UTSA senior Jamir Simpson, in his last game at home, played all 40 minutes and scored 21 points against the Wichita State Shockers. During the game, Simpson surpassed 2,000 points for his college career. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Guard Kenyon Giles scored 28 points Sunday, and the Wichita State Shockers dominated on defense and on the boards, dealing the UTSA Roadrunners an 84-67 loss on Senior Night.

In their last home game and the second-to-last of the season, the beleaguered Roadrunners played with only six players and stayed within single figures of the Shockers for about 17 minutes.

Sophomore Baboucarr Njie produced 21 points and seven rebounds. Njie hit eight of 15 shots from the field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

After that, the visitors from Kansas gradually pulled away for their fifth straight victory.

The Roadrunners lost their fourth straight and their 21st in their last 22 games. They finished with 11 straight losses at home.

UTSA will take a record of 5-24 and 1-16 in the American Conference into its season finale a week from today at Houston against the Rice Owls.

Senior Jamir Simpson and sophomore Baboucarr Njie scored 21 points apiece to lead the Roadrunners. Simpson, from Lima, Ohio, eclipsed the 2,000-point mark for his college career.

Forward Daniel Akitoby produced 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Defense was the name of the game for the Shockers, who held to Roadrunners to 33.3 percent shooting, including 20.6 percent in the first half.

In addition, Wichita State won the rebounding battle, 55-38. Of their 55 boards, 21 came on the offensive glass.

The Shockers also blocked eight shots and produced four steals in improving their record to 20-10 and 12-5.

UTSA coach Austin Claunch acknowledged that his team played hard, but he added that the Roadrunners could have played better than they did.

“First half, our rhythm wasn’t there … We missed some that we normally make. Just wasn’t a great first half, and we’re playing a good team,” Claunch said.

Wichita State is bidding for a top-two finish and a triple bye into the American Conference tournament under third-year coach Paul Mills. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“We did a good job on Giles in the first half,” the coach added. “Now you’re trying to play catch up, so the game is getting a little more loose and he gets a one-pass three. Just can’t happen.

“We made too many mental mistakes to beat a good team.”

Giles, a 5-10 guard from Chesapeake, Va., is a Player of the Year Candidate in the American. He entered the game averaging 19.2 points.

The transfer from UNC Greensboro came in shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from three. Against UTSA, he shot 11 of 27 from the field and six of 15 from long distance.

Giles hit five threes in the second half on eight of 14 shooting.

Records

Wichita State 20-10, 12-5
UTSA 5-24, 1-16

Coming up

UTSA at Rice, Sunday, 2 p.m.

Notable

UTSA’s 24 losses tie the 1985-86 team for second-most in program history.

Coach Don Eddy’s last team at UTSA finished 7-24. The program record for losses in a season is 27. Coach Brooks Thompson’s last team in 2015-16 finished 5-27.

Wichita State is bidding for a top-two finish in the American Conference. With one game to play, the Shockers are 20-10 on the season and 12-5 in conference. Tulsa is third at 23-6 and 11-5.

If Wichita State can finish in the top two, it would give the Shockers a triple bye in the tournament, all the way through to the semifinals.

That means they’d only need to win two games in two days at Birmingham to claim the conference’s postseason title and automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

First half

Dillon Battie scored 12 points, and Wichita State held UTSA to 20.6 percent shooting to build a 41-29 lead at intermission.

The Shockers broke the game open in the last seven minutes, defending, blocking shots and going on a 15-7 run.

Wichita State guard Kenyon Giles poured in 21 of his 28 points in the second half against UTSA. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Giles started the burst with a three-pointer. Battie connected on a couple of free throws and then 7-foot-2 Will Berg rebounded and hit a follow shot, making it a 33-22 ball game.

Wichita State blocked five shots in the half, including two by TJ Williams.

Giles, the Shockers’ leading scorer, knocked down a 14-footer for the last basket of the half.

The 5-10 guard from Chesapeake, Va., was held to seven points on three of 13 shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Discombobulated and not playing very well most of the afternoon, the UTSA women pulled it together in the final minutes Saturday to win their 20th game of the season, posting a 60-49 road victory over the Wichita State Shockers.

As a result, the Roadrunners improved to 20-3 for their first 20-win season in 16 years and only the fourth in 44 years of program history. They also maintained the lead in the American Athletic Conference at 11-1.

UTSA hopes to win the AAC title and reach the NCAA tournament this year, but reaching 20 wins has always been a goal for a coaching staff that took over a 2-18 team when it arrived in 2021.

