Tag Archives: Rice Owls

American women’s basketball: Top-seeded Rice wins and advances to the finals

Posted on by
Reply

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

San Antonio’s Hailey Adams produced 17 points and 14 rebounds in the top-seeded Rice Owls’ 71-67 victory over the No. 5 North Texas Mean Green Friday night in the semifinals of the American Conference women’s basketball tournament.

Victoria Flores scored 21 and Dominique Ennis had 19 as Rice (28-4) advanced to the finals for the third year in a row. Rice won the tournament championship in 2024 and finished as runner up to South Florida last season.

The Owls took control of the game in the third quarter when they outscored the Mean Green 27-11 for a 59-48 lead.

The Mean Green rallied and cut the deficit to two with 11 seconds remaining. But Flores went to the free throw line and made both with 6.1 seconds left for the game’s final points.

San Antonio’s Aysia Proctor had 12 points and six rebounds for the Mean Green.

She had to leave the game in the third quarter after taking a spill and hitting her head on the floor, but she returned to play and knock down a three in the last half of the fourth period.

All-conference forward Megan Nestor paced North Texas with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Chania Price scored 10.

First half

The top-seeded Owls entered the tournament on a triple bye, starting Friday night in the semifinals at Birmingham, Ala.

The No. 5 Mean Green came into the semis on a roll after routing the nine seed FAU Owls 80-57 on Wednesday and then knocking off No. 4 Tulsa Golden Hurricane 76-73 on Thursday.

Despite falling behind by eight at the end of the first quarter, the Mean Green started playing harder in the second and raced to a 37-32 lead at the half.

Nestor and Proctor led with nine points. Nestor, the nation’s top rebounder, battled against Rice’s big frontcourt and pulled down six boards.

North Texas excelled defensively in the second quarter, holding Rice to two of 12 shooting from the field.

The Mean Green outscored the Owls 22-9 in the quarter, with Nestor producing seven.

Records

North Texas 19-14
Rice 28-4

Coming up

Rice vs. UTSA or East Carolina in the championship game, 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Notable

Proctor had to come out of the game with 34 seconds left in the third quarter after hitting her head on the floor in a battle for possession near the baseline.

After leaving the bench area to receive attention from the training staff, she re-entered the with less than five minutes left in the game.

Proctor played in high school at Schertz Clemens and in her first two years of college at UTSA. She received second-team, all-conference honors this season for the Mean Green.

Rice last played on March 7 in Houston when the Owls lost the regular-season finale 61-52 to the UTSA Roadrunners.

American Conference
Women’s basketball tournament
At Birmingham, Ala.

Tuesday

Game 1 — (9) FAU defeats (8) Charlotte, 74-70, overtime
Game 2 — (7) Temple defeats (10) Tulane, 86-77, overtime

Wednesday

Game 3 — (5) North Texas defeats (9) FAU, 80-57
Game 4 — (6) UTSA defeats (7) Temple, 59-51

Thursday

Game 5 — (5) North Texas defeats (4) Tulsa, 76-73
Game 6 — (6) UTSA defeats (3) South Florida, 62-51

Friday

Game 7 — (1) Rice defeats (5) North Texas 71-67
Game 8 — (6) UTSA vs. (2) East Carolina, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 9 (championship) — (1) Rice vs. Game 8 winner, 8:30 p.m.

Records

(1) Rice 28-4, 17-1
(2) East Carolina 22-9, 14-4
x-(3) South Florida 20-12, 13-5
x-(4) Tulsa 19-12, 11-7
x-(5) North Texas 19-14, 11-7
(6) UTSA 16-15, 9-9
x-(7) Temple 15-17, 8-10
x-(8) Charlotte 14-18, 8-10
x-(9) FAU 14-18, 7-11
x-(10) Tulane 11-20, 6-12

x-eliminated

American women’s tournament: Seventh-seeded Temple wins, advances to face No. 6 UTSA

Posted on by
Reply

Update: On Day 1 of the American Conference women’s basketball tournament, Kaylah Turner scored 31 points Tuesday and lifted the seventh-seeded Temple Owls past the No. 10 Tulane Green Wave, 86-77, in overtime. Temple advances to play sixth-seeded UTSA in the second round on Wednesday.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA women’s basketball team left town on a damp and foggy Monday morning, headed for the American Conference tournament in Birmingham, Ala.

Cheyenne Rowe. UTSA women's basketball beat Texas State 64-41 on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA forward Cheyenne Rowe expressed pride in her teammates for their resilience in battling through a season marked by ‘hardships.’ – File photo by Joe Alexander

Coming off a regular-season ending upset victory over the conference champion Rice Owls, players said they feel confident that they can do some damage as the No. 6 seed.

“I’m definitely very proud of us, because we’ve been through a lot of hardships,” UTSA senior Cheyenne Rowe said. “We’ve bounced back a couple of times, and we bounced back against Rice, and that was really amazing.”

The tournament starts with the first-round games Tuesday at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, but with a bye, the Roadrunners (14-15, 9-9) open play on Wednesday afternoon.

They’ll take on either the seventh-seeded Temple Owls or the No. 10 Tulane Green Wave.

“I’m feeling confident,” senior guard Ereauna Hardaway said. “Last game was a great win for us. It’s always a good feeling going into the tournament with a win. I just think we’re feeling confident going in.”

About an hour after the UTSA bus left campus, the American released its postseason all-conference teams and individual award winners.

Rowe, a 6-2 forward from Ontario, Canada, emerged as the only UTSA player recognized. She was named to the all defensive team and also to the all conference second team.

In the Roadrunners’ last game, it looked as if they had several players whose names could have appeared on the American’s release of honorees.

Multiple UTSA players contributed in a 61-52 victory as Rice had a 22-game winning streak snapped, while getting tagged with its only loss in 18 conference games this season.

In the first half, the ball moved and UTSA’s sometimes sputtering offense hummed. The Roadrunners shot 59 percent from the field. They rang up a 41-21 lead.

