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With a road test looming at South Florida, UTSA’s Claunch brushes off questions about his job

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UTSA coach Austin Claunch. 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 coach Austin Claunch dismisses the idea that he would like to turn the season around so that he can quiet speculation about his job status. Rather, he says he wants it as a reward for his players, who have worked hard enough to deserve it. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The questions for UTSA men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch keep getting tougher and tougher.

Even though his team played a more competitive brand of ball twice in the past 10 days, the Roadrunners lost twice at home, once by six points to Temple, and then by 10 to UAB, extending a troublesome, program-record losing streak to 14 games.

By the weekend, a story was published in the San Antonio Express-News that suggested his job might not be secure. Claunch, in the second year of a five-year contract, said Monday he wasn’t surprised to be asked about it.

“We’re in a competitive sport,” said the coach, who is 16-36 with the Roadrunners. “We’re at a high level (in the American Conference). Our expectation is to win, especially coming off (our first year). We thought we were really close. Where we were, I think we finished tied for ninth.

“But a lot of those games were in the balance. You felt like you were closer, in the middle of the pack (in the standings). Certainly, we felt like we did things in the offseason that put us in a position to take a step (forward), and so far we haven’t, right.”

After a 12-19 season a year ago, with a 6-12 record in the American, the Roadrunners are currently 4-17 and 0-9, respectively, going into the second half of the conference slate. It’s a nine-game stretch that starts with a road contest against the South Florida Bulls on Wednesday.

“For me, it’s all about figuring out how to improve where you are,” Claunch said. “At the end of the day, when you’ve lost however many we have in a row, and your record is where it is, you deserve to get those questions.

“Trust me, I hope everybody’s frustrated, fans … we want to win. We’re here to win and we’re here to win championships at UTSA. That goal is never going to change. So, that’s certainly still our goal. And, of course, we want that to happen right now.”

Claunch said he doesn’t take being the head coach of the Roadrunners lightly.

“It’s a privilege anywhere you’re a head coach in the country,” he said. “There’s only 365 of these things. So you better have an urgency every time you come in here, to figure out how to take the next step.”

The next step is figuring out how to slow down the high-scoring Bulls, now 14-8 and 6-3, who average a league-best 89 points per game.

Led by first-year coach Bryan Hodgson, the Bulls play a crowd-pleasing style. In conference, they have scored triple figures once, in a 109-106 double-overtime home loss to UAB, and they have twice notched 90 or more in wins at Tulsa and Tulane.

UTSA will travel with the second-longest active losing streak in the nation, but Claunch is a competitor, and he wants more than anything to lead off the second half of the conference slate with a victory.

Asked what it would mean to him, to win at South Florida a few days after he has fielded questions about whether he thinks he’ll be given a chance to return in his job next season, Claunch answered carefully. He said the South Florida game is not about him.

“I don’t think about it in terms of my job security,” Claunch said. “I think about it more for these (players). The way they’ve been working, they certainly deserve to finish the regular season on a high note. The way they’ve worked and continued to fight.

“And so, South Florida, North Texas, East Carolina, Wichita (State), whoever it is, we want to continue to work and win as many games as possible and see where that puts us here in the next nine games. It doesn’t really have anything to do with me.

“We knew that this was a process and we knew that we had an uphill battle. And, certainly, I love to coach. And I’m going to show up and be who I am every single day. Right? And these guys (the players) have done the same thing, which is why we believe their success for this program is right around the corner, in some way, shape or form.

“Whether that’s Wednesday or Saturday, whatever it is, these kids will deserve it, and that’s the biggest thing that I’m focused on and why we continue to work the way we do.”

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

Last summer, after almost all of his roster entered the transfer portal, Claunch and his staff re-stocked the roster with 10 new scholarship athletes. Vasean Allette, the top player recruited out of the portal, has not played and is out for the year for personal reasons.

Three others, Macaleab Rich, Stanley Borden and Pierce Spencer, have all sat out long stretches of the season with injuries. Rich and Spencer are out for the season. With only half the conference slate to be played, Claunch said it’s possible Borden will be redshirted.

South Florida starts fast and cruises past the UTSA women

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners traveled into Florida with some momentum, having won three straight and five of their last six.

The Tampa-based South Florida Bulls put a stop to it, blazing to a 25-point halftime lead and then cruising to a 70-53 victory in American Conference women’s basketball.

With their fourth straight win, the Bulls (11-7, 4-1) claimed the first meeting of the season between rivals in the American, with the rematch scheduled Feb. 14 in San Antonio.

In the meantime, the defending regular-season champion Roadrunners (8-7, 3-1) will move on to finish a two-game trip to the Sunshine State when they meet the FAU Owls Friday night in Boca Raton.

For South Florida, the Bulls did most of their damage from beyond the three-point arc, where they made 10 threes.

Freshman guard Jelena Bulajic came off the bench to lead the Bulls with 15 points, all of them on five first-half, 3-point buckets.

Redshirt junior guard Stephanie Ingram also caused problems for UTSA, scoring 14 points, while also helping to defend Roadrunners playmaker Ereauna Hardaway. Guard Edyn Battle scored 13 on the strength of three triples.

South Florida may have caught UTSA by surprise in the first half, with Bulajic and Battle running off picks to the perimeter, where they combined for eight three pointers.

