- UTSA to play 15 games at the Convocation Center, 18 games in C-USA play and 13 in non-conference action.
- The Roadrunners will face four foes who advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19.
- Clashes with Oklahoma, Prairie View A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Oregon State, and Illinois State highlight non-league slate.
- UTSA will play Oregon State at Houston's Toyota Center on Dec. 18.
- Roadrunners are 34-11 under fourth-year head coach Steve Henson at home.
SAN ANTONIO -- Sporting 37 wins over the last two seasons, UTSA men's basketball head coach Steve Henson has announced a challenging 2019-20 schedule.
The Roadrunners will host 15 home dates at the Convocation Center as part of their 31-game schedule. UTSA's schedule features an 18-game Conference USA slate and 13 non-conference contests.
Four opponents on the 2019-20 UTSA schedule advanced to the 2019 NCAA Tournament, including Oklahoma (Nov. 5), Old Dominion (Feb. 6), Utah State (Nov. 18) and Prairie View A&M (Nov. 30). In addition, 11 of UTSA's opponents won 20 or more games a season ago.
"Our non-conference schedule will give us a good opportunity to prepare for the rigors of the Conference USA season," Henson said. "The matchups with perennial competitive programs from the Big 12, Pac 12, Mountain West, Missouri Valley and CAA is exactly what we need to prepare us for an extremely competitive C-USA season. Oklahoma poses a big challenge in the opener as they are coming off advancing in the NCAA Tournament. Our trip to Orlando will give us an opportunity to come together as a team against quality opposition and improve on how we play in tournament settings. A tall task will be playing at Utah State, who will be projected to finish near the top of the Mountain West and are returning a lot of pieces from their NCAA Tournament appearance. Our game with Oregon State allows our fans to travel in state to watch us play in a neutral-site, big-time event against a Pac-12 foe."
UTSA is coming off a 17-win season in 2018-19 and finished tied for second in the league standings, which marked its best conference finish in 14 years. The Roadrunners, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Steve Henson, return a bevy of talent for 2019-20, including junior guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Jackson and Wallace were tabbed preseason All-Conference USA by the Blue Ribbon Yearbook, with Jackson named preseason player of the year.
The dynamic duo combined to lead all NCAA backcourts in scoring a year ago and ranked fourth overall while averaging 43.1 points per game. Jackson, the 2017-18 league freshman of the year, led C-USA in scoring with 22.9 points per game, despite suffering a season ending injury as a freshman and missing the first five games of the year.
In addition to the scoring punch of the dynamic duo, UTSA returns senior forward Byron Frohnen, who has started all 100 games of his career and is positioned to contend for the UTSA rebounding record in 2019-20. Returners Christian Plummer, Adokiye Iyaye, Adrian Rodriguez and Atem Bior gained experienced a year ago. Newcomers Makani Whiteside, Erik Czumbel, Phoenix Ford, Jacob Germany and Luka Barisic are expected to have an immediate impact. Knox Hellums – a Pepperdine transfer – and Austin Timperman benefited from redshirted seasons in 2018-19.
Season Tickets
Season tickets are now available for UTSA's home games by visiting GoUTSA.com/MBBtix or by calling or texting (210) 458-8872 to speak directly to a ticket sales representative. Season tickets start as low as $99. Combined tickets for reserved seats at men's and women's basketball in 2019-20 at the Convocation Center start at $140. Single-game tickets start at $10 for adults and $8 for youth. UTSA students receive free admission to all home games by showing a UTSA ID.
Breaking down the schedule, foes
The Roadrunners will kick off 2019-20 exhibition slate at the Convocation Center on Oct. 30 against Texas A&M International with the season lidlifter slated for Nov. 5 at Oklahoma.
UTSA will be facing Oklahoma for the third-consecutive season with the Sooners owning wins in all four meetings in the series. Last year, UTSA fell 87-67 at the Convocation Center to the Sooners, a year after OU posted a 97-85 win in Norman.
In the meeting in 2018-19, UTSA got a double-double from Giovanni De Nicolao (12 points, 10 rebounds), with Frohnen totaling 10 rebounds and nine points. UTSA was without Jackson, C-USA's reigning scoring champion in the meeting a year ago. Jackson went for 31 points in 26 minutes at OU as a freshman, with Wallace adding 17 points and six assists.