“We’ve talked about it since we got here four years ago,” UTSA coach Karen Aston told Neal Raphael on the team’s radio broadcast. “It’s just something that I think is a benchmark of a good basketball team and a successful season.

“The kids knew that. Maybe they were a little anxious about it. I don’t know. They really wanted to get to 20, and they did it.”

With a 13-1 record in their last 14 games, the Roadrunners’ AAC title quest continues Wednesday night when they host the East Carolina Pirates at the Convocation Center. They’ll play two at home next week, including a game against Memphis on Saturday, Feb. 15.

With the game against Wichita State tied midway through the fourth period, statistics showed that the Roadrunners had made only nine of 49 shots from the field to that point.

But they shrugged it off and hit five field goals on their next five possessions to take charge against a team that was tied for last in the conference.

It started when Nina De Leon Negron pushed the pace on a breakout, feeding Jordyn Jenkins for a layup. After Jayla Murray sank a three from the left wing to give the Shockers a 43-42 lead, Roadrunners’ sophomore Aysia Proctor answered with a three out of the left corner.

Following a miss by Wichita State, forward Idara Udo sank a layup off a feed from Jenkins, pushing UTSA’s lead to four. Shockers guard Taylor Jameson attacked on the other end and hit a crazy, no-look flip shot from under the basket to make it a two-point game.

At that point, the Roadrunners sensed a victory was at hand and would not be denied. First, Sidney Love sliced inside and flipped in a finger roll. When Wichita State turned it over on the next possession, Love again responded, catching a feed from De Leon Negron and laying it in for a 51-45 advantage.

Wichita State made one last push to stay in the game when Maimouna Cissoko, the sister of former Spurs guard Sidy Cissoko, sprinted ahead for a layup. When it fell, UTSA’s lead had been trimmed to four and the Shockers had some momentum.

But as Love brought the ball up for the Roadrunners, she was contested by a defender at halfcourt and drew a foul. Shockers coach Terry Nooner vocally protested the call and was hit with a technical. As a result, the Roadrunners were awarded four free throws — two for the personal foul and one for the tech — and made three of them.

They also were awarded the next possession, and they capitalized when Jenkins followed a miss to make it a nine-point game with 1:48 left. The Shockers never threatened again.

First half

Salese Blow scored 11 points over the opening two quarters and Wichita State held sluggish UTSA to 23 percent shooting. As a result, the Shockers took a 27-23 advantage into the dressing room at halftime.

Looking for answers and, perhaps, a hot hand shooting the ball, UTSA coach Karen Aston sent 11 players into the game. But the results were not pretty. The Roadrunners hit only six of 26 from the field and two of 11 from three.

Meanwhile, the last-place Shockers did just enough to give themselves a cushion. They fell behind early, but then took advantage of sloppy play from the Roadrunners to kick the lead up gradually to nine points in the second quarter.

Idara Udo led the Roadrunners with six points and four rebounds. Jordyn Jenkins had five points on one of six shooting. The Shockers did a good job on Jenkins, forcing multiple turnovers when the Roadrunners tried to pass inside to her.

Records

UTSA 20-3, 11-1
Wichita State 8-17, 2-10

Coming up

East Carolina at UTSA, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
Memphis at UTSA, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2 p.m.

UTSA guard Marcus Millender scored 21 points to lead the Roadrunners Saturday afternoon against the Wichita State Shockers. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The hot-shooting UTSA Roadrunners snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday, knocking down 15 three-point baskets in an 88-75 decision over the Wichita State Shockers for their first victory in the American Athletic Conference under first-year Coach Austin Claunch.

Playing on the back end of a basketball doubleheader at the Convocation Center, the Roadrunners raced to a 47-32 halftime lead and never let up in what Claunch described as the team’s best performance of the season. They shot 52.5 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc.

Guard Marcus Millender tied a season-high with 21 points and made five three-pointers. Also, forward Raekwon Horton had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Damari Monsanto pitched in 17 points and he, too, had five threes.

UTSA coach Austin Claunch picked up his first victory in the American Athletic Conference and vowed there would be more to come. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Six-foot-nine forward Jo Smith defended the basket with four blocks on one end of the floor, and he also contributed 13 points on the other.

With the performance, the Roadrunners earned a measure of redemption for their showing on Tuesday night at home against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

Tulsa rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to win, 82-77, handing UTSA its third straight loss and dropping the team into an 0-2 hole in the AAC race. After manhandling the Shockers, the Roadrunners improved to 7-8 on the season and to 1-2 in conference.

Asked what changed in the days between the Tulsa and Wichita State games, Claunch launched into a story about how athletes sometimes just need to keep working to get things right.

