By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
UTSA’s season is over.
It’s also over for the Rice Owls, who built an 18-point lead in the first eight minutes of the game and then held on at the end for an 80-71 victory over the Roadrunners in an American Conference men’s basketball finale Sunday in Houston.
Both teams finished in the bottom three in the 13-team conference and thus will not play in the postseason tournament, which opens Wednesday in Birmingham.
Freshman Matheo Coffi emerged as a bright spot against the Owls with 12 points and 14 rebounds as the Roadrunners finished 5-25 overall and in last place in the American at 1-17.
“He’s really played great down the stretch,” second-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch said on team’s radio broadcast. “Obviously we’re really excited about him as a freshman.
“He’s got a chance to be a good player in this league.”
Junior guard Brent Moss also enjoyed a solid game with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Baboucarr Njie scored 16 and guard Jamir Simpson 11.
Because of injuries, UTSA played only seven players against the Owls.
For the Owls, Jalen Smith scored 25 points and Nick Anderson 20. The two guards combined to hit 11 of the team’s 12 three-pointers, with Anderson making six.
Rice’s hot-shooting start proved to be the difference in the game.
“You can’t give ’em an 18-point lead in the first half, right,” Claunch said. “You get it back to whatever it was, nine or 10, but it’s just hard, playing a team on the road. They played great.
“They played well (on) Senior Day. You expect them to come out and play well. Their guards played with great poise and purpose. I’m proud of how we fought back. But now we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Despite a 17-game losing streak and 22 losses in 23 games to close the season, Claunch said he is proud of his team.
“It’s bigger than basketball,” the coach said. “I’ve coached some of these guys for the last time. These guys are always part of my family, part of our family.
“I got to look back and figure out why we didn’t have the year we wanted to have on the court. But it’s still a special group of young men.
“They’re going to do a lot of good things past this, and I’m proud of ’em.”
The UTSA men had trouble from the beginning fielding a healthy, cohesive lineup.
By the time conference play started, the adversity had reached crisis proportions.
Claunch said the plague of injuries was the worst he has endured in seven seasons as a head coach, including five at Nicholls State and two at UTSA.
Injuries decimated UTSA’s frontcourt, knocking out, at various times, Duke transfer and 7-foot center Stanley Borden, 6-11 forward Mo Njie and 6-7 forward Macaleab Rich.
Borden played in only three games and Rich in 11, while neither made an appearance in an American Conference game.
Arizona State transfer Austin Nunez, meanwhile, made it to Feb. 7 before a hard fall under the basket in a home game against North Texas ended his season.
Nunez, averaging 9.8 points, played only 22 games.
Perhaps most disappointing of all, TCU transfer Vasean Allette never played at all for personal reasons.
Combined with a midseason shoulder injury to freshman guard Dorian Hayes, the adversity proved to be too much to overcome, and the Roadrunners played with anywhere from six to eight healthy players for most of the last two months.
Looking ahead to next year, the Roadrunners hope to build around this season’s young core of sophomore Baboucarr Njie, plus freshman Dorian Hayes, Kaidon Rayfield and Coffi.
Nunez and Moss, both juniors, also have eligibility remaining.
Records
UTSA 5-25, 1-17
Rice 13-18, 7-11
Notable
The Roadrunners’ win-loss record in conference play (1-17) is the worst in program history.
Their 5-25 overall record matches the program record for fewest wins in a season and ranks second in most losses.
In 2015-16, Brooks Thompson’s last team at UTSA finished 5-27 and 3-15 in Conference USA.