTSA men’s coach Austin Claunch said Friday. “Any of the Texas teams we play, there’s a little extra edge to it. It certainly seems we have a little extra spice to it when it comes to North Texas.

“But that makes it fun, right?”

Well, it seems fun today, at least, because Claunch’s team has been playing well and seems capable of springing an upset when they host the Mean Green at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center.

But, lately, North Texas has been hogging most of the fun, having won 10 of the last 13 meetings between the teams, including five of seven in San Antonio, since the 2015-16 season.

For the Roadrunners to transfer some of the joy to their own fans, they’ll need to be on top of their game from the outset against one of the better teams in the American Athletic Conference, ranked No. 57 nationally.

The Mean Green are led by Ross Hodge, in his second season as head coach after moving up to replace Grant McCasland, who is now at Texas Tech.

“Obviously, they have a really good program,” Claunch said. “You look at what they’ve been able to do the last six or seven years…I have a ton of respect for those guys. Kind of similar to what happened at Nicholls (State) when coach (Richie) Riley was there and I was an assistant.

“Coach (Riley) built it and we were able to keep going. Ross has done an unbelievable job. Last year I think he was a national coach of the year finalist. When you’re playing North Texas, you’re playing a program that’s not just about personnel. Obviously, they have a good winning pedigree over the last couple of years.

“So, I’m excited … because we feel like we’re playing well. We’re making shots. We’re not near where we need to be. But tomorrow’s a great opportunity to take a huge step.”

UTSA (8-8, 2-2 in the AAC) has won two games in a row and five of its last eight. The Roadrunners have had double-digit leads in each of their last three. Buoyed by the resurgent shooting of guard Marcus “Smurf” Millender, they’ve scored 178 points combined against Wichita State and Rice in their last two.

“We’re confident,” Claunch said, “but we know tomorrow is going to be a rock fight.”

North Texas (12-4, 3-1) has won two straight games and six of its last seven. The Mean Green’s only loss in that stretch came on the road at nationally-ranked Memphis.

Anchored by 6-foot-9 center Moulaye Sissoko, North Texas plays a man-to-man defense that ranks among the best in the nation, yielding an average of 58.8 points. Opponents shoot only 42.1 percent from the field and 33.1 percent from three against the Mean Green.

“First and foremost, it’s their mentality,” Claunch said. “It’s how they recruit. It’s how they built their program. I’m not at their practices or their summer, but I would imagine it starts with that. I mean, you go to North Texas knowing what you’re going to do. You’re going to guard and get stops.”

North Texas will face one of the hottest offenses in the AAC when they contest the Roadrunners, who have a number of players who are currently in a good rhythm. Primo Spears is fifth in the nation in scoring at 21.7 points per game.

But Millender is coming on, and so is Raekwon Horton, who is averaging 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds over his last five. Millender has come off the bench in his last two games, a wrinkle in the rotation that likely will stick as long as the Roadrunners stay hot.

Asked if UTSA is hitting on all cylinders now just because the newcomers have had time to mesh since the summer, Claunch said the answer is yes and no.

“I know this team has had it in us, to be able to score and share the way we’re doing it,” he said. “But, it’s decision making. You got to do it every day. It’s not just something that’s going to be there. When you start doing it, you got to embrace it. You got to understand that’s what makes us a really good team.

“We’re not scoring points because we’re playing really fast or anything. We’re scoring points because we’re taking good shots and we’re making better decisions.”

Millender, a sophomore transfer from South Alabama, sparked a second-half surge at Rice with 12 points in the last nine minutes of a 90-84 victory. Claunch said he “just tried something a little different to give our team a spark” in his decision to bring the Houston-area native off the bench.

“Clearly it worked, stayed with it against Rice. We’ll stick with it tomorrow,” the coach said. “But, for us, I don’t get too caught up in who’s starting. Like I say, we’re one of two teams in the league with five guys in double figures, so whether you start or not, in this program, it shouldn’t matter.”

Records

North Texas 12-4, 3-1
UTSA 8-8, 2-2

Coming up

North Texas at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.
UTSA at UAB, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

Notable

Claunch declined to discuss a timetable for the return of power forward Jaquan Scott, who has played only six games and has missed seven of the last eight. Scott has been away from the team for the past three attending to a family matter, a spokesman has said.

Center Mo Njie has sat out the past five with a foot injury, and his return date is uncertain, as well. “It’s not going to be anytime soon,” Claunch said. Guard Paul Lewis, also down with a foot injury, won’t return this season after playing only twice in early November. “He’s redshirting,” the coach said.

With forward Skylar Wicks sitting out Friday’s practice, UTSA is down to nine scholarship players going into the North Texas game. “It’s that time of the year, man,” the coach said. “Everybody’s kind of banged up, and we just got to figure how to make it work.”