“We got the freedom to shoot, so everyone was confident in their shot,” Rowe said, “and everyone shot it. We talked about rebounding. Getting the right shot. Moving the ball.

“So, when we get the right shot, we can rebound in the right positions, and when we get the chance to rebound, we get second-chance opportunities.

“So it was just amazing to see everyone shooting and everyone getting the rebounds. It was great.”

Hardaway credited freshman Adriana Robles for getting everyone involved.

“We were all just playing with confidence,” she said. “It’s always good when you see shots fall, too. It gives you a good rhythm to the game. A good flow.

“Adriana did a great job of getting everyone involved. Everybody was scoring the ball, and we were playing together.”

American Conference
Women’s basketball tournament
At Birmingham, Ala.

Tuesday

Game 1 — (9) FAU defeats (8) Charlotte, 74-70, in overtime.
Game 2 — (7) Temple defeats (10) Tulane, 86-77, in overtime.

Wednesday

Game 3 — (9) FAU vs. (5) North Texas, noon
Game 4 — (7) Temple vs. (6) UTSA, 2 p.m.

Thursday

Game 5 — Game 3 winner vs. (4) Tulsa, noon
Game 6 — Game 4 winner vs. (3) South Florida, 2 p.m.

Friday

Game 7 — Game 5 winner vs. (1) Rice, 6 p.m.
Game 8 — Game 6 winner vs. (2) East Carolina, 8 p.m.

Saturday

Game 9 (championship) — Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 8:30 p.m.

Records

(1) Rice 27-4, 17-1
(2) East Carolina 22-9, 14-4
(3) South Florida 20-11, 13-5
(4) Tulsa 19-11, 11-7
(5) North Texas 17-13, 11-7
(6) UTSA 14-15, 9-9
(7) Temple 15-16, 8-10
(8) Charlotte 14-18, 8-10
(9) FAU 14-17, 7-11
(10) Tulane 11-20, 6-12

UTSA women win, 61-52, snapping Rice’s 22-game winning streak

Posted on by
Reply

Update: With the American Conference women’s basketball tournament set to open Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala., the UTSA Roadrunners are seeded sixth, with a first-round bye. They will open play in Wednesday’s second round against either the No. 7 Temple Owls or the 10th-seeded Tulane Green Wave.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Crazy things in college basketball tend to happen in March, and so it came to be on a Saturday afternoon in Houston, as the UTSA women built a 25-point lead in the third quarter and then held on, 61-52, snapping the Rice Owls’ 22-game winning streak.

For those following Roadrunners women’s basketball lately, it was a surprising development. Stunning, really.

Earlier in the week, on Wednesday night in San Antonio, the Roadrunners walked off the floor at home with their heads down, having lost 52-41 to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

UTSA’s fourth setback in five games left open the troubling question of just how far the team had fallen since it won a school-record 26 games and the 2025 American Conference regular-season title.

In the second quarter against Tulsa, the Roadrunners’ offense bottomed out, scoring only one point, shooting zero for 10 from the field and turning it over seven times.

Their 41 points represented a low for the season in conference.

Taking the floor against Rice in Houston, however, players seemed to put all of the negative thoughts out of their minds and blasted out to a 41-21 intermission lead.

Coming out of halftime, they built their advantage to 48-23 when Mia Hammonds scored on a fast break with 6:43 remaining in the third quarter.

The Owls, who had clinched the American regular-season title on Feb. 25, made a run in the final minutes of the game but ultimately ran out of time against the suddenly rejuvenated Roadrunners.

How did they get it done?

“Honestly, trusting in our coaches, trusting in each other, playing real hard, and just going all out on every possession — loose balls, rebounds, all that,” UTSA forward Idara Udo told an ESPN reporter in the post game. “Just playing together.”

With an offense that averaged only 60 points and 38 percent shooting from the field, the Roadrunners were on pace to score in the 70s until they started to slow the ball down at the end to drain the clock.

They finished the game by hitting 51 percent afield and 55 percent from three (five for nine.) Though the Roadrunners’ 25 turnovers hurt them, the Owls failed to take maximum advantage, scoring only 16 points off the miscues.

“I thought we played our tails off,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “I mean, it wasn’t always beautiful, in particular the second half. It was … rough and tumble. They were doing everything they could to turn us over, and they did, a lot.

“But I just thought that we were resilient and we played hard. We played really hard today.”

Hammonds led UTSA in scoring with 14 points.

Inconsistent for much of her second season with the Roadrunners, the 6-foot-3 wing from Cibolo Steele High School showed poise and some finesse in hitting seven of 10 shots from the field.

Udo also played efficiently in making six of nine.

The 6-foot-1 junior from Plano finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Cheyenne Rowe, UTSA’s leader, averaging nearly 14 points, scored only six but battled effectively in the paint for 12 rebounds.

Freshman guard Adriana Robles scored nine, with backcourt mates Ereauna Hardaway and Damara Allen finishing with eight apiece.

The Owls, playing on Senior Day, seemed out of sorts from the beginning. Especially on the defensive end, the Owls didn’t seem to adjust with the Roadrunners moving the ball and getting scoring from multiple sources.

On Jan. 31, the Owls came into San Antonio and emerged with a 65-55 victory, holding UTSA to 29.7 percent shooting.

At the same time, Rice point guard Victoria Flores erupted for 33 points on eight of 10 shooting. She also hit four of six from three and 13 of 14 at the line.

In the rematch, the Roadrunners limited Flores’ touches and held her to eight points. She finished three of 10 from the field and two of six from three.

Dominique Ennis, another one of the Owls’ standouts, had a rough day as well with six points on one for 12 shooting. She misfired on all seven attempts from long range.

Forward Aniyah Alexis led the Owls with 15 points. She was a six of 15 shooter. Flores and forward Shelby Hayes finished with eight points apiece.

