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UTSA men come away with a signature victory over North Texas in Denton

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After hanging on to beat the North Texas Mean Green 54-50 on Saturday in Denton, the UTSA Roadrunners handed first-year Coach Austin Claunch his biggest win at the school and the 100th of his career.

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’s Austin Claunch hit a milestone with his 100th win as a college head coach. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Center Jo Smith made a clutch defensive stop on North Texas’ last possession, and Raekwon Horton followed by knocking down two free throws with one second remaining to secure the win for the Roadrunners.

Horton finished with a season-high 23 points on eight of 11 shooting in 40 minutes. Primo Spears, battling a sore ankle, finished with 15 points. He hit three of seven from the 3-point arc. Marcus Millender scored 11.

Defensively, Smith finished with three steals and three blocks to lead the Roadrunners, who have posted a 4-3 record in their last seven AAC games.

For North Texas, forward Grant Newell scored a team-leading 14 points on six-for-six shooting. Guard Atin Wright, who scored 22 points against UTSA in the first meeting, was held to 10 on three of 12. Forward Brenan Lorient added 11 points.

Records

UTSA 10-11, 4-5
North Texas 16-5, 7-2

Coming up

Tulane at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Milestone

Claunch is in his first season at UTSA, but he is in his sixth overall in NCAA Division I, which includes five at Nicholls State. The coach posted a 90-61 record at Nicholls, a Southland Conference school in Thibodaux, La. He’s now 10-11 with the Roadrunners, which makes him 100-72 in his career after knocking off North Texas.

Notable

For UTSA, the win was significant on several levels. North Texas entered the game on a six-game winning streak, undefeated at home and tied for first in the American Athletic Conference. UTSA, meanwhile, was tied for ninth.

The Mean Green were 46th nationally on the NCAA’s Evaluation Tool, or, the NET, trailing only Memphis at No. 40 among AAC teams. Meaning, that this was UTSA’s highest-rated victory of the season.

Few could see it coming. Down to only eight scholarship players, UTSA had been pounded 94-74 on Wednesday in Boca Raton, Fla., and came in at No. 222 on the NET. The Roadrunners’ ranking was third to the last among AAC teams on the computer.

Moreover, the Mean Green journeyed to San Antonio on Jan. 18 and walloped the Roadrunners, 72-57. So, as expected, Claunch was feeling good about the outcome of the rematch as he talked to UTSA radio voice Andy Everett in the postgame.

The coach’s defensive scheme seemed to flummox the Mean Green. “We decided to go to some switching (on screens),” he said. “We were just saying, ‘Switch and compete.’ All week. You know, and just kind of man on man.

“They’re a hell of a team. You have so much respect for what they’ve built here. This crowd today, I mean, it was a really, really tough environment.”

The Roadrunners essentially won the game in the first half when they held the Mean Green to 13 points on five of 22 shooting from the field, including zero for 11 from three.

Remarkably, it was a half that resembled the game in San Antonio, except that in the first meeting, UTSA was held to 18 points.

UTSA entered the second half up 27-13.

“You’re giving yourself a cushion because you know they’re making a run,” Claunch said. “You know, similar to the game at our place. We were just able to make a couple of tough plays and shots.

“I think they’re as tough as anybody in the league, and I challenged our guys the last couple of days to embrace that. Embrace the pace. Embrace the physicality, and I think we did that.”

UTSA men surge in the last minute to down Temple, 88-79

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Primo Spears. UTSA beat Temple 88-79 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Guard Primo Spears scored six of his 20 points in the final minute and 20 seconds to solidify UTSA’s 88-79 victory over the Temple Owls. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners showed both resilience and resolve in the last one minute and 20 seconds, forcing two key turnovers and holding the Temple Owls to two free throws in claiming an 88-79 victory Saturday at the Convocation Center.

Holding on precariously to a one-point lead, UTSA outscored Temple 10-2 down the stretch for perhaps its biggest win in American Athletic Conference play this season.

Austin Claunch. UTSA beat Temple 88-79 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch praised his team’s ‘grit’ in delivering the first victory in school history over the Temple Owls, who rank sixth all time in NCAA Division I with 2,005 wins. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Highlighting the 80-second surge were Primo Spears, who hit a jumper and sank four free throws, and also Damari Monsanto and Jo Smith, who came up with deflections to blunt two Temple possessions.

Spears and Raekwon Horton scored 20 points apiece to lead five Roadrunners in double figures. Marcus Millender added 18 and Monsanto contributed 17, hitting five of UTSA’s 14 three-point field goals. Smith had 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.

