UTSA Roadrunners (4-3) at Georgia State Panthers (2-6)
Saturday, Dec. 15 ? 6:30 p.m. (CT)
Georgia State Sports Arena (3,400) ? Atlanta, Ga.
Series Record: UTSA leads, 7-4
Last Meeting: Georgia State 94, UTSA 84 (March 6, 1991)
ATLANTA, Ga. - UTSA (4-3) continues its two-game road trip at GeorgiaState (2-6) on Saturday, Dec. 15. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT) atGeorgia State Sports Arena in Atlanta, Ga.
Tuning In: Georgia State will provide live stats for free at georgiastatesports.com. Live audio and video (provided by Georgia State) will be available to Rowdy Zone subscribers at goUTSA.com.
Fast Break Points
? This is the 12th meeting between UTSA and Georgia State
? UTSA leads the all-time series, 7-4, between the two former Trans America Athletic Conference foes
? The Panthers won the last meeting, 94-84, on March 6, 1991, in the TAAC Tournament in DeLand, Fla.
? Georgia State is 3-2 against UTSA in Atlanta with the Roadrunners’ last victory coming on Feb. 28, 1991
? The average score for the winning team in the series is 96.6, while UTSA has averaged 91.1 points per game in the 11 meetings
UTSA/Georgia State Series History: This will be the 12th meeting between UTSA and Georgia State, two former Trans America Athletic Conference foes. The Roadrunners lead the all-time series, 7-4, but the Panthers won the last meeting, 94-84, on March 6, 1991, in the TAAC Tournament in DeLand, Fla. Georgia State is 3-2 against UTSA in Atlanta with the Roadrunners’ last victory coming on Feb. 28, 1991 (85-78). UTSA is 7-6 all-time against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association, as UNC Wilmington owns a 2-0 mark against the Roadrunners.
Scouting the Panthers: Georgia State has lost three straight games and is 2-6 on the year. The Panthers lost at Winston-Salem State, 67-61, in their last outing on Dec. 8. Junior guard Leonard Mendez is the leading scorer at 16.3 points per game, while junior forward Rashad Chase is posting 11.0 points and a team-best 10.4 rebounds per contest. Georgia State is shooting 41.7 percent from the floor as a team, including 30.9 percent from behind the 3-point line, and is averaging 19.3 turnovers against 10.1 assists per game. Head coach Rod Barnes, former assistant and head coach at Ole Miss, is in his first season.
Last Time Out: Junior Travis Gabbidon led UTSA in scoring for the second straight game with 11 points, but Gary Ervin led three Razorbacks in double figures with 17 as Arkansas downed UTSA, 67-42, on Wednesday night at Bud Walton Arena. Gabbidon led UTSA with 11 points and six rebounds, while senior Melvin Smith added six points. Senior Isaiah Allen and freshmen E.B. Davis and Devin Gibson contributed five points apiece. Ervin’s 17 led all players, while Patrick Beverley chipped in with 10 points and a game-best 13 rebounds. Charles Thomas also scored 10 and grabbed seven boards as the Razorbacks out-rebounded the Roadrunners, 43-23. UTSA erased an early 6-0 deficit with a 9-2 run to take a 9-8 lead on a Gabbidon trey. Arkansas responded with a 10-0 stretch, capped by a Beverley 3-pointer at the 10:34 mark. The Roadrunners cut the Hogs’ lead to five on a Smith lay-up and a Gabbidon jumper, but that is as close as UTSA would get as Arkansas closed the half on a 17-5 run for a 35-18 advantage. An Allen jumper gave UTSA the first points of the second half, but the Hogs went on a 16-3 run at that point and never looked back. UTSA shot just 34.1 percent for the game, but did force 20 Arkansas turnovers, six of those steals.
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.
Closing In On 400: UTSA is closing in on victory No. 400 for the program. The Roadrunners own an all-time record of 389-356 (.522).
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 (13.0) and juniors Travis Gabbidon (11.3) and Joey Shank (11.1) ? are each in their first season of action, while Gibson (4.7), junior Antoine Dade (3.7) and Gabbidon (4.9) rank as three of the team’s top four active 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 148 times through seven games, an average of 21.1 per game, and five teams have committed at least 20 turnovers, including a season-high 29 by Hardin-Simmons. UTSA leads the SLC in turnover margin (+4.86) and steals per game (10.57). Individually, freshman Devin Gibson leads the league with 3.29 steals per game. Additionally, the Roadrunners are ninth nationally in steals per game, while Gibson is fifth.
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 19-of-47 from behind the arc for 40.4 percent, and is shooting 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the floor overall. Shank also is a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line and is averaging 11.1 points per game. The American River College product ranks third in the Southland Conference in 3-point field goals made per game with 2.71, seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (40.4%) and 23rd in scoring (11.1 ppg). 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 9.2 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game in five 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 four of his five games played. Spencer led the squad with 206 rebounds last season and is pulling down 7.2 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). In its three losses, the Roadrunners have been outscored by an average margin of 35.0-22.3 and has shot just 32.1 percent as a team, including just 6-of-31 (19.4%) from behind the 3-point line.
Coaching Connection: Much like the Arkansas meeting, UTSA’s current coaching staff has several connections with members of the Georgia State staff. Head coach Brooks Thompson was an all-conference player at Oklahoma State while current Georgia State assistant coach Paul Graham was on Eddie Sutton’s staff. Georgia State head coach Rod Barnes was an assistant coach at Ole Miss alongside UTSA assistant coach Dan O’Dowd under Rob Evans, who was an assistant coach at Oklahoma State during Thompson’s playing days and the head coach at Arizona State where Thompson and O’Dowd served as assistants. Thompson and Georgia State assistant coach William Small served on the same Southeastern Louisiana staff during the 2000-01 season.
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 returns home to face Texas Wesleyan, the NAIA Division I National Champion in 2005-06, on Wednesday, Dec. 19. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
