Tag Archives: Austin Claunch

UTSA’s Claunch sees a ‘positive light’ in lessons learned at USC

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Austin Claunch. UTSA men's and women's basketball teams at Rowdy Jam at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. - photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch, encouraged by his team’s competitive spirit in a 21-point loss at USC on Tuesday night, nevertheless said he wants his team to learn from their mistakes. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Competing with a fiery purpose against a Power 4 team and playing their first exhibition game on the road, the UTSA Roadrunners finally started to unravel in the last 12 minutes Tuesday night.

They trailed by only three points at halftime and by four when floor leader Primo Spears popped in a 13-foot jumper with 12:13 remaining. From there, the USC Trojans kicked it into gear, obviously intent on winning big for first-year coach Eric Musselman on their home court at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

The Trojans took advantage of a few poor possessions by the Roadrunners and ignited a 31-14 run to the end of the game, en route to an 84-63 victory.

On Wednesday night, first-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch sat in his office, trying to unpack all the emotions emanating from his debut game with the Roadrunners.

His team, playing without guard Tai’Reon Joseph, one of its top athletes, stayed within striking distance for almost three fourths of the game.

“Overall, I thought the experience was great,” Claunch said. “I thought there were more things to take away in a positive light than not.”

Before the team left the arena, the coach told his players a story. He told them how the Alabama Crimson Tide failed to win in the preseason last year.

“And we made the Final Four,” said Claunch, who worked as an assistant last year in Tuscaloosa. “So these games, win or lose, you got to learn to get better.”

More than anything, he stressed that if a team wants to be good in March, it needs to learn how to handle pressure situations.

“We got to learn to be tougher in those moments and not break down and not give them easy baskets,” he said. “They didn’t give us anything easy. Everything that we got in that game was earned. They made us work.

“And on the flip side, there were just moments where we didn’t make them work for baskets. At the highest level of basketball, you can’t do that.”

Claunch said he held Joseph out as UTSA awaits word from the NCAA on a waiver.

“There’s a waiver process that we’re waiting on,” the coach said. “I’m not going to dig into the details of it. A lot (happened) over the last couple of months, and we realized we needed to file this waiver for him. He’s going to get it, is what it looks like. He hasn’t gotten it yet. We were expecting to hear at the end of last week (and) we didn’t. We were hoping to hear Monday. By the time the game started (Tuesday), we didn’t.”

Joseph is a transfer from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. A jet-quick, 6-foot-3 guard, he has played extremely well in preseason practices at UTSA. Last year, Joseph led the Southwestern Athletic Conference in scoring, averaging 20.5 points per game.

Claunch said he hopes to be able to play Joseph on Saturday in Houston against the Will Wade-coached McNeese State University Cowboys. The contest is a closed scrimmage, and no fans are allowed to watch. It is the final scrimmage of preseason for the Roadrunners, who open at home on Nov. 4 against Trinity University.

The coach said he planned to start Joseph against the Trojans in Los Angeles. “He’s been playing great in practice, obviously,” Claunch said. “You’ve seen it, and how he plays.”

Even without Joseph, the Roadrunners held their own for the first half, trailing only 35-32 at the intermission break. After reviewing the game tape twice, Claunch described the team’s defense on USC as “pretty elite” for the first 20 minutes of the game.

“To go into their place in the first half and to keep it close, we felt good,” Claunch said.

Offensively, it was another story. The Roadrunners misfired on eight of their first 11 shots from the field against the switching style of the Trojans defensively.

“We felt like the lid was going to come off that rim (for us) at some point,” the coach said. “But you know, they actually did a great job. They made it hard on us. They were switching one through five., which was tough, especially with their length and their athleticism.”

Spears, unofficially, was 0 for 6 from the field in the first half. Heating up after halftime, he finished 5 of 16 for 14 points. He also had two assists and two steals. Marcus “Smurf” Millender finished with 12 points and four assists. As a team, the Roadrunners shot 38 percent from the field and 24 percent from three (7 of 29).

On Monday, Spears was in the Dallas area speaking with reporters at an American Athletic Conference media event, so he didn’t get to practice the day before the game. The only chance he had to shoot in the arena was at shootaround on Tuesday morning, which could have affected his rhythm, Claunch said.

Near the end of the first half, when he was on the bench in foul trouble, coaches noticed that he seemed engaged and into the game.

“When I took him out, I told him, “We’ll see how the half goes’ ” Claunch said. ” ‘Maybe I’ll put you back in. Maybe I won’t.’ And he was great. I think he showed leadership over there on the bench, keeping guys positive. Good energy. That, to me, is good for just the long-term success for this program, with guys understanding that some moments are their (moments) and some are their teammates.

“I think Primo is doing a fantastic job at being a leader and a pillar of this program.”

UTSA set to play USC in men’s basketball exhibition

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners are set to open the Austin Claunch era tonight in Los Angeles in an exhibition against the University of Southern California Trojans. Game time from the Galen Center is at 9 p.m.