It all came after UTSA built an 11-3 lead in the first few minutes.

“Once the first four minutes were over with and they decided to not let us go anywhere we wanted to go and do whatever we wanted to do, it was not a pretty game from there,” UTSA coach Karen Aston told Neal Raphael on the team’s radio broadcast.

The Bulls did a good job defending the Roadrunners, limiting the visitors to 36 percent shooting and forcing 19 turnovers. UTSA could not hit from distance, either, making only four of 16 from outside the arc.

Specifically, the Bulls defended well against Hardaway, taking away her looks at the basket and turning her into a facilitator. The senior and North Texas transfer finished with two of eight shooting, four points and eight assists.

The Bulls also controlled UTSA forward Cheyenne Rowe, holding her to eight. Combined, Hardaway and Rowe finished six of 18 from the field.

UTSA sophomores Damara Allen and Emilia Dannebauer led the Roadrunners with 13 points apiece.

Allen, a guard from Aurora, Colo., pulled down 10 rebounds for a double double. Dannebauer, a 6-4 forward from Germany, started for injured Idara Udo and hit five of six shots from the field.

“Their transition game is really good,” Aston said. “They’re really good. I don’t want to take anything away from them and how good they are.

“But we also (had) just a lack of awareness in a stretch where we just didn’t have a sense of urgency or a sense of awareness on where (Bulajic) was, or how to talk to each other and get each other in the right places.

“You know, some of it is youth, and some of it is, they played better than we did.”

Records

UTSA 8-7, 3-1
South Florida 11-7, 4-1

Coming up

UTSA at Florida Atlantic, Friday, 6 p.m.

Notable

Jelena Bulajic, one of 10 international players on the Bulls’ roster, is a 5-foot-10 freshman from Montenegro.

Forward Carla Brito, the preseason player of the year in the American, is from Spain. Brito finished with five points and nine rebounds. She was a two-of-nine shooter from the floor.

South Florida’s interim coach is Michelle Woods-Baxter, who took over in October for Jose Fernandez.

Fernandez led the Bulls to 10 NCAA tournaments in 25 seasons as a coach before taking a job as head coach of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.

UTSA forward Idara Udo, a second-team, all conference performer on the title team last year, sat out for the fifth straight game with a lower leg injury. Udo averaged 8.1 points and 7.2 rebounds through the first 10 games.

Roadrunners forward Maya Linton, another starter from last year’s squad that finished 26-5, has not played in a game yet but isn’t listed as out for the season on the player availability reports. Linton is on the trip to Florida.

First half

Bulajic came off the bench to score 15 points as the Bulls rolled to a 49-24 lead on the Roadrunners.

Bulajic hit five of six shots from the field and five of five from 3-point distance. As a team, the Bulls shot 57 percent from the floor and 71 percent from the arc in the half.

Combined, South Florida made 10 threes in 14 attempts after coming into the game hitting only 4.5 per game.

The Roadrunners started fast, jumping out to a 11-3 lead in the first five minutes. Damara Allen capped the streak with a three and a jumper.

From there, the Bulls sprinted away on a 16-0 run, with Bulajic knocking down three 3-pointers in the streak. A Hardaway jumper pulled UTSA to within 19-13 at the quarter.

In the second period, it was all South Florida. The Bulls shot 70 percent and knocked down six from long distance in outscoring the Roadrunners, 30-11.

A burgeoning rivalry is renewed as the UTSA women travel to meet South Florida

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Update: UTSA freshman guard Adriana Robles will be available to play tonight at South Florida, according to the player availability report issued Tuesday afternoon. Robles suffered an apparent ankle injury at home Saturday in a 69-63 victory against Charlotte.

All-conference forward Idara Udo will sit out her fifth straight game with a lower leg injury, according to the report. UTSA is 3-1 in her absence, including 3-0 to start play in the American Conference.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Undefeated after three games in the American Conference women’s basketball race, the defending regular-season champion UTSA Roadrunners will play on the road in Tampa on Tuesday night in the continuation of a burgeoning rivalry against the South Florida Bulls.

The Roadrunners, in only their third season in the American, all under fifth-year coach Karen Aston, have become a challenger to the Bulls for superiority in the conference.

UTSA has won two out of three in head-to-head meetings, including two wins in the 2023-24 season. One of them came in the regular season in San Antonio and another in the conference tournament at Frisco.

The latter, a tense, 58-56 victory in the tournament quarterfinals, ended the season for the Bulls.

Last season, South Florida exacted revenge, winning 75-63 in Tampa and handing UTSA its only loss in a 17-1 regular season.

The Bulls, who finished third at 13-4, won the big prize by sweeping three games in Frisco for the postseason title and a trip to the NCAA tournament.

UTSA bowed out in the quarterfinals and ended up playing in the less prestigious Women’s Basketball Invitational.

This season, the dynamics of the rivalry changed.

Not only did standouts from both teams move on in their careers, but longtime South Florida coach Jose Fernandez left in late October to accept a job with the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.

He won 485 games and went to 10 NCAA tournaments the past 25 seasons at South Florida.

In the wake of Fernandez’ departure, South Florida promoted associate head coach Michelle Woods-Baxter to interim head coach, and the transition began.