San Antonio’s Hailey Adams, helped off the floor in the first half with an apparent leg injury, returned to action after intermission. The Clark High School graduate finished with four points and six rebounds.

Adams, an all-conference candidate, is averaging more than eight points and 10 rebounds per game.

Records

UTSA 14-15, 9-9
Rice 27-4, 17-1

Coming up

American Conference tournament, next Tuesday through Saturday, in Birmingham.

Tournament notes

UTSA will open the American’s postseason tournament in the second round on Wednesday as the No. 6 seed against either No. 7 Temple or 10th-seeded Tulane. The game will tip off at 2 p.m.

If the Roadrunners win on Wednesday, they would advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals, matched against the third-seeded South Florida Bulls. That game would also have a 2 p.m. start.

Rice, as the No. 1 seed, will get a triple bye and will open in the semifinals on Friday.

The American’s postseason champion gets an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. The Roadrunners will need to win four games in four days to reach the NCAA’s 68-team event.

Rice game at a glance

The Roadrunners stunned the Owls in the first half, playing loose and free, shooting 59 percent and racing to a 41-21 lead.

UTSA’s point total matched what the team scored in the entire game Wednesday night in San Antonio, when they lost 53-41 to Tulsa.

Another oddity of the Roadrunners’ explosion in the first two quarters centered on Rowe, the team’s leading scorer. Limited to only eight minutes because of two early fouls, Rowe was scoreless.

As she sat and watched much of the half from the bench, Udo, Mia Hammonds and Allen all scored eight points apiece. Hardaway and Adriana Robles both scored seven.

Focusing on ‘TNT,’ the Rice women beat UTSA, extending their winning streak to 14

Posted on by
Reply
Rice Victoria Flores, Hailey Adams. Rice beat UTSA 65-55 in American Conference women's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Rice forward Hailey Adams (right) cheers on guard Victoria Flores. While Flores scored 33 points, San Antonio’s Adams supplied 15 rebounds, three assists and two steals. The redshirt junior from Clark High School also hit a clutch fourth-quarter jumper. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Rice Owls women’s basketball coach Lindsey Edmonds stood in the foyer of the UTSA Convocation Center Saturday afternoon, smiling and taking selfies with friends.

A crowd of her program’s supporters lingered in the building where the Owls had just defeated the Roadrunners, 65-55. It was clearly a group of people basking in the glow of a 14-game winning streak, a 19-3 record overall and a 9-0 mark in the American Conference.

Damara Allen. Rice beat UTSA 65-55 in American Conference women's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Sophomore Damara Allen led the Roadrunners with 11 points on four of 14 shooting from the field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Edmomds shrugged off a reporter’s question about how it felt to be riding such a streak and to be unbeaten in conference play at the halfway point of the schedule.

“Our logo for this year, our theme, is TNT,” Edmonds said. “Which is, today, not tomorrow. And I think we just want to take advantage of every day. Every opportunity that we have, we want to be the best versions of ourself.

“I’m not really concerned or worried or even thinking about records or streaks,” she added, “because I’m thinking about how we can be the best version of ourselves today. We were able to come up here and get a win on the road at a place that’s really, really hard to win.

“So, I’m proud of that.”

Rice’s Victoria Flores led her team offensively, scoring 33 points. She was efficient on every level, making eight of 10 shots from the field, four of six from 3-point range and 13 of 14 at the free-throw line.

Meanwhile, a determined defensive effort by the Owls held the Roadrunners to 29 percent shooting and to five points below their season average as a team. As the Roadrunners fell to a 10-10 record on the season and to 5-4 in conference, they were shut down on seven of 36 from the field in the second half.

At one point in a decisive third quarter, the Roadrunners misfired on 12 shots in a row. It’s arguable that the Owls were successful because they were able to expose weaknesses in an offense that sometimes seems too dependent on only a few reliable shooters.

“We have to help them,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “I’ve been saying that. If I had the answers, trust me, I would help them. But we’ve got to figure out how to help those players, and they have to sometimes be comfortable with moving the ball, because they’re not getting the looks they get on certain days.”

As the second half of the conference schedule looms, the Roadrunners are healthier than they were a few weeks ago, but they still have five scholarship players out.

“I know Karen Aston and I know she is an incredible coach,” Edmonds said. “I know that she is coaching them up. I think they’re a tough team. I think they have qualities instilled in them by Karen. Again, they’re going to win a lot of games.

“They’re tough … and they’re stingy on the defensive end. I think she’s still going to do a great job despite having the injuries.”

Guards Damara Allen and Ereauna Hardaway led the Roadrunners offensively, combining for 21 points. Allen finished with a team-high 11 on four of 14 shooting. Hardaway’s 10 points came on a three of nine effort.

Cheyenne Rowe. Rice beat UTSA 65-55 in American Conference women's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA scoring leader Cheyenne Rowe produced nine points on three of 11 shooting from the field. She also pulled down eight rebounds. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Forward Cheyenne Rowe, UTSA’s offensive leader, shot three of 11 from the field and finished with nine points and eight rebounds.

A late spark in the game came from freshman guard Adriana Robles, who scored nine off the bench. Robles was four for seven, the only UTSA player to shoot better than 50 percent in the game.

Idara Udo, in her second game back after sitting out more than six weeks with an injury, had a tough day. The 6-foot-1, low-post forward missed all seven shots from the field and scored two.

Records

Rice 19-3, 9-0
UTSA 10-10, 5-4

Coming up

UTSA at UAB, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

First half

In a battle of heavyweights within the American, both the Owls and the Roadrunners pushed the pace in the first half.

Rice took a 31-28 lead at intermission, with Flores scoring 14 points and senior center Shelby Hayes adding nine. The Owls had an advantage with a 12-4 lead in points scored off turnovers.

Notable

UTSA entered the season as the defending conference champions. Last year, the Roadrunners finished 26-5 and 17-1 in the American. The Owls had a hand in dashing their NCAA postseason dreams by beating them 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. After Saturday’s loss, Aston told reporters that she wasn’t thinking about last season.

