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San Jose State runs past UTSA 95-74 in season opener

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for the JB Replay

The embattled UTSA Roadrunners opened with some intensity and stayed with the San Jose State Spartans for the first 14 minutes.

But in the season opener for both teams on Monday afternoon in California, the Spartans closed with a flourish to open an 18-point lead at the intermission, en route to a 95-74 victory at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.

UTSA played without head coach Austin Claunch, who was suspended last week after an arrest for driving while intoxicated.

Nick Bowman is the acting head coach while the university reviews Claunch’s status.

Building the lead to as many as 27 points eight minutes into the second half, the Spartans cruised the rest of the way.

Guards Mekhi Mason and Joey Chammaa, both newcomers, led a San Jose State offense that shot 59 percent from the field.

Mason, a 6-4 guard who played last year at Wake Forest, knocked down five 3-point baskets and scored 28 points. The 5-foot-11 Chammaa, a South Alabama transfer, scored 27.

Forward Robert Vaihola, in his return to the team after playing two years at Minnesota, produced a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Spartans had their way on the boards, out-rebounding the Roadrunners, 43-22

For UTSA, transfers Preston Turner from Eastern Illinois and Shey Eberwein (South Dakota) led the team with 15 points each. Isaiah Coleman added 12, while KJ Tenner had 11.

Bowman, working as a head coach for the first time in his career, told Andy Everett on the team’s radio broadcast that the Roadrunners allowed missed shots in the first half to affect their performance.

“We let it affect our attitude, our defense and we just spent too much time in the first half in defensive transition,” he said. “Shots didn’t go in (for) the first time. Preseason we hadn’t dealt with that sort of adversity where we hadn’t made more shots than the other team in the first half. That affected us.”

The Roadrunners shot 29 percent before intermission and 42 percent for the game. From 3-point distance, they started slowly and finished 12 of 34 from behind the stripe.

In the first half, UTSA had multiple good looks from distance, only to see the ball spin in and out of the rim. The Roadrunners finished the half 4 for 18 from deep.

First half

San Jose State shot 53 percent from the field and raced to a 45-27 halftime lead.

Mason scored seven of his 17 first-half points in the last six minutes as the Spartans hit the Roadrunners with a 17-2 run.

Coleman scored nine in the half for the Roadrunners, who were held to 33 percent shooting from the field and 26 percent from three.

UTSA started the game with Tenner at point guard, with Isaiah Watts, JJ Kelly and Turner on the wings. Chinedum Okpukpara started in the post.

Records

UTSA 0-1
San Jose State 1-0

Coming up

VMI at UTSA, Saturday, 4 p.m.

Notable

Twelve UTSA players made the box score, with the 6-foot KJ Tenner leading in minutes played with 31. Isaiah Watts logged 28 minutes and freshman walk on Jayson Peterson 22.

Tenner, a former prep scoring champion in the city of Memphis, connected on five of nine shots and passed for six assists, but he finished -18 in the plus-minus column.

For Watts, the son of former University of Washington star Donald Watts, it was his UTSA debut after transferring in from Maryland of the Big Ten. Previously, he played two years at Washington State.

The grandson of former NBA star Slick Watts hit the first shot of the game, a three, but he finished 2 for 11 from the field and 2 for 8 from distance.

Peterson is the son of former NFL linebacker Julian Peterson. Jayson Peterson, a 6-8 walk on from Brandywine, Md., had four points, a rebound and a steal.

He played the extended minutes with 6-foot-9, 265-pound Ashton Smith on the sidelines, not ready to play yet following 11 months of rehabilitation from Achilles surgery.

Shey Eberwein played well, hitting five for five from the field, including two for two from distance, while passing for four assists. Eberwein, from The Woodlands, played 19 minutes.

Six-foot guard Josiah LeGree came off the bench and showed good instincts in guarding the ball. He had seven points, two assists and four turnovers in 15 minutes.

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.

Claunch says UTSA men’s basketball ranks last in athlete pay in the American

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Minutes after UTSA coach Austin Claunch acknowledged on Friday morning that his players will pocket less in financial compensation than any other team in the American Conference this season, news broke on another front.

Austin Claunch. Seattle beat UTSA 71-68 in non-conference men's basketball on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Third-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch hopes to turn around a program that lost 25 games last season. – Photo by Joe Alexander

The revamped Roadrunners have been picked to finish 13th in the 13-team American.