After two weeks of conference play, the Bulls are 10-7 and No. 73 in the NET. The Roadrunners, with several players injured and not playing, are 8-6 and 124th, respectively.

In the American, the Roadrunners are tied for first place with the Rice Owls and Tulsa Golden Hurricane at 3-0, while the Bulls are knotted with the East Carolina Pirates and North Texas Mean Green at 3-1.

Records

UTSA 8-6, 3-0
South Florida 10-7, 3-1

Coming up

UTSA at South Florida, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
UTSA at at Florida Atlantic, Friday, 6 p.m.

Notable

Both UTSA and South Florida have won three straight.

UTSA baseball sweeps South Florida and clinches a share of the AAC regular-season title

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners have clinched at least a share of the regular-season title in baseball in the American Athletic Conference. The AAC confirmed the development in a social media post at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Braylon Owens pitched into the ninth inning earlier in the day in leading the Roadrunners to a 3-2 victory and an AAC road sweep of the South Florida Bulls.

Braylon Owens made his first start of the season and allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings. UTSA played Wichita State in the second game of an American Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at Roadrunner-Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Braylon Owens pitched 8 and 2/3 innings for the win in UTSA’s 3-2 victory Sunday at South Florida. – File photo by Joe Alexander

With the victory, coming at USF’s home ball park in Tampa, the first-place Roadrunners (37-10 overall, 18-3 AAC) swept a weekend series in the conference for the second week in a row and extended their winning streak to eight games.

In winning its first regular-season title in 17 years, the Pat Hallmark-coached Roadrunners now lead the conference by six games over Florida Atlantic, Charlotte and South Florida, with everyone having six AAC games to play. UTSA owns series victories over each of the three teams. It is the first conference regular-season championship for the Roadrunners since they won the Southland back to back in 2007 and 2008 under Sherman Corbett.

Owens was masterful on Sunday by working 8 and 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and struck out seven.

Carrying a perfect game through five innings, he yielded a solo homer to Jackson Mayo leading off the bottom of the sixth and a two-out, Stewart Puckett RBI single in the ninth.

With Jacob Green at first, pinch running for Puckett, UTSA relief ace Robert Orloski came on to get the last out of the game. South Florida slugger Sebastian Greico, with 14 home runs on the season, flied to right fielder James Taussig to end it.

Lorenzo Morresi hit his first homer of the season to spark the Roadrunners. He and Taussig both had a couple of hits and an RBI to lead a team that had been averaging more than nine runs per game.

Immediately after Mayo gave South Florida the lead in the sixth, UTSA responded. In the top of the seventh, the Roadrunners tied it 1-1 when Morresi led off with a single and then scored from first base when Drew Detlefsen doubled down the left field line.

The Roadrunners added a run in the eighth to take their first lead. Norris McClure led off the inning when he reached first on a hit by pitch from Bulls starting pitcher Jack Nedrow. Taussig, the next batter, tagged a Nedrow fastball and drove it into the gap in left center. McClure scored, sliding in home ahead of the relay throw, to make it 2-1.

In the top of the ninth, Morresi delivered again. He led off with a solo homer to left field and a 3-1 UTSA lead. Undeterred, the Bulls kept battling in the bottom half. With one out, pinch hitter Matt Rose smacked a one-out single off Owens. When Ryan Pruitt grounded to second base for the second out, Rose moved up. Puckett ripped a single to right, bringing in Rose to cut the lead to one.

With Owens having thrown 107 pitches and Greico coming to the plate, UTSA coach Pat Hallmark decided to make a change. He went to Orloski, who promptly retired the leading home run hitter in the AAC on a high fly ball to right.

For the Roadrunners, the series against the Bulls represented an inflection point on their season. Last Friday, the Bulls took the field alone in second place, three games behind the Roadrunners with a chance to make up ground in the title race.

After getting swept, the Bulls’ title hopes have been all but dashed. UTSA now looks ahead to next week, needing one win in its last six conference games to clinch the regular season championship outright and the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament.

First, the Roadrunners will play their final non-conference game Tuesday afternoon in San Antonio against the University of the Incarnate Word.

Next, the Roadrunners are set to play three against the traditional powerhouse East Carolina Pirates in Greenville, N.C., starting Friday. The defending champion Pirates are out of the race for first place after losing 8-7 at Wichita State Sunday and falling seven games off the pace at 11-10.

UTSA will return home to close out conference play from May 15-17 with three more against the Rice Owls.

Even though the Roadrunners’ regular-season title is significant, they’re also in position to break the school record for victories in a season. The record is 39, set by Corbett’s 2008 team.

Additionally, a larger goal for players and coaches is to qualify for an NCAA tournament berth for the first time since 2013. UTSA can secure an automatic bid with an AAC postseason crown. The Roadrunners, 21st nationally in the latest ratings percentage index (RPI), also could be in the running for an at-large berth in the 64-team field.

Records

UTSA 18-3, 37-10
South Florida 12-9, 24-21

Coming up

UTSA at Incarnate Word (non conference), Tuesday at 2 p.m.
UTSA at East Carolina, Friday through Sunday
Rice at UTSA, May 15-17
(end of regular season)
AAC tournament, at Clearwater, Fla., May 20-25

Notable

UTSA is seven for seven when it comes to winning three-game weekend series in the AAC. They’ve played seven and won them all, including sweeps against Florida Atlantic, Wichita State, Memphis and South Florida.

