Roadrunners travel to UTEP for Saturday night tilt

SAN ANTONIO – UTSA men's basketball travels to the western most point on the Conference USA map on Saturday when the Roadrunners take on UTEP in El Paso. The game starts the Roadrunners' three-game road swing that ends in Charlotte, N.C. on Feb. 17 after a stop in Norfolk, Va. on Feb. 15.
 

Game overview

• UTSA continues Conference USA play Saturday evening with a road game against in-state foe UTEP. The game will tip at 8 p.m. CT from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso. The contest will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (92.5/93.3 The Bull in San Antonio) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play. The game will also be web streamed on CUSA.tv with John Teicher (play-by-play) and Steve Yellen (analyst) on the call.
 

Series history vs. UTEP

• UTSA and UTEP have met 14 times on the basketball court with the Miners holding a 10-4 advantage. The first game of the series was played in 1981 with UTEP winning 65-37 in El Paso. The Roadrunners picked up their first win in the series on Nov. 11, 2011 with a 73-64 triumph in El Paso. Since joining C-USA, UTSA is 3-6 against the Miners with the most recent win coming by a 65-61 margin back on Jan. 20 at the Roadrunners' Convocation Center.
 

Three in a row

• UTSA has won each of its last three games -- all against teams in the 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.
• The three-game win streak is the longest by the Roadrunners this season and the second season such season in as many opportunities that Henson won at least three consecutive conference games. UTSA has not won four straight games since posting a five-game streak in Jan. 2012 -- the Roadrunners' final season in the Southland Conference.
 

Stretch run

• UTSA enters the stretch run of the Conference USA season, playing five of its final seven away from the friendly confines of the Convocation Center, starting Saturday at UTEP.
• After the trip to UTEP, the Roadrunners then travel to Old Dominion and Charlotte before closing its home schedule against Southern Miss and LA Tech. UTSA finishes the season with road games at North Texas and Rice.
 

Roadrunners own nine weekly C-USA freshman honors

• UTSA freshmen Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace have combined to win nine of the Conference USA's Freshman of the Week honors through the season's 13 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, Feb. 5).
• Head coach Steve Henson has now coached 13 C-USA Freshman of the Week award winners – the nine 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 ... Then grabs eight boards

• 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.
• Two games later Wallace scored 11 points, but more importantly grabbed a season-high eight boards to help UTSA outrebound the larger WKU squad 47-38, including a 31-17 margin in the first half.
 

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.
• Jackson needs just 28 more points to eclipse Devin Brown's 483 -point rookie year of 1998-99 to become UTSA frosh record holder.
Top-10 UTSA freshmen scorers

Up Next

• UTSA continues its three-game road swing at Old Dominion on Feb. 15 and Charlotte on Feb. 17.
 
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