SAN ANTONIO – UTSA men's basketball continues its five-game road swing with three games at the Gulf Coast Showcase Nov. 19-21 at Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla.
UTSA Roadrunners (0-3)
vs.
UC Irvine Anteaters (4-0)
12:30 p.m. | Nov. 19, 2018
Hertz Arena | Estero, Fla.
Broadcast: BDGlobal.com
Radio: Ticket 760 AM
UTSA Roadrunners
vs.
South Dakota State Jackrabbits or Tulane Green Wave
10 a.m. or 4 p.m. | Nov. 20, 2018
Hertz Arena | Estero, Fla.
Broadcast: BDGlobal.com
Radio: Ticket 760 AM
UTSA Roadrunners
vs.
TBD
TBD | Nov. 20, 2018
Hertz Arena | Estero, Fla.
Broadcast: BDGlobal.com
Radio: Ticket 760 AM
Gulf Coast Showcase
• UTSA competes in the Gulf Coast Showcase Monday-Wednesday. The tournament features the Roadrunners, Colorado State, FGCU, Louisiana, South Dakota State, Toledo, Tulane and UC Irvine.
• The eight-team showcase is a bracketed tournament that will have a true event champion. All eight teams will play three games during their time at the event.
• UTSA first plays UC Irvine of the Big West on Monday and will advance to play the winner/loser of Tulane/South Dakota State on Tuesday and either Louisiana, Colorado State, Toledo or FGCU on Wednesday.
Game overview
• UTSA faces UC Irvine on Monday at 12:30 p.m. in the second game of the 2018 Gulf Coast Showcase. The contest will be broadcast on BDGlobal.com with Spence Siegel (play-by-play) on the call. The game will air on the Roadrunners Sports Network (Ticket 760 AM in San Antonio) with Andy Everett providing play-by-play.
Series history vs. UC Irvine
• UTSA leads the all-time series against the Anteaters by a 1-0 count as the program's only meeting came on Nov. 23, 2009 in the opening game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Richmond, Ky. The Roadrunners outlasted UC Irvine that day by a 66-56 final.
De Nicolao double-doubles
• Junior point guard Giovanni De Nicolao recorded his first career double-double in his 70th career game as the Italian scored 12 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds against Oklahoma on Nov. 12. De Nicolao made four shots from the field, including two threes, and connected twice from the free-throw line. His 10 rebounds consisted of two offensive boards and eight on the defensive glass.
Frohnen ... a walking near double-double
• Junior forward Byron Frohnen has opened the season with three near misses at registering a double-double, missing by no more than three points or rebound.
• Frohnen has totaled seven double-doubles in his 71-game career, but has missed 20 others by three or fewer points or rebounds.
Streaky shooting and runs cost UTSA vs. Oklahoma
• UTSA fell by an 87-67 final on Nov. 12 to Oklahoma at the Convocation Center. However, the game was played much closer than the final score reflected.
• UTSA overcame missing its first 16 shots against the Sooners to tie the game at 26 with 4:13 to go in the first half thanks to a 14-2 run in which the Roadrunners made six straight shots. However, OU would respond with a 13-3 run over the remainder of the period to take a 39-29 halftime lead. During the Sooners' stretch UTSA missed five of six attempts.
• The second half opened with UTSA going on a 17-5 run, shooting 8 of 11 shots, to take a 48-46 lead 5:21 into the stanza. UTSA would once again go cold from the field, missing 15 of their next 18 attempts, as OU reeled off a 27-4 run to put the game out of reach.
UTSA falls in season opener
• UTSA was upended in its season opener on Nov. 7 by a 77-76 final score by St. Edward's.
• UTSA was led in the contest by Nick Allen and Keaton Wallace with 15 points each, while Giovanni De Nicolao collected a 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists stat line.
Third season of the Steve Henson era
• The 2018-19 season marks the third season of the Steven Henson era at UTSA. Henson, who came to UTSA from Lon Kruger's staff at Oklahoma, has guided the Roadrunners to a 34-37 overall mark to this point. Under Henson's tutelage, UTSA won a program-best 11 Conference USA contests last season and picked up UTSA's second consecutive Conference USA tournament win. Moreover, Henson coached Jhivvan Jackson to C-USA Freshman of the Year and Deon Lyle to league Sixth Player of the Year plaudits in 2017-18.
