SAN ANTONIO – UTSA competes in the inaugural eight-team bracketed Island of the Bahamas Showcase starting Friday in Nassau, The Bahamas. The Roadrunners will face Sun Belt-member Coastal Carolina in a quarterfinal game at 1 p.m. CT. The winner/loser takes on Vermont/Bradley at 10 a.m./4 p.m. CT on Nov. 18. UTSA wraps up its stay at the tournament against a to be determined team on Nov. 19.
Game Overview
UTSA plays its third game of the 2017-18 season with a Friday afternoon game against Coastal Carolina in the Island of the Bahamas Showcase. The game will tip at 1 p.m. CT at the Kendal Isaacs National Gymnasium in Nassau. UTSA (2-0), which went 14-19 last season (8-10 C-USA; ninth place), is in its second season under head coach Steve Henson. Coastal Carolina (1-1) is coming off of a 20-19 season and fourth straight postseason tournament appearance under Cliff Ellis (10th year). Friday's contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 769 AM in San Antonio) with Jay Howard providing play-by-play. The game will be also stream live on FloHoops.com.
Series History vs. Coastal Carolina
There is no series history as this is the first meeting between the fowl mascot schools. UTSA is 103-97 all-time against current Sun Belt Conference members with 157 of those contests coming against former Southland Conference mates Texas State, UT Arlington and UL-Monroe.
Wallace garners C-USA Freshman of the Week honor
Keaton Wallace was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week, for the week ending Nov. 12.
Wallace, a native of Dallas, Texas, scored a game-high 22 points in his Roadrunners debut in leading UTSA to a 92-59 victory over East Central Sunday afternoon. Wallace, who started at the two guard, finished the game shooting an even 50 percent, knocking down 8 of 16 shots, including six from 3-point range. In addition to his scoring, the 6-foot-3 guard also corralled three rebounds, dished out two assists, picked up a pair of steals and co-led all player with two blocked shots.
Wallace became the fifth C-USA Freshman of the Week award winner under second-year head coach Steve Henson. Byron Frohnen claimed the honors three times last season and Giovanni De Nicolao once.
It does Work!!!
Down nine with 70 seconds to play at Texas State (Nov. 15) UTSA did not conceded the contest. Instead, head coach Steve Henson played the foul game and it worked about as well as it hypothetically should. Faced with the pressure of putting the game out of reach, TXST missed 5 of 10 free throws, including the final two up by one with 13 seconds to play, leaving the door open for Jhivvan Jackson's game-tying and game-winning free throws five seconds later.
Prior to the final sequence, UTSA scored on each of its previous four possessions, including threes from Jackson and De Nicolao and a quick two by Nicola. Comparatively, the Bobcats went 0 of 2 at the line twice and failed to gather the offensive rebound each time.
Hello from the Outside
After ranking third from the bottom in the NCAA in 3-point shooting last season, the 2017-18 edition of the Roadrunners seem to have no problem knocking down the outside shot.
In the season's opening two contest, UTSA has connected on 22 of 59 3-point attempts. The Roadrunners have sunk 11 treys in each of their first two games with freshmen guard Keaton Wallace and Jhivvan Jackson leading the way with nine and seven, respectively.
Welcome to the season ... five games in eight days
UTSA opens the 2017-18 campaign playing five games in the season's first eight days. After the season opener against East Central on Nov. 12, the Roadrunners played at Texas State on Nov. 15. The Birds left campus at 4:45 a.m. on Nov. 16 on their journey to The Bahamas for three games in the inaugural Island of the Bahamas Showcase Nov. 17-19.
704 straight with a trey
UTSA has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of its last 704 consecutive games. The last time the Roadrunners failed to connect from long range come on Jan. 5, 1994 in a 91-69 loss at Texas. To put the time frame in perspective: Bill Clinton had not yet completed his first full year as POTUS, Hero by Mariah Carey was on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Mrs. Doubtfire was the No. 1 movie in the box office and the Dallas Cowboys were 15 days from winning Super Bowl XXVIII, 30-13, over the Buffalo Bills.
Early signs of new-look offense
Through the two exhibition contests and the two regular season game, UTSA deployed an up-tempo offensive style that vastly contrasts last season's offense. In the three games the Roadrunners combined to shoot 46.4 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from 3-point range en route to an 84.8 points per game average. Comparatively, the 2016-17 team shot 39.3 percent overall and a mere 28.3 percent from deep, while averaging 66.0 point per outing. Moreover, the 2016-17 team did not reach 90 points in 31 games, while this season's squad has broken the barrier once and has also totaled an 89-point output.
Second season of the Steve Henson era
The 2017-18 season marks the second season of the Steven Henson era at UTSA. Henson, who came to UTSA from Lon Kruger's staff at Oklahoma, guided the Roadrunners to a 14-19 overall mark in his first season at the helm. Under Henson's tutelage, UTSA posted an 11-3 home record, won a program-best eight Conference USA contests and picked up UTSA's first Conference USA tournament win. Moreover, Henson led the Birds to improvement in 16 NCAA statistical categories along with an 83-position climb in RPI.
Up Next
UTSA returns to the Alamo City Friday, Nov. 24 as hosts to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tipoff from the Convocation Center is set for 7 p.m.
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