The first game with the 34-year-old Claunch on the sidelines for the Roadrunners’ men’s basketball team will be aired on the Big Ten Network’s streaming platform, known as BIG+.

Southern Cal is also raising the curtain on a new start. It’s the first game at USC for coach Eric Musselman, who most recently worked the past five seasons at the University of Arkansas. Musselman has led teams to six NCAA tournaments in his career, three at Nevada and three at Arkansas.

He led the Razorbacks into the NCAA’s Elite Eight in 2021 and 2022 and to the Sweet 16 in 2023.

Claunch, who was hired by UTSA in March, finished out his job as an assistant at the University of Alabama through early April. The Crimson Tide, under head coach Nate Oats, made it all the way through the NCAA tournament to the Final Four during that time.

At that point, Claunch reported to San Antonio and started to rebuild a Roadrunners program that has suffered through three straight seasons of more than 20 losses. Over the next month or so he hired a staff and then signed 12 players from the transfer portal.

“Obviously we’re fired up,” the coach said Monday from the American Athletic Conference media day. “We really like this group. It’s a really competitive group. They’ve been working their butts off.

“Excited even for these exhibitions and scrimmages that we have coming up, just to see somebody else and see where we’re at and where we need to get better.

“It’s not even right around the corner. It’s here. Three weeks out from our first regular-season tipoff. So, we’re excited. We got a lot of work to do. But we like where we’re at.”

In recent weeks, the Roadrunners have brandished a physical style and a fast pace during practices at home in the Convocation Center.

Team leaders Primo Spears and Raekwon Horton traveled to the AAC media day and introduced themselves as first-year Roadrunners.

“We’ve been competing against one another for four months,” said Spears, a Florida State transfer, “so it’s going to be great to compete against somebody else, just to see what lineups fit and really, just assessing what we have…Finally get to play with some fans in the arena.”

Horton came to UTSA from James Madison. His hometown is in Santee, S.C. The 6-foot-6 wing played in NCAA tournaments each of the past two seasons, at the College of Charleston in 2023 and for a 32-win James Madison team last year.

“We’re going to play fast (and) get up and down,” Horton said. “But what I like most about our team is that we’re real tough, very competitive and won’t back down.”

Coming up

Tonight: Men’s basketball exhibition, UTSA at Southern Cal, 9 p.m.
Wednesday: Rowdy Jam, UTSA men’s and women’s basketball teams introduced to the fans, at the Convocation Center, 7 p.m.

Spears, Horton uphold the ‘standards’ for UTSA’s revamped basketball program

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Guard Primo Spears has played at Duquesne, Georgetown and Florida State in his NCAA Division I basketball journey. The 6-3 guard will suit up for the UTSA Roadrunners this season.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Florida State transfer Primo Spears was one of the first players to commit to the UTSA Roadrunners last spring. He was one of the first to arrive on campus earlier this summer. In the four or five practices I’ve seen since September, Spears has clearly emerged as one of the team leaders.

Raekwon Horton. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

James Madison transfer Raekwon Horton brings high-level experience after playing in the NCAA tournament the past two seasons.. – File photo by Joe Alexander

First-year Austin Claunch has said it time and again. Spears, a 6-3 guard, is expected to lead UTSA defensively and, really, in much of everything it does this season. That’s why a question posed to Claunch on ESPN+ at the American Athletic Conference media day Monday was significant as I sat here in my living room, trying to sort things out a little more than two weeks shy of opening night.

The question: “Coach, when you went out recruiting (Primo Spears), why did he have to be on this year’s team?”

The answer: “I think, obviously, you watch film and his talent jumps off the page. But what’s been really encouraging for me is just his leadership and the way he carries himself every single day. He wants more accountability. Really, both these guys.”

Attending the event in Irving, for UTSA, were Spears and James Madison transfer Raekwon Horton.

“For us, for a first-year head coach, you certainly want an expectation,” Claunch continued. “(You want) your standard (to be) … to win every game. You want to win the championship every year. But it’s really important that we get a certain kind of person in (our) locker room … (Primo) holds himself to the highest standard, and Rae is the same way.

“That’s why I’m really encouraged by this year and what we’re going to do.”

The Roadrunners enter the 2024-25 season with their own fans likely viewing every positive media report with a grain of salt.

New UTSA men's basketball coach Austin Claunch was at the Roadrunners softball game on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at Roadrunner Field to throw out the first pitch. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA men’s basketball coach won 90 games and two regular-season championships at Nicholls State University. – File photo by Joe Alexander

The fans, after all, have witnessed three straight discouraging losing seasons under the previous coaching staff. Three straight seasons with more than 20 losses. Following the past two seasons, UTSA fans have watched an exodus of most of the scholarship players leaving the program for better on-the-court situations as well as better NIL financial arrangements.