Defending home court
• Under head coach Steve Henson, UTSA has posted a 23-9 record at the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners went 11-3 at home last season and 12-4 in 2017-18.
• Prior to the last two seasons, UTSA last posted consecutive 11-win home seasons when the program went 11-3 in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 as members of the Southland Conference.
• The 1991-92 team was the last Roadrunners squad to win more than 12 games at the Convocation Center, finishing 14-1.
Seven New Birds
• Seven newcomers will don the UTSA Blue and Orange for the first time in 2018-19, including four freshmen, a sophomore and two transfers.
• The freshmen class is composed of Texas high school products Tamir Bynum (Lamar HS), Mateo Escheik (Prestonwood Christian Academy) and Austin Timperman (The Woodlands HS), along with Oklahoman Adokiye Iyaye (Oklahoma City/Putnam North HS).
• Sophomore Christian Plummer joined the team as walk-on out of Coppell HS.
• Junior college transfer forward Atem Bior (New Mexico Military Institute) is joined by four-year transfer Knox Hellums (Pepperdine) as newcomers to the junior class. Hellums is required to sit out the 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer policies.
Jackson Progressing, on pace for December Return
• Reigning Conference USA Freshman of the Year and second-team all-conference selection Jhivvan Jackson is on pace for an early December return to the court from a knee injury that cost him the final six game of his rookie season.
• Despite the injury, Jackson set the UTSA freshman scoring record with 534 points and led the team with 18.4 per game. He shot 43.1 percent from the field for the season and tallied three 30-point, 14 20-point and 25 double-figure scoring performances.
Rodriguez's return to floor
• After suffering a season-ending knee injury in last season's opener, redshirt freshman Adrian Rodriguez is medically cleared for the 2018-19 season.
•Before suffering the injury, the 6-foot-7 forward from Tulsa, Okla., scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench against East Central.
• The 6-foot-7 big man played 12 minutes against St. Edward's in the season lid-lifter, collecting five rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists. He followed that performance with six points and four boards in 16 minutes against Oklahoma.
72 straight starts
• Juniors Byron Frohnen and Giovanni De Nicolao are projected to make their 72nd consecutive starts on Monday against UC Irvine. The first two signees of head coach Steve Henson in spring 2016 have started all 71 games of their careers. Frohnen has started at both the small and power forward positions, while De Nicolao has been the stalwart at point guard.
3-Point Record in 2017-18
• After making just 172 3-pointers all of 2016-17, the 2017-18 Roadrunners set the UTSA single-season team 3-point field goals made record with 353. The previous record was 272 by the 2011-12 squad.
• The Roadrunners' 10.1 triples per game led Conference USA and ranked 19th in the NCAA.
• UTSA's 353 makes this season ranked fifth on the Conference USA single season list. The conference record is 375 by the 2007-08 Houston Cougars.
• Deon Lyle (who elected to depart the program to pursue a professional career in the Junior Basketball Association after his junior season), Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace lead the Roadrunners from deep with 956, 77 and 74 made triples, respectively. Junior point guard Giovanni De Nicolao made 36 and senior big man Nick Allen stepped out to hit 33 threes, which was 13 more than his first two seasons combined.
741 straight with a trey
• UTSA has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of its last 741 consecutive games, which ranks as the 21st longest streak in the nation. The last time the Roadrunners failed to connect from long range come on Jan. 5, 1994 in a 91-69 loss vs. Texas (0 of 6). To put the time frame in perspective: Bill Clinton had not yet completed his first full year as POTUS, Hero by Mariah Carey was on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Mrs. Doubtfire was the No. 1 movie in the box office and the Dallas Cowboys were 15 days from winning Super Bowl XXVIII, 30-13, over the Buffalo Bills.
Frohnen on the boards
• Junior forward Byron Frohnen leads UTSA and ranks eighth in Conference USA with a per game average of 8.7 rebounds.
• Frohnen's 500 rebounds in 71 career games is ninth on the UTSA career list. He needs 18 more to supplant Reggie Minnieweather (517 in 113 games from 1998-02) for eighth.
Up Next
• UTSA concludes its five-game road trip with a trek east to the Space City to face Houston Baptist on Monday, Nov. 26. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Sharp Gym.
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