Roadrunners set to host Marshall and WKU on national TV

SAN ANTONIO – UTSA men's basketball continues its four-game jaunt through the top five of the Conference USA standings as Marshall and WKU come to the Alamo City. The Roadrunners and fifth-place Marshall are set for a showdown between the league's top two offenses on Thursday at 7 p.m. UTSA then hosts second-place WKU on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
FOR THE FANS
 
International Students Night
Thursday's tilt against Marshall has been designated "International Students Night" all UTSA international students are encouraged to attend a pregame social (FREE FOOD) in the Convocation Center and stay to cheer on fellow Roadrunner internationals Giovanni De Nicolao (Italy), James Ringholt (Australia) and Mitar Stanojevic (Serbia).
 
Hoops for Troops
Saturday's game against WKU is "Hoops for Troops", UTSA's military appreciation night. All active and retired military will receive free entry to game with their military ID while their family members will receive a discounted ticket at five dollars.
 
Marshall game overview
• UTSA continues Conference USA play Thursday evening with a home tilt against Marshall (14-7, 5-3 C-USA). The game will tip at 7 p.m. from the Convocation Center in San Antonio. The contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 760) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play and Tim Carter serving as analyst. The game will also be carried live nationally on beIN SPORTS with Mike Gleason (play-by-play) and Jason Capel (analyst) calling the action.
beIN SPORTS channel finder:

 
Series history vs. Marshall
• UTSA and Marshall have played four times on the hardwood since becoming members of Conference USA. The series is split 2-2 with UTSA claiming the first two meetings and Marshall the last two.
 
WKU game overview
• UTSA continues Conference USA play Saturday afternoon with a home game against WKU (15-6, 7-1 C-USA). The game will tip at 3 p.m. from the Convocation Center in San Antonio. The contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 760) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play and Tim Carter serving as analyst. The game will also be carried live nationally on Fox College Sports/HSSN with Randy Lee (play-by-play) and Hal Schmitt (analyst) calling the action.
 
Series history vs. WKU
• UTSA and Marshall have played four times on the hardwood since becoming members of Conference USA. WKU leads the series 3-1, claiming the first three meetings. The Roadrunners won the most recent meeting with an upset of the Hilltoppers in the opening round of the Conference USA Championship last March.
 
Roadrunners own eight weekly C-USA freshman honors
• UTSA freshmen Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace have combined to win eight of the Conference USA's Freshman of the Week honors through the season's 12 weeks.
• Wallace has been bestowed the honor three times (Nov. 13, Dec. 4, Dec. 11), while Jackson has earned the weekly plaudit five times (Nov. 20, Dec. 26, Jan. 2, Jan. 8, Jan. 29).
• Head coach Steve Henson has now coached 12 C-USA Freshman of the Week award winners – the eight 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 in 2016.
 
Wallace drops 11 dimes
• Keaton Wallace may have scored only four points in the Roadrunners' win at UAB on Jan. 27, but he did dish out a career and UTSA season-high 11 assists. Wallace's assists led to 28 points as the freshman made the key pass on six 3-pointers and five 2-point field goals.
 
Breakout offensive performance at UAB
• UTSA shook off its recent offensive struggles with an 82-point effort in defeating UAB at Bartow Arena on Jan. 27. The Roadrunners, who had shot sub 40 percent from the floor in the four previous games, made 48.5 percent (32 of 66) of its field goal attempts, including a 53.6 percent clip (15 of 28) from 3-point range.
• The point output and shooting percentage up-tick were a direct result of the Roadrunners making the extra pass on the offense end to pass up a good shot for a better one. In all, UTSA totaled a season-high 24 assists on their 32 makes (75% assist rate).
 
C-USA's top Scoring freshmen duo
• UTSA's Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace easily compose the top scoring freshman duo in Conference USA. Jackson leads the Roadrunners at 18.7 points per game, while Wallace averages 11.9.
• Jackson is one of three freshmen among the top-30 scorers in C-USA, ranking fourth. UAB's Zack Bryant - 13.5 ppg - is 23rd and WKU's Taveion Hollingsworth - 12.5 ppg - is 29th.
 
Frohnen on the boards
• Sophomore forward Byron Frohnen leads UTSA and ranks eighth in Conference USA with a per game average of 7.0 rebounds.
• Frohnen, who starts at power forward, but also spends time at small forward, has totaled 155 total rebounds with 115 coming on the defensive end.
• The Las Vegas native has led the Roadrunners on the glass in 11 games, including season-highs of 11 against Bethany, North Texas and FIU.
• Frohnen's 376 rebounds in only 55 career games ranks 18th on the UTSA career list. He needs 14 more to reach the top 15 and 85 to crack the top 10.
 
Jackson starts and Wallace breaks through
• Freshman Jhivvan Jackson made his first appearance in the starting lineup in place of fellow frosh Keaton Wallace on Jan. 20 against UTEP.
• Jackson finished the game with 11 points, despite being the primary objective of the Miners' ever-changing defensive schemes.
• However, it was Wallace that made the largest impact in his 31 minutes off the bench, scoring a team-high 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting, including a trio of 3-pointers. Wallace had been in a slump over the four previous games, averaging 5.3 points and shooting a woeful 16.2 percent from the field.
 
Starting lineup shakeups
• After starting the same five for the season's first 17 games, UTSA head coach Steve Henson has played two different lineups over the past five.
• Sophomore guard George Willborn III has started the last five games at the small forward position and is averaging 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per outing.
• Henson then made the aforementioned lineup change on Jan. 20 to insert Jhivvan Jackson, who most likely was/is on track to be the Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year, at shooting guard for Keaton Wallace. Henson also played the lineup at Middle Tennessee on Jan. 25 and on Jan. 27 at UAB.
 
Rebound the basketball
• After struggling on the glass in the early portion of the season, UTSA has made quite the improvement since Conference USA play began. Against C-USA competition the Roadrunner average 39.0 caroms per game, despite featuring no regular contributor taller than 6-foot-8.
• The Roadrunners are the third-best rebounding team in the league overall and rank 23rd in the NCAA at 39.9 rebounds per game over the season's 22 outings.
 
Jackson among top scoring freshmen in the nation
• As of Jan. 21, Jhivvan Jackson's 18.7 points per game rank fifth among freshmen scorers in the NCAA.
Top freshmen scorers in the NCAA (as of Jan. 29)

Freshmen bucket getters
• Roadrunner freshmen Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace already rank among the top-10 freshmen scorers in UTSA history. Moreover, Jackson is already one of only three freshmen in UTSA history to score more than 400 points.
• In addition to Jackson and Wallace, the top-10 UTSA freshmen scoring list features current Roadrunner sophomores Byron Frohnen (280 points in 2016-17) and Giovanni De Nicolao (272 points in 2016-17). In less than two full seasons, head coach Steve Henson has recruited and coached four of the most prolific freshmen scorers in program history.
Top-10 UTSA freshmen scorers

Up Next
• UTSA returns to the road for three consecutive contests, starting on Feb. 10 at UTEP. The Roadrunners then travel to Old Dominion on Feb. 15 and Charlotte on Feb. 17.

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