Nevertheless, the embattled Claunch is a fierce competitor by nature, and so it’s doubtful that he will spend too much time dwelling on payrolls and polls as he forges ahead, leading into the third season of his efforts to reverse the fortunes of a sagging program.

At the same time, he doesn’t sugarcoat the issue of burgeoning payrolls around the nation in Division I basketball, and how it adds to the challenge of turning UTSA into a winner.

Claunch didn’t go into specifics, but he did say that his players will be paid less as a group than any other team in the American.

“We’re down there,” he said. “You know, we’re at the bottom. I’ll tell you this now. We are last. But at this point, I don’t even want to think about that.”

At the moment, Claunch is focused on the present. His revamped Roadrunners are preparing to play three closed scrimmages over the next three weeks leading into a regular season that will commence in the first week of November.

Though the UTSA non-conference schedule hasn’t been released, it appears that the Roadrunners will open on Nov. 2 at San Jose State.

For college basketball programs at large, this is the sixth season since the old amateur system started to change in the wake of challenges in the courts.

Initially, schools permitted athletes to earn compensation for sponsorship deals, better known as name, image and likeness (NIL), in 2021-22. Starting in 2025-26, colleges and universities have started to make direct payments to athletes.

Today, dealing with questions about financial compensation has become as much a part of the job for coaches as how they plan to defend the pick and roll.

Claunch addressed the issue in a meeting with The JB Replay.

“I really like the team we have,” Claunch said. “(Players) have all sacrificed a lot to be here. I mean, that just is what it is. Like, to me, (finance in college basketball) is a separate conversation. We’re not going to make excuses for what we don’t have. At the end of the day, it is what it is.

“It needs to get better if we want the expectation to be consistent championships. That’s the reality. If we want the expectation and the consistent championships then we’ve got to improve certain aspects of our program.”

Coming off a 25-loss season, Claunch said he is also looking to improve his own performance.

“Most importantly, I got to coach better,” he said. “I got to coach better than I did last year with what we have, and I can do that, and this is a group that we really like … They play with an edge. They play with a chip (on the shoulder).

“You know, there’s not going to be any excuse when we line up against somebody that, ‘Hey, they have this or they have that.’ It is what it is … We’re three weeks out. It’s time to go win games, and that’s our expectation. When we line up (to play) our expectation is to go win.”

UTSA has 15 players on its roster, with sophomore guard Dorian Hayes the only returning player from a team that struggled to a 1-17 record in conference last year. The other 14 are newcomers, including four freshman, one from junior college and nine from other Division I programs.

Guards Isaiah Watts, who played last year Maryland, and Isaiah Coleman, from Oklahoma State, bring the most experience from high-major teams. But Claunch is high on some of the others, particularly 6-foot-10 junior college transfer Chinedume Okpukpara.

“He’s been incredible,” Claunch said. “I’ve been really impressed with Chin. One of the hardest workers and most coachable guys I’ve been around. Just has a relentless motor – relentless – which he’s going to need, coming up to this level. It’s much different than what he’s used to.

“But he plays so damn hard that he’s going to make up for a lot of things. He’s kind of set the tone for that unit (of centers and power forwards).”

Guards KJ Tenner (Murray State) and Josiah LeGree (Morehead State) are the team’s primary ballhandlers, Claunch said.

“In our system we have a bunch of guys who handle the ball,” Claunch said. “Obviously KJ and Josiah are guys who are our primary ballhandlers. They’ll play together a lot. They’ll play separate a lot. We’re going to play a lot of guys this year.

“So, KJ very steady. Just honestly an everyday guy. He’s got a great basketball IQ and can really shoot it. You know, changes speeds. Josiah is a great athlete. Can really, really create space with the bounce and create shots for himself and his teammates.

“They’re both elite playmakers and passers. But they kind of do it in different ways.”

Notable

UTSA’s win-loss record in 2025-26 has been adjusted to 4-25, down from 5-25. A spokesman explained that the team is no longer counting a season-opening, non-conference victory over the College of Biblical Studies. “We had an eligibility issue during that game and vacated the win,” the spokesman said. As a result, Claunch’s two-year record at UTSA has been adjusted to 16-44.