UTSA continues a road swing with a three-game trip to the Sunshine Slam in Kissimmee, Fla. The Roadrunners will face Southern Illinois on Nov. 8, Oakland on Nov. 9 and Delaware on Nov. 10. Each opponent will mark first-time foes for the Roadrunners.
A season-opening, five-game road swing winds down with a stiff test at Utah State in Logan, Utah, on Nov. 18. The Aggies are coming off a 28-7 season that finished with a No. 31 NET ranking, posting a 15-3 mark in the Mountain West Conference. Senior guard Sam Merrill leads the Aggies in 2019-20 after averaging 20.9 points and 4.2 assists per game. Neemias Queta, a 7-foot-245-pound sophomore center, averaged 11.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in his collegiate debut in 2018-19. The Roadrunners have fallen in both previous meetings with Utah State, a 71-67 loss at the Convocation Center in December 2012 and a road loss later that season.
UTSA will host Wiley College on Nov. 22, the first meeting between the two schools.
Prairie View A&M, a team that won 22 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19, will come to the Alamo City on Nov. 30. UTSA holds a 5-1 series advantage with Prairie View A&M, winning a meeting in 2016-17. UTSA faced the Panthers five times from 1984-86 with the lone loss for UTSA coming in 1986 on the road. UTSA is 4-0 vs. the Panthers at home.
The Roadrunners will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 3 at the Convocation Center, the 25th all-time meeting between the two schools. UTSA has won two straight in the series, including a 64-50 win in Corpus Christi in 2018-19. Jackson led the Roadrunners with 22 points in 36 minutes, while Frohnen totaled 13 points and seven rebounds in a win that saw UTSA own a 30-15 halftime advantage. The Islanders will be searching for their first win at UTSA since 2015.
A rivalry tilt with Texas State resumes on Dec. 7 in San Marcos. The two teams have met 60 times, with UTSA owning a 35-25 lead in the series, including a 16-11 mark in games played in San Marcos. TXST posted a 69-68 win in San Antonio in 2018-19, sinking the go-ahead free throws after UTSA was whistled for a foul with under a second remaining in regulation. UTSA has won four of the last six meetings in the series and is seeking to win two straight in San Marcos after a 79-78 win in 2017.
UTSA will host UT Permian Basin on Dec. 15, the second meeting in the series after UTSA suffered a 90-85 loss in 2015. UTPB went on to a 26-6 record in 2015-16 – and a 26-7 mark the following year – and have accumulated 67 wins over the last three seasons.
A neutral-site test with Oregon State at Houston's Toyota Center is set for Dec. 18. It will be the second meeting between the two foes, as the Beavers earned a 72-64 win in Corvallis, Ore., in 2016-17 during Henson's first season with the Roadrunners.
A pair of home matchups wrap up the non-conference schedule, with UTSA hosting Illinois State on Dec. 21 and Our Lady of the Lake on Dec. 28. Illinois State, coming off a 17-win season a year ago, will be facing UTSA for the third time. The teams split the first two meetings, a 95-87 Redbirds win in 2000 and an 89-82 win for the Roadrunners in 2001 at the Convo.
UTSA will be hosting Our Lady of the Lake in the first meeting between the Alamo City programs. Our Lady of the Lake has built a strong program at the NAIA level, averaging 22 wins per season from 2013-18.
The conference schedule opens at the turn of the new decade, as UTSA hits the road to the Sunshine State for the second time, facing Florida Atlantic on Jan. 2 in Boca Raton, before traveling to FIU on Jan. 4 in Miami.
FAU leads the all-time series with the Roadrunners, 5-4, but UTSA claimed the last meeting in 2018-19, 86-74 at the Convocation Center. FAU has won two of the three meetings in Boca Raton and UTSA will be looking for its first road win in the series wince 2014-15.
FIU and UTSA have spilt 10 meetings in the series, with UTSA owning wins in three of four games in Miami. The Panthers, who ranked among the nation's leaders in pace of play in 2018-19, fell 100-67 at the Convo last year. UTSA has won three of the last four meetings, falling in the last road meeting in 2017-18, 79-76, but earning a 69-67 victory in Miami in 2016-17.