“This is a huge win, not just to kind of keep us in the race, but also, I have a ton of respect for coach (Adam) Fisher and Temple,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said. “I’m pretty sure I’m right on this but I think they have the seventh most wins in college basketball history, so this is an incredible win for our program and for UTSA.”

According to the school’s pre-game information packet, Temple is now sixth on the victory list. Kentucky leads Division I men’s programs with 2,411, followed by Kansas (2,407), North Carolina (2,383), Duke (2,314), UCLA (2,018) and Temple (2,005).

The Owls came into San Antonio with an AAC victory over Memphis, the league’s preseason favorite, and they were one game out of first place.

“Again, we have a ton of respect for Temple,” Claunch said. “They’ve started off really well this year and they’re going to continue to win a lot of games. For us, this is a really hard stretch for us — two really hard opponents coming into this one where we lost close games.”

Damari Monsanto. UTSA beat Temple 88-79 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Damari Monsanto hit five shots from behind the 3-point arc en route to 17 points and also made a key deflection to force a turnover in the last minute of the game. – Photo by Joe Alexander

A week ago today, the Roadrunners rallied late to within single digits of the North Texas Mean Green, only to fall 72-57 at home. Last Tuesday, they had a shot to tie on the final possession but lost in Birmingham to the UAB Blazers, 81-78.

Claunch said he “loved” how the Roadrunners started against the Owls. They jumped all over the visitors with defensive pressure and three-point shooting, building leads as large as 16 points three times in the first seven minutes.

After Temple rallied in the second half, it looked as if the Owls might overtake the short-handed Roadrunners, who were playing without starting guard Tai’Reon Joseph for the second straight game. Also, they’ve been without two post players for weeks, leaving them thin in the frontcourt.

Still, they found a way. “Just a gritty, tough win,” Claunch said.

Jamal Mashburn Jr. scored 10 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. The son of a former NBA star of the same name finished one point off his season scoring average. Forward Steve Settle produced 17 points and Zion Stanford 17. Point guard Quante Berry had 10 points and three assists.

Records

Temple 12-8, 4-3
UTSA 9-10, 3-4

Coming up

UTSA at Florida Atlantic, Wednesday, 6 p.m.
UTSA at North Texas, Saturday, Feb. 1, 5 p.m.

Notable

The win was UTSA’s first all time against Temple. In four meeting, the Roadrunners are now 1-3 against the Owls. Together in the same conference for the first time last season, the Owls won all three, including one in Philadelphia, one at the Convo in San Antonio and one at the AAC tournament in Fort Worth.

First half

Propelled by lights-out shooting from Raekwon Horton, Primo Spears and Marcus Millender, the UTSA Roadrunners raced to a 16-point lead in the first seven minutes and then hung on at the end to take a 43-35 advantage into the break.

Marcus Millender. UTSA beat Temple 88-79 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Roadrunners sophomore Marcus Millender knocked down six of nine shots from the field, scored 18 points and passed for six assists against the Owls. – Photo by Joe Alexander

When Spears nailed a three pointer from the right wing with 12:45 left, the Roadrunners had constructed a 28-12 lead. Horton had scored 11 points in the spree.

The UTSA offense was cooking at that point because of a frenetic defensive effort and a fast pace. As the game slowed more to Temple’s preferred pace, the Owls started climbing back in the game.

Temple closed a 21-10 run with a Shane Dezonie jumper, pulling the visitors to within five. UTSA responded with a 5-2 mini-surge in the final minute.

Monsanto buried a three — the Roadrunners’ eighth of the half — and Millender finished with a driving finger roll in traffic at the buzzer.

For the half, Horton had 15 points and Millender 10 for the Roadrunners. Spears, who made three of the team’s 3-pointers, had nine. The Owls were led by Mashburn, who scored 10, including two of two from long distance.

Pre-game

UTSA guard Tai’Reon Joseph did not play for the second straight game. Reserve forward Skylar Wicks also apparently was not in the arena. A spokesman said neither Joseph nor Wicks were available, increasing to five the number of scholarship athletes who didn’t play.

Forwards Mo Njie (foot injury), guard Paul Lewis (foot) and Jaquan Scott (personal reasons) are the other three.

Lewis has been out for most of the season and Scott and Njie most of the last three weeks. On top of all that, Spears suffered an injury in practice on Friday and did not come out for the early phase of pre-game warm ups.