The Roadrunners are expected to play their first of three closed scrimmages on Sunday in Odessa. The opponents haven’t been disclosed publicly. Claunch says guard Isaiah Watts (wrist), along with forwards Mike Broxton (concussion) and Ashton Smith (Achilles rehabilitation), won’t play.

Smith, a Houston-area player listed at 6-9 and 265 pounds, said he hopes to be cleared for contact in practices by late October or early November. He suffered a torn Achilles last Dec. 4 while playing for the University of South Dakota.

Though UTSA’s non-conference schedule hasn’t been announced, the Roadrunners are scheduled to play at San Jose State of the Mountain West on Nov. 2. They’re also set to play on Nov. 11 at Seattle. UTSA apparently is slated to host Texas State on Nov. 15. All three UTSA opponents have announced the games on their respective schedules, with Claunch also confirming that those games would be played.

UTSA assist leader Nunez ruled out against East Carolina

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA guard and assist leader Austin Nunez, shaken up in a hard fall to the floor last weekend, won’t play Wednesday night in an American Conference men’s’ basketball road game at East Carolina.

The injury occurred late in the second half in San Antonio on Saturday, when the North Texas Mean Green beat the Roadrunners, 81-58.

The decision to hold Nunez out for East Carolina was reported Wednesday afternoon on the conference’s website under player availability reports.

The Roadrunners will tip off against the Pirates Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Center Mo Njie is also listed as out for the game between teams battling to stay alive in the chase for the last spot in the conference tournament.

UTSA has six players listed as either out for the season or out for the game. A seventh, Dorian Hayes, is questionable with a shoulder issue.

Both Nunez and Hayes have been starters for most of the season. Nunez is the team’s second leading scorer (9.8) and leader in assists (61 total) in 22 games.

If both are out, it’s possible that sophomore walk on LJ Brown from San Antonio’s Johnson High School will start in the backcourt.

By dropping the home game against North Texas, UTSA extended its program-record losing streak to 16 games.

Records

UTSA 0-11, 4-19
East Carolina 2-8, 7-16

Coming up

UTSA at Charlotte, Sunday, 11 a.m.
FAU at UTSA, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 6 p.m.

Notable

East Carolina features guard Jordan Riley, the leading scorer in the American. Riley has scored more than 30 points in each of his last three games.

The 6-5 guard is averaging 23.3 points. He scored 37 against Rice, 35 in a road victory at FAU and in his last game, he scored 32 at home Saturday against Temple.

Riley is from Brentwood, N.Y. He has also played at Georgetown and Temple. Riley is in his second year with the Pirates under coach Michael Schwartz.

South Florida wins 109-88 as UTSA loses its 15th straight

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Trailing by five points late in the first half and by two at intermission, the South Florida Bulls shot 68 percent the rest of the way and rolled to a 109-88 victory Wednesday night, dealing a 15th straight loss to the UTSA Roadrunners.

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

Brent Moss, shown here in a file photo from last fall, exploded Wednesday night for a season-high 32 points against South Florida. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Forward Izaiyah Nelson scored 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting from the field, including multiple dunks, to lead the Bulls in front of their home crowd in Tampa, Fla.

South Florida entered tied for third place in the American Conference men’s basketball race, while UTSA came in as the last-place team.

But in a surprise, it didn’t turn into a runaway until deep in the second half, when the Roadrunners, down by double digits, started to gamble on defense.

Regardless, South Florida (15-8, 7-3) kept pace with the leaders in the American and sent last-place UTSA (4-18, 0-10) to its 16th loss in 17 games.

Junior college transfer Brent Moss scored a season-high 32 points to lead the Roadrunners. Moss, who played the last two seasons at Barton Community College in Kansas, finished 10 of 16 from the field. He also hit seven of nine from three.

In the second half, the Bulls did a good job on Moss, keeping him from attempting a shot from the field for 10 minutes. Down the stretch, Moss hit three of seven after South Florida had started to run away with it.

UTSA coach Austin Claunch said in his postgame radio interview with Andy Everett that he knew South Florida would make a run in the second half. But a 12-2 run in the first six minutes seemed to super-charge an already talented team.

From there, the Bulls went from a 69-59 lead to 83-68 in only four minutes. The Roadrunners responded with a push of their own, pulling to within 83-74 with 8:27 remaining on a Daniel Akitoby stick back.

But that was as close as they would get to a Bulls team that would eventually widen the lead to 24 points in the last 20 seconds.