Louisiana Tech (Jan. 9) and Southern Miss (Jan. 11) come to the Convocation Center in crucial conference tests early in the league season. Louisiana Tech posted a 20-13 record and a 123 NET ranking in 2018-19, while Southern Miss sported a 20-13 record and a 102 NET. The Bulldogs own a 12-5 lead in the series with UTSA, including a 6-2 mark in games played in San Antonio. UTSA won the last meeting at the Convo, 74-64 in 2017-18, but fell 72-67 in Ruston in 2018-19.
Southern Miss sports a 7-4 lead in the series with UTSA but is 0-4 in San Antonio, with all seven wins coming in Hattiesburg. In 2018-19, Southern Miss posted a pair of wins in Hattiesburg, including a 78-71 win in Feb. and an 81-48 win in the regular-season finale.
UTSA's travel partner in C-USA – UTEP – will face the Roadrunners twice in a three-day span. UTSA will travel to UTEP on Jan. 15, before welcoming the Miners on Jan. 18 to the Convocation Center. The Miners lead the series with UTSA, 10-8 but the Roadrunners have won five straight meetings, including wins at home (75-60) and in El Paso (67-63) in 2018-19.
North Texas, which won 21 games and had a 147 NET ranking in 2018-19, will host the Roadrunners in Denton on Jan. 23, with UTSA then venturing to Rice on Jan. 25.
UNT leads the series with UTSA, 15-11, including a 7-4 margin in games played in Denton. UTSA won the last meeting in thrilling fashion in 2018-19, getting a game-winning basket from Jackson in the closing seconds in a 76-74 win.
The Roadrunners lead the series with Rice, 9-5, but the Owls lead 4-3 in games played in Houston. UTSA has won three-consecutive meetings in the series, including a 95-79 win in 2018-19 at the Convo.
UAB (Jan. 30) and Middle Tennessee (Feb. 1) will come to San Antonio for tests at the Convocation Center. A year ago, UAB eliminated the Roadrunners in the Conference USA Championship in Frisco, using a furious second-half run to post an 85-76 win. The series is tied 4-4, with UTSA claiming the regular-season meeting at the Gene Bartow Center in 2018-19, 76-70.
Middle Tennessee will be looking to win its seventh game in eight meetings with the Roadrunners. UTSA's lone win in the series came in 2016 in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and fell to the Blue Raiders in the meeting a year ago, 89-86.
A clash with the defending C-USA Champions, Old Dominion, is set for Feb. 6 in Norfolk, Va., the first of a two-game swing to the east coast with UTSA facing Charlotte on Feb. 8. UTSA and ODU split the meetings in the series in 2018-19, including an epic Roadrunners win at the Convocation Center. UTSA rallied from down 67-49 with 4:43 left in regulation, getting a go-ahead trey – his ninth of the game – from Wallace with 15 seconds remaining.
UTSA will then face Charlotte in the Queen City, with UTSA winning three of nine meetings in the series, including two consecutive games. UTSA routed Charlotte last year, 88-43 in the lone meeting, and last won in Charlotte with a 97-89 overtime thriller in 2017-18.
Home matchups with strong conference opponents, Marshall (Feb. 13) and Western Kentucky (Feb. 15), will lead into the second season of C-USA Bonus Play.
UTSA won the meeting at the Thundering Herd a year ago, a 116-106 overtime thriller, and owns a 4-3 lead in the series, including a 3-1 mark in home. The Roadrunners saw Wallace pour in a career-high and gym-record 45 points in the win at Marshall in 2018-19.
WKU also saw some heroics from UTSA's scoring duo in 2018-19, as Jackson put on a show in two overtime classics at E.A. Diddle Arena. WKU won the first meeting last year despite Jackson pouring in an arena-record 46 points, a career high and the second-most points for a player in C-USA history. A few weeks later, Jackson and the Roadrunners returned to Diddle Arena, escaping with an 81-76 win over the Toppers behind 29 points from Jackson.
Four C-USA games will remain for UTSA, to be played on five dates (Feb. 22, Feb. 27, March 1, March 4, March 7). The schedule for C-USA Bonus Play – the second-consecutive year of the format – will be announced following the completion of games on Feb. 15. The schedule will be divided into three groups based on the league standings.
The Conference USA Championship will return to the Ford Center at The Star on March 11-14 in Frisco, Texas, March 11-14. The NCAA Tournament opens on March 17 and concludes with the Final Four in Atlanta April 4-6.
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