SAN ANTONIO – UTSA men's basketball hosts Ottawa Thursday evening. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the Convocation Center where the Roadrunners own an 13-3 since the start of last season.
Game overview
• UTSA plays its eighth game of the 2017-18 season with a Thursday evening contest against Ottawa. The game will tip at 7 p.m. CT at the Convocation Center in San Antonio. UTSA (4-3), which went 14-19 last season (8-10 C-USA; ninth place), is in its second season under head coach Steve Henson. Ottawa (2-6) is in its inaugural season an is led by Matt Keeley (first year). Thursday's contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 760 in San Antonio) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play. The game will be also stream live on CUSA.tv.
Series history vs. Ottawa
• There is no series history as Ottawa is a first-year program. However, there is a connection between the two programs. UTSA graduate assistant Cale Brubaker played for Ottawa head coach Matt Keeley when he was an assistant at MidAmerican Nazarene.
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 first seven contests, UTSA has connected on 71 3-point attempts. Freshmen guards Keaton Wallace and Jhivvan Jackson lead the way with 20 and 17 triples, respectively.
• Both the Roadrunners' 71 made 3-pointers and 200 attempts lead Conference USA as do their 10.1 made triples per contest.
• The Roadrunners are on pace to total 311 3-pointers for the season, which would shatter the school-record of 272 set by the 2011-12 team.
Jackson and Lyle register career-highs at Tulsa
• Freshman Jhivvan Jackson and junior college transfer Deon Lyle each totaled career-best scoring nights in the Roadrunners' 96-point effort at Tulsa (11/28).
• Jackson poured in a career-high 29 on 6 of 12 shooting (3 of 7 3FG) along with a 14 of 15 effort at the free-throw line. The combo guard totaled 16 in the first half and 13 in the second.
• Lyle totaled 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting with for 3-pointers. He went 3 of 3 with two triples for eight points in the opening 20 minutes.
15 3-pointers against the Golden Hurricane
• UTSA knocked down a season-best 15 3-pointers at Tulsa (11/28) – two shy of the program record of 17 set on three occasions (last: vs. Jarvis Christian (01/25/12).
• The Roadrunners concluded the contest shooting 40.5 percent (15 of 37) from deep.
• Keaton Wallace and Deon Lyle each counted four treys, while Jhivvan Jackson had three. Giovanni De Nicolao and George Willborn III also had two apiece.
71 triples in November
• UTSA has made 71 3-pointers thus far in the month of November, registers as the most made by a Roadrunners squad in the last 10 years.
• The previous standard was 61 by the 2011-12 squad that went on to finish the season 18-14, marking UTSA's last winning season.
A five-win November?
• Should UTSA claim victory against Ottawa, it will mark the first five-win November by a Roadrunners team since the 2009-10 squad closed the season's opening month with a 5-1 mark.
Ramlal providing spark off the bench
• Senior walk-on forward Kendell Ramlal has provided quite the spark off the bench over the last five games. The 6-foot-8 Houston native is averaging 4.5 points, shooting 66.7 percent, averaging 2.5 boards and 1.6 blocks in his 11.8 minutes.
• He has been charged with defending the low-post as UTSA's largest and most physically developed big man.
This offense is different
• Through the first seven regular season games, UTSA has deployed an up-tempo offensive style that vastly contrasts last season's offense. In the seven games the Roadrunners have combined to shoot 45.5 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from 3-point range en route to an 81.0 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 already broken the barrier thrice.
Up Next
• UTSA returns to the road for a trip to Utah Valley on Saturday, Dec. 2 (8 p.m. CT), followed by a second visit to the Sooner State to take on Oklahoma on Monday, Dec. 4 (7 p.m. CT).