Raekwon Horton. UTSA beat Temple 88-79 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Raekwon Horton set the tone for the Roadrunners, scoring 11 of his 20 points in the first five minutes of the game. – Photo by Joe .Alexander

Jonnivius Smith. UTSA beat Temple 88-79 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jonnivius Smith got a hand on an inbounds pass and forced a turnover in the last minute to spark a 10-2 UTSA surge. Smith also came up big with 10 points and 10 rebounds. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Men’s college basketball: Army holds on to defeat UTSA, 78-75

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Boosted by 27 points from Jalen Rucker, the Army Black Knights held on to win in the final minute Sunday afternoon, snapping the UTSA Roadrunners’ three-game winning streak, 78-75, in non-conference play at West Point, N.Y.

“Give them a ton of credit,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said on the team’s radio broadcast. “Jalen Rucker’s obviously a heck of a player and played well … Just not our best effort today.”

At the end, the Roadrunners threw a scare into the Black Knights, who led by 15 early in the second half.

For UTSA, Primo Spears scored on a drive off an assist from Raekwon Horton with 36.6 seconds left. The bucket trimmed Army’s lead to four.

Trying to advance the ball, the Black Knights turned it over, but the Roadrunners also committed an error, throwing it away themselves.

From there, the game turned essentially into a tactical battle of free-throw shooters. Ryan Curry hit two for the Black Knights, and then Spears knocked down a pair for the Roadrunners with 14.3 seconds left.

After Curry hit another two, Army had a 78-72 lead with 13 seconds to go. But the game was hardly secure, and UTSA’s Tai’Reon Joseph made it interesting, knocking down a three from the corner.

Up 78-75 at that point, Army inbounded to Curry, its best free-throw shooter. But he missed the front end of a one and one with 4.9 seconds left, giving the Roadrunners another shot.

Marcus Millender advanced the ball full court on the dribble and positioned himself for an open look to tie, only to see his shot glance off the side of the rim.

Records

UTSA 6-6
Army 6-6

Coming up

x-UTSA at Tulane, Jan. 4, 5 p.m.
x-American Athletic Conference opener

Individuals

UTSA – Primo Spears had 22 points and nine rebounds. Tai’Reon Joseph added 16 off the bench. Raekwon Horton contributed 15 and seven boards.

Army – Jalen Rucker scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. He knocked down five 3-pointers. Ryan Curry had 15 points and AJ Allenspach 12.

Notable

UTSA was missing two big men, with starting center Mo Njie and forward Jaquan Scott not playing. Scott has been away from the team for a few weeks and has missed four games in a row.

Njie has played in 10 games, including UTSA’s two recent wins over the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and one over the non-Division I Southwestern Adventist Knights. The win over Southwestern Adventist came on Dec. 19, the Roadrunners’ last game before the break.

AAC men’s tournament: UTSA’s season comes to an end with a first-round loss to Temple

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Trailing by 14 points at halftime, the UTSA Roadrunners rallied to contest an American Athletic Conference first-round tournament game, battling with the Temple Owls into the final minute. But in the final seconds, they couldn’t get a three-pointer to fall, missing twice, and their season came to an end.

Christian Tucker. Temple beat UTSA 84-82 in the Roadrunners' final home game of the men's basketball season on Sunday, March 10, 2024 at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Christian Tucker produced a team-high 15 points and passed for four assists against the Temple Owls. – File photo by Joe Alexander

The Owls escaped with a 64-61 victory.

A poor first-half performance doomed the Roadrunners. They couldn’t get their offense rolling, hitting only 24 percent from the field and shooting only 1 for 13 from three-point distance. They were playing without injured leading scorer Jordan Ivy-Curry, so nothing came easily.

UTSA played hard in the second half, winning the 20-minute segment, 40-29. Christian Tucker led the charge with his floor leadership, ball-handling and passing. They had a couple of opportunities to take the lead down the stretch and were denied each time.

The final minute was hectic. Hysier Miller drained a three for Temple with 49.6 seconds remaining, boosting the Owls into a 64-58 lead. The Roadrunners answered almost immediately, with PJ Carter hitting a three of his own with 41.9 seconds left.

At the end, UTSA’s defense kept Temple from scoring, eventually forcing Miller into an over-and-back violation at halfcourt with 18 seconds left. With the ball on the side, the Roadrunners worked it first to Carter, who fired a three that was rebounded under the bucket by Carlton Linguard, Jr.

Linguard Jr. flipped it out to Tucker, who passed to Isaiah Wyatt at the top of the circle. With Miller contesting, Wyatt’s shot was off the mark, ending the Roadrunners’ season with an 11-21 record.

It was the third straight 20-loss season for the Roadrunners.