Flores, a junior from Duncanville, was the talk of the game played in front of 1,172 fans. But Rice forward Hailey Adams also played a major role in the victory. The 6-foot-1 junior from Clark High School produced 15 rebounds, three assists and two steals. She also scored five points, including a big shot in the fourth quarter.

“Hailey Adams does Hailey Adams things, that no one else on our team can do,” Edmonds said. “She fills up the stat sheet in a way that’s really, really impressive. She didn’t make a ton of shots tonight, but she made one in the fourth quarter that was crucial.

“We really needed it in the worst way, and she stepped up and shot that shot with confidence.”

Rice Victoria Flores. Rice beat UTSA 65-55 in American Conference women's basketball on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Rice guard Victoria Flores sank eight of 10 shots from the field and finished with a career-high 33 points in a 65-55 win at the UTSA Convocation Center. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Undaunted by a 10-game losing streak, UTSA’s Claunch reiterates his long-range goal — a title

Posted on by
Reply
Austin Claunch. Rice beat UTSA 89-73 in American Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch continues to exude confidence in the program’s future despite a 10-game losing streak, the second longest in school history. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Mired in the depths of a 10-game losing streak, the UTSA men have not lost their spirit. Buried in last place in the American Conference, the Roadrunners meet with the media after games, and they still express themselves with a spunky attitude.

They’re also in good form with their snark.

For example, a reporter wanted to know if Coach Austin Claunch had talked to his players about a change in format of the conference tournament, with the American inviting only 10 teams to the event this March in Birmingham.

Baboucarr Njie. Rice beat UTSA 89-73 in American Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Sophomore forward Baboucarr Njie produced 23 points and nine rebounds. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Instead of inviting everyone, the conference is whittling down the field to eliminate three teams after the regular season. All of which means, the Roadrunners are in trouble now with an 0-5 league record and road games looming against Memphis and North Texas.

If the Roadrunners are feeling any pressure or an extra sense of urgency in that regard, it was hard to tell based on what Claunch had to say after his team was beaten on its home floor, 89-73, by the Rice Owls Wednesday night.

“No,” Claunch said, “we want to finish first. Not 10th.”

Expanding on his comment, the coach added, “You know, conference tournament is great and all that, but we want to hang a regular-season banner, and obviously we’re way behind with that right now. But the urgency is the same.

“Of course we want to make conference tournament. But, our goal is not to finish 10th and make the conference tournament. That’s not why (the players) came here and that’s not what we’re working toward.

“I think we’re all aware and that we’re working to keep winning. You know, it’s going to be tight. We’re down right now, but it’s going to be all there. I think we know that. But that’s not … our mentality is to become the best team in the league.

“That’s tomorrow, this year, next year, whatever. These guys are working to put UTSA on a different kind of map besides just making the conference tournament.”

Dorian Hayes. Rice beat UTSA 89-73 in American Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Freshman Dorian Hayes scored 18 and hit four shots from beyond the three-point arc. – Photo by Joe Alexander

The Owls started fast and built a 19-point lead late in the first half. The Roadrunners retaliated with a run after halftime, cutting the lead to eight at one point.

Despite the spirited rally, the Roadrunners couldn’t overcome the deficit and extended their losing streak to the second longest in school history.

The 2022-23 UTSA squad, under the direction of former coach Steve Henson, holds the dubious record with 11 straight.

Trae Broadnax scored 20 points to pace the Owls, who have won two straight games on the road in the American. Rice hit 16 three pointers, including 10 in the first half.

Baboucarr Njie, with his best game since November, produced 23 points and nine rebounds for the Roadrunners. Dorian Hayes added 18 and Austin Nunez produced 16 points and five boards.

Records

Rice 2-3, 8-10
UTSA 0-5, 4-13

Coming up

UTSA at Memphis, Sunday, 5 p.m.

First half

The Rice Owls shot 62 percent from the field and knocked down 10 three pointers in the first half, taking a 51-40 lead on UTSA into the break at intermission.

Austin Nunez. Rice beat UTSA 89-73 in American Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA redshirt junior guard Austin Nunez had 16 points and five rebounds against . Rice to continue his inspired play. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Nick Anderson and Trae Broadnax scored 12 each for the Owls and Jalen Smith added 11. Combined, the three of them hit eight shots from behind the arc, over the Roadrunners zone defense.

The Owls led for the entire 20 minutes in the opening period and once kicked the lead up to 19 points. Cam Carroll’s three with 3:41 made it 46-27.

In response, the Roadrunners outscored the Owls 13-5 the rest of the way, with Njie scoring four of the points, including a drive to the rim for a layup at the buzzer.

Notable

After the Owls were beaten by 49 points at Tulsa in their conference opener on New Years Eve, they have fared much better, first returning home to lose by six to the Memphis Tigers.

After that, they traveled to Kansas and beat the Wichita State Shockers by two and then returned home and played Charlotte to the wire, falling by one. Now, after beating the Roadrunners on the road by 16, they’ve improved to 2-3 in conference with their second straight road win.

UTSA center Stanley Borden put on his uniform and went through pre-game warmups, but when the game started, he was on the bench in his sweat suit. Though Borden missed his 14th straight game with a hand injury, he may be getting close to a return based on the pre-game activity level.

His return would be a boost for the Roadrunners, who learned earlier this week that forward Macaleab Rich would be out for the season after surgery on a partially torn groin. Rich and two point guards — Vasean Allette and Pierce Spencer — are all out for the season.