With Claunch coming in to replace Steve Henson as coach, the Roadrunners last spring had 12 scholarship players take their chances elsewhere. Guard Naz Mahmoud was the only player from the previous regime to return. Claunch, hired in March, wasn’t able to devote his time fully to the new job until he finished his old job.

As an assistant coach at Alabama, he rode the wave, all the way to the NCAA Final Four.

“Coach (Nate Oats) was super excited for me,” Claunch said. “I told (UTSA) it was really important for me to finish what we were doing at Alabama. You know, I owe coach so much for the opportunity, and it meant a lot. You know, it was my first time in the NCAA tournament. I wanted to finish it the right way.

“Of course, (we had) an incredible run for a couple of weeks. To finish it at the Final Four was certainly special. I want to be able to replicate that experience with these guys. The NCAA tournament is a special thing. I want our guys to ultimately experience that same thing.”

Claunch, 34, who grew up in Houston, finally arrived in San Antonio in April. All of a sudden, he was hit with a wave of tasks. Doing an introductory news conference. Hiring a coach staff. Getting on the phone and then talking athletes into visiting the campus.

“Yeah, we were certainly drinking out of the fire hose for a little bit,” he said of his first few weeks on the job. “But, I was really lucky. I brought in some guys who had worked for me at Nicholls (State). Whether it’s a (coaching) staff or a team, you want to surround yourself with guys you trust and people that value the things you value. And I felt we did that. Our staff did an incredible job.

Added Claunch: “I’m excited about where we are and the people we have in our locker room.”

Spears, who grew up in Connecticut, said it was important for him to find the right fit after he entered the transfer portal.

“(Coach Claunch) is one of the youngest coaches in the country,” he said. “He’s hungry. He’s gritty.” Added Horton, a 6-foot-6 wing player and a South Carolina native: “For me it was coach, and the community, as well.”

Horton has played in the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons, in 2022-23 with the College of Charleston and last season with James Madison.

“Me and my teammates, we talk about March Madness,” he said. “I told ’em, like, what it felt like. How special it could be. I told ’em the work it would take to get there. So we’re just locked in and focused on that.”

Realistically, it’s the longest of long shots that Horton will hit the jackpot and play in an NCAA tournament for the third year in a row with a third different team.

At the same time, the UTSA players didn’t like the idea that the AAC coaches picked them to finish tied for 11th in a 13-team conference.

Horton isn’t making any bold proclamations, saying only that he expects a “gritty” effort from the Roadrunners.

“We’re looking to change how it was from last year,” he said.

Claunch said the Roadrunners will be “process-oriented” in his first season at the helm.

“It’s not just about, do we win or lose the game,” he said. “We’re trying to build something special. Something that’s bigger than any of us. More important than the result, every single day, is who we are and the program we’re building.”

Notable

UTSA will play an exhibition game against Southern Cal on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. Upcoming, the Roadrunners are expected to take on the McNeese State Cowboys in a closed scrimmage.

They’ll open the regular season with two home games, with the opener set for Nov. 4 against Division III Trinity University of San Antonio, followed by a Nov. 9 meeting against North Dakota. UTSA will play on the road at Bradley University on Nov. 12, then will return home to face Little Rock (Ark.) on Nov. 16.

Two of UTSA’s better non-conference games will be at Saint Mary’s, Calif., on Dec. 3, followed by a game at Arkansas on Dec. 7. Saint Mary’s is one of the favorites in the West Coast Conference. Arkansas is expected to contend under first-year coach John Calipari, who has led UMass, Memphis and Kentucky to the Final Four.

The Roadrunners open conference play on Jan. 4 at Tulane. UTSA’s first conference home game is set for Jan. 7 against Tulsa. Last year, the Roadrunners finished 11-21 overall and 5-13 in the AAC. Henson was fired following a first-round AAC tournament loss to Temple.

Predicted order of finish in the AAC men’s basketball race, according to the coaches’ poll, with first-place votes in parentheses and total points:

1 UAB (9) 141
2 Memphis (4) 136
3 South Florida 108
4 Wichita State 102
5 Florida Atlantic 97
6 Temple 86
7 North Texas 83
8 Charlotte 65
9 East Carolina 63
10 Tulsa 44
11 UTSA 35
Tulane 35
13 Rice 18

AAC preseason honors:

Player of the Year
Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB

Freshman of the Year
Jared Harris, G, Memphis

All conference first team
Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB*
RJ Felton, Sr., G, East Carolina
PJ Haggerty, R-So., G, Memphis
Tyrese Hunter, Sr., G, Memphis
Jamal Mashburn Jr., Gr., G, Temple

All conference second team
Efrem ‘Butta’ Johnson, Jr., G, UAB
Alejandro Vasquez, Sr., G, UAB
KyKy Tandy, Gr., G, Florida Atlantic
Colby Rogers, R-Sr., G, Memphis
Jayden Reid, So., G, South Florida
* denotes unanimous selection

AAC head coaches

Years at their respective schools
Starting first year: Austin Claunch, UTSA; Rob Lanier, Rice; John Jakus, Florida Atlantic.
Second year: Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida; Ross Hodge, North Texas; Aaron Fearne, Charlotte; Adam Fisher, Temple; Paul Mills, Wichita State.
Third year: Eric Konkol, Tulsa; Michael Schwartz, East Carolina.
Fifth year: Andy Kennedy, UAB.
Sixth year: Ron Hunter, Tulane.
Seventh year: Penny Hardaway, Memphis.