The Owls, who went 3-0 against the Roadrunners this season, will move on to play the sixth-seeded SMU Mustangs Thursday night. All games are being played at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

Steve Henson. Rice beat UTSA 80-76 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Steve Henson said after the game that he expects to speak with athletic director Lisa Campos soon. His contract expires at the end of the month. – File Photo by Joe Alexander

Afterward, UTSA coach Steve Henson addressed questions about his future. Since his contract expires at the end of the month, it’s been a topic of discussion in his last two post-game news conferences. He said Wednesday that he hasn’t talked to his athletic director about the contract.

Even though the stakes were high for the Roadrunners in the tournament, Henson said Ivy-Curry just couldn’t play.

“Juice injured his arm/shoulder against SMU, very end of the (SMU) game (on March 2),” he said. “It was extremely swollen. We had a week off after that one, I think. We had several day days off, anyway, and he tried to get a ton of treatment and tried to practice a little bit. We put him in the game on Sunday (at home against Temple) and he was pretty immobile.

“His arm’s extremely swollen up, and he just couldn’t contribute the way he wanted to and the pain was continuing to increase. It’s really hard to get the swelling out of there, so he just wasn’t able to play.”

Noting that the first-half performance just wasn’t good enough, Henson nevertheless said he was proud of his players.

“In the first half, just offensively we couldn’t get anything going,” he said. “We really struggled on the offensive end. We held ’em to 40 percent from the field. We won enough battles on that end. We just couldn’t get anything going. They were physical with us.

“And then at halftime we kind of flipped it. We started executing better, we started defending much better, and kind of turned the tables on ’em a little bit, made a nice run there.”

In each of the last two seasons, the Roadrunners have lost close games in their conference tournament openers. Last year in Frisco, it was a one-point loss to the Rice Owls at the Conference USA tournament. Japhet Medor hit a shot at the end that would have won the game, but it was waved off on review. This year, it was an equally gut-wrenching one-possession game at the end against the Temple Owls.

“Just extremely disappointed,” Henson said. “The nature of post-season play, it just ends. You’re out there and you’re fighting your tails off and guys are in the huddle playing with a lot of emotion, talking with a lot of emotion, rallying each other, pumping each other, and then that horn goes
off and it’s over. So it’s a very disappointing feeling.”

UTSA lost 10 players to the transfer portal last spring and replaced them with 10 more signees. As a result, coaches started work last summer with almost an entirely different group. The Roadrunners were good at times on the offensive end. But on the defensive end, they were erratic, though they did play well defensively in a four-game stretch at the end of the regular season.

But then on Sunday, they took to their home floor in the regular-season finale against Temple with a less-than-100 percent Ivy-Curry, and got beat 84-82. The loss was costly. If they had won, they would have had another day to rest before they started the tournament. Instead, they had to play on the first day, and now it’s over.

“Our whole thing this last three weeks has been believe, and we didn’t give up (today),” said Tucker, who finished with 15 points and four assists. “We knew that we (could) compete with this team. We didn’t do enough of it in the first half and we knew we had to bounce back in the second half, so we just came out fighting. I mean, we won the second half, but we dug ourselves into too deep of a hole.”

Freshman guard Zion Stanford paced Temple with a game-high 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting.

Halftime

Taking advantage of an injury to UTSA’s leading scorer, the Temple Owls built a double-digit lead in the first six minutes of the game, hiked the advantage to 16 with 3:20 remaining and then went into the dressing room with a 35-21 edge.

UTSA’s Jordan Ivy-Curry, a 17.1 points per game scorer, was on the bench in a T-shirt to start the game. Ruled out for the game with a shoulder injury, his status for the remainder of the tournament is unclear.

Regardless, the Roadrunners missed his presence. They opened the game hitting only 1 of their first 11 shots. Late in the half, they misfired on 10 in a row. For the first 20 minutes, the Roadrunners were 9 of 37 from the field for 24.3 percent.

The Owls, one of the worst teams in the AAC all season, started fast with a 13-3 lead.

But in the middle of the half, their own poor shooting allowed the Roadrunners to stay in the game. Finally, the Owls put some things together and scored seven straight points. With the burst, they opened a 33-17 lead with with 3:20 remaining.

Guard Zion Stanford led the Owls with three of five shooting for a team-high eight points in the half. Jordan Riley and Matteo Picarelli had six points apiece. Point guard Hysier Miller, a high-level scorer, played mostly in a set-up role.

He finished the half with three points and four rebounds, scoring only four points.

With Ivy-Curry sidelined, the Roadrunners needed PJ Carter to step up his game. But the Owls knew they needed him, as well, blanketing him with coverage even on the perimeter. Carter was 2 for 9 in the half for five points.

