SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will play 18 Conference USA contests in 2015-16, including nine games at the Convocation Center, head men’s basketball coach Brooks Thompson announced on Monday.
The Roadrunners will play home-and-home tilts with FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss and UTEP, while they will face the other eight league members once during the slate. In all, the squad will play eight matchups against teams that won 20 games a season ago.
UTSA will open its third season in C-USA on New Year’s Day when it hosts North Texas before a matchup with Rice two days later. The Birds then take to the road for contests at UAB (Jan. 7) and Middle Tennessee (Jan. 9), followed by home tilts against UTEP (Jan. 16), FIU (Jan. 21) and Florida Atlantic (Jan. 23).
The squad will close the month of January on the road against defending C-USA champion Louisiana Tech (Jan. 28) and Southern Miss (Jan. 30).
Other home games on the last include WKU (Feb. 4), Marshall (Feb. 6), Louisiana Tech (Feb. 18) and Southern Miss (Feb. 20). Meanwhile, the Roadrunners remaining road contests include Florida Atlantic (Feb. 11), FIU (Feb. 13), Charlotte (Feb. 25), Old Dominion (Feb. 27) and UTEP (March 5).
All 14 teams will vie for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament at the C-USA Tournament, which will be held from March 8-12 in Birmingham, Ala.
UTSA’s non-conference slate will be announced later this fall.