UTSA hosts I-35 rival Texas State SaturdayUTSA hosts I-35 rival Texas State Saturday
Men's Basketball

UTSA hosts I-35 rival Texas State Saturday

SAN ANTONIO -- Winners of two consecutive games, UTSA men's basketball will return from a season-long five-game road swing to host I-35 rival Texas State, with tipoff on Saturday slated for 3 p.m. CT at the Convocation Center.
 
The game will be streamed live on CUSA.tv and broadcast live on the 93.3/92.5 FM The Bull (2:30 p.m. air time) and joined in progress on Ticket 760 AM at approximately 3:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Roadrunners, Andy Everett, and Tim Carter calling the action. The broadcast also can be heard live online at thebullcountry.iheart.com and via the free iHeartRadio app. 
 
Texas State (6-1) has won four straight games entering the matchup with the Roadrunners (2-5). UTSA owns consecutive wins over FGCU and at Houston Baptist after opening the year 0-5 with losses to Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State, and vs. conference frontrunners UC Irvine and South Dakota State.
 
UTSA Roadrunners (2-5) vs. Texas State (6-1) • 3 p.m.  •  Dec. 1, 2018
Convocation Center • San Antonio, Texas
Live video: CUSA.TV | goUTSA.com/MBB_video
 
Radio: 93.3/92.5 The Bull and/or Ticket 760 AM (after OU-Texas game.) | goUTSA.com/Ticket760  
Series vs. TXST: UTSA leads, 35-24
Last meeting: UTSA won, 79-78 at TXST on Nov. 15, 2017

Headlines and Storylines
• UTSA returns home after a season-long five-game road swing to host I-35 rival Texas State on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT at the Convocation Center.
• The Roadrunners have won two consecutive games entering a quick two-game homestand, including a 76-65 win over FGCU and an 86-82 win at Houston Baptist.
• UTSA and Texas State are meeting for the 60th time and for the 29th consecutive year.
• UTSA leads the all-time series, 35-24 and have won two consecutive and four of the last five.
• In games played in San Antonio, UTSA leads, 17-13, winning two straight.
• Coach Steve Henson is 2-0 in his two meetings with the Bobcats.
• UTSA is in its 38th season of basketball. The Roadrunners are 548-549 (.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 36-39 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. Texas State
• UTSA and Texas State will be meeting for the 60th time in series history­ with UTSA leading 35-24 and owning a 17-13 mark in games played in San Antonio. The Roadrunners have won four of the last five meetings in the series and two consecutive meetings. The former Southland Conference foes met twice annually in each season from 1991-92 through 2012-13.
• UTSA won last year's meeting in Strahan Coliseum, 79-78 with a furious 12-4 run over the final 42 seconds. Jhivvan Jackson had 15 points with a pair of free throws hit with eight seconds remaining to lift UTSA to the comeback win. 

Scouting Texas State
• Texas State (6-1) has won four consecutive games entering the weekend tilt in the Alamo City. The Bobcats have wins over Air Force, Cal Poly, Portland and most recently, a 74-60 win over Rice on Wednesday night in San Marcos. TXST has averaged 76.3 points per game, shooting 47 percent from the field and .384 from behind the arc, owning a +8.9 rebounding margin. Nijal Pearson leads the team with 21 points per game, adding 4.3 rebounds per outing. Alex Peacock leads the team with 7.6 rebounds per game. 
 
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 36-39 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.
• In UTSA's win at Houston Baptist, Jackson went up to 21 minutes, collecting 21 points on a career-high 11 free throws.
 
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 17.4 points per game and he has paced the team in points in four of the seven contests.  Wallace has reached double figures six 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 75-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 floor, as the Surprise, Ariz., native is averaging 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game to go along with seven assists and four steals through the first seven contests. The 6-8 forward is tied for second on the team with nine 3-pointers and he is shooting at an 71-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 7.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-high 3.4 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.
 
75 straight starts
• Juniors Byron Frohnen and Giovanni De Nicolao are projected to make their 76th consecutive starts on Saturday vs. Texas State. The first two signees of head coach Steve Henson in Spring 2016 have started all 75 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 22 3-pointers, UTSA has made 49 threes through the first six contests this season, an average of seven per game.
 
745 straight with a trey
• UTSA has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of its last 745 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 7.4 rebounds per game through the first seven 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 540 rebounds in 75 career games is seventh on the UTSA career list. He sits behind Bruce Wheatley (1987-90) for sixth (668) in career history.
 
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 to action on Saturday, Dec. 8, hosting Mid-America Christian at 3 p.m. CT at the Convocation Center. The game will be broadcast live on the Ticket 760-AM with the Voice of the Roadrunners, Andy Everett and Tim Carter voicing the action.
 
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