By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Over the past few weeks, members of the UTSA men’s basketball team have talked about what has been described as their three “pillars” philosophy.

“Embrace adversity. (Strive to) be a great teammate,” they say. And, finally, “earn the right to win every day.”

It’s what one player has called “the code” to live by as the Roadrunners try to reverse the fortunes of a program that has suffered through four straight losing seasons.

“At the end of the day, we want to be able to win a championship and make it to March Madness,” UTSA sophomore Baboucarr Njie said at the American Conference tip-off event a few weeks ago. “I feel like living by the code each and every day, we’ll be able to get there.”

Most players this year are new to UTSA.

On the 15-player roster that will be unveiled Saturday afternoon in a home exhibition against the University of the Incarnate Word, 11 have never suited up in a game for the Roadrunners.

Playing the second game of an exhibition doubleheader — the UTSA women will tip off against Texas A&M-San Antonio at 1 p.m., followed by the men against UIW at 3:30 p.m. — the team will take the floor at the Convocation Center.

It’ll be opening day in an effort to convince skeptics in their own fanbase that they can re-write a troubling narrative that has been dogging Roadrunners men’s basketball for more than a dozen years.

Ever since UTSA started football and departed from the Southland Conference, men’s basketball has struggled.

The Roadrunners, starting in 2012-13, have stacked 10 losing seasons out of 13 in leagues ranging from the Western Athletic Conference (for one year), Conference USA (for 10) and the American (for the last two).

Even though most players in coach Austin Claunch’s second year on campus have just arrived on campus, at least one player says that they all know the story.

“Obviously UTSA hasn’t had very great seasons in the past couple of years, and our team knows that,” former San Antonio schoolboy standout Austin Nunez said. “So, we’re trying to (come in) with a different mentality, of just trying to go at whoever is in front of us.”

The game against UIW will not count on UTSA’s record. But it’s a jumping off point to the regular season, which will open Nov. 5 at home against the College of Biblical Studies.

The first game against NCAA Division I competition will come on Nov. 7 against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Ever since the release of the American’s preseason poll a few weeks ago, UTSA players have been irritated with being picked 11th.

“My expectations are to win 20 games,” said Nunez, an all-state player at Wagner High School. “And, you know, you win 20 games and you’re in a great spot. That’s definitely the goal.”

The Roadrunners have won only 43 games over the past four seasons, so a 20-win season seems implausible.

“That’s something the school hasn’t done in a long time,” Nunez said. “Getting there is going to put us in the spot that we want to be in. And from there, we got to just take care of the rest.”

Claunch said his players, who have been together practicing since June, are eager to get their season started.

“Guys are just ready to go,” Claunch said. “Guys are ready to play. It’s kind of time of year that you’re in that scrimmage-exhibition kind of mode, and guys are excited to see somebody else (on the court).”

Mo Njie, a 6-foot-11 grad student, returns as one of the leaders of the team.

After going through Claunch’s offseason last summer, Babourcarr Njie’s older brother knows all about the pillars of success and, particularly, about the meaning of embracing of adversity.

He sat out most of last year with a foot injury.

Asked to explain the second pillar, to describe what it means to be a good teammate, center Mo Njie said it mostly boils down to just doing the right things on a day-to-day basis for the benefit of everyone in the locker room.

“Really, it goes on and off the floor,” he said. “Looking out for each other through ups and downs. Somebody dives on the floor, be the first person to sprint over and pick him up. Clapping for them, your know.

“Whether you’re playing or not, having a good mentality. Being positive. Have positive body language. Just being a good person overall. It doesn’t really take much to be a great teammate, but it’s something that is very under mind for a lot of people.”

What about earning the right to win, and doing it on a daily basis?

“You know, winning is not easy,” Mo Njie said. “You got to be able to come in every single day. You got to be disciplined. You got to be consistent and you got to be able to do whatever it takes to win. That means the little things, too.”

The little things?

“Guys got to get into the gym every day and get extra shots,” he said. “Communicate with each other on an elite level in practice. It’s going to mean a lot in the big games.

“Like, we got a lot of big games coming up in Alabama, Colorado and whatnot, so, going into those environments, we’re going to have to do the little things to put us on top in those games.”

Coming up

The San Antonio Challenge will tip off on Saturday at the Convocation Center, with Texas A&M-San Antonio playing the UTSA women at 1 p.m., followed by Incarnate Word against the UTSA men at 3:30 p.m.

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