AAC in the 2024 NCAA men’s tournament
Recap
UAB Blazers — No. 12 seed UAB, an automatic qualifier as the AAC tournament champion, lost to the No. 5 San Diego State Aztecs 69-65 in the Round of 64.
Florida Atlantic Owls — No. 8 seed FAU, an at-large selection, lost to the No. 9 University of Northwestern Wildcats 77-65 in overtime in the Round of 64.

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Re-arranging the furniture: UTSA men’s hoops practice gets rowdy

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Tai'Reon. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - File photo by Joe Alexander

Guard Tai’Reon Joseph and the UTSA Roadrunners will get tested in an exhibition game Tuesday in Los Angeles against the Southern California Trojans. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Coach Austin Claunch has conducted some rigorous, bump-and-grind type of practices in his first preseason camp with the UTSA Roadrunners.

But from the four or five workouts that I’ve seen since the start of the fall semester, Friday’s may have been the most physical yet.

Damari Monsanto. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Wake Forest transfer Damari Monsanto heated up and hit four long-range shots — three from 3-point territory — toward the end of practice. – Photo by Joe Alexander

The get-after-it tone may have been set in the opening minutes as a few of the coaches took the challenge and ran wind sprints with the players. Even the 34-year-old Claunch put his head down and churned out a couple.

Hey, nobody wants to get beat by the old coach, right?

As the basketball phase of the workout commenced, I noticed the noise level in the Convocation Center. It was loud and getting louder. I swear, by the time they started the four-on-four, followed by five-on-five, the players’ voices — the barking of encouragement to one another — echoed into the rafters.

When the halfcourt scrimmaging started, bodies started flying. Once or twice, they tumbled into chairs on the side. One was flattened, others knocked askew. On one play, a loose ball resulted in players diving on the floor, out of bounds, behind the baseline.

On another, two players — Raekwon Horton and Jonnivius Smith — chased down a long rebound and seemed to careen off one another, off the end of the court and nearly out into the north concourse.

Defense definitely was the order of the day, but moments of offensive artistry also emerged. Tai’Reon Joseph, with a quick first step, slashed for layups. Primo Spears darted into the paint and popped some mid-range jumpers. Naz Mahmoud and Damari Monsanto rained threes.

For Mahmoud, it was one of the better workouts I’ve seen from him in a little more than a year. Not only did the sophomore from Leander consistently make triples out of the corner, he also scored off the bounce a few times, taking it all the way to the rim in traffic on one move.

The 6-foot-6 Monsanto was as good as I’ve seen him since I started attending drills early last month. Getting more and more fit as the fall practices have progressed, the Wake Forest transfer had a big day, raining in four straight jumpers at one point. Three were from beyond the three-point arc. Another came from about 17 feet out of the corner.

“Today, we really needed to get after it,” Claunch said. “Just be physical. Guard each other. Put these guys in some adversity, and I thought they responded.”

AAC media days

The Roadrunners’ men’s and women’s basketball teams will attend media days in the Dallas area this weekend. Representing the men will be Claunch, Primo Spears and Raekwon Horton. For the women, Coach Karen Aston will be joined by Jordyn Jenkins and Sidney Love.

Preseason polls

With the Roadrunners women picked to finish fifth in the AAC regular season, Jenkins was honored as a preseason all-conference first team selection. The UTSA men have been picked to finish tied for 11th out of 13.

California dreaming

Next up for the UTSA men is an exhibition game set for Tuesday night at Southern California, a power conference opponent previously from the Pac-12, now in the Big Ten. The game will be aired on Big Ten Network and streamed via B1G+. Tipoff at the Galen Center is at 9 p.m. central.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Claunch said. “We have a group that wants those matchups and those expectations, to go in and win those games. Obviously we’re a long way away from where we need to be. But, at the end of the day, we want to play the best in the country, and, like you say, USC has a great brand.”

The Trojans are coached by Eric Musselman, in his first year with the program after spending the past five seasons with the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Though the game is an exhibition and won’t count on either team’s record, it’s a fact that UTSA hasn’t had much success against power conference programs. The Roadrunners haven’t won a game against a team from one of the major revenue-producing conferences since they beat the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2009.

Coming together

Despite the results of the AAC polls, UTSA guard Marcus Millender expressed optimism that the Roadrunners could have a “breakout” season.