AAC standings

UTSA 18-3, 37-10
Florida Atlantic 12-9, 31-16
Charlotte 12-9, 27-20
South Florida 12-9, 24-21
East Carolina 11-10, 27-21
Tulane 11-10, 28-20
Rice 8-13, 14-34
UAB 7-14, 23-25
Memphis 7-14, 19-28
Wichita State 7-14, 15-31

Sunday’s scores

UTSA 3, South Florida 2, at Tampa
Charlotte 12, Rice 2, at Houston
Tulane 6, Florida Atlantic 4, at New Orleans
Memphis 2, UAB 1, at Memphis
Wichita State 8, East Carolina 7, at Wichita

UTSA opens five-game lead in conference after holding off South Florida, 9-7

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners held off the South Florida Bulls 9-7 on Saturday in Tampa to clinch a weekend series and open a five-game lead in the American Athletic Conference baseball race with seven to play.

Starter Conor Myles and relievers Christian Okerholm, Jake Cothran and Connor Kelley pitched the Roadrunners (36-10, 17-3) to their seventh straight win.

Okerholm (3-0) earned the victory and Kelley notched the save. Ty Hodge led the Roadrunners with two hits, including a double, and three RBI.

After South Florida fell behind 9-3, Rafael Betancourt and Sebastian Greico hit two-run homers as the Bulls pulled to within the eventual final score.

Kelley pitched the last three and a third innings scoreless as the Roadrunners moved a step closer to what could be their first regular-season conference baseball title since 2008.

The Bulls made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning, advancing baserunners to second and third with two out. With the Bulls needing only a long single to tie the game, Kelley struck out pinch hitter Dawson Mock for the final out.

At the end of the day on Saturday, both Florida Atlantic (12-8, 31-15) and South Florida (12-8, 24-20) were tied for second, trailing UTSA by five games.

Florida Atlantic and Tulane played two in New Orleans on Saturday to make up for a game suspended on Friday night because of weather. FAU won the first game, 16-12, and then rallied for five runs in the eighth to take the second, 10-8.

At the conclusion of Sunday’s action, all teams in the AAC will have two series remaining, three games each on May 9-11 and May 15-17.

After closing out the series against South Florida Sunday, UTSA will play its final non-conference game at the University of the Incarnate Word on Tuesday afternoon, before packing up and traveling again to meet East Carolina on the weekend. UTSA returns to Roadrunner Field for its final three games May 15-17 against the Rice Owls.

The AAC tournament, with the conference’s NCAA automatic bid going to the winner, is set for May 20-25 in Clearwater, Fla. The Roadrunners haven’t played in the NCAA since 2013.

Records

UTSA 17-3, 36-10
South Florida 12-8, 24-20

Coming up

UTSA at South Florida, Sunday, noon
UTSA at Incarnate Word (non conference), Tuesday, 2 p.m.

AAC standings

UTSA 17-3, 36-10
Florida Atlantic 12-8, 31-15
South Florida 12-8, 24-20
East Carolina 11-9, 27-20
Charlotte 11-9, 26-20
Tulane 10-10, 27-20
Rice 8-12, 14-33
UAB 7-13, 23-24
Memphis 6-14, 18-28
Wichita State 6-14, 14-31

Saturday’s scores

UTSA 9, South Florida 7, at Tampa
East Carolina 6, Wichita State 1, at Wichita
Rice 7, Charlotte 6, at Houston
Memphis 12, UAB 10, at Memphis
Florida Atlantic 16, Tulane 12, at New Orleans
Florida Atlantic 10, Tulane 8, at New Orleans

UTSA baseball bolsters title hopes with an 11-5 victory over South Florida

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

First-place UTSA is trying to run away from the rest of the field in the American Athletic Conference.

Freshman Caden Miller slammed a pinch-hit grand slam to highlight a five-run seventh inning Friday night as the Roadrunners rallied to down the South Florida Bulls 11-5 in the opener of a three-game series in Tampa.

Miller, a first-year college player from Madisonville in East Texas, finished the game with five RBI. While the prolific UTSA offense produced 14 hits, starting pitcher Zach Royse (7-4) secured the win and reliever Rob Orloski picked up his fourth save. Orloski worked three innings, allowed no hits and no walks, and struck out three.

With the victory, the Roadrunners (35-10, 16-3) increased their lead to four games with eight to play in the AAC regular season.

UTSA stretched its advantage to four games over South Florida and to five over the Charlotte 49ers, who also lost Friday night, falling to the Rice Owls in Houston. UTSA will play South Florida on Saturday with a chance to win its seventh AAC series in seven tries.

Even though the Roadrunners scored the first run of the game, the Bulls answered with two in the second and two in the third against Royse to take charge. They held the lead for five innings as left-handed starting pitcher Corey Braun kept the AAC’s most explosive offense in check.

Braun struck out 10 and walked one in six and a third innings and left the game in the midst of the seventh with a 5-3 lead, with one out and runners at first and third. As Braun looked on from the dugout, things started to unravel for the home team.

