? Game notes (.pdf)
UTSA Roadrunners (4-2) at Arkansas Razorbacks (7-1)
Wednesday, Dec. 12 ? 7:05 p.m. ? Bud Walton Arena (19,200) ? Fayetteville, Ark.
Series Record: Arkansas leads, 3-0
Last Meeting: Arkansas 74, UTSA 67 (Dec. 18, 1984)
SAN ANTONIO ? UTSA (4-2) travels to Fayetteville, Ark., to faceArkansas (7-1) on Wednesday, Dec. 12. Tip is set for 7:05 p.m. at BudWalton Arena (19,200).
Tuning In: The game will be televised in the state of Arkansas on the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network and will be available nationwide to ESPN Full Court subscribers. Live audio will be available to Rowdy Zone subscribers at goUTSA.com. Live stats will be provided online at hogwired.com.
Fast Break Points:
? This is the fourth meeting between UTSA and Arkansas
? Arkansas holds a 3-0 lead in the all-time series and won the last meeting, 74-67, on Dec. 18, 1984, in Little Rock
? The Razorbacks beat the Roadrunners, 71-42, on Nov. 30, 1981, at San Antonio’s Hemisfair Arena in UTSA’s first game in school history
? At 4-2, the Roadrunners are off to their best start since the 2004-05 campaign
? Wednesday’s game is the third of at least seven televised UTSA games this season
UTSA/Arkansas Series History: This will be the fourth meeting between UTSA and Arkansas. The Razorbacks hold a 3-0 lead in the all-time series, with all three games played during UTSA’s first four seasons of competition. Arkansas defeated UTSA, 71-42, on Nov. 30, 1981, at Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio in what was the first men’s basketball game in UTSA history. The Razorbacks won the return trip to Fayetteville the following season, 78-59, and held off the Roadrunners, 74-67, on Dec. 18, 1984, in Little Rock. Arkansas was a member of the Southwest Conference during the three previous meetings, but now is in the Southeastern Conference. UTSA has never faced any other current members of the SEC.
Scouting the Razorbacks: Arkansas improved to 7-1 on the season with a 70-51 victory over Missouri State on Dec. 3. The Razorbacks opened the year with wins over Wofford (67-45) and College of Charleston (75-49), before dropping their only game of the season to Providence, 67-51. Arkansas has won five straight heading into Wednesday’s contest. Sophomore guard Patrick Beverley leads a balanced scoring attack with 13.1 points per game, while senior forward Darien Townes is adding 11.9 points and a team-best 6.0 rebounds per contest. The Hogs are shooting 49 percent from the floor as a team and are outrebounding opponents by an average margin of 37.5-28.6 boards per game. Head coach John Pelphrey, a former player at Kentucky, is in his first season at the helm.
Last Time Out: Junior Travis Gabbidon scored 15 points, but it was not enough as SMU outscored UTSA, 37-25, in the second half en route to a 62-56 victory on Dec. 1 at the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners (4-2) saw their three-game winning streak come to an end, while the Mustangs improved to 2-4. Gabbidon’s 15 led all players, while senior Keith Spencer pulled down a career high-tying 12 rebounds, also a game high. Senior Isaiah Allen poured in 12 points, but UTSA shot just 30.8 percent from the field for the game. The Roadrunners took 26 3-point shots for the game, but made only six (23.1 percent) on the afternoon. UTSA did force 20 turnovers ? 10 of those steals ? the fourth game with 20-plus turnovers for an opponent this season. Mike Walker and Derrick Roberts led SMU with 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Paulius Ritter and Papa Dia grabbed eight boards apiece. The Mustangs shot 42 percent for the game and were 5-of-11 from behind the 3-point arc. The Roadrunners built a 22-15 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half, but SMU responded with a 10-2 run to take a 25-24 advantage on a Bamba Fall lay-in at the 3:49 mark. UTSA closed the half with seven unanswered, including a 3-pointer by junior Orrin Greer. An Allen trey pushed UTSA’s lead to 37-29 at the 17:13 mark of the second half, but SMU began a 9-0 run with an Alex Malone 3-pointer and took a 43-39 lead with 11:41 to play. Senior Melvin Smith drove baseline for a running layup to knot the score at 45-45 with just under eight minutes remaining, but SMU reeled off eight straight points to build its lead to 53-45. UTSA made it interesting in the final minutes, trimming what was an eight-point lead with 3:29 left to 58-56 after freshman Devin Gibson converted a pair of free throws with 39 seconds left. Derrick Roberts was fouled on SMU’s next possession and made both his freebies and UTSA missed on a 3-point attempt with 15 ticks remaining. Roberts drained two more free throws to ice it for the Mustangs.
Tough Slate: UTSA will face one of the toughest schedules in recent history this season. Texas is ranked Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, while Arkansas is receiving votes in both The Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Polls. Sam Houston State is receiving votes in The AP Poll. Also on the slate are traditional power Oklahoma State, an NIT participant last season, Navy, SMU and defending Southland Conference champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the SLC’s NCAA representative last March.
A Good Beginning: At 4-2, the Roadrunners are off to their best start since also going 4-2 through the first six games of the 2004-05 campaign. UTSA matched the best five-game start (4-1) in school history, also accomplished in 1988-89 and 2001-02.
Closing In On 400: UTSA is closing in on victory No. 400 for the program. The Roadrunners own an all-time record of 389-355 (.523).