“I feel like this team is one of a kind,” Millender said. “I feel like this is going to be one of them breakout years, and everybody after this year is going to remember UTSA. We’re going to put UTSA on the map this year. From Day 1, I just feel like all the guys have bought in.

“Getting everyone together, trying to get everyone on the right page, I just feel like this is going to be one of those years, for sure.”

Millender said he didn’t think his teammates paid much attention to the AAC poll.

“That’s the good thing about our group of guys,” he said. “I mean, me personally, I’ve been an underdog my whole life. I’m just going to put my head down and keep working. I’m pretty sure all the other guys will, too.”

Jordyn Jenkins named first-team all conference in AAC preseason honors

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Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA beat Northern Colorado 80-62 in the first round of the WNIT on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jordyn Jenkins averaged 17.1 points on 47.9 percent shooting in 12 games last season. She sat out most of the season while recovering from knee surgery. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins has been named as a first-team all conference selection in the American Athletic Conference’s preseason honors for women’s basketball announced Friday.

Jenkins and the Roadrunners are pegged for a fifth-place finish out of 13 teams in the AAC championship race.

On the men’s side, UTSA has been picked to finish tied for 11th out of 13 leading into Austin Claunch’s first season as head coach.

Jenkins, from Kent, Wash., arrived at UTSA in the summer of 2022 after being selected first-team all conference in the Pac 12 at Southern California.

She immediately made an impact for the Roadrunners, averaging 20.6 points in the 2022-23 season and claiming Conference USA Player of the Year honors.

UTSA men to play an exhibition at Southern Cal on Oct. 15

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Coach Austin Claunch and the UTSA Roadrunners will play an exhibition game at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Oct. 15, the schools announced Sunday.

For both Claunch and USC’s Eric Musselman, the exhibition will mark a new beginning in their coaching careers, as they will represent their respective schools in front of fans for the first time. The game will be streamed live via the Big Ten Network on B1G+.

Tipoff at the Galen Center is scheduled for 9 p.m. central time.

Austin Claunch. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch will lead his team into Los Angeles on Oct. 15 for an exhibition against the University of Southern California Trojans. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Claunch is in his first season at UTSA after spending a year as an assistant at the University of Alabama and, previously, for five seasons as head coach at Nicholls State. Musselman has worked as a head coach at the highest level of college basketball for nine years, including four at Nevada and the last five at Arkansas.

Musselman’s teams made three NCAA tournaments at Nevada and three more Arkansas. Coaching at Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference, his Razorbacks reached the NCAA round of eight in both 2021 and 2022 and the round of 16 in 2023.

After years in the Pac 12 conference, Southern Cal is entering its first season of basketball in the Big Ten. As such, the game will be streamed live via the Big Ten Network.

For Roadrunners’ fans hoping to attend the game in Los Angeles, ticketing information will be posted on the UTSA men’s basketball schedule page as it becomes available.

UTSA last played at USC in December of 1983. In the Roadrunners’ third year of basketball, they lost 84-68 in what has been their one and only meeting with the Trojans.

‘Smurf’ stands tall in early UTSA fall camp basketball practices

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Marcus Millender. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Marcus ‘Smurf’ Millender played 32 games and averaged 9.7 points as a freshman last year at South Alabama. He also shot 42.3 percent from the three-point arc for the Jaguars of the Sun Belt Conference. – Photo by Joe Alexander


By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

What UTSA point guard Marcus Millender may lack in size, he seems to more than make up for it with a variety of enticing skills.

He runs the offense well when called on to do so. He shoots it with confidence from the perimeter, sometimes well beyond the three-point arc, and he just brings a consistent effort to practice each and every time the Roadrunners hit the floor at the Convocation Center.

At least, that’s been my observation in three or four practices that I’ve seen in fall camp workouts.

“He’s had consistent practices because he’s a consistent worker,” first-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch said after Friday’s session at the Convocation Center. “There he is. He’s shooting right now after practice. He’s somebody that really fits our style of play. Then on top of that, he’s a relentless worker.”

On a day that happened to be exactly one month before the team opens the season on Nov. 4 against Trinity, Millender dug into his bag of tricks.

Austin Claunch. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Austin Claunch says the Roadrunners have made good progress in the past week despite minor injuries to two of their best athletes. – photo by Joe Alexander

First, he drove into the paint, drew a defender, and then wrapped a pass around him to a teammate for a layup. Millender also knocked down three-balls in shooting drills and added one long one during half-court, five-on-five.

Never mind that his nickname is “Smurf.” Defenders seem to have a hard time stopping him because of his versatility.

Last season, the 5-foot-11 Millender averaged 9.7 points, 3.3 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 32 games for the South Alabama Jaguars. He knocked down 32 of 73 shots from the arc for 42.3 percent.

On April 26, Millender entered the NCAA transfer portal. The former standout at Houston Legacy High School wanted a new start under Claunch, who at the time had just arrived on the UTSA campus.

