By Jerry Briggs
For theJBreplay.com
Two NCAA Division I men’s college basketball programs that have enjoyed only sporadic success over the years are set to meet for the 59th time tonight in San Marcos.
Texas State (0-1) will host UTSA (1-0) at 7 p.m. at Strahan Coliseum.
UTSA won last season’s meeting 63-48 on Nov. 25 in San Antonio, marking Steve Henson’s second career victory as head coach.
The series started in 1985 with a 83-76 UTSA win. UTSA holds a 17-13 record in San Antonio, a 15-11 mark in San Marcos and is 2-0 at neutral sites.
UTSA will be playing without freshman forward Adrian Rodriguez, who is lost for the season with what is believed to be a knee injury.
Rodriguez sustained the injury on Sunday at home in the second half of UTSA’s 92-59 victory over East Central, Oklahoma.
UTSA freshman guard Keaton Wallace led the way against East Central with a game-high 22 points on six three pointers.
Texas State is in its fifth year under Coach Danny Kaspar, formerly the head coach at Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
Last season, Kaspar led the Bobcats to a 22-14 record and into the finals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
They finished the season by advancing to third round of the Collegeinsider.com Tournament.
It was the first winning season for Texas State since 2003.
UTSA is also rebuilding under Henson.
The Roadrunners were one of the worst teams in Division I in 2015-16 when they plummeted to a 5-27 record.
Henson took over last year and led the team to a 14-19 season.
UTSA started its program at the Division I level in 1981-82.
The Roadrunners have made four NCAA appearances (1988, 1999, 2004 and 2011).
Twenty years have passed since Texas State reached the NCAAs.
The Bobcats’ only appearances (1994 and 1997) came after the program executed a move from Division II to the Division I level in 1983-84, according to the program’s media guide.
UIW women host Taeler Deer, Texas State
High-scoring Taeler Deer and the Texas State women will play at Incarnate Word tonight at 6.
Deer, a senior guard, scored 44 points in Texas State’s 87-70 victory at Texas Tech on Sunday.
UIW (0-2) is looking for its first victory of the year against Texas State (1-0).
The UTSA women (1-1) host UT-Arlington (2-0) at 7.