UTSA men’s basketball losing streaks
Seven or more

Year – consecutive losses – streak broken against – UTSA coach
2025-26 – 10 – TBA – Austin Claunch
2023-24 – 7 – North Texas – Steve Henson
2022-23 – 11 – Rice – Steve Henson
2015-16 – 9 – Southern Miss – Brooks Thompson
2012-13 – 7 – Seattle – Brooks Thompson
2006-07 – 7 – UT Arlington – Brooks Thompson
2006-07 – 7 – Sam Houston – Brooks Thompson
1996-97 – 7 – NW State (La.) – Tim Carter
1985-86 – 8 – St. Mary’s – Don Eddy

Rice Trae Broadnax. Rice beat UTSA 89-73 in American Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Rice guard Trae Broadnax had 20 points, seven assists and only one turnover to lead the Owls. Broadnax entered the game as one of only two players in the American leading his team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. The other is Tulane guard Rowan Brumbaugh, who scored 23 against UTSA last Saturday. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA men hope to stop a losing streak against Rice

Posted on by
Reply

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA men’s basketball team will try to break a nine-game losing streak – tied for the second-longest in school history – when it hosts the Rice Owls tonight at the Convocation Center.

Tipoff for the American Conference matchup between Texas-based schools is at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

(Please see the information below on the program’s longest losing streaks.)

Records

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

Coming up

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

Notable

UTSA forward Stanley Borden was has listed as questionable for the Rice game, an improvement from previous listings in the player availability reports.

In previous reports, starting with the Dec. 31 conference opener, Borden has been ruled out in each of the four games.

Borden, a 7-foot transfer from Duke, hasn’t played since Nov. 12 at Texas State. He has a hand injury and has sat out 13 games.

Borden was in uniform and on the floor warming up an hour before tipoff.

Players out for the season include Macaleab Rich, Vasean Allette and Pierce Spencer.

UTSA men’s basketball losing streaks
Seven or more

Year – consecutive losses – streak broken against – UTSA coach
2025-26 – 9 – TBA – Claunch
2023-24 – 7 – North Texas – Henson
2022-23 – 11 – Rice – Henson
2015-16 – 9 – Southern Miss – Thompson
2012-13 – 7 – Seattle – Thompson
2006-07 – 7 – UT Arlington – Thompson
2006-07 – 7 – Sam Houston – Thompson
1996-97 – 7 – NW State (La.) – Carter
1985-86 – 8 – St. Mary’s – Eddy

Top-seeded UTSA rallies to beat No. 8 Rice on opening day at the AAC tournament

Posted on by
Reply

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After top-seeded UTSA rallied to beat the No. 8 Rice Owls 4-2 Tuesday on opening day at the American Baseball Championship, Roadrunners outfielder James Taussig vowed to take a fishing trip on an off day with some of his teammates, his brother and his father.

It’ll be on the aqua blue saltwater somewhere outside of Clearwater, Fla.

“We’re going to hit the redfish hard,” Taussig told ESPN.

Trailing by a run going into the bottom of the eighth at the BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, the Roadrunners started to hit the baseball pretty hard to stoke a game-winning rally.

The Owls had one out when starting pitcher Davion Hickson threw a curve on a 2-2 count that grazed Caden Miller in the leg, sending him to first base with a free pass. He promptly moved to third when American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Mason Lytle singled into center field, giving the Roadrunners men at the corners.

With one of the Roadrunners’ top hitters coming to the plate, Hickson knew he would need to pitch carefully. But Taussig, who was named first-team all conference in the AAC on Monday, stroked a fastball in the middle of the plate for a two-run double that allowed UTSA to take the lead.

As his line drive split the gap between the outfielders in right and center, Miller scored easily and Lytle, a speedster, made it all the way around, beating a relay throw to the plate with a slide to make it 3-2.

Later, Norris McClure sliced an RBI single into left field off reliever Garrett Stratton, bringing Taussig in to score and giving the Roadrunners a two-run cushion. Reliever Robert Orloski (8-0) shut down the Owls in order in the top of the ninth to secure the Roadrunners’ first victory in a conference tournament since 2022.

Hickson (2-7) pitched into the eighth inning and took the loss.

“Great comeback,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said on a zoom call with the media. “That’s the opening statement. These guys keep doing it. So, happy to be along for the ride.”

Pitching, in many ways, carried the Roadrunners and helped them improve on their program record with 43 victories this season. In winning for the 14th time in their last 15 games, the Roadrunners limited the Owls to just two hits.

Starter Braylon Owens yielded both hits and gave up two runs, one of them earned, in 5 and 1/3 innings. The senior from Elgin pitched out of trouble a few times and struck out 11. Orloski worked the final 3 and 1/3 innings scoreless on no hits. The 6-foot-4 sophomore from Idaho, a one-time draft pick out of high school by the Boston Red Sox, struck out three and walked one.

On the offensive side, Taussig and Lytle both went three for four at the plate. Lytle, a senior from Pearland, staked UTSA to a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a solo home run.

The Owls played small ball and scored one run in the fifth and one in the sixth off Owens to take the lead.

In the fifth, a leadoff walk led to trouble for Owens and UTSA. As Tobias Motley bunted in front of the mound, Owens fielded it and threw wildly into center field. It put runners at first and third with nobody out. At that point, the Owls bunted again to tie the score. Colin Robson laid down a sacrifice to score Cole Green from third base, making it a 1-1 ball game.

The opportunistic Owls scored again in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. With one out, Hiram Bocachica walked and stole second base. One out later, Paul Smith singled up the middle to score Bocachica. Hickson finished with 7 and 1/3 innings and seven strikeouts. He gave up four runs on seven hits.

Records

Rice 17-39
UTSA 43-11

Tuesday’s results

Tulane 6, Florida Atlantic 3
UTSA 4, Rice 2
Charlotte 7, Wichita State 1
East Carolina 9, South Florida 4

Wednesday’s games

Rice vs. Florida Atlantic, noon, elimination
Wichita State vs. South Florida, 47 minutes after conclusion of first game, elimination

Thursday’s games

Tulane vs. UTSA, noon, winners bracket
East Carolina vs. Charlotte, 47 minutes after conclusion of first game, winners bracket

Notable

UTSA swept four games from the Owls in the past six days. The Roadrunners won Thursday, Friday and Saturday in San Antonio and again on Tuesday in Clearwater.