Against hard-throwing righty Landen Yorek from Spring, Texas, UTSA’s Ty Hodge drew a walk to load the bases. Later, with Jordan Ballin at the plate, Yorek continued to struggle, firing a wild pitch that allowed a run to score.

Next, he hit Ballin, just grazing the batter’s elbow, to load the bases. In response, Yorek steadied himself and struck out Norris McClure. One out away from escaping trouble, he sized up the situation as Miller came off the bench to pinch hit.

One of UTSA’s standout first-year players, Miller responded by re-directing a pitch from Yorek on a high arc toward the right field wall. Ultimately, it left the ball park easily, giving the Roadrunners an 8-5 lead.

The Roadrunners tacked on three runs in the ninth to salt away their sixth win in a row and their 35th of the season. The school record for wins in a season is 39. Including a non-conference road test at Incarnate Word next Tuesday, the Roadrunners have nine to play before the AAC tournament.

They’ll play three at East Carolina next weekend, followed by three at home against Rice from May 15-17.

Correction: An earlier version of this story, which was based on running statistics from the game site, mis-identified the winning pitcher. Zach Royse earned his seventh win and Robert Orloski his fourth save, according to statistics posted later on both the UTSA and AAC websites.

Records

UTSA 16-3, 35-10
South Florida 12-7, 24-19

Coming up

UTSA at South Florida, Saturday, 1 p.m.
UTSA at South Florida, Sunday, noon
UTSA at Incarnate Word (non conference), Tuesday, 2 p.m.

Notable

UTSA entered the weekend at No. 26 nationally on the NCAA’s ratings percentage index, or, RPI. South Florida came in at No. 93.

UTSA hasn’t won a regular-season title in baseball in 17 years. The Roadrunners won back-to-back Southland crowns in both 2007 and 2008 under coach Sherman Corbett. Also in 2008, they posted a record of 39-19 for the most wins in a season in school history.

They haven’t played in an NCAA tournament since 2013, when they won the Western Athletic Conference tournament and played in the NCAA Corvallis regional under coach Jason Marshall.

As the Roadrunners played for the first time in Tampa against South Florida, Drew Detlefsen and Hodge both paced the Roadrunners’ offense with three hits apiece. Detlefsen powered a two-run homer to center in the fourth inning to bring UTSA within 4-3. It was Detlefsen’s second homer in as many games and his team-leading 13th of the season. Hodge had two singles and a double and scored twice.

James Taussig’s streak of games with home runs ended at four, but he finished with two hits and two RBI. His single to left brought home the last two runs of the game in UTSA’s three-run ninth.

AAC standings

UTSA 16-3, 35-10
South Florida 12-7, 24-19
Charlotte 11-8, 26-19
FAU 10-8, 29-15
Tulane 10-8, 27-18
East Carolina 10-9, 26-20
UAB 7-12, 23-23
Rice 7-12, 13-33
Wichita State 6-13, 14-30
Memphis 5-14, 17-28

South Florida stages huge second-half rally to down UTSA, 78-73

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Damari Monsanto. South Florida beat UTSA 78-73 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Guard Damari Monsanto scored 22 points and made seven 3-pointers for UTSA, but it wasn’t enough as South Florida rallied from 20 points down to win 78-73. — Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Trailing by 20 points with nine minutes remaining, the South Florida Bulls staged a dramatic rally to beat the UTSA Roadrunners 78-73 Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.

The Bulls found themselves down 65-45 with 9:05 remaining when things started to unravel for the Roadrunners.

Austin Claunch. South Florida beat UTSA 78-73 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Austin Claunch’s UTSA Roadrunners fell to 10-16 on the season and 4-10 in the American Athletic Conference. UTSA leads Rice and Charlotte, both 3-11 in the AAC and tied for last in the 13-team league. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Guard Jimmie Williams hit two consecutive three-point baskets to start the comeback, and it didn’t end until South Florida had outscored UTSA 33-8 in the last 8:49 of the game.

With the win, the Bulls (13-14, 6-8) snapped a three-game losing streak and handed the Roadrunners their season-high fifth straight loss.

The setback may prove costly for the Roadrunners (10-16, 4-10) as they now face the possibility of finishing 12th or 13th in the American Athletic Conference, which would force them to play on opening day of the AAC tournament.

If that is the case, UTSA would need to win five games in five days to win the title.

Such a streak of success seems almost unimaginable at the moment, with the Roadrunners having lost four home games in AAC play since early January after holding leads of nine or more points in the second half.

The Roadrunners’ four-game trail of tears started on Jan. 7 with an 82-77 setback to Tulsa. Their frustrations continued with one-point losses to Tulane on Feb. 5 and to East Carolina on Feb. 8.

UTSA led by 16 with 17 minutes left against Tulsa. In the other two, they suffered excruciating collapses in the final few minutes.

East Carolina pulled it out in the last 48 seconds, forcing a couple of turnovers and claiming an 80-79 victory on a CJ Walker free-throw line jumper with four ticks on the clock to play.

In the latest UTSA heartbreak, Williams, a 6-5 redshirt sophomore from Solon, Ohio, led the charge for South Florida. He scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the last nine minutes.

South Florida coach Ben Fletcher. South Florida beat UTSA 78-73 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

South Florida interim head coach Ben Fletcher watched as his team rallied from 20 points down to win for the team’s biggest comeback of the season. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Capping his outburst, Williams sank an acrobatic runner from 12 feet that tied the game 71-all with 49.6 seconds left.

Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch, addressing the media afterward, expressed frustration at another game that he thought his team should have won.

Once again, his attacking offense became stagnant, tentative and mistake-prone with turnovers, and then his defense, under pressure, failed to make stops at key moments.

Another major factor that helped South Florida was an injury that sidelined senior forward Raekwon Horton, who didn’t play after averaging 17 points and shooting better than 50 percent from the field over the past five games.

“As a head coach, man, I got to find a way to help our guys finish the games,” Claunch said. “You know, that’s our fourth loss, I think, where we’ve had at least a nine-point lead or something at home. Obviously this was our biggest one.

“I haven’t watched it yet (on film). It’s still fresh. But we’ve got to find a way obviously to slow their run at the end of the game and just manufacture a few baskets.”

During Claunch’s session with the media, the 35-year-old, first-year UTSA coach paused the self-analysis for a moment and congratulated the Bulls, who have worked their way back from a real-life tragedy to find hope for success on the court leading into the last few weeks.

Marcus Millender. South Florida beat UTSA 78-73 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

USA guard Marcus Millender produced 11 points, four assists and four steals for the Roadrunners. — Photo by Joe Alexander

In late October, the Bulls were stunned when their head coach, Amir Abdur-Rahim, died after suffering complications from a medical procedure. The coach of the Bulls’ 2023-24 AAC regular-season champions was 43.

“(I want to) touch on Coach Abdur-Rahim and what he’s meant to this league and this basketball community,” Claunch said. “To see them still fighting and playing the way they’re playing, certainly says a lot about the culture that he instilled — not just as a coach but as a man and as a leader.

“So, again, my condolences to their family again and their entire community. We’re thinking about them at UTSA.”

South Florida interim coach Ben Fletcher said outside the visitors’ dressing room that the comeback victory “was huge” for his coaching staff and his players.

“We’re getting closer to March,” he said. “Both teams have been struggling. They’re playing in some really close games. (This) just gives you confidence, especially when you can come on the road and get one against a really good UTSA team.”

The 20-point comeback to victory was the biggest that the Bulls have executed this season.

“You know, our guys needed some confidence,” Fletcher said. “We’d been playing in some close games and we let a few get away that we thought we should have won. So it’s always big to kind of bounce back.”

Primo Spears. South Florida beat UTSA 78-73 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Primo Spears connected on three 3-point shots and scored 18 points. He finished with five of 18 shooting from the field. — Photo by Joe Alexander

Fletcher agreed with Claunch’s analysis, that the victory underscored the type of culture that had been established by Abdur-Rahim.

“Absolutely,” Fletcher said. “It’s crazy. The way it happened today, it basically happened like that last year, too. They had gotten up on us a few points in that second half. Very similar. I don’t think it was 20, but they did a really good job.

“They shot the ball well to start the second half and then we went small (with our lineup) kind of the same way (we did tonight).”

The UTSA offense and a few individuals had their moments, for sure. Guard Damari Monsanto scored a game-high 22 points. Monsanto, from Pembroke Pines, Fla., knocked down seven of the Roadrunners’ 15 three-point field goals.

In addition, guard Primo Spears had 18 points, six rebounds and four assists. He also had two steals. Marcus Millender had 11 points, four assists and four steals. Monsanto, Spears and Millender all played 38 minutes.

Tai’Reon Joseph, inserted in the starting lineup when it became known that Horton would need to sit out, also scored 11.

For South Florida, Williams led the way with 16 points on six of nine shooting, including two threes. Jamille Reynolds and Kobe Knox each scored 13 apiece. Guard Brandon Stroud scored 11 and pulled down 17 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass. He also had four blocks and five steals.

Records

South Florida 13-14, 6-8
UTSA 10-16, 4-10

Coming up

UTSA at East Carolina, Sunday, 1 p.m.
Rice at UTSA, Sunday, March 2, 5 p.m.
Memphis at UTSA, Tuesday, March 4, 6 p.m.
UTSA at Charlotte, Sunday, March 9, 3 p.m.

First half

After playing lackluster basketball in the first half last weekend at Tulsa, UTSA came out with a more focused performance against South Florida.

South Florida assistant coach Griffin McHone. South Florida beat UTSA 78-73 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

South Florida assistant coach Griffin McHone played basketball locally at Boerne High School. He is the son of Boerne coach Kimble McHone and the grandson of former Spurs assistant and head coach Morris McHone. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Monsanto knocked down three of UTSA’s eight made three pointers before intermission as the Roadrunners took a 40-29 lead on the Bulls at intermission.

The Roadrunners hit eight of 19 from behind the arc in the half, with Spears and Millender helping out by making two apiece.

By consistently making shots from the perimeter, the Roadrunners hiked the lead to as many as 12 three times before Baboucarr Njie hit a free throw with 26 seconds left to make it 40-27.

South Florida center Jamille Reynolds followed in a shot with three seconds remaining for the final basket of the half. Reynolds led the Bulls with nine points.

For the Roadrunners, Spears scored 10 and Monsanto nine, while Joseph and Millender both had eight.

