SAN ANTONIO – UTSA men's basketball plays its final two regular season home games this week at the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners square off against Southern Miss on Thursday at 7 p.m. and LA Tech on Saturday at 7 p.m.
For the fans
• Thursday's halftime show will feature the inaugural Diaper Dash.
• Saturday's game will be senior night as UTSA athletics and men's basketball honor the contributions and accomplishments of Austin Karrer, Kyle Massie, Kendell Ramlal and James Ringholt.
• Every game promotions: $1,000 student giveaway, free Whataburger if UTSA scores 75 points or more, free Raising Cane's if opponent scores less than 70 points.
Southern Miss game overview
• UTSA plays the first of its final two regular season home games of the season on Thursday evening against Southern Miss. The game will tip at 7 p.m. from the Roadrunners' Convocation Center in San Antonio. The contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 760 in San Antonio) with Andy Everett. The game will also be web streamed on CUSA.tv.
Series history vs. Southern Miss
• UTSA and Southern Miss have met eight times on the basketball court with the Golden Eagles owning a 5-3 series advantage. The series started in 2014 after UTSA joined Conference USA and road team has not won a game. Southern Miss downed the Roadrunners 93-83 back on Jan. 6 as Kevin Holland scored 23 to lead five Golden Eagles in double-figures.
LA Tech game overview
• UTSA closes its regular season home slate on Saturday against LA Tech. The contest will tip at 7 p.m. and air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (92.5/93.3 The Bull) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play and Tim Carter serving as analyst. The game will also be televised in the San Antonio market on KCWX-TV and web streamed globally on CUSA.tv with Mike Lefko (play-by-play) and Chuck Miketinac (analyst) on the call.
Series history vs. LA Tech
• UTSA and LA Tech have met 15 times on the basketball court with the Bulldogs owning an 11-4 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 have won two of the last three against the Bulldogs with both victories coming in Ruston. UTSA's 78-76 win back on Jan. 4 marked the first C-USA program to win multiple games at the Bulldogs' Thomas Assembly Center.
Roadrunners own 10 weekly C-USA freshman honors
• UTSA freshmen Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace have combined to win 10 of the Conference USA Freshman of the Week honors through the season's 15 weeks.
• Wallace has been bestowed the honor three times (Nov. 13, Dec. 4, Dec. 11), while Jackson has earned the weekly plaudit seven times (Nov. 20, Dec. 26, Jan. 2, Jan. 8, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, Feb. 19).
• Head coach Steve Henson has now coached 14 C-USA Freshman of the Week award winners – the 10 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.
Jackson's seventh C-USA frosh honor
• For the seventh time this season UTSA's Jhivvan Jackson was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week, for the week ending Feb. 18, the league office announced Monday, Feb. 19.
• Jackson is the fourth player in league history to earn at least seven Conference USA Freshmen/Rookie of the Week honors since the award was instituted starting with the 2008-09 season. He joins Marcus Evans (Rice – 10 in 2015-16), Ricky Tarrant (Tulane – 7 in 2011-12) and Tyreke Evans (Memphis – 9 in 2008-09), each of whom went on to be named C-USA Freshman of the Year.
• Jackson, a Bayamón, Puerto Rico native, averaged 26.0 points and 2.0 assists along with leading UTSA in points, field goals made and 3-point field goals made in an East Coast road split. He closed the week shooting 51.4 percent overall and 55.6 percent from three in 32.5 minutes per outing as a starter. He made 51.4 percent of his attempts from two and 42.9 percent from three.
• The combo guard opened the week with a team-high 22 points at Old Dominion. He became the UTSA all-time leading freshman scorer in the contest with a deep 3-pointer with 8:22 to play in the second half. In all, he shot 53.3 percent, which included five 3-pointers, against the Monarchs.
• He then totaled a game-high 30 points to lead UTSA to an overtime win at Charlotte. His performance included an 11 of 22 shooting effort from the floor with four threes against the 49ers. He scored 18 points in the second half and seven in overtime. His scoring output included 10 of UTSA's final 15 points in regulation, along with a game-tying 16-foot jumper with four seconds left in regulation. He then opened overtime with a 3-pointer, assisted on a Byron Frohnen layup and converted two scores inside to either score or assist on nine of the Roadrunners' 13 overtime points.