“The way they play, and as well as they move it and shoot it, if you play 30 seconds of bad basketball, it can lead to a 7-0 run,” Claunch said. “They really do a good job. They had 25 assists. They have great shooters.”

Claunch said he still feels good about his team even though it hasn’t won a game since Nov. 25 and several key players are out for the season.

“Let’s go,” Claunch said in the postgame interview. “We got eight more (games left in the regular season). Wins are coming. We feel good about our (preparation) and our work with the guys we have in our locker room.”

Other positives for the Roadrunners included Jamir Simpson, who scored 24 points. As Simpson created his own shots off creative drives to the hoop, he knocked down eight of 15 from the field and finished with his eighth 20-point game of the season.

Akitoby also enjoyed a big night with 14 points and eight rebounds. South Florida defended well against two other UTSA threats, with Austin Nunez scoring seven points to go with six assists. Forward Baboucarr Njie went scoreless with two rebounds in 16 minutes.

Records

UTSA 4-18, 0-10
South Florida 15-8, 7-3

Coming up

North Texas at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Notable

Later Wednesday night, Trae Broadnax and Nick Anderson scored 22 points each as the Rice Owls held on at home to beat the North Texas Mean Green, 86-83, in double overtime.

Rice improved its record to 4-6 in the conference and to 10-13 overall. North Texas will come into San Antonio for Saturday’s game against UTSA with a record of 3-7 and 12-11.

Despite the program-record losing streak, the Roadrunners traveled to Florida with some momentum.

Last week, playing at home, they led the Temple Owls with four minutes remaining and ended up losing by six. They stayed with the UAB Blazers for 38 minutes before losing by 10.

UTSA’s Brent Moss and Jamir Simpson both attended high school in Lima, Ohio. Moss, who played on a national title team at Barton, is a native of the Bahamas.

Freshman guard Dorian Hayes and Baboucarr Njie were both listed as questionable in the pre-game player availability report.

Hayes didn’t play against South Florida, while Njie logged 16 minutes, missed all three of his shots from the field and pulled down only two rebounds.

Njie, another Ohio native, occasionally has emerged as one of the best players on the floor for UTSA.

Twice since Jan. 14 he has scored 20-plus points. The 6-5 forward recorded blocked shots in seven straight games before failing to get one against the Bulls.

First half

Moss erupted for 23 points on five of five shooting from 3-point distance, leading the Roadrunners to a 50-48 lead on the Bulls.

It was a surprising development for South Florida fans in Tampa, as UTSA came into the game on a 14-game losing streak and averaging only 68 points a game.

Tied for third place in the American, the Bulls initially didn’t have a defensive answer for the Roadrunners, who shot 62.1 percent from the field in the half.

Two UTSA players who played their high school ball in Lima, Ohio, sparked the Roadrunners.

Moss knocked down seven of nine from the field and five of five from three.

With three minutes left in the half, he scored his 20th point, which gave him a season-high. He buried his fifth three with 35 seconds left, lifting UTSA into a 50-45 lead.

Simpson, who has led the Roadrunners in scoring all season, brought an aggressive attitude to the floor. Driving and creating space with a large frame, the 6-6 Simpson hit five of nine shots for 14 points.

High-flying Nelson led the Bulls with 15 points. Point guard CJ Brown added 12.

Aiming to stop a 14-game skid, UTSA men play at South Florida

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Update: UTSA guard/forward Baboucarr Njie and guard Dorian Hayes are both questionable to play Wednesday night against South Florida, according to the player availability report.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA Roadrunners men’s basketball will play in Tampa tonight against the high-scoring South Florida Bulls, hoping to put an end to a program-record 14-game losing streak.

The Roadrunners haven’t won a game since Nov. 25 in Jacksonville, Fla, when they defeated Georgia Southern, 77-64. They haven’t won a road game since Nov. 15 when they downed the Denver Pioneers, 84-79.

UTSA has played more competitive basketball recently, losing by six to Temple and by 10 to the UAB Blazers in San Antonio last week.

Over the two games, Jamir Simpson has started to shoot the ball at a higher percentage, making 15 of 29 from the field while averaging 16 points.

Transfer Brent Moss also is getting more playing time, averaging 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds against Temple and UAB.

