Update: Injured UTSA forward Macaleab Rich will not play tonight against the Charlotte 49ers, according to the player availability report published Wednesday afternoon. In the team’s first conference game last Wednesday, he played four minutes before suffering a groin injury in a 110-70 loss at Florida Atlantic. On Saturday, Rich sat out the second game of the road trip, a 76-57 loss at Temple. Rich, a 6-7, 245-pound forward from East St. Louis, Mo., is averaging 8.1 points on 55 percent shooting.
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Riding a seven-game losing streak and winless after two games in the American Conference men’s basketball race, UTSA Austin Claunch says he still believes in his team.
He knows his program needs to do quite a bit of housekeeping to clean up the problems that have plagued the Roadrunners in the first few months of the season.
But as they prepare to open a three-game homestand against the Charlotte 49ers on Wednesday night, Claunch wants his players to understand that they just need to stay with the process.
Just keep chipping away each day with an eye on making the conference tournament, which will play out in Birmingham, Ala., in March.
This season, the conference will be inviting only 10 of its 13 teams for the postseason event, so there is some urgency for those projected to finish near the bottom of the standings.
But the Roadrunners keep coming to practice with a good attitude, willing to learn.
“What I love about this group is that there’s no finger pointing,” Claunch said. “There’s not going to be excuse making. We’re going to come in here and work and we’re going to try and get better.
“We’ve got 16 games (remaining, and) we got to continue to build and get ourselves to Birmingham with a chance to make the NCAA tournament.”
UTSA (4-10, 0-2 in the American) and Charlotte (7-8, 1-1) will tip off at 7 tonight at the Convo.
The Roadrunners will host the Tulane Green Wave on Saturday and the Rice Owls on Jan. 14 in an effort to get the ball rolling their way.
“Obviously we love being home and we love our practices here,” Claunch said. “Now we got to come out and play better on Wednesday.”
Records
Charlotte 7-8, 1-1
UTSA 4-10, 0-2
Coming up
Charlotte at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Tulane at UTSA, Saturday, noon
Rice at UTSA, Jan. 14, 7 p.m.
Notable
The Roadrunners’ losing streak matches a seven-game skid from the 2023-24 season in the last year of former head coach Steve Henson’s tenure. UTSA dropped 11 in a row in 2022-23.
UTSA hasn’t won since since Nov. 25 in Jacksonville, Fla., against Georgia Southern.
Since then, the Roadrunners have dropped games to South Alabama, Alabama, Colorado, Southern Cal, Seattle, Florida Atlantic and Temple. The South Alabama and Seattle setbacks came on UTSA’s home court. The others were on the road.
Charlotte started conference play last week by splitting two games at home. First, the 49ers lost 76-73 to the Temple Owls. Next, they won a thriller, rallying from double digits to win 104-100 in two overtimes against the Wichita State Shockers.
Guard Dezane Mingo had 26 points and 10 assists in the victory. Both Mingo and guard Damoni Harrison, who scored 22, came off the bench for the 49ers against the Shockers.
The 49ers trailed by 18 points with 15 minutes left in regulation and rallied to tie, 80-80, going into the first overtime.
Charlotte is led by Australia native Aaron Fearne, in his third year as head coach of the 49ers. Trevor DeLoach, a member of Claunch’s UTSA staff last season, is in his first year as a Charlotte assistant.
While the Roadrunners haven’t reached an NCAA tournament since 2011, it’s been even longer drought for the 49ers, who made their last trip in 2005. Charlotte, led by Cedric ‘Cornbread’ Maxwell, reached the NCAA Final Four in 1977.