Pre-game

The UTSA Roadrunners men’s basketball team opened play in the American Athletic Conference tournament today without injured Jordan Ivy-Curry, the team’s leading scorer.

Fourteenth-seeded UTSA and No. 11 Temple just got underway at Dickie’s Arena in Fort Worth.

The Roadrunners started the tournament without both Ivy-Curry (shoulder) and Adante’ Holiman (lower leg).

Temple defeated UTSA twice this season. The Owls won 83-77 on Feb. 18 in Philadelphia and won again 84-82 in the regular season finale Sunday in San Antonio. Both finished with 5-13 records in conference play.

Records

UTSA 11-21
Temple 13-19

Notable

Eighth-year UTSA coach Steve Henson is facing questions about whether he might have coached his last game with Roadrunners. His contract expires at the end of this month, and he’s had three straight 20-loss seasons.

Henson said he hasn’t had any contract discussions with athletic director Lisa Campos.

“We’ve just been — had our heads down, grinding away, trying to get better. Loved the way our guys played at the end of the season. Lisa and I always talk at the conclusion of the season, so I’m sure we’ll do that again in this case.”

For Henson, it was the second time in his UTSA career that he entered a postseason game without an injured leading scorer. In 2018, guard Jhivvan Jackson sat out four games — two in the Conference USA tournament and two in the CollegeInsider.com tournament — with a knee injury.

Even with Jackson out of the lineup at the end, the Roadrunners finished off a 20-15 season, and Henson was named the C-USA Coach of the Year.

Temple played UTSA twice within the last week under a cloud of suspicion.

Gaming monitors at U.S. Integrity flagged the Owls’ 28-point home loss to UAB on March 7 for irregularities on the betting line in the hours before the game.

Owls coach Adam Fisher side-stepped a question about whether he has addressed the situation with the team, telling reporters in Fort Worth, “I know our university has put out a statement. My focus is on my players.

“I love my guys. We’ve been just trying to prepare for each game and just making sure we do exactly what we’ve done to prepare for each one.”

Men’s basketball: UTSA can clinch a first-round tournament bye by beating Temple

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA men’s basketball team has endured its share of tough breaks this season. Maybe the trend is shifting in the other direction.

Not only have the Roadrunners won three games in a row leading into today’s regular-season finale against the Temple Owls, but they also apparently have moved into position to control their own destiny and secure a first-round bye in the American Athletic Conference’s postseason tournament.

A few days ago, it appeared that the Roadrunners might have only an outside shot at avoiding being slotted into the bracket for a game Wednesday on Day 1 of the AAC tournament. Since then, a couple of opponents battling in close proximity to UTSA in the standings have stumbled.

On Friday night, the Wichita State Shockers lost at Tulane. On Saturday night, the Rice Owls lost at home to the University of North Texas Mean Green. Consequently, both the Shockers and the Owls have fallen into the bottom four in the AAC standings, while the Roadrunners have moved up to 10th.

Now, a Roadrunners victory Sunday at home against the Owls apparently will give them the 10th seed, an extra day to prepare and a tournament opener on Thursday. Instead of having to win five games in five days to reach the NCAA tournament, they’d get a more manageable four-in-four days task.

Senior Day

Sunday is Senior Day at the Convocation Center. The program is honoring Carlton Linguard Jr., Dre Fuller Jr. and Isaiah Wyatt, who have all played one season for the Roadrunners.

Linguard, a former standout at Stevens High School in San Antonio, returned home to the Alamo City after two seasons at Kansas State. After sitting out last season, the 7-footer appeared in 30 games with 21 starts. Linguard averaged 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.

Fuller, who grew up in North Carolina, played three seasons at Central Florida before sitting out last year while caring for his mother, who was ill. She passed away last spring. Fuller has averaged 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds

Wyatt, from Ohio originally, played in high school in Texas at North Crowley. UTSA is his fourth school after he attended McLennan College, Southwestern Christian (in Texas) and NCAA Division II Chadron State, Neb. Wyatt, known as a perimeter shooting threat, has averaged 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds.

Records

Temple 11-19, 4-13
UTSA 11-19, 5-12

Coming up

The bracket for the American Athletic Conference tournament is expected to be finalized after the last two games of the regular season — Temple at UTSA and SMU at UAB — are played on Sunday afternoon. The five-day AAC tournament is scheduled to open Wednesday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

AAC men’s basketball: UTSA set to tip off at Tulsa

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

One of the new members of the American Athletic Conference will play against one of the old guard tonight at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. The UTSA Roadrunners are looking for a road victory against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

Both teams are struggling. UTSA (7-10, 1-3)) has lost two straight and six of its last eight. Tulsa (9-7, 0-4) has dropped four in a row, all in the AAC. At the same time, both squads will send out players capable of pushing the pace and scoring at a high rate.

