By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA guard and assist leader Austin Nunez, shaken up in a hard fall to the floor last weekend, won’t play Wednesday night in an American Conference men’s’ basketball road game at East Carolina.

The injury occurred late in the second half in San Antonio on Saturday, when the North Texas Mean Green beat the Roadrunners, 81-58.

The decision to hold Nunez out for East Carolina was reported Wednesday afternoon on the conference’s website under player availability reports.

The Roadrunners will tip off against the Pirates Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Center Mo Njie is also listed as out for the game between teams battling to stay alive in the chase for the last spot in the conference tournament.

UTSA has six players listed as either out for the season or out for the game. A seventh, Dorian Hayes, is questionable with a shoulder issue.

Both Nunez and Hayes have been starters for most of the season. Nunez is the team’s second leading scorer (9.8) and leader in assists (61 total) in 22 games.

If both are out, it’s possible that sophomore walk on LJ Brown from San Antonio’s Johnson High School will start in the backcourt.

By dropping the home game against North Texas, UTSA extended its program-record losing streak to 16 games.

Records

UTSA 0-11, 4-19
East Carolina 2-8, 7-16

Coming up

UTSA at Charlotte, Sunday, 11 a.m.
FAU at UTSA, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 6 p.m.

Notable

East Carolina features guard Jordan Riley, the leading scorer in the American. Riley has scored more than 30 points in each of his last three games.

The 6-5 guard is averaging 23.3 points. He scored 37 against Rice, 35 in a road victory at FAU and in his last game, he scored 32 at home Saturday against Temple.

Riley is from Brentwood, N.Y. He has also played at Georgetown and Temple. Riley is in his second year with the Pirates under coach Michael Schwartz.