3-point record
• After making just 172 3-pointers all of last year, the 2017-18 Roadrunners have already set the UTSA single-season team 3-point field goals made record with 276. The previous record was 272 by the 2011-12 squad.
• Newcomers Jhivvan Jackson, Deon Lyle and Keaton Wallace lead the Roadrunners from deep with 74, 68 and 55 made triples, respectively. In addition, junior big man Nick Allen has stepped out to hit 25 threes, which is five more than his first two seasons combined.
• UTSA is on pace to make 332 3-pointer, which would rank among the top five in Conference USA history.
Season-best shooting percentage
• UTSA put together its best shooting performance of the season in its 97-89 overtime win at Charlotte on Feb. 17. The Roadrunners shot a campaign-best 61.0 percent from the floor, knocking down 36 of 59 shots. Included in the overall percentage was a 13 of 25 effort (52.0%) from 3-point range.
• UTSA shot 59. 3 percent (16 of 27) in the first half, 57.7 percent (15 of 26) in the second half and 83.3 percent (5 of 6) in overtime.
Jackson breaks UTSA frosh scoring record
• Jhivvan Jackson secured his spot atop the UTSA freshman scoring list with a 3-pointer at the top of the arc at the 8:22 mark of the second half at Old Dominion on Feb. 15. The deep triple gave the Bayamón, Puerto Rico, native 486 for the season, which passed 2005 NBA champion Devin Brown's previous record of 483 during 1998-99 campaign. Jackson went on to score two more points on the night to tally 22 for the game and 488 for his career.
• Jackson has tallied four 30-point, 14 20-point and 24 double-digit (16 straight) scoring performances in 27 career games.
• Jackson has at least five more games to play in his rookie campaign. If the sharpshooter continues on his season average of 19.2, he would amass 614 points, which would rank as the fourth-best single-season scoring effort in UTSA history and place the man among the top-50 scorers in program history after just one season.
Four in a row ... and five of six
• UTSA won four straight games in the heart of Conference USA play-- with three ranked in the top half of the C-USA standings. The Roadrunners started its streak with a dominate 82-70 road triumph at UAB on Jan. 27, then defeated Marshall (Feb. 1) and WKU (Feb. 3) at home. The victory over WKU marked only the second loss in league play by the Hilltoppers this season and the first UTSA win over an RPI top-50 team in the Steve Henson era. UTSA kept the streak going with a gritty 63-59 win at UTEP -- the program's first victory at the Don Haskins Center since Nov. 2011 -- on Feb. 10. The win streak was halted at Old Dominion on Feb. 15, but the Roadrunners bounced back to grab an overtime win at Charlotte two nights later (Feb. 17).
• The four-game win streak was the longest by the Roadrunners this season and the program's longest since posting a five-game streak in Jan. 2012 -- the Roadrunners' final season in the Southland Conference. UTSA's longest win streak in the last decade was seven from mid-December to mid-January during the 2008-09 campaign.
Stretch run
• UTSA is in the stretch run of the Conference USA season, playing five of its final seven away from the friendly confines of the Convocation Center.
• The Roadrunners started the stretch with a win at UTEP (Feb. 10). UTSA then lost at Old Dominion (Feb. 15) before earning an overtime win at Charlotte (Feb. 17). The Roadrunners now close out their home schedule against Southern Miss (Feb. 22) and LA Tech (Feb. 24) before finishing the season with road games at North Texas (March 1) and Rice (March 3).
Seeking conference win number nine
• UTSA stands at 8-6 in Conference USA play with four games remaining. The Roadrunners' eight league wins match the program standard since joining Conference USA prior to the 2013-14 season.
• UTSA last posted a conference record better than .500 in 2011-12 -- its final season in the Southland Conference.
Knocking on the door
• UTSA, which was selected ninth in the Conference USA preseason poll, currently sits fifth in the league standings. [The top four teams earn a first-round bye in the 2018 Conference USA Championship.]
• UTSA is currently two games back of Marshall for fourth, but the Roadrunners do not have a game remaining against an opponent with a winning conference record. Conversely the Thundering Herd have three games remaining against teams among the top six in the current standings.
• The Roadrunners are a half game up on UAB and a full game ahead of North Texas for fifth. UTSA and UAB do not play again this season. The Roadrunners travel to North Texas on March 1.