SAN ANTONIO – UTSA will conclude its season-long five-game road trip when it travels to Houston to face Houston Baptist for the second straight season and 10th time overall. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Sharp Gym.
UTSA Roadrunners (1-5)
at
Houston Baptist Huskies (2-2)
7 p.m. | Monday, Nov. 26, 2018
Sharp Gym | Houston, Texas
Headlines and Storylines
• UTSA will wrap up its season-long five-game road trip with the program's first visit to Houston Baptist since 1988 on Monday night.
• The Roadrunners snapped a five-game losing skid to start the 2018-19 campaign with a 76-65 triumph over Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday during the final day of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.
• UTSA and Houston Baptist are meeting for the second straight season and 10th time overall.
• The Huskies hold a 5-4 edge in the all-time series.
• The series is tied at 2-2 in games played in Houston.
• The Roadrunners posted an 89-71 victory over the Huskies on Dec. 9, 2017, in the last meeting between the two former Trans America Athletic (now Atlantic Sun) Conference foes.
• Monday marks UTSA's first visit to Houston Baptist since Dec. 19, 1988.
• UTSA is in its 38th season of basketball. The Roadrunners are 547-549 (.499) all-time, which includes four NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Reigning Conference USA Gene Bartow Coach of the Year Steve Henson is in third year at the helm of the Roadrunners. Henson is 35-39 at UTSA.
• UTSA returns four starters from its 2017-18 20-win campaign, including junior point guard Giovanni De Nicolao, sophomore shooting guard Jhivvan Jackson, junior small forward Byron Frohnen and senior power forward Nick Allen. Sophomore point/shooting Keaton Wallace, who started 19 games as a freshman, also returns to bring UTSA's experience to 234 combined career starts entering this season.
• UTSA was selected fifth in the Conference USA Preseason Poll, as voted by the league's head coaches.
Series history vs. Houston Baptist
• UTSA and Houston Baptist will meet for the second straight season and 10th time overall on Monday night. The Huskies hold a 5-4 edge in the all-time series. The Roadrunners posted an 89-71 victory in the last meeting on Dec. 17, 2017, in San Antonio. The former Trans America Athletic Conference (now Atlantic Sun) foes met eight times in the 1980s, including six league games. The series is tied at 2-2 in games held in Houston and this will be the Roadrunners' first visit to the HBU campus since a 65-53 triumph on Dec. 19, 1988.
Scouting Houston Baptist
• The Huskies improved to 2-2 on the season with a 93-91 overtime victory at Wake Forest on Friday. Houston Baptist's other win was a 75-72 decision against Fordham on Nov. 10. HBU is scoring 71.8 points per game but allowing 87.3 per outing. Ian DuBose leads the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game, while Jalon Gates (12.5) and Edward Hardt (10.0) also score in double figures. Philip McKenzie is the top rebounder with 5.0 per contest. Head coach Ron Cottrell is 477-391 in his 27th year at the helm.
Third season of Steve Henson era
• The 2018-19 season marks the third of the Steven Henson era at UTSA. Henson, who came to the Alamo City from Lon Kruger's staff at Oklahoma, has guided the Roadrunners to a 35-39 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.
Welcome back, Jhivvan
• 2018 Conference USA Freshman of the Year Jhivvan Jackson made his return from a season-ending injury at the Gulf Coast Showcase on Nov. 19-21. The sophomore guard averaged 13.7 points in limited minutes (15.0 mpg) in the three neutral-site contests. Jackson drained nine 3-pointers and dished out five assists to help the Roadrunners to a 1-2 record, including scoring 21 on the strength of five treys to help UTSA to a 76-65 victory over Florida Gulf Coast on the final day of the tournament.
• The second-team all-conference selection 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.
Sophomore a steady scorer
• Sophomore guard Keaton Wallace has emerged as a steady scoring option for UTSA through the first half dozen games this season. The Dallas native leads the Roadrunners in scoring with 17.0 points per game and he has paced the team in points in four of the six contests. Wallace has reached double figures five times, including back-to-back 20-point showings against UC Irvine (23) and South Dakota State (21).
• A 2017-18 Conference USA All-Freshman Team selection, Wallace averaged 11.4 points in 35 games last season.
Frohnen near-double-doubles
• Junior forward Byron Frohnen has opened the season with four near misses at registering a double-double, missing by no more than three points or rebounds.
• Frohnen has totaled seven double-doubles in his 74-game career and has missed 21 others by three or fewer points or rebounds.
Senior spreads the floor
• Senior Nick Allen has emerged as a threat from virtually anywhere on the flloor, as the Surprise, Ariz., native is averaging 10.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game to go along with seven assists and four steals through the first six contests. The 6-8 forward is tied for second on the team with nine 3-pointers and he is shooting at an 80-percent clip at the free-throw line.
• Allen opened the campaign with 15 points and eight rebounds against St. Edward's and he also has scored in double figures against Oklahoma (15), South Dakota State (12) and Florida Gulf Coast (13).
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.
• De Nicolao is averaging 7.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and a team-high 2.8 assists per game this season.
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.
Rodriguez's return to floor
• After suffering a season-ending knee injury in last year'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. Rodriguez recorded five points in 10 minutes versus UC Irvine and two points and two boards in his last outing in the victory over FGCU.
74 straight starts
• Juniors Byron Frohnen and Giovanni De Nicolao are projected to make their 75th consecutive starts on Monday against Houston Baptist. The first two signees of head coach Steve Henson in Spring 2016 have started all 74 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 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 last 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 96, 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.
• Led by Wallace's 18 3-pointers, UTSA has made 42 threes through the first six contests this season, an average of seven per game.
744 straight with a trey
• UTSA has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of its last 744 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 to Texas (0-for-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 fifth in Conference USA with 7.0 rebounds per game through the first six contests.
• The Las Vegas native has reached double figures on the boards in two games with 10 in the season opener against St. Edward's and a season-high 11 at Oklahoma State.
• Frohnen's 514 rebounds in 74 career games is ninth on the UTSA career list. He needs four more to supplant Reggie Minnieweather (517 in 113 games from 1998-02) for eighth place.
The schedule
• UTSA will play 13 non-conference games, highlighted by matchups against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Arkansas and three games at the Gulf Coast Showcase. In addition, the Roadrunners will face I-35 rival Texas State at home along with trips Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Baptist. Also included in the 13-game non-conference schedule are home games against St. Edward's, Mid-America Christian, Bethany and Southeastern Oklahoma State.
• The Roadrunners open their 18-game Conference USA slate on Thurday., Jan. 3, against in-state rival UTEP. The Roadrunners will play 13 additional league games before the innovative bonus play schedule is implemented for the final four games of the conference season.
• The 2019 Conference USA Championship will be held at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The tournament commences on March 13 with the championship game slated for March 16.
Henson awarded contract extension
• The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved on May 1 a contract extension for UTSA head men's basketball coach Steve Henson that will run through the 2023-24 season.
• The contract extends Henson's original deal an additional three seasons and raises his base salary from $280,000 to $325,000 per year.
Up next
• UTSA will return home to host I-35 rival Texas State on Saturday, Dec. 1. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. at the Convocation Center and the game will air in San Antonio on Ticket 760 AM.