Roadrunners infielder Norris McClure was knocked out of the series finale in San Antonio with a leg bruise, but he bounced back and picked up two hits and an RBI as the designated hitter in his first Division I tournament game. With the two hits, McClure extended his batting streak to 20 games.

Speculation continues to swirl around the Roadrunners and whether their win-loss record and their RPI, at No. 22 nationally coming into Tuesday, will yield an NCAA tournament bid next week.

During the Rice game, television commentators were projecting that UTSA would be in the 64-team field when it is announced next Monday.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark, whose team has won road games at Texas and Texas A&M, said on the postgame zoom that he didn’t know whether his team would make it and, with the rest of the AAC event to play, he said he doesn’t care about the speculation.

“Obviously I want to play in the regional but I don’t control that,” Hallmark said. “I’m focused on the team and the opponent. I don’t mean that in a negative way at all. I just know these questions are coming. (Three) years ago when we were making a run, when we got that RPI pretty solid, these same questions were coming and they’re hard to answer.

“I’ve seen the basketball coaches. They give the spiels and politic. Not me. Like, we’re going to play ball, and I’m happy to be a part of this group. I don’t know the answer, and I’m not going to worry about it, honestly. I’m going to prepare for Tulane and celebrate a little bit with the guys.”

UTSA defeated Tulane two out of three in a series earlier this season in San Antonio.

Coached by Jay Uhlman, the Green Wave have advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons by winning the AAC postseason crown. In 2023, they entered as a No. 7 seed and won four out of five to win the championship. Playing as a No. 3 seed in last spring, they went 4-0, downing Wichita State 11-10 in the title game. Tulane improved its record to 31-24 with the victory over Florida Atlantic.

Top-seeded UTSA opens conference tournament today in Florida against No. 8 Rice

Posted on by
Reply
The UTSA baseball team watches as the seniors are honored on Saturday. UTSA beat Rice 7-0 in the final game of the regular season at Roadrunner Field on Saturday, May 17, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

The UTSA baseball team opens play today in the American Baseball Championship. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners might well be the only team at the American Baseball Championship that could fall short of the conference’s postseason title and still get an invitation to the NCAA tournament.

Sitting at No. 22 in the ratings percentage index, or RPI, the top-seeded Roadrunners will tote a regular-season conference title and a 42-11 record into Tuesday’s opening game against the No. 8 Rice Owls.

It’s purely speculation, but if UTSA can beat Rice, and then tack on a couple more victories after that, they probably would stand a fair chance of gaining an at-large NCAA bid even if they were to lose in the championship game on Sunday.

But before traveling to Clearwater, Fla., where the American’s eight-team event will be played at the BayCare Ballpark, UTSA coach Pat Hallmark was asked if he had given thought about how many more wins he needed this week to secure the program’s first bid in 12 years.

He said he’s not really thinking in those terms.

“As much as we talk about expectations and playing a certain way, we don’t talk a ton about winning,” he said Saturday afternoon at Roadrunner Field. “Because, sometimes, winning is out of your control. We talk about the quality of the play. So, we’re going to try to go play quality baseball. Throw strikes. Swing at strikes.

“When we swing, we want ‘em to be violent swings. And then we talk about making one error or less in the field. That’s what we’re going to keep talking about, and if we do that, the wins will take care of themselves. Just like these 42 wins (in the regular season) did.”

UTSA hasn’t reached an NCAA tournament since the 2013 season, when the Roadrunners played in the Western Athletic Conference. They’ve been in contention in each of the past three seasons going into the 2022 and 2023 Conference USA tournaments and the 2024 American tournament.

But, each time, the Roadrunners failed to make the 64-team national field.

In 2022, at Hattiesburg, Miss., they entered as a No. 5 seed with 35 wins and won three straight games, beating the nationally-ranked, host-team Southern Miss Golden Eagles twice in a row, only to lose 9-8 in the championship game to Louisiana Tech. Even with 38 wins, a strong finish and an RPI of No. 37, it wasn’t good enough for UTSA to make the NCAA.

Two years ago, in their final season in the C-USA, they entered the tournament at Houston with 38 wins and high hopes. Though they were seeded second in the field, they dropped their opener to No. 7 Middle Tennessee, 5-1, and then lost again, falling 11-2 to No. 3 Charlotte.

Last season, in their first season in the American, they once again entered as a two seed but couldn’t hold serve.

Seventh-seeded Charlotte scored four runs in the top of the 12th inning and spoiled UTSA’s opener for the second year in a row, this time by a 9-5 count. Stunned, the Roadrunners had to play the next day and lost again, falling 12-5 to the FAU Owls.

With only 32 wins, their NCAA hopes were dashed.

This year, the Roadrunners have no intention of letting anything like that happen three years in a row. After winning the American title going away by five games over second-place Charlotte, they’re confident they have the best team.

In fact, outfielder James Taussig said that with 42 victories and wins over Texas and Texas A&M on the road, he “would hope” that UTSA would get an NCAA bid even if it were to go 0-2 again.

“I think our full season, our body of work, has shown that we’re a complete team and we can play in the postseason,” he said. “I don’t plan on going 0-2. I don’t think anyone out here is planning on going 0-2. We’re going to stay locked in and focused, because there’s another championship to win.”

In other words, winning the postseason crown will be just as much fun as taking home the regular season title, so that is the goal. “Exactly,” Taussig said.

UTSA catcher Andrew Stucky said last year’s disappointment in Clearwater will serve as motivation this time around.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said. “A couple of us have mentioned that, saying that it’s not going to happen again this year. But I think we’re going into it this year a whole lot more confident. Just in ourselves and each other. So, we’re really excited to go out there and just keep playing like we do.”

Records

Rice 17-38, 10-17
UTSA 42-11, 23-4

Coming up

AAC tournament, at Clearwater, Fla., with top-seeded UTSA playing No. 8 Rice today. The tournament will run through May 25 at the BayCare Ballpark.

