The UTSA Roadrunners will close out their regular-season schedule in bonus play with a four-game set against the FAU Owls, the UAB Blazers, the Old Dominion Monarchs and the Marshall Thundering Herd, the Conference USA office announced Sunday.
UTSA schedule
Thursday, Feb. 27 — UTSA at FAU, 6 p.m.
Comment: An extremely difficult bonus-play opener for the Roadrunners. The Owls had home-court advantage on Jan. 2 in the C-USA opener for both teams, and they used it to run up a big early lead that the Roadrunners couldn’t overcome. FAU won 79-64.
Sunday, March 1 — UAB at UTSA, 2 p.m.
Comment: Another tough game. The Blazers beat the Roadrunners 74-68 in San Antonio on Jan. 31. In doing so, they won the rebounding battle, 46-24. The Blazers also dominated 38-22 in points in the paint and 15-2 in second-chance points.
Wednesday, March 4 — UTSA at Old Dominion, 6 p.m.
Comment: In one of their better efforts this season, the Roadrunners beat the Monarchs 85-81 in overtime at Norfolk on Feb. 6 behind Jhivvan Jackson’s season-high 45 points. The Roadrunners will need to do a better job in the rematch on Malik Curry, who scored 30, and A.J. Oliver, who added 20.
Saturday, March 7 — Marshall at UTSA, 3 p.m.
Comment: Didn’t we just see these guys? Yes. The Roadrunners won at home, beating the Thundering Herd 72-63 four days ago. Both teams shot poorly, with the Roadrunners at 30 percent and the Herd at 33 percent. UTSA won the game at the free-throw line, with the Roadrunners 21 of 26 against the Herd’s 11 of 19.
Tournament time
The C-USA tournament will be played March 11-14 in Frisco, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
To earn the automatic bid for the program’s first NCAA appearance since 2011, the Roadrunners will need to win four games in four days.