Guard Austin Nunez from San Antonio is averaging 13.4 points and 2.4 assists in conference. The former all-state player at Wagner High School scored in double figures in UTSA’s first eight conference games.

South Florida ranks 10th in the nation and leads the American Conference in scoring offense, averaging 89.5 points. The Bulls are No. 1 in scoring in conference games only at 87.3 points.

Izaiyah Nelson, Wes Enis and Joseph Pinion are the Bulls’ top offensive threats. Nelson averages 15 points and a conference-leading 10 rebounds.

Enis (15 points) and Pinion (14.8) rank as the Bulls top two perimeter scorers. Enis and Pinion have knocked down 146 three pointers between them.

Nelson and Pinion transferred into South Florida from Arkansas State.

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

The Bulls are playing under their fourth head coach in four years in Bryan Hodgson, who worked previously at Arkansas State.

After four straight losing seasons under Brian Gregory, South Florida hired Amir Abdur-Rahim, whose first team went 25-8. Abdur-Rahim died in October of 2024 after suffering complications following a medical procedure.

Last season, the Bulls forged ahead with a staff led by interim coach Ben Fletcher, a member of Abdur-Rahim’s staff. Rocked by their coach’s death, the Bulls finished 13-19, including 6-12 in the American.

Hodgson, hired at South Florida last spring, arrived in Tampa having posted records of 20-17 and 25-11 in the last two seasons at Arkansas State.

Temple at UTSA men set for a noon tipoff today

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Both the UTSA Roadrunners and Temple Owls have player availability issues leading into today’s noon tipoff at the UTSA Convocation Center.

Listed as questionable are freshman guard Dorian Hayes for the Roadrunners and guard Gavin Griffiths for the Owls.

Records

Temple 12-7, 4-2
UTSA 4-15, 0-7

Coming up

Temple at UTSA, today, noon
UAB at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Notable

The Roadrunners are looking to snap a 12-game losing streak, the longest in school history.

Memphis rolls in the second half to deal UTSA its 11th straight loss

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Playing with underwhelming intensity in front of their bewildered fans early, the Memphis Tigers eventually made some adjustments and pulled away for a 95-69 victory Sunday night at the FedEx Forum, dealing the UTSA Roadrunners a program record-tying 11th straight loss.

Even though the Roadrunners competed on almost even terms for the first 19 minutes of the game, they eventually broke down in the second half. As a result, they tied the program’s record for consecutive losses set in the spring of the 2022-23 season.

Guards Dug McDaniel and Sincere Parker led the Tigers. Parker hit seven of 10 shots from the floor and scored 22 points. McDaniel, a 5-foot-11 transfer from Kansas State, ran the show with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Not only did McDaniel rule in the floor game and on the boards, he also supplied long-distance shooting, hitting four of the Tigers’ 11 three pointers.

Fast-improving freshman Dorian Hayes pace the Roadrunners with 17 points. Hayes, from Houston-area Ridge Point High School, knocked down five 3-point shots. Walkon LJ Brown emerged as a surprise contributor with 14 points to match Jamir Simpson. Austin Nunez had 13 points and three assists.

Baboucarr Njie had six rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots in 34 minutes. The 6-foot-6 sophomore from Dayton, Ohio, scored six points on two of nine shooting.

UTSA coach Austin Claunch said the game started to slip away at the end of the half. It happened when a couple of empty offensive possessions led to five straight Memphis points and a 10-point Memphis lead at intermission.

“The last minute of the half, a little 5-0 spurt, just changes the feeling of the game,” Claunch said. “It goes from five to 10. We come out in the second half and we battled for awhile … It was 14 at the under 12 (timeout).

“Listen, when you’re playing catch up at the end against a team like that, it’s going to get away from you. If you have to run around and try to trap, they’re going to score at will, which is why the score ended up being what it was.”

Records

UTSA 4-14, 0-6
Memphis 9-8, 4-1

Coming up

UTSA at North Texas, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Notable

Both Dorian Hayes and LJ Brown are the sons of former NBA players. Hayes is the son of Chuck Hayes, who played 11 season in the NBA, including for the Houston Rockets, the Sacramento Kings and the Toronto Raptors. Brown’s father is Devin Brown, who played in high school in San Antonio at West Campus High School and in college for four years at UTSA. He spent eight years in the NBA, including 2005 with the Spurs when they won a title.