“He shows up every single day with the right mentality,” the coach said. “Great attitude. Obviously, he’s playing at a really high level right now.”

Working around injuries

A few injuries have cropped up in the past week. Point guard Primo Spears and guard-forward Sky Wicks were in walking boots and didn’t practice Friday.

Still, Claunch said he’s pleased after a little more than a week of the official fall camp. “It was a good week,” Claunch said. “On the offensive side of the ball, (we’re) just doing simple things better. Valuing the ball. Not turning it over. Passing and catching better. Creating better shots against different types of ball-screen coverages. You know, we’re banged up a little bit. Nothing major. It’s kinda that time of year.”

Claunch decided to hit the pause button on holding any scrimmages until Spears and Wicks, both expected to be key players for the Roadrunners, can return to form. “We wanted to get everybody 100 percent before we headed into some important scrimmages over the next few weeks,” he said.

Stepping up intensity

Small forward Damari Monsanto and point guard Paul Lewis were much more involved in Friday’s practice than they were this time a week ago.

Damari Monsanto. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Wake Forest transfer Damari Monsanto was one of the top three-point shooters in the ACC two years ago. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“Damari’s really starting to get himself back into shape,” Claunch said. “He’s not where he needs to be, but he’s miles ahead of where he was when he got here. And because of that, he’s playing better.”

In three previous seasons at Wake Forest, Monsanto has suffered two serious injuries, including a torn Achilles and a knee injury. Two years ago, after returning from the Achilles problem, he broke out as one of the top long-distance shooters in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But after going down with the knee problem, he sat out for a year before returning to play in a limited role at the end of last season.

“He’s obviously an elite shooter,” Claunch said. “He’s a really underrated passer. Got an incredible basketball IQ and just knows how to play.”

Paul Lewis. The UTSA men's basketball team on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Virginia native Paul Lewis played 31 games last season at Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference. Photo by Joe Alexander

Lewis, a transfer from Vanderbilt, has been slowed at UTSA with a foot injury.

“He looks great,” Claunch said. “He’s had two really, really good days. This is a long season, and it’s really good to have another ball handler. It was good to have him back out here. Got to keep him healthy.”

Notable

The NCAA announced on Wednesday that San Antonio will be the site for two major Division I events — the 2026 Women’s Volleyball Championship and a 2027 NCAA Basketball Regional. San Antonio has previously hosted two NCAA Volleyball Championships (in 2005 and 2011) and 11 men’s basketball regionals. The volleyball championship will be held in the Alamodome and the regional will be held in the Frost Bank Center.

The announcement comes as the San Antonio Local Organizing Committee (SALOC) prepares to host the 2025 Men’s Basketball Final Four in the Alamodome April 5 and 7. SALOC, which is a partnership between UTSA, the City of San Antonio, Visit San Antonio and San Antonio Sports, has hosted events that have generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the local economy.

Austin Claunch’s lesson for the day: ‘Separate yourself with effort’

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

One play during a halfcourt defensive drill Friday afternoon pretty much underscored the Austin Claunch way of playing basketball.

Guard Tai’Reon Joseph came out to contest the dribble on the wing. Forward David Hermes also switched out to stop the ball, forcing a pass to the top of the key. A driver put his head down and tried to maneuver into the lane, only to run into heavy traffic.

Bodies collided. Guard Marcus Millender, who cut off the driver, tumbled to the court. Falling on top of another body, he somehow managed to find the ball on the floor, and Millender gained possession. Overseeing the action, Claunch obviously liked what he saw.

“Separate yourself with effort,” the coach said to the group.

And so it went on Day 2 of UTSA’s official fall camp practices under Claunch, a first-year head coach.

“I’m pleased,’ the coach said. “I love how hard we practice. That’s obviously going to be a staple of what we want to be and the identity that we want to play with. We’re really deep. Everybody. I think the level of competition is great the way we’re pushing each other.

“To me it’s not pushing guys down. It’s raising everybody up. That’s an exciting thing for a coach. Two days in, I’m really excited. We got a lot of work to do like everybody, but I like where we are so far.”

Only a week ago, Claunch told The JB Replay that the team had made good progress and that it actually was — in some ways —
close to being ready to play a game.

“We’re in decent shape,” he said Friday afternoon. “I think we’re still getting to where we need to be. I think we’re in good shape. Now there’s just some things we need to tidy up on both sides of the ball.”

A couple of scrimmages against Division I competition loom in coming weeks, so the coach will know more as he sees how players respond to outside forces.

“That’ll be a good bench mark for us,” he said. “I think we’re building a good foundation for what we want this program to be, and I’m really excited for these guys.”

UTSA’s season opener is Nov. 4 at home against Trinity University.

One thing is clear after my first view of the team in a full practice. The backcourt will be a strong suit. Joseph, Millender and Primo Spears all have potential to match up with most of the guards in the American Athletic Conference.