UTSA has guard Jordan Ivy-Curry, who is averaging 16.9 points in seven games since he became eligible, in addition to Christian Tucker, Dre Fuller Jr., Carlton Linguard Jr. Tulsa will counter with the likes of PJ Haggerty, Cobe Williams and Isaiah Barnes.

It’s a critical time of the season for the Roadrunners, who have played well at times but have failed to generate much consistency. For instance, they led for much of the game at 15th-ranked Memphis on Jan. 10 and then lost 107-101 in overtime.

In their next outing, they returned home on Saturday and couldn’t get the offense cranked up in a 66-58 loss to the Charlotte 49ers, another indication that the Roadrunners tend to play sub-par basketball when the opposing team takes the posture of a slower pace.

To generate momentum, the Roadrunners need to play well tonight, because they will host a 2023 Final Four entry, the Florida Atlantic Owls, on Sunday. They’ll play host to another strong team from the AAC, the Tulane Green Wave, on Jan. 24.

Coached by Eric Konkol, a former UTSA nemesis when he worked at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs like to run with Haggerty, Williams and Barnes leading the team in scoring. Konkol, in his second season with the Golden Hurricane, struggled in his first year in Tulsa with a 5-25 record, including 1-17 in conference.

Konkol, a former Tulsa student assistant, had his team off to a 9-3 start this season before adversity struck.

The Golden Hurricane suffered a setback on Jan. 2 when it was announced that high-scoring guard Keaston Willis was lost for the season with a broken bone in his left foot. Willis, who played in San Antonio at the University of the Incarnate Word from 2019-21, is expected to seek a medical redshirt to return in 2024-25.

Tulsa has since lost to Memphis, East Carolina, Charlotte and Tulane. Three of the losses were by seven points or less. In its last game, played at home on Sunday, the Golden Hurricane played well but fell to Tulane 94-87 in overtime.

Haggerty, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Crosby, Texas, scored 25 points. He also had five assists and two steals.

Records

UTSA 7-10, 1-3
Tulsa 9-7, 0-4

Coming up

Florida Atlantic at UTSA, Sunday, 2 p.m.
Tulane at UTSA, Jan. 24, 7 p.m.
UTSA at South Florida, Jan. 27, 3 p.m.

UTSA men down Rice 89-82 in overtime for first AAC win

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Carlton Linguard Jr. scored 24 points and Dre Fuller Jr. added 23 on Saturday as the UTSA Roadrunners claimed their first American Athletic Conference victory in men’s basketball, defeating the Rice Owls 89-82 in overtime in Houston.

In a game played off the Rice campus at the University of St. Thomas, UTSA hit 14 three-pointers to secure the victory, with Fuller and Linguard knocking down nine between them.

Fuller stroked five for nine from beyond the arc and Linguard, a 7-foot center, hit four of eight.

Records

UTSA 7-8, 1-2
Rice 6-9, 0-2

Feeling disrespected: UTSA men open AAC play at home tonight

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners will play their inaugural American Athletic Conference game in men’s basketball tonight, intent on re-casting a narrative that has bothered them for months.

Jordan Ivy-Curry had 22 points and eight assists off the bench for UTSA in a 103-89 men's basketball victory over Prairie View A&M on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jordan Ivy-Curry has averaged 11.7 points, 5.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds in three games since he was activated. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Projected for a last-place finish in the official AAC preseason poll, the Roadrunners (6-7) will host the UAB Blazers (8-5). Tipoff is at 8 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

“It’s a motivation thing,” UTSA guard Jordan Ivy-Curry said. “We’ve been picked last. That’s not our goal. I feel like they’re disrespecting us. I feel like we’re going to build off that. We’re going to motivate. We’re not going to get down. We’re going to keep moving forward.”

Recently-activated, Ivy-Curry has supplied a spark to the Roadrunners. The junior from La Marque, in his third game of the season, scored 22 points and passed for eight assists last Thursday night in a 103-89 victory over the Prairie View A&M Panthers.

All told, UTSA has lost two games and has won one since Ivy-Curry returned. But it easily could have been 2-1 for the Roadrunners considering they led for most of a game on the road at Oregon State before getting beat by one point in the final seconds.

After dropping the 66-65 decision to OSU, UTSA returned home and played perhaps its poorest game of the year in a 63-53 loss to Army.