The Roadrunners played again without 7-foot center Stanley Borden, who has been out the past 15 games with a hand injury. The Duke transfer played limited minutes in only the first three games of the season. Four days ago, it appeared he might play in a UTSA home game against Rice. On game day, he was listed as questionable, and then he suited up and went through pre-game warmups. But, ultimately, he did not play against the Owls or on Saturday against the Tigers in Memphis … Seven-foot-one center Aaron Bradshaw, who has started nine of 15 games for Memphis, did not play against UTSA. Bradshaw, a transfer from Ohio State, is averaging 8.2 points and 3.5 rebounds.

First half

The Tigers outscored the Roadrunners 5-0 in the last 49 seconds before intermission to take a 43-33 lead.

But even though the Tigers held the advantage, their fans weren’t thrilled, as they never were able to pull away from the last-place team in the American Conference.

Some of that came as a result of sloppy play by the Tigers, who turned it over eight times and sometimes couldn’t stop the Roadrunners.

UTSA played well offensively at home last week against Rice, and that rhythm seemed to carry over in stretches of play against Memphis.

UTSA men lose Macaleab Rich to season-ending surgery

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA forward Macaleab Rich underwent season-ending groin surgery Tuesday morning, Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch announced.

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

Macaleab Rich wowed the crowd at preseason ‘Rowdy Jam’ festivities when he jumped over UTSA coach Austin Claunch and dunked. – File photo by Joe Alexander

As a result, the slumping UTSA men will play the remainder of the American Conference schedule without their best inside scoring threat. The Roadrunners (4-12, 0-4) will carry a nine-game losing streak into a home game Wednesday night against Rice.

“After going through doctor’s appointments and MRIs and X-rays, Macaleab had a partial tear in his groin from the FAU game,” Claunch said on his weekly zoom media conference. “Unfortunately he had season-ending surgery today, and so he won’t be back.

“He really wanted to look at some different options. He really wanted to play and compete. He was really starting to come into his own. So, I hate it for us. But moreso I hate it for him just because he was really starting to turn the corner on how he was playing.”

Rich, originally from East St. Louis, Ill., is a 6-foot-7, 245-pound junior transfer from Kansas State. After playing in a reserve role in the first 11 games of the season, he exploded on Dec. 22 for a career-high 25 points at home in a 71-68 loss to Seattle.

In that game, he muscled inside to hit 11 of 15 shots from the field.

Unfortunately for Rich and UTSA, it would be his last impactful performance of the season. On Dec. 31, in the first game after the holiday break, he played four minutes in the conference opener at FAU before he suffered the injury.

Rich will finish the season averaging 8.1 points and 2.4 rebounds. His shooting percentage of 55.6 is second on the team to forward Daniel Akitoby’s 63.0. His scoring average is third behind Jamir Simpson’s 16.6 and Austin Nunez’ 9.5.

The Roadrunners have suffered their share of adversity in Claunch’s second season at UTSA. After reeling in four players from high-major programs through the transfer portal last spring, only two of them — Rich and guard Austin Nunez — have been able to appear in more than a handful of the team’s 16 games.

TCU transfer Vasean Allette, perhaps the top player out of the portal in UTSA’s signing class, has not and will not play in any games for personal reasons. His loss for the season was announced on New Years Eve.

Also, Duke transfer and seven-foot center Stanley Borden has played a total of 20 minutes in three games. He is currently sidelined with a hand injury.

Rich played in the first 11 games, started two and averaged 15 minutes. Nunez, from San Antonio Wagner High School after transferring in from Arizona State, has started and played in 15 games, averaging 26.7 minutes.

Nunez is the only one of the four expected to start against the Owls.

Aside from the players who joined the team from high-profile programs, the Roadrunners also have missed point guard Pierce Spencer, who played four games before injuring his shoulder. Spencer is also out for the season.

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
UTSA at Memphis, Sunday, 5 p.m.

Records

Rice 7-10, 1-3
UTSA 4-12, 0-4

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Tulane connects on a school-record 19 threes to rout the slumping UTSA men

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

Freshman forward Kaidon Rayfield played with energy, contributing nine points, four rebounds and two blocks, to earn the praise of UTSA coach Austin Claunch after the Tulane Green Wave rolled past the Roadrunners, 85-52. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The frustration has deepened for the slumping UTSA Roadrunners.