Joseph, shown in the video above setting up a corner three with a look-away pass, seemed to have an excellent practice on Friday.

Not only did he guard the ball well, he showed creativity in distributing, along with a lightning stop-and-start move that allowed him to get past defenders.

“He’s as fast a player as I’ve ever coached,” Claunch said. “End to end, it’s impressive to see. I tell you what, he has grown so much over these last few months. Physically tough. Mentally tough.”

Claunch encourages Joseph to take the catch-and-shoot three pointer, but his move to the basket seems major league, at least from first glance.

“You start to see some of that downhill thrust that he has attacking the rim,” the coach said. “And defensively, he’s just a menace, man. He can really disrupt flow. Gets his hands on a ton of balls. Deflections, things like that. Excited for him. He’s really just scratching the surface. He doesn’t really know how good he can be.

“We’ve had him for three months. I’m excited to see where he’ll be in another three months.”

Joseph, from Baton Rouge, La., has played in NCAA Division I at Austin Peay, Radford and Southern University. Last season at Southern, a Baton Rouge-based team in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, he led the league in scoring. Joseph averaged 20.5 points on 43.8 percent shooting.

Sparking the defense

Primo Spears, a Florida State transfer, continued to showcase a two-way game. Speedy on the dribble. Dangerous with an array of pull-up jumpers and floaters. But just as important to UTSA coaches, tenacious on the defensive end.

“Some guys have natural ability,” Claunch said. “But on top of that, they have a mentality that they’re going to get stops. For our point guard to pick up and take that upon himself … And you know, Smurf (Millender) is that same way … all of them, really (including Tai’Reon) Joseph, Raekwon Horton and Jaquan (Scott), along with Jonnivius Smith and Mo (Njie), being rim protectors, we can be a really good defensive team.

“Sky (Wicks) is athletic. Naz (Mahmoud) has good hands. We’ve got good personnel to be a good defensive team. But certainly I think it starts with Primo on the ball.”

Following a UTSA legend

UTSA has recently added three walk-ons, bringing the roster total to 16.

The three include guards LJ Brown and Baboucarr Njie and forward Jackson Fazenda. Baboucarr Njie is the younger brother of UTSA center Mo Njie. Brown is the son of former Spurs guard Devin Brown, who also happens to be the Roadrunners’ No. 3 all-time leading scorer.

Claunch said it takes some courage for LJ Brown to play for the same program that his father helped lead to the 1999 NCAA tournament.

“He’s about everything that we’re about as a program,” the coach said. “Toughness. Hard work. Fight … Obviously he’s got the pedigree, right? LJ is competing. He’s competing for minutes just like everybody else. Doesn’t matter if you’re a walk-on or not.

“He’s got to continue to handle (the ball) and make better decisions offensively. But he is about everything that we’re about, and I value that. Taking care of the ball. Being a good teammate. Rebounding and being tough. He’ll have a chance to play.”

Slam dunks, shrieks and pizza — UTSA wins the day at the Eastside Boys and Girls Club

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Outside, a September sun filtered out of a hazy sky. The muggy, mid-90s heat hung low on a lazy Thursday afternoon, clinging to anyone who walked the streets adjacent to the Eastside Boys and Girls Club.

Inside, at 3503 Martin Luther King Drive, something cool was going on.

About 80 grade school-aged kids sat in the bleachers in a comfortably air-conditioned gymnasium, sizing up likely the tallest basketball players they had ever seen in person.

Pretty soon after the kids had all taken their seats, a layup line formed on the court, and the UTSA Roadrunners started to play to the crowd.

The first few athletes glided toward the hoop, tossing in layups. What followed next was a series of more explosive, acrobatic dunks, each one followed by shrieks from the children, some of whom clasped their hands to their wide-eyed faces.

A dunk. A collective scream. Another dunk. Another scream.

Event organizer Bob Benavides, the president and CEO of the San Antonio Retail Merchants Association, stepped outside the gymnasium for a few minutes to discuss his charitable foundation’s nascent collaboration with new UTSA coach Austin Claunch.

So, what exactly is happening inside that gym, Mr. Benavides?

“To use the words of a 10-year-old, it’s nuts,” Benavides said, smiling. “They’re having a blast. I don’t think they’ve ever seen players as tall as the ones they were interacting with. I saw them jumping around trying to tap (the players’) heads … Just to hear the laughter in that gym, you can’t replace that with anything else. That is so joyful.”

The joy continued in the aftermath of the two and a half-hour clinic when the boxes of hot pizza arrived. Claunch met the children face to face, handing out prizes and thanking everyone for coming.

Then he sat down to talk about what he said was his first — but not his last — attempt to take his program to the people of San Antonio.

“I thought it went really well,” Claunch said. “We had some fun. Handed out some prizes. Got some pizza. Then our guys got to get up and down and show off a little bit. Great event. I look forward to the next one. Again, it’s just the beginning. I want our guys to understand what it means to play for UTSA and be a part of this community.”

