SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball program will get an early jump on the 2018-19 season when it takes a foreign trip to Costa Rica for three games August 12-18.
"This trip is exactly what we need at this point," said UTSA head coach Steve Henson. "It will give us the opportunity to work on our team chemistry and culture. We can reinforce good habits and get a good look at what we need to work on heading into the season. Hopefully, this will allow us to be ahead of the curve when we start practice in late September."
The team will get 10 practices to prepare for the foreign tour with all players expected to make the trip. NCAA basketball teams are allowed to take an international tour to play exhibition games once every four years. The Roadrunners last traveled abroad to Australia in 2011.
After the practices leading up to the trip, the Roadrunners will depart for Costa Rica on Aug. 12 and take on the University of Calgary (Canada) in international exhibition games on Aug. 13 and Aug. 14, along with a to-be-determined opponent on Aug. 15. All three games will be played at the Ciudad Deportiva in San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica.
In addition to competition on the basketball court, the Roadrunners will also take part in community service projects in San Jose and have an opportunity to explore parts of the Costa Rica rainforest.
UTSA returns four starters and more than 68 percent of its scoring for next season, including top-five scorers Jhivvan Jackson (18.4 ppg), Keaton Wallace (11.4 ppg), Nick Allen (8.9 ppg) and Giovanni De Nicolao (8.7 ppg). Leading rebounder Byron Frohnen (7.2 rpg) along with Allen (5.1 rpg) will anchor the Roadrunners' frontcourt in the upcoming campaign.
The Costa Rica trip will be the first action in a UTSA uniform in nearly a year for redshirt freshman Adrian Rodriguez, who suffered a season-ending injury in last season's opener. In addition, junior college transfer Atem Bior along with incoming freshmen signees Tamir Bynum and Adokiye Iyaye will suit up as Roadrunners for the first time.
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