Double dip: UTSA men to host North Texas, while the women will challenge Tulsa on the road

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners men’s and women’s basketball teams will try to snap out of their respective slumps today. Here are the details on a pair of games in the American Conference, with the men hosting the North Texas Mean Green and the women paying a visit to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

Men’s game

North Texas (12-11, 3-7)
at
UTSA (4-18, 0-10)

When: Today at 1 p.m.
Where: The UTSA Convocation Center

North Texas

Coach: Daniyal Robinson, in his first season with the Mean Green.
Top players: Guard Je’Shawn Stevenson, forward Dylan Arnett, guard David Terrell Jr.
Recently: Lost four straight and six of the last eight.
Notable: North Texas defeated UTSA 81-62 on Jan. 21 in Denton. Stevenson knocked down seven 3-pointers. The Mean Green’s best win was a 72-67 decision at home over Tulsa in the second game of conference play.

UTSA

Coach: Austin Claunch, in his second season with the Roadrunners.
Top players: Guards Jamir Simpson, Austin Nunez and Brent Moss.
Recently: Lost 15 straight and 16 of the last 17.
Notable: Moss scored a career-high 32 points Wednesday in UTSA’s last outing, a 109-88 setback at South Florida. UTSA’s losing streak is a school record and is tied for second with Air Force for the longest active skid in NCAA Division I.

Women’s game

UTSA (10-11, 5-5)
at
Tulsa (16-6, 8-2)

When: Today at 2 p.m.
Where: The Reynolds Center in Tulsa.

UTSA

Coach: Karen Aston, in her fifth season with the Roadrunners.
Top players: Forward Cheyenne Rowe, guard Ereauna Hardaway, forward Idara Udo.
Recently: Lost two straight and five of the last seven.
Notable: UTSA’s recent slide comes after the defending conference champions started conference play at 3-0. The Roadrunners beat the North Texas Mean Green 66-64 at home on Jan. 28 but have since dropped games to the conference-leading Rice Owls 65-55 (at home) and to the last place UAB Blazers 81-69 (on the road).

Tulsa

Coach: Angie Nelp, in her fifth season with the Golden Hurricane.
Top players: Guard Mady Cartwright, forward Hannah Riddick, guard Jade Clack.
Recently: Won four straight and five of the last six.
Notable: Coach Angie Nelp is working on her fifth straight winning season with the Golden Hurricane. Two years ago, Tulsa tied with North Texas and Temple for the American’s regular-season title. This season, the Golden Hurricane notched a power conference victory over the Florida Gators in Gainesville.

North Texas cruises past UTSA, 80-62, to sweep season series

Roosevelt Smart and DJ Draper combined to hit 10 three-point baskets as the North Texas Mean Green rolled to an 80-62 victory Thursday night at Denton in Conference USA basketball.

With the victory, North Texas ended UTSA’s three-game winning streak.

The Mean Green also swept both games from the Roadrunners in the season series between the in-state rivals.

Smart led North Texas with 22 points, including four field goals from beyond the arc. Draper hit 6 of 7 from the field, all from three.

Playing its first game without injured freshman standout Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA was led by Deon Lyle with 15 points.

“We weren’t very good on either end of the floor,” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the team’s radio broadcast. “We were just out of sorts offensively.”

Jackson is out for the season with a knee injury that he suffered last Saturday night at home against Louisiana Tech.

Records
North Texas 15-15, 8-9
UTSA 17-13, 10-7

Coming up
UTSA at Rice, Saturday, 7 p.m.

C-USA tournament
Despite the loss to North Texas, UTSA will have an opportunity on the last day of the regular season to secure the No. 4 seed and a bye in the first round of the C-USA tournament.

UTSA remained solidly in contention for the fourth seed when UAB defeated Marshall 91-77, in Birmingham. The loss dropped Marshall to 11-6 in conference, one game ahead of UTSA.

Marshall finishes its regular season Saturday at first-place Middle Tennessee.

To get the fourth seed, UTSA needs to defeat Rice and hope that Middle Tennessee beats Marshall.

The tiebreaker would favor the Roadrunners under that scenario because of their 81-77 victory over the Thundering Herd in San Antonio on Feb. 1.

Henson said it won’t be easy to beat the Owls on their Senior Night.

“We’ve got to play better basketball,” the coach said. “Their match-up defense, they’re doing some really good things with it. They’re playing (a) 3-2 (zone). It’ll be frustrating if we can’t get some better movement and knock down some shots.”

The tournament runs March 7-10 in Frisco.

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