SAN ANTONIO – UTSA men's basketball plays its first two Conference USA road games in the coming days. The Roadrunner first travel to Ruston, La., for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff at LA Tech on Thursday, Jan. 4 before a scheduled 4 p.m. tilt at Southern Miss on Saturday, Jan. 6.
LA Tech game overview
• UTSA continues Conference USA play with a Thursday evening road contest at LA Tech. The game will tip at 6:30 p.m. from the Bulldogs' Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La. UTSA enters with an 8-7 overall mark and 1-1 in C-USA play, while LA Tech is 9-6 overall and 0-2 against league competition. The contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 760 in San Antonio) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play. The game will be web streamed on WatchStadium.com with Ron Thulin (play-by-play) and Tim Scarborough (analyst) on the call.
Series history vs. LA Tech
• UTSA and LA Tech have met 14 times on the basketball court with the Bulldogs owning an 11-3 series advantage. The series started in 1982 and continued in 1983 before being suspended until the 2004 season. The series resumed again in 2013 when UTSA joined Conference USA. The Roadrunners are 1-5 all-time in Ruston, picking up the lone win by a 69-68 margin last season (Jan. 7).
Southern Miss game overview
• UTSA continues its first Conference USA on Saturday afternoon with a road contest at Southern Miss. The game will tip at 4 p.m. from the Golden Eagles' Red Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg, Miss. The contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 760 in San Antonio) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play. The game will also be web streamed on CUSA.tv.
Series history vs. Southern Miss
• UTSA and Southern Miss have met seven times on the basketball court with the Golden Eagles owning a 4-3 series advantage. The series started in 2014 after UTSA joined Conference USA. The Roadrunners are 0-4 all-time in Hattiesburg, and 3-0 at home.
Roadrunners have a stranglehold on weekly C-USA freshman honor
• UTSA freshmen Keaton Wallace and Jhivvan Jackson have combined to win six the Conference USA's Freshman of the Week honors through the season's initial eight weeks.
• Wallace has been bestowed the honor three times (Nov. 13, Dec. 4, Dec. 11), while Jackson has also earned the weekly plaudit three times (Nov. 20, Dec. 26, Jan. 2).
• Head coach Steve Henson has now coached 10 C-USA Freshman of the Week award winners – the six this season along with Byron Frohnen's three last season and Giovanni De Nicolao's one.
• UTSA had never produced a C-USA Freshman of the Week honoree prior to Henson's arrival.
18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists earned Jackson third C-USA freshman nod
• For the second consecutive week and third time this season UTSA's Jhivvan Jackson was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week, for the week ending Dec. 31, the league office announced Tuesday (Jan. 2).
• Jackson, who leads the Roadrunners in scoring at 17.2 points per outing, was also recognized as the league's top frosh on Nov. 2 and Dec. 26. Jackson along with teammate Keaton Wallace (Nov. 13, Dec. 4, Dec. 11) have combined to win six of the eight weekly C-USA freshman honors this season.
• The Bayamón, Puerto Rico native averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in leading UTSA to a 1-1 start to Conference USA play. He closed the week shooting 46.2 percent overall and from 3-point range in 29.0 minutes per outing off the bench.
• Jackson scored a game-high 20 in UTSA's win over Rice, making 6 of 10 field goals, including 5 of 7 from three, to go along with four assists, four rebounds and four steals against the Owls. He then netted 17 points on six field goals and four free throws against North Texas, while also corralling five rebounds and totaling three steals against the Mean Green. He totaled nine of UTSA's final 21 points against UNT, including a game-tying layup with 1:30 to play.
C-USA's top scoring freshmen duo
• UTSA's freshmen duo of Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace easily compose the top scoring freshman duo in Conference USA. Jackson leads the Roadrunners at 17.2 points per game, while Wallace averages 14.3. The pair are each among the top 20 scorers in C-USA with Jackson ranking sixth and Wallace 18th. The Roadrunners are two of three freshmen among the top-20 scorers in C-USA (WKU's Taveion Hollingsworth - 13.8 ppg - is 20th).
Frohnen on the boards
• Sophomore guard/forward Byron Frohnen leads UTSA and ranks sixth in Conference USA with per game average of 7.5 rebounds.
• Frohnen, who starts at power forward, but also spends time at small forward, has totaled 113 total rebounds with 84 coming on the defensive end.
• The Las Vegas native has led the Roadrunners on the glass in nine games, including season-highs of 11 against both Bethany and North Texas.
Nick Allen: the fire starter
• Junior five man Nick Allen has notched the Roadrunners' first points in six of UTSA's 15 games, including each of the last two.
• Allen opened the scoring with two against Texas State and Rice, while knocking down 3-pointers against Coastal Carolina, James Madison, Houston Baptist and North Texas.
• UTSA averages 79.16 points in games Allen registers the Roadrunners' first bucket.
Eight wins before the calendar flipped
• UTSA marked eight games in the win column before January for the first time since the 2009-10 team went 8-3 in the months of November and December.
Deon Lyle's emergence
• Junior Deon Lyle is averaging 11.3 points off the bench over the Roadrunners' last 10 games.
• During the10-game stretch, Lyle is shooting 48.2 percent (41 of 85) from the field, including 45.3 percent (24 of 53) from three.
• The Cloud County Community College transfer has totaled nine double-digit scoring games off the bench, including at least 10 points in seven of the last eight games, and a season-high 16 points against Ottawa and at Oklahoma.
Hello from the outside
• After ranking 345 of 351 in the NCAA in 3-point field goal percentage last season, the 2017-18 edition of the Roadrunners have had no problem knocking down the outside shot.
• UTSA currently ranks 19th in the nation at 10.8 made threes per game and 95th with a 37.3 3-point field goal percentage.
• In the season's 15 contests, UTSA has connected on 162 3-point attempts. Freshmen guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace lead the way with 40 and 39 triples, respectively, while Deon Lyle has 30 and junior big man Nick Allen 19.
• Both the Roadrunners' 162 made 3-pointers and 434 attempts lead Conference USA as do their 10.8 made triples per contest.
• The Roadrunners are on pace to total 344 3-pointers for the season, which would shatter the school-record of 272 set by the 2011-12 team.
12 double-figure scorers
• Twelve different Roadrunners have scored at least 10 points in a game this season, which is tied with Texas State for the second-most double-figure scorers in the nation, trailing only Savannah State's 13. The only active Roadrunners to not yet reach double-figures are Toby Van Ry and Kyle Massie.
Up Next
• The Roadrunners return home to the Convocation Center to start a three-game home stand. UTSA hosts FIU on Jan. 11, Florida Atlantic on Jan. 13 and UTEP on Jan. 20.