Tuesday, May 20

(All times Central)
Game 1: No. 5 Tulane vs. No. 4 Florida Atlantic | 8 a.m. | ESPN+
Game 2: No. 8 Rice vs. No. 1 UTSA | 47 minutes after Game 1 | ESPN+
Game 3: No. 7 Wichita State vs. No. 2 Charlotte | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
Game 4: No. 6 East Carolina vs. No. 3 South Florida | 47 minutes after Game 3 | ESPN+

Hallmark says that surging UTSA could make a run at the College World Series

Posted on by
Reply
Nathan Hodge home run. His brother Ty Hodge is partially hidden behind him. UTSA beat Rice 11-4 in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field on Friday, May 15, 2025. - photo by Joe Alexander

Nathan Hodge (11) gets the ‘boom’ treatment from older brother Ty Hodge after slamming a two-run home run in the third inning. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Inspiring hope for a deep run in the NCAA tournament this season and for an improved fan experience in coming years, the UTSA Roadrunners just keep adding to their legacy as perhaps the best baseball team in school history.

Two weeks ago in Florida, they clinched at least a share of the regular-season title in the American Athletic Conference. Last weekend in North Carolina, they won the title outright.

Returning home to San Antonio this week, they opened their ninth and final three-game, AAC series against the Rice Owls, won the first game and set the school record for victories in a season.

UTSA starting pitcher Conor Myles. UTSA beat Rice 11-4 in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field on Friday, May 15, 2025. - photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA starting pitcher Conor Myles (5-1) earned the victory after pitching five innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Now, a day later, they’ve taken yet another step in their journey. The Roadrunners jumped on the Owls early Friday night, scored five runs in the first inning off J.D. McCracken, and then kept on applying the pressure throughout the evening en route to an easy 11-4 decision.

UTSA is now 2-0 against Rice in the series leading into Saturday’s regular-season finale, meaning that they have effectively run the table, winning all nine of their three-game sets against AAC competition.

Brothers Ty and Nathan Hodge, who played shortstop and third base, respectively, led the charge against the Owls with three RBI apiece. Ty Hodge slapped a two-run single to highlight a five-run first inning and Nathan, the younger of the brothers from College Station, slammed a two-run home run in the third.

When his second homer of the season landed in the screen above the left field wall, the Roadrunners had built a 7-3 lead. The Owls cut the deficit to three runs in the middle of the game but couldn’t do much more than watch the Roadrunners pull away for their 41st victory of the season.

With the win, the Roadrunners improved to 41-11 on the season and 22-4 in conference. They have won 16 of their last 18 games and are 15-2 in their last 17 in the AAC.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said Friday night that he thinks the team has the potential to reach College World Series in Omaha, Neb. His statement came after a reporter asked if he thought that his program had reached a ceiling on what he believed it could achieve when he took the job back in 2020.

What the team has accomplished to this point in the season isn’t the ceiling, he said.

“This team can go to Omaha,” Hallmark added.

He said the Roadrunners will need to “keep being competitive hitters” and to identify maybe a few more reliable pitchers on the roster to help them maneuver through the AAC postseason and the first two weekends of the NCAA tournament.

“I don’t think we’ve reached our ceiling,” Hallmark said. “The ceiling is Omaha. That’s what we’re going for. We need to find a guy or two, like, the guys who are going to pitch tomorrow. We need to find three to six outs. Because with five guys? I don’t know if we can get through an entire regional with only five guys, which is what we’ve got now. We probably could. But that’s five guys who all have to pitch (well).

“Nobody can have a bad game, and that’s hard to do. It’s like hitting. All nine guys don’t (normally) have good games. So the ceiling is higher than what we’ve already done.”

With the AAC tournament starting next week in Clearwater, Fla., Hallmark suggested that the top-seeded Roadrunners shouldn’t put any limits on what they believe they can achieve. He said that at the start of this season, he would have been happy with the current results.

But he now sees this UTSA team as comparable in ability as Rice teams in 2006, 2007 and 2008 that reached the College World Series.

“This team can play offense with any of them, and defense,” he said. “And our top five pitchers are as good as some of them. But we may have been a little deeper on the mound on those (teams at Rice).”

Braylon Owens. UTSA beat Rice 11-4 in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field on Friday, May 15, 2025. - photo by Joe Alexander

Senior Braylon Owens pitched two and two thirds scoreless innings in his last game at Roadrunner Field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA is 20th in the NCAA’s ratings percentage index, or, RPI. The team is also ranked 25th in Baseball America, one of the prominent college baseball media polls. Playing at home, the Roadrunners have been nearly unbeatable this season. They’re 24-2 and riding a six-game winning streak at Roadrunner Field.

Fan interest in the team also is growing. Despite opening-pitch temperatures in the first two games of the Rice series hovering at 100 degrees, the grandstands and the outlying areas have been bustling with people, many of them hunkering down in the shade of trees on the left field side of the ball park complex.

Hallmark said it’s satisfying to see the uptick in interest compared to his first few games in the 2020 season.

“I don’t think much about it when the game is going on,” he said. “I’m kind of busy. But coach (Ryan) Aguayo and I talk about it, because we’ve been here the whole time, when there weren’t many people here besides the parents. And I still think there could be more.”

The coach suggested that modest improvements to the layout of the current facility could make it attractive.

“I think the footprint of the field is wonderful,” he said as he stood in the home team dugout, looking around at the compplex. “But if we can do some stuff back here with the entry-way (into the stadium) and even over here in the arbor … where all these trees are, if we can make that a little nicer with a deck and some nicer (grand) stands, people will come out here.”

He said he thinks baseball at UTSA can be self-sustaining financially if a little more can be done to make the fans feel more comfortable.

“Baseball is not typically a revenue-generating sport,” he said. “But I was at Rice University from (2005 to 2017) and we generated revenue. There’s no reason we can’t do that here. Besides the product on the field, we need to give them a comfortable environment to sit in and watch the game in shade and all those types of things, and I think it’ll come.”