New Faces: UTSA returned five letterwinners, each of whom earned one letter apiece, from last year’s 7-22 team which marked the least returning NCAA Division I experience in the nation entering this season. A talented group of first-year players has joined forces with the returnees and their contributions are being felt immediately. UTSA’s top three scorers ? freshman Devin Gibson (14.3) and juniors Joey Shank (12.5) and Travis Gabbidon (11.3) ? are each in their first season of action, while Gibson (5.3), junior Antoine Dade (4.4) and Gabbidon (4.7) rank as three of the team’s top four rebounders.
Record-Setting Defense: UTSA broke three school records in back-to-back games last season. In a 64-49 victory against San Diego on Nov. 26, the Roadrunners limited the Toreros to 13-of-53 shooting from the floor, or 24.5 percent, which broke the school record for lowest field goal percentage by an opponent previously held by Howard Payne (26.9%) in 1988. The 13 field goals also were the fewest allowed since Texas State made 14 in 1996. One game later, UTSA held Henderson State to 36 points, breaking the previous fewest-points record of 42 set by Texas State in 1996. The Roadrunners surrendered just 649 field goals for the season, also a new school record, and ranked second in the league in scoring defense (66.3 points per game). That trademark tough defensive approach has continued into this season as UTSA limited Hardin-Simmons to just 47 points, including 19 in the first half, in the season opener. The Roadrunners held Texas to its lowest point total (58) since a 46-43 loss at Texas A&M on March 1, 2006. UTSA held Paul Quinn to 17 points below its scoring average and limited UMKC, which was averaging 9.8 3-point field goals made per game, to just five.
Turnover Feast: A big key to UTSA’s early-season success can be contributed to its ability to force turnovers. Opponents have turned the ball over 128 times through six games, an average of 21.3 per game, and four teams have committed at least 20 turnovers, including a season-high 29 by Hardin-Simmons. UTSA leads the SLC in turnover margin (+6.0) and steals per game (11.3). Individually, freshman Devin Gibson leads the league with 3.5 steals per game. Additionally, the Roadrunners are ninth nationally in steals per game, while Gibson is fifth.
Improvement At The Line: UTSA shot just 58.9 percent from the free throw line as a team in 2006-07. The Roadrunners are already out to a marked improvement in that category after six games this season as they have converted 93-of-140 (66.4 percent) from the charity stripe. Individually, junior Joey Shank is a perfect 7-for-7 from the line, while junior Travis Gabbidon is converting 87.5 percent (14-16) and senior Melvin Smith is hitting 81.8 percent (9-11).
Double-Double Tracker: Freshman Devin Gibson registered his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the loss at No. 15 Texas. Senior Keith Spencer posted UTSA’s second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the 93-79 win over Paul Quinn. It marked his seventh double-double in a UTSA uniform.
No Shank Shot Here: Junior Joey Shank has emerged as one of the league’s top 3-point shooters this season. The Folsom, Calif., native has drained 18-of-45 from behind the arc for 40 percent, and is shooting 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the floor overall. Shank also is a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line and is averaging 12.5 points per game. The American River College product leads the Southland Conference in 3-point field goals made per game with 3.0 and ranks eighth in 3-point field goal percentage (40.0%), 13th in scoring (12.5 ppg) and 23rd in field goal percentage (46.3%). Shank drained four 3-pointers en route to 16 points in the Paul Quinn victory and for an encore exploded with six treys en route to a game-high 23 points in the 73-61 win over UMKC one game later.
Wiping the Glass: Senior Keith Spencer missed the first two regular season games, but has returned to the lineup with a vengeance. The San Diego, Calif., native is averaging 10.8 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game in four contests. In his second game back, he posted his seventh career double-double with 19 points and 10 boards in the 93-79 win over Paul Quinn. He followed that with 14 points and seven rebounds in the UMKC victory and then grabbed 12 rebounds in the SMU loss, despite playing just 22 minutes due to foul trouble. Spencer has been the team’s leading rebounder in all four of his games played. Spencer led the squad with 206 rebounds last season and is pulling down 7.3 boards per outing for his UTSA career.
Second-Half Shooting The Key: In its four victories this season, UTSA is outscoring its opponents by an average margin of 45-37 in the second half. The Roadrunners have topped 40 points in the second half in all four wins, including a Brooks Thompson era-best 53 in the Paul Quinn victory. Hot shooting has been a major key to the post-halftime success as UTSA is shooting 55.1 percent in the second stanza, including 62.5 percent over the last two victories (Paul Quinn, UMKC).
Second-Half Scorer: Junior Travis Gabbidon has scored 50 of his 68 points ? or 74 percent ? in the second half. The Phoenix, Ariz., native picked up two quick first-half fouls in both the Texas and Navy contests, but came out strong in the second stanza to score 9 and 14 points, respectively. Gabbidon is averaging 11.3 points per game, 8.3 points coming in the second half.
Coaching Connection: UTSA’s current coaching staff has several connections with members of the Arkansas staff. Head coach Brooks Thompson, assistant coach Dan O’Dowd and team operations coordinator Gus Argenal all worked on current Arkansas assistant coach Rob Evans’ staff at Arizona State. O’Dowd also was an assistant under Evans during his tenure at Ole Miss. Thompson was a senior all-conference performer at Oklahoma State during Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey’s first and only season as an assistant coach on Eddie Sutton’s staff.
Fall Signing Class: UTSA signed Richie Frolich (Oldendorf, Germany/Citrus College) and Leslie Jackson (Bryan, Texas/Blinn College) to National Letters of Intent for the 2008-09 season.
Next Up: UTSA heads to Atlanta, Ga., to play Georgia State on Saturday, Dec. 15. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. Central time at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