“Ninety percent of me is fired up,” Claunch said. “Then there’s 10 percent, it’s like I feel we should be 2-1 (in the AAC). You know, you play 28 minutes of good basketball — give Tulsa a lot of credit; I’m not going to take anything away from what they did — but the point is, we showed today that, now, we can finish it.

“And so as excited as we are, we’re double as hungry. Because I think now, you know, it just takes time. The team is always giving me a hard time because I’m always giving them metaphors, stories, things like that. We talk about the stone cutter and … you just show up and work every day.

“Eventually, it shows up. Today, I think was a good example of that. We’re just getting started. You know, we got a lot of work to do. Our goal is not to win one conference game. Our goal is to win a lot of conference games. So, you’ll see these guys back in here working tomorrow.”

Raekwon Horton had 19 points and 10 rebounds against Wichita State. He also had five assists and a couple of steals, all in 36 minutes. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Horton talked about how hungry the Roadrunners were to win against the Shockers and what it meant to get the victory for Claunch, who was hired last spring and built the team mostly from scratch after all but one scholarship player from last season entered the transfer portal.

“I love playing for coach,” said Horton, who talked about how Claunch has a way of pumping up players’ confidence.

“Some coaches will tear you down or put you on the bench,” Horton said. “Coach Claunch will build you up. He’ll never tell you to stop shooting. He say, ‘Next one is good. Keep going hard. I got you. I got you.’ ”

For the Shockers, who remained winless through three games in the AAC, guard Xavier Bell led with 23 points, and center Quincy Ballard had 22.

With a little more than three minutes remaining, tempers flared between the teams when Wichita State’s Corey Washington contested a jumper by UTSA’s Primo Spears.

As Spears released his shot, Washington re-directed it into the corner. On his backside, Spears caught it, and then two-handed it in the other direction, hitting Washington on the head with the ball.

It didn’t land hard, but it was hard enough for tempers to flare and for officials to move in to keep the peace.

They sent both teams to their respective benches and went to the monitor to look at the replay. When it was over, Washington was called for a personal foul. In addition, both Spears and Washington were assessed technical fouls.

A technical was also called on the UTSA bench, presumably for something that was said when emotions were running high.

Damari Monsanto produced 17 points in 18 minutes of playing time. As usual, he was deadly from deep, making five of seven, including four of four in the second half. – Photo by Joe Alexander

On the back end of the drama, Xavier Bell sank two free throws for Wichita State, followed by Spears making two for UTSA. The Roadrunners, leading by 86-69 with 3:27 remaining at that point, had the game more or less in the bag.

But Claunch said he was happy that his players stayed composed and finished with the double-digit victory.

“It’s a competitive game,” the coach said. ” … We did a great job keeping our composure. But, these guys love each other. They’re going to defend themselves and defend each other … I thought we did a great job coming out of that huddle and finishing the game, making free throws, not turning it over and milking the clock.

“Really proud of it all around. Obviously, you don’t want to have dust-ups or anything like that. But again, we protect home (court). We protect home, and obviously, we’re going to always have each other’s back. But, on top of that, we did a great job of just being composed.

“That’s what happens with an older team that’s been in this experience, and having guys like (Millender) who’s a great ball handler, having older guys like Rae and Pri (Spears). It’s what it’s all about and that’s how you finish games.”

UTSA shot the ball well from long distance all night. If it wasn’t Millender making five of seven threes in the first half, it was Damari Monsanto hitting four of four from deep in the second.

One of Monsanto’s high-arcing shots splashed, topping off a 7-0 run and giving the Roadrunners their largest lead of the game, 71-49, with 11:29 remaining.

Records

Wichita State 10-6, 0-3
UTSA 7-8, 1-2

Coming up

UTSA at Rice, Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Notable

The Roadrunners won both ends of the doubleheader against the Shockers, with the women claiming the first game, 69-51.

Jonnivius Smith, cocking his wrist and preparing to dunk, finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four blocks against the Shockers. – Photo by Joe Alexander

The UTSA men should get a boost in the NET ratings after beating Wichita State by 13 points. Wichita State, with victories earlier in the season over Power 4 teams Minnesota and Kansas State, entered the game rated at No. 139 in the nation. UTSA entered at No. 281.

Roadrunners guard Primo Spears, who scored a career-high 40 points Wednesday night against Tulsa, had eight points, six assists and a steal against Wichita State.

UTSA forward Jaquan Scott did not play in his second straight game. A team spokesman said later that Scott is “away from the team on a family matter.”