Ivy-Curry struggled against the Black Knights, hitting only one for seven from the field and passing for one assist. But against Prairie View, the 6-foot-3 guard was on his game, making making seven of 11 shots while also creating for his teammates.

In three games, Ivy-Curry has averaged 11.7 points, 5.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds.

With the player nicknamed “Juice” in the lineup, the Roadrunners are clearly better equipped to match up with teams in the AAC. And yet, it’s possible that they also might be going through an adjustment phase in how they mesh his talents into their overall scheme.

UTSA coach Steve Henson said, overall, Ivy-Curry has handled the transition well.

“You have to give him a lot of credit,” Henson said. “He handled the first game very well. At Oregon State, (he) jumped in there and passed the ball, distributed the ball. He was not hunting shots. He’s a very good scorer. One of his biggest strengths is his ability to score the basketball.

“(But) I think he understood other guys had been playing (and we were) fairly deep into the season. I think He understood that he needed to make a good impact by doing other things in that ball game. The next two games, he really distributed the ball again. You know, his assist numbers are terrific now.”

Ivy-Curry has been practicing with the team since the summer when he transferred in from the University of the Pacific.

After starting his career at UTSA, moving to Pacific and then moving back, he was one of dozens of players nationwide who was deemed a “multi-time” transfer. He knew when he arrived in the summer that he would likely have to sit out the year as part of the NCAA transfer rule, which has been set aside in the wake of a court case challenging its legality.

Ineligible one day, eligible the next. Ivy-Curry and the Roadrunners have done their best to roll with it.

“I think he’s handled it very well,” Henson said. “You knew that (his presence) would impact someone or maybe more than one guy in terms of minutes or role. But that’s just the nature of it. I think he’s handled it pretty well. I think his teammates have handled it pretty well. I don’t think right now, there’s not much adjusting left.”

Led by fourth-year coach Andy Kennedy, the Blazers are coming off seasons of 22, 27 and 29 victories, respectively. The Blazers also finished in the top tier of Conference USA each season, winning 13, 14 and 14 games. Last season, they went 29-10 and 14-6 and then rolled to the finals of the NIT, where they lost to North Texas in the finals.

The Blazers have won five of six meetings, including four straight, against the Roadrunners during Kennedy’s tenure. Though this year’s squad will not have high-scoring Jordan “Jelly” Walker, who was in the Dallas Mavericks’ camp last fall before getting waived, UAB will come in with a talented squad featuring 6-2 point guard Eric Gaines.

While UAB is expected to finish in the upper division in the AAC, UTSA isn’t getting nearly as much attention at the moment. Tonight, however, the Roadrunners will get their first chance to start making some noise. To drive the narrative in another direction.

“We all have that chip on our shoulders,” forward Trey Edmonds said. “But, with us, we constantly have to be reminded of that. Like, OK. Remember what we’re here for. Remember that. This is the reality of the situation. The reality is, we’re not supposed to be doing anything.

“A lot of people think we’re not even supposed to be in this conference.”

Records

UAB 8-5
UTSA 6-7

Coming up

UAB at UTSA, tonight at 8
UTSA at Rice, Saturday, 2 p.m.

AAC Standings

Memphis 11-2
Florida Atlantic 10-3
Tulane 9-3
Tulsa 9-3
SMU 9-4
South Florida 7-4
UAB 8-5
Wichita State 8-5
North Texas 7-5
East Carolina 7-6
Temple 7-6
Charlotte 6-6
Rice 6-7
UTSA 6-7

Tonight’s schedule

East Carolina at FAU, 6 p.m.; UAB at UTSA, 8 p.m.; Charlotte at SMU, 8 p.m.

NET ratings/AAC teams
Through games of Jan. 1, 2024

18. Florida Atlantic
40. Memphis
47. SMU
94. North Texas
107. Wichita State
112. Charlotte
126. Tulane
160. South Florida
189. Tulsa
201. Temple
215. UAB
225. Rice
239. East Carolina
289. UTSA

TCU’s dramatic victory over Arizona State boosts Big 12 to 5-2 in the NCAA tournament

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

I’m still undecided on whether to buy into the concept that the Big 12 Conference is the best league in men’s college basketball this year.

I know the Big 12 has had more teams jammed into the Top 25 rankings than anyone.

But, I just haven’t seen enough of their games to know for sure.

So far, teams from the conference are doing a pretty fair job of living up to the hype in the NCAA tournament.

The Big 12 has won five and lost two in the tournament’s round of 64, capped late Friday night by the TCU Horned Frogs’ dramatic 72-70 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils.