After staying even with Tulane for about nine minutes in the first half Saturday afternoon, the Roadrunners watched as the Green Wave buried them in an avalanche of three-point baskets.

Led by guards Rowan Brumbaugh and Curtis Williams Jr., the visitors from New Orleans knocked down a school-record 19 triples en route to an 85-52 victory at the Convocation Center.

Brumbaugh and Williams made six threes apiece for the Green Wave (12-4, 3-0), who have won five in a row.

As a 6-4 guard from Washington, D.C., Brumbaugh entered the season with considerable hype as the preseason player of the year in the American Conference.

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

Tulane’s Rowan Brumbaugh finished with a game-high 23 points, to go along with seven assists, five rebounds and four steals. – Photo by Joe Alexander

He lived up to the billing against the Roadrunners, producing 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Brumbaugh also had four steals. Williams had a big day, as well, with 22 points and four assists.

“I’m glad we’re 3-0,” Brumbaugh said. “Still a lot of work to do. But it’s a good feeling being 3-0.”

The Green Wave have been hot and cold from the three-point arc this season, making only 31 percent coming into San Antonio. Against UTSA, they connected on 19 of 42 for 45.2 percent.

“We’ve had games where we haven’t really shot well, but we all know we’re a good shooting team,” Brumbaugh said. “You see it every day in practice. So it feels good to have a game like that where you make 19 threes. I think that’s a school record, so it’s a great feeling for sure.”

For UTSA, it was the team’s ninth straight loss, including eight by double figures. The Roadrunners (4-12, 0-4) haven’t lost this many in a row since the spring of 2023 when they dropped 11 straight.

Austin Nunez led the Roadrunners with 12 points, and Jamir Simpson pitched in with 10. Tulane limited UTSA to 35 percent shooting and 23 percent from the arc.

The Roadrunners hit only five of 21 attempts from three as they finished with a point total in the 50s for the third straight game and for the sixth time overall.

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

Guard Austin Nunez scored 12 points to lead the Roadrunners, who have finished with point totals in the 50s for the past three games. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Their total of 52 was the second lowest of the season next to the 50 they posted in a 61-50 loss to Abilene Christian on Nov. 24.

The play of freshman Kaidon Rayfield caught the eye of UTSA coach Austin Claunch. Rayfield, who came off the bench, had nine points, four rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes.

Claunch said he liked Rayfield’s aggression, “just put his head down and go play.”

In a high-energy second half, the freshman would drive, draw contact and get to the line. Rayfield made only five of nine, but Claunch was encouraged by the effort.

“We need more of that,” the coach said. “It’s hard to coach … There’s got to be something that we can do to encourage that a little more. I don’t know if it’s encourage or drill.

“I don’t what it is. But obviously it’s my job. That’s what I get paid to do. I got to figure out how to do that better.

“But I thought Kaidon did a good job of that when he got in. He played with some spirit. He plays hard. He’s got to get better at a lot of things. Obviously, he’s a young player, with a really bright future.”

Records

Tulane 12-4, 3-0
UTSA 4-12, 0-4

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

Tulane coach Ron Hunter won the 546th game of his 32-year career as a college head coach. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

First half

The Tulane Green Wave constructed a 39-21 halftime lead against the UTSA Roadrunners after romping on a 26-10 run in the last 11 minutes.

Brumbaugh scored 14 points in the half for the Green Wave, who shot only 13 of 33 from the field but worked the 3-point line efficiently, knocking down eight of 22 from long distance.

By contrast, UTSA hit only two of 13 from three in the half against a tricky Tulane zone. The Roadrunners were eight of 31 from the field for 26 percent.

Notable

The Roadrunners, who opened a three-game homestand with losses to Charlotte (74-58) and Tulane (85-52), are prepaing to host the Rice Owls Wednesday night.

Even though the Green Wave arrived in San Antonio seven games over .500 for the season, including a 93-90 overtime victory over the ACC’s Boston College Eagles on a neutral site, their NET ranking was 203 out of 365 teams in NCAA Division I. UTSA came in at 330.

The Roadrunners’ last victory at home was Nov. 18 against Southwestern Christian. Their last victory was Nov. 25 in Florida against Georgia Southern.

Matheo Coffi. 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 freshman Matheo Coffi totaled six points and 11 rebounds. It was his third double-figure rebounding game of the season. – Photo by Joe Alexander