Records

Rice 17-37, 10-16
UTSA 41-11, 22-4

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m. (end of the regular season)
AAC tournament, at Clearwater, Fla., Tuesday through Sunday, May 25

Notable

The Roadrunners will salute 10 athletes Saturday on Senior Day, including starters Mason Lytle, James Taussig, Andrew Stucky and Norris McClure. Also among the group are starting pitchers Braylon Owens and Conor Myles. Four others are Ty Tilson, Lorenzo Morresi, Garrett Gruell and Jake Cothran.

Ty Hodge. UTSA beat Rice 11-4 in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field on Friday, May 15, 2025. - photo by Joe Alexander

Ty Hodge had two hits in three at bats and drove in three runs as UTSA won its second game in two days against Rice. .- Photo by Joe Alexander

Crunch time: Every game down the stretch will affect UTSA’s NCAA chances

Posted on by
Reply
Pat Hallmark. UTSA beat Rice 15-7 on Thursday night in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Pat Hallmark’s UTSA Roadrunners are pushing for a strong finish to the season in hopes of securing a berth in the NCAA tournament. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Lefthander Conor Myles will start for the UTSA Roadrunners Friday night against the Rice Owls as they attempt a nine-for-nine achievement in the American Athletic Conference.

In other words, the AAC’s regular-season champions are playing their ninth and final conference series of the season, and they’re hoping to run the table and win them all.

Roadrunners coach Pat Hallmark said it’s an important goal to achieve, but he said it’s at least equally important that they win Friday and also Saturday, if possible, to bolster their hopes of a berth in the NCAA tournament.

“That’s where the wins matter a lot,” Hallmark said. “We’re trying to keep ourselves in a position to kind of push that (NCAA) at large (bid possibility). People keep telling us we’re in, and that’s awesome. But three years ago we thought we were in, also. It’s always on our mind. So, yeah, we’d like to win the series because of that and to win every conference series.”

After UTSA rallied from a seven-run deficit to down Rice Thursday night, 15-7, the two teams are scheduled to play again Friday at 6 p.m. and again on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.

UTSA (now 40-11 and 21-4 in the AAC) entered the Rice series at No. 20 in the NCAA’s ratings percentage index, or, RPI. They remained 20th when the new RPI was published after Thursday night. It’s a good place to be in terms of the team’s hopes to reach the 64-team NCAA tournament.

But it’s also worth wondering what a loss to Rice or even two more losses might mean for the team’s long-term goals.

That is apparently why Hallmark mentioned the heartbreaking end to the team’s season three years ago. After winning on the road twice at nationally-ranked Southern Mississippi in the 2022 Conference USA tournament, and then losing to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in the finals, the Roadrunners settled in at No. 37 on the RPI and did not get an NCAA invitation.

The coach obviously hopes to avoid something like that this season.

If, say, the Roadrunners were to lose twice to Rice in the next few days and then lose the first two games of the AAC tournament next week in Florida, what would happen to their RPI? How far would they fall? How would the NCAA tournament selection committee view a non-power conference team that won eight straight AAC series and won 40 games, but then failed to finish strong?

Thinking about the team’s future in terms of a worst-case scenario also invites speculation on how much UTSA gained Thursday night by coming from behind to win. As it turned out, Rice (17-36, 10-15) actually ascended three spots on the RPI, moving up to No. 209, by collapsing and losing to the Roadrunners with 10 walks and three errors.

If Rice actually advanced in the RPI with such a dispiriting loss, how far would UTSA have fallen if it had failed to rally? Perhaps thinking back to what happened in 2022, Hallmark clearly was upset with his team’s lack of urgency in the first few innings.

“We were down 7-0 and getting no-hit,” he said. “I was frustrated. I didn’t think we were playing well. We were playing (passively) … I just thought we were playing a little soft, a little bit weak. Which boiled down to one or two reasons. Either we were a little arrogant coming out here slightly cocky, slightly arrogant. Or, we were playing like we didn’t want to mess up.

“I’m not sure which, but that’s the way we were playing, so I just kind of told them, this isn’t the way we play. We’re down seven nothing at this point. I said, ‘We might not win this game, but let’s try to play baseball (aggressively). If we screw this up and make a bunch of of mistakes, we need to make ’em aggressively, so, we were fortunate.

“Their pitcher walked us a little bit, but, some of those walks, you got to earn them, too. But that helped us … You could see the momentum shifting.”

After the Roadrunners rallied to win going away, Hallmark reflected on reaching the 40-win milestone, a first for a program that won 39 games in both 1994 and 2008.

“I’m proud of the team,” he said. “I tell everyone that will listen at this point, these kids are wonderful. They’re wonderful people. They’re good at baseball. I’ve been part of other good baseball teams. But the difference in this team is the quality of the person … wonderful. It’s hard to get on ’em. Actually had to motivate myself in the fourth inning to get a little pissed at ’em, the way we were playing, because I like ’em so much.

“I usually have no problem getting on people. They’re a bunch of good people, and I’m lucky to get to coach ’em.”

Records

Rice 17-36, 10-15
UTSA 40-11, 21-4

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, Friday, 6 p.m.
Rice at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m. (end of the regular season)
AAC tournament, at Clearwater, Fla., starting Tuesday.
The tournament runs through next weekend, with the finals on Sunday, May 25.

Notable

The only team in the AAC assured of a bid to the NCAA tournament is the winner of the conference’s postseason event in Florida. Eight of 10 AAC teams will qualify, and the Owls are one of them, so they are still in contention for that NCAA automatic bid. UTSA is likely the only team in the AAC with a shot at an at-large bid. As the UTSA coach has noted, speculation is that the Roadrunners are in good shape to be in an NCAA regional. But if the Roadrunners come up short of a title in Clearwater, their fate would be up to a selection committee. That is why it’s so important for them to win Friday and Saturday, if possible.