UTSA men looking for answers as they prepare to host South Florida

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For the UTSA Roadrunners, it’s time to turn the page on a four-game losing streak. With five games left in the regular season, they know they need to start playing with more urgency as the American Athletic Conference tournament looms next month.

Austin Claunch. UTSA beat North Dakota 80-76 in non-conference men's basketball on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Austin Claunch’s UTSA Roadrunners will host the South Florida Bulls tonight at 7 at the Convocation Center. – File photo by Joe Alexander

The Roadrunners kick off the stretch run with a home game tonight against the South Florida Bulls, and UTSA coach Austin Claunch doesn’t want a repeat of their last game, when they lost concentration and allowed the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to run up a big lead before halftime.

UTSA rallied in the second half and nearly pulled out a victory, but the effort just wasn’t enough.

It came too late to prevent an 0-2 record on the road trip through Wichita State and Tulsa. Now, the Roadrunners (4-9 in the AAC) find themselves in 11th place in the AAC standings, a game behind Tulsa and South Florida (both 5-8).

“We had guys come in this morning, worked hard, shot well,” Claunch said on his Monday media session. “Certainly we wish we had more wins. That goes without saying. I thought the first half against Tulsa was the first time we’d sleep walked through a game in a long, long time. I don’t mean to say that, we weren’t playing hard, or whatever the case may be.

“But there were just some mental mistakes and just some lapses that we haven’t made in awhile. By a few of our older, better guys that have been playing a lot of minutes for us. Guys that should know better.

“So again, just a really bad start to the game. Haven’t had one of those (since) I would say against FAU (on Jan. 29, on the road) we got off to sort of a snoozer of a start. This one was kind of similar.

“But we’re always looking forward, whether it’s win or lose. At the end of the day, if we had won both games, we (still) wouldn’t be where we want to be. There’s a lot of work to be done. There’s still a lot to play for in these last five games to try to build some momentum as we go to Fort Worth.”

Records

South Florida 12-14, 5-8
UTSA 10-15, 4-9

Coming up

South Florida at UTSA, tonight at 7
UTSA at East Carolina, Sunday, 1 p.m.
Rice at UTSA, Sunday, March 2, 5 p.m.
Memphis at UTSA, Tuesday, March 4, 6 p.m.
UTSA at Charlotte, Sunday, March 9, 3 p.m.

AAC men’s tournament

March 12 – At the Super Pit, in Denton (first round).
March 13-16 – At Dickies Arena, in Fort Worth (second round, quarterfinals, semis and finals)

Honoring Amir Abdur-Rahim

UTSA coach Austin Claunch paid tribute to the late Amir Abdur-Rahim this week, talking about the 43-year-old South Florida basketball coach who passed away last fall, a few weeks before the opening of the college basketball season.

In January, the American Athletic Conference announced that it would create a postseason sportsmanship award in the coach’s name:

“The Amir Abdur-Rahim Sportsmanship Award will be presented annually to the men’s basketball student-athlete who, as determined by the league’s head coaches, best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, fair play and leadership,” according to a news release from the conference.

Claunch said he honestly hasn’t given much thought to who on the Roadrunners he might nominate for it, but supports the idea wholeheartedly.

“This season is about Amir,” Claunch said. “It’s incredible the season they had last year, right? But again, when you hear people speak about him, certainly, that’s something I hope one day people speak about me in the same light. He was clearly an incredible leader, someone that just carried himself with incredible class and dignity.

“When I think about the award, there’s plenty of guys (deserving of it). But I haven’t thought too much about that. Again, this season is to honor Amir. Whoever wins that award certainly should feel that, it’s an award you shouldn’t take lightly. Something that you should understand … is named after an incredible man, and it means something.”

McHone’s homecoming

Second-year South Florida assistant coach Griffin McHone played his high school basketball for the Boerne Greyhounds. He played at Boerne under his father, Greyhounds coach Kimble McHone. Griffin is the grandson of longtime college and pro basketball coach Morris McHone, formerly the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

South Florida women snap UTSA’s 10-game winning streak with a 75-63 victory

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Six-foot-three guard Romy Levy came off the bench to score 21 points Wednesday night as the South Florida Bulls defeated UTSA, 75-63, to snap the Roadrunners’ 10-game winning streak.

In the game contested on the Bulls’ home floor in Tampa, Fla., UTSA played without Jordyn Jenkins, a player of the year candidate in the American Athletic Conference.

Jenkins sat out the final quarter of UTSA’s last game, which was last Wednesday in San Antonio. The leading scorer in the American fell late in the third quarter against Tulsa and didn’t return.

The 6-foot senior dressed out and was on the bench at South Florida but didn’t get into the game.

A UTSA spokesman confirmed after the game that Jenkins was “banged up” in the Tulsa game. He said she sat out against South Florida for “precautionary reasons.”

The Roadrunners return home to play the Temple Owls Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Convocation Center. The spokesman said Jenkins is day to day.

Even without their leading scorer and rebounder, the Roadrunners stayed close to the Bulls for most of the night. Led offensively by Cheyenne Rowe and Sidney Love, they were within three at halftime and within seven at the end of three quarters.

After a three pointer by Nina De Leon Negron with 7:01 remaining, it was a four-point game, as South Florida looked a little rattled with only a 56-52 advantage.

From there, the Levy and the Bulls took over.