Austin Claunch wants UTSA’s identity defined by ‘how hard we compete’

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

First-year UTSA basketball coach Austin Claunch is a man with a clear vision for his program.

Despite three straight seasons of 20-plus losses under the previous staff, the 34-year-old former Houston schoolboy announced at his introductory news conference back in April that, one day, he hopes to help his players cut down the nets to celebrate a Roadrunners championship.

Austin Claunch was introduced at the new UTSA head men's basketball coach at a public news conference on Thursday, April 11, 2024. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Austin Claunch has vowed that his first team at UTSA will play with physicality and toughness. — Photo by Joe Alexander

It’s a compelling notion, all right. But that doesn’t mean that such an outcome can happen in instantaneous fashion. In an interview Tuesday afternoon, only a few weeks into fall semester workouts, Claunch fielded a question about what type of identity his team might have and how good he thought UTSA could be in his first season.

“Listen,” he said, “I’ve got practice in the next five minutes. It’s hard for me to say. It’s hard for me to say, ‘How good can we be?’ Our goal is to come out and win every single game. Obviously we’re a long way from that. You know, we’ve got to build.”

Claunch sounded much more certain about what type of style the Roadrunners would play.

“Our identity is going to be (as) a team that comes out and really, really (competes),” he said. “I think you’re going to be impressed with how hard we compete and how hard we play and how together we are from a toughness standpoint. I mean, it’s got to start with that.”

Despite his age, Claunch comes to UTSA with a championship pedigree. He made a name for himself as a head coach at Nicholls State University, where he won a pair of Southland Conference regular-season titles, and then spent last season as an assistant on the staff at Alabama, a team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four.

Soon after arriving in San Antonio in April, the coach assembled a staff and went to work re-stocking the UTSA talent-base. By July, he announced a 13-man roster, including 12 transfers. At the time, seven of those transfers were from power conference programs. In addition, two players came from programs that played in the NCAA tournament.

Now, a little more than two weeks away from the start of official fall practices, the Roadrunners find themselves grinding away. Claunch acknowledged that they might be a work in progress. In regard to both offensive and defensive execution, much needs to be fine-tuned.

But one thing is a certainty as far as the coach is concerned — UTSA will play with physical style. “We’re going to embrace protecting the rim,” Claunch said. “I can tell you that. We’re going to certainly embrace protecting the rim. Sometimes with shot blocking. Sometimes with just our ability to stay in front of the ball.”

On offense, the coach vowed that the Roadrunners would play with pace and play efficiently.

“You know, we’re going to share it,” he said. “We want to score a lot of points, and you don’t do that with just one guy scoring 30 every night. Now we have a lot of talent. We have a lot of guys that can shoot.

“So we’ve got to get that ball moving and share it on the other end,” Claunch added. “We want a lot of assisted shots. But more than anything, what’s important to me, is having a team that represents what UTSA and what San Antonio is all about, which is that toughness and that ability to show … consistency every day, and fight through adversity.”

Njie joins UTSA

The Roadrunners have added 6-foot-11 center Mo Njie to join the program while also acknowledging that 6-7 forward Jesus Carralero Martin is no longer on the team.

Njie joins the Roadrunners following two seasons with the SMU Mustangs, for whom he played in 38 games. At 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, the Centerville, Ohio big man started his career at Eastern Michigan.

Carralero Martin was announced as part of Claunch’s 12-man signing class in July. He played last season at Missouri and before that, four years at Campbell.

Texas Tough

Claunch said that the coaches are keeping track of what he calls “Texas Tough” points. “We calculate that every single day,” the coach said, “for deflections, steals, rebounds, taking charges, whatever the case may be.”

So far, Raekwon Horton and Primo Spears have set the pace in that regard.

“One thing I don’t ever worry about with this team is playing hard,” Claunch said. “We are as competitive as any group I’ve ever been around. And so, the first two days of the preseason workouts, Raekwon Horton won the first day and Primo Spears won the second day, and I would say those two have been, pretty consistent with that.”

Spears has been one of the team’s top performers through the summer and into fall practices. Known as an explosive offensive player in past seasons at Duquesne, Georgetown and Florida State, the Connecticut native has also excelled on the defensive end in early practices at UTSA.

“I tell you what,” Claunch said. “He really guards the ball, too. He can really, really guard.”

Horton, a 6-foot-6 wing from Santee, S.C., has played in the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons at the College of Charleston and, most recently, at James Madison.

“Raekwon … has a knack for the ball,” Claunch said. “It’s no surprise he’s been at places that have won and gone to NCAA tournaments. You can see that he sort of has that way about him. And then Primo, too. I think those two guys certainly bring an edge every single day.

“But other guys have (done that) as well. I think our toughness and competitiveness is really good, top to bottom.”