With the game tied and the clock ticking under 10 seconds to play, Arizona State double-teamed TCU star Mike Miles Jr., who passed across the top of the three-point circle to JaKobe Coles.

Coles dribbled past a defender and lofted a 5-foot runner over the outstretched arm of forward Desmond Cambridge Jr. It swished for the game-winner with three seconds remaining.

Winners out of the Big 12 in the first round of the tournament included West region No. 1 seed Kansas, Midwest No. 2 Texas, South No. 3 Baylor, East No. 3 Kansas State and TCU, the No. 6 seed in the West.

Losers were Midwest No. 6 Iowa State and South No. 9 seed West Virginia. Here’s a glance at how Big 12 teams have fared thus far:

Thursday’s results
Round of 64
South: 8) Maryland beat 9) West Virginia, 67-65
West: 1) Kansas beat 16) Howard, 96-68
Midwest: 2) Texas beat 15) Colgate, 81-61

Friday’s results
Round of 64
South: 3) Baylor beat 14) UC Santa Barbara, 74-56
Midwest: 11) Pittsburgh beat 6) Iowa State, 59-41
West: 6) TCU beat 11) Arizona State, 72-70
East: 3) Kansas State beat 14) Montana State, 77-65.

Saturday’s games
Round of 32
West: 1) Kansas vs. 8) Arkansas, 4:15 p.m., CBS
Midwest: 2) Texas vs. 10) Penn State, 6:45 p.m., CBS

Sunday’s games
Round of 32
East: 3) Kansas State vs. 6) Kentucky, 1:40 p.m., CBS
South: 3) Baylor vs. 6) Creighton, 6:10 p.m., TBS
West: 6) TCU vs. 3) Gonzaga, 8:40 p.m., TBS

Notable

Next season, in 2023-24, the Big 12 is shaping up to be a men’s basketball juggernaut.

In July, the Houston Cougars will transition into the league along with Cincinnati and Central Florida from the American Athletic Conference. In addition, BYU will also join. Meanwhile, Texas and Oklahoma will compete in the league for the last time before they bolt to the Southeastern Conference.

So, how many top four seeds will that give the conference in the 2024 NCAA men’s tournament? I’m guessing four or five, at least.

Campos says Henson will return next season to coach the UTSA men’s basketball team

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By Jerry Briggs
Special to The JB Replay

Steve Henson will return to coach the UTSA Roadrunners men’s basketball program next season, said Lisa Campos, the university’s Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics.

Campos released a statement to the media in the wake of back-to-back 10-22 seasons under Henson.

“After careful evaluation of our men’s basketball program, including candid and open discussions with Coach Henson on the team’s performance and his leadership, he will remain as head coach for the 2023-24 season,” Campos said in a statement.

“Coach recognizes that we have high expectations at UTSA for all of our athletic teams and that this year’s men’s basketball season did not meet those expectations,” Campos added. “He is committed to substantive improvement, has already begun a complete evaluation of the program and will make the changes necessary to enable success next season.”

After being hired in the spring of 2016, Henson, a former assistant coach at Oklahoma, has served as head coach of the Roadrunners for seven seasons.

In 2018, UTSA extended his original contract by three seasons through 2023-24, raising his base salary from $280,000 to $325,000 per year.

UTSA men’s basketball, in its 42-year history, has never enjoyed sustained success. The program has qualified for the NCAA tournament only four times. The Roadrunners haven’t been to the NCAA since 2011.

Prior to Henson’s arrival, the program had suffered four straight losing seasons. The Roadrunners were 10-22, 8-22, 14-16 and 5-27 through 2015-16, the last of Brooks Thompson’s 10 years as the school.

Henson’s chief accomplishment to this point has been his recruitment and development of guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace.

Both joined the team in 2017 and, by the time they departed in 2021, both had became the top two scorers in school history. UTSA had winning seasons overall and in conference play in three of their four seasons.

The Roadrunners have struggled the past two seasons without the two high-scoring guards. Especially in conference play. This year, they finished in last place in Conference USA at 4-16. UTSA will move into the American Athletic Conference next season.

Steve Henson’s record

2016-17 — 14-19 and 8-10 in Conference USA
2017-18 — 20-15 and 11-7 C-USA
2018-19 — 17-15 and 11-7 C-USA
2019-20 — 13-19 and 7-11 C-USA
2020-21 — 15-11 and 9-7 C-USA
2021-22 — 10-22 and 3-15 C-USA
2022-23 — 10-22 and 4-16 C-USA
Overall: 99-123
x-UTSA played in the CIT postseason tournament in 2018