Levy scored nine points down the stretch as the home team pulled away. Sammie Puisis scored 16 and Carla Brito had 14 for the Bulls, who exacted a measure of revenge after the Roadrunners ended their season last March in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament.

Mama Dembele, a point guard, had a successful night with eight points and 11 assists for South Florida.

Not only did she run an offense that shot 58 percent from the field against the Roadrunners, she was the primary defender on De Leon Negron and played well. De Leon Negron finished with nine points on two for 10 shooting.

For the Roadrunners, Rowe started for Jenkins on the front line and scored 15 points on six of 11 shooting. Love added 14 points on a seven-for-11 night. De Leon Negron, one of UTSA’s leaders all season, had nine points, six rebounds and three assists.

Notable

The 10-game streak was tied for the second longest in UTSA program history, with the team’s last loss coming on Dec. 16 at Stanford.

Quotable

“They were better than us tonight,” UTSA coach Karen Aston told the team’s radio broadcast. “Sometimes you just don’t match the moment. And, they were just better than we were. They’ve played like this some. Obviously I watched a lot of film on them, and there were games when they looked like this and there were games that they didn’t. This is just one of those games they played really well. Kudos to them. They played better than we did.”

Records

UTSA 17-3, 8-1
South Florida 14-8, 7-2

Coming up

Temple at UTSA, Saturday, 2 p.m.

Notable

North Texas won at home Wednesday night, edging Temple 70-67. As a result, UTSA and North Texas are tied for first in the AAC at 8-1. South Florida is 7-2, followed by Temple and Tulane, both 6-3. Tulane also won at home Wednesday, knocking off FAU, 68-52.

First half

With Jenkins watching from the bench, the Roadrunners played two quarters of solid defense. But the Bulls also did well on the defensive end and took a 28-25 lead into the break at intermission.

Puisis, who sat out with an injury in two losses to UTSA last season, led all scorers with nine points on three of seven shooting from the field. She hit one of two from three.

Love led the Roadrunners with eight points on four of five shooting. Without Jenkins on the floor, the Roadrunners shot 40 percent from the field.

UTSA women take a 10-game winning streak into South Florida

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The stakes keep rising for the UTSA women as they ride a 10-game winning streak into an American Athletic Conference road game against the South Florida Bulls.

Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA women's basketball beat Rice 67-58 in American Athletic Conference action at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Forward Jordyn Jenkins averages 18.9 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Roadrunners, who beat the Bulls twice last season, including once in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament. – File photo by Joe Alexander

The first-place Roadrunners (17-2, 8-0) lead the Bulls (13-8, 6-2) by two games in the standings with 10 to play in the regular season. Last fall, the Bulls were installed as the preseason favorites to win the AAC, and they battled through a rugged non-conference schedule, including seven games against Power 4 competition.

Playing at home on Dec. 21, they knocked off the top-10 Duke Blue Devils, which has allowed them to leap over the Roadrunners in the NCAA Evaluation Tool ratings. Even with six more losses, South Florida is the top AAC team in the NET at No. 67, five spots ahead of No. 72 UTSA, leading into tonight’s game in Tampa.

With the NET used to calculate teams’ strengths as they’re considered for the NCAA tournament, the ratings are not too much on anyone’s radar right now. But it surely would be a good thing for the Roadrunners to beat the Bulls for ratings points that could come in handy going into March.

If the Roadrunners are feeling any “big game” vibes, they didn’t really show it in a week of preparation since Jan. 22, their last game, when they beat Tulsa at home.

“I was curious if they would feel that way,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “To be honest, they didn’t look a whole lot different, which is, I think, a good sign.”

Consistent preparation has been a hallmark for a Roadrunners team off to its best start after 19 games in school history.

“Their habits are who they are,” Aston said. “I’m not sure that they’re approaching this game much differently than they have any of the other ones that we’ve played. I think they’re all big. You clearly can see anybody can beat anybody on a given night. I think it would be a mistake to treat one game bigger than the other.”

Records

UTSA 17-2, 10-0
South Florida 13-8, 6-2

Coming up

UTSA at South Florida, tonight, 6 p.m.
Temple at UTSA, Saturday, 2 p.m.
North Texas at UTSA, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 6:30 p.m.
UTSA at Wichita State, Saturday, Feb. 8, 1 p.m.

Notable

Aston said the break in the schedule, without having to play a game last weekend, came at a good time. “We had some kids dinged up a little bit,” she said. “Fatigue was starting to set in just from the length of the schedule, travel, all of that, school starting again. So it was a good time for us to push a re-set button.

“The kids got acclimated a little bit in going back to school. It’s always kind of a learning curve when they all start back to school again, especially for the freshmen that have never really experienced the Christmas break and then back into classes again. So I think we’ve settled in. Just a time to take a deep breath and have an extra day off.”

UTSA beat South Florida twice last year, once by a 65-42 score in San Antonio and again by a 58-56 count in Fort Worth at the AAC tournament in Fort Worth.

Tonight will be the first time UTSA will face 6-foot-1 South Florida sharpshooter Sammie Puisis, who had to sit out most of last season with a knee injury. Puisis, who averages 14.7 points, shoots 43.2 percent from the three-point line. The Bulls are No. 1 in the conference at 36.2 in three-point accuracy.