The Rice Owls, who will host the Roadrunners Tuesday night, suffered a tough loss at home on Saturday afternoon. They fell to Temple, 73-70. Temple secured the victory on two Jamal Mashburn free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining. As a result, Rice fell to 11-6 on the season and to 2-2 in the AAC in Rob Lanier’s first season at the school.

High-flying UTSA guard Tai’Reon Joseph finishes off a slam against the Wichita State Shockers. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Jordyn Jenkins scored 21 points on 10 of 19 shooting as the UTSA Roadrunners defeated the Wichita State Shockers. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

With a prominent WNBA coach in attendance, Jordyn Jenkins scored 21 points Saturday as the UTSA Roadrunners beat the Wichita State Shockers 69-51 for their seventh straight victory.

As a result, UTSA improved to a program-best 14-2 after 16 games. Dominating in the paint against the Shockers, the Roadrunners also stayed undefeated in the American Athletic Conference at 5-0.

The 5-0 mark ties for the program-best start in conference from the 1983-84 season, the third year of basketball at UTSA, when the team played in the Oil Country Athletic Conference.

UTSA started fast with a 20-8 first quarter and were never seriously challenged afterward, claiming their 10th straight win at home, dating back to last season.

Forward Idara Udo had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Roadrunners. She pulled down four rebounds on the offensive glass. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“I thought we played really, really well out of the gates,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “That was something we talked about it after the Rice game. Thought it was a little unusual how we started that game, so I thought we were pretty intentional in starting better.

“Played well in the first half and then sort of maybe took a nap at half, or something. I thought Wichita State made some adjustments at halftime, too, and started attacking us a little differently. I thought we re-focused for the fourth quarter and ended up playing pretty well.”

Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon attended the game and talked to the Roadrunners afterward.

Asked if Hammon was her personal guest or whether she came to watch some players, Aston said, “Maybe a little of both. I’ve been talking to her quite a bit about just coming out. I mean, this is kind of her home base. I don’t think it’s home base very often, but definitely wanted to try and get her out.”

Hammon served as an assistant coach with the Spurs in the NBA before taking a job with the Aces in the WNBA. With the Spurs, the former WNBA point guard for the San Antonio Stars became the first female to be hired fulltime as an assistant coach in the NBA.

She took a job with the Aces as head coach and won the WNBA title in 2022 and 2023.

“It’s important for our players to see someone that’s willing to step out of their busy schedule and support women’s basketball in our community,” Aston said. “She has a unique place in San Antonio history as far as basketball is concerned. So I’ve been coaxing her for some time to come out to practice. Anything that would help these guys (the UTSA players) just have some words of wisdom, from someone who’s had the type of success that she’s had.”

Aston declined to comment on the status of UTSA forward Nyayongah Gony, who has been on crutches this week and hasn’t played either in the Roadrunners’ 67-58 victory over Rice on Wednesday or on Saturday against the Shockers.

Gony was wearing a brace on her left leg. Also, Aston said she didn’t know what happened with forward Cheyenne Rowe, who went down to the floor on a play in the final minutes of the game in front of the UTSA bench. She was assisted off the floor by a trainer.

First half

Attacking in the paint and controlling the boards, the UTSA Roadrunners overwhelmed the Wichita State Shockers, taking a 34-16 lead into the dressing room at intermission.

UTSA held a 27-11 lead in rebounding and a 15-0 lead in second-chance points at the break. Cheyenne Rowe had six rebounds off the bench, including three on the offensive end.

Idara Udo and Sidney Love had five boards apiece.

Jenkins led the offense with 10 points on five of 10 shooting from the field. Udo had seven points and, in all, seven players scored.

The Roadrunners kept Wichita State scoring leader Jayla Murray off balance, as the power forward made only two field goals in five attempts and scored four. Guard Taylor Jameson knocked down a couple of threes and scored six.

Records

Wichita State 7-12, 1-4
UTSA 14-2, 5-0

Coming up

UTSA at Memphis, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Notable

UTSA has two winning streaks of seven games this season. The team lost its opener at Texas A&M and then won the next seven. After losing at Stanford, UTSA has won another seven going into Memphis Wednesday night. Nine of UTSA’s 14 victories have come by double-digit margins.

Jenkins is known for her scoring. She’s scored 315 points in 16 games for a 19.7 average this season. She’s also shot it well, hitting 51 percent from the field. But she’s also worked hard defensively, registering 22 steals and 23 blocked shots.

UTSA point guard UTSA point guard Nina De Leon Negron had 11 points and four assists in 29 minutes against the Shockers. She hit four of four shots from the field and three of three from 3-point distance. – Photo by Joe Alexander