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.
