SAN ANTONIO -- The UTSA men's basketball team will open its 2019-20 season on Tuesday, traveling to face the Oklahoma Sooners, with tipoff slated for 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center. The game is set for a broadcast on SoonerSports.tv ($) and is live on the Roadrunners Sports Network, with the Voice of the Roadrunners, Andy Everett, calling the action live on Ticket 760 AM.
LEADING THE RUNNERS
• The Roadrunners return three starters from the 2018-19 season, including the nation's top scoring backcourt in juniors Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Jackson, picked as the preseason player of the year by Blue Ribbon Yearbook, won the C-USA scoring crown with 22.9 points per game as a sophomore. Wallace, a 6-foot-3 native of Dallas, Texas, averaged 20.2 points per game. UTSA also returns senior forward Byron Frohnen, who has made 100 consecutive starts to open his collegiate career and ranks fifth in program history in rebounds.
• UTSA also returns a bevy of contributors from a year ago, including senior forward Atem Bior, sophomore guard Adokiye Iyaye and sophomore forward Adrian Rodriguez. UTSA has added junior guard Knox Hellums – who sat out last year after transferring from Pepperdine – Italian point guard Erik Czumbel, point guard Makani Whiteside, forward Phoenix Ford and former junior college All-American Luka Barisic. Four-star freshman center Jacob Germany joins the Roadrunners as the highest ranked recruit in program history. Freshman Austin Timperman is coming off a redshirt season.
• Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Steve Henson, the Roadrunners are built on tempo and athleticism. In 2018-19, UTSA ranked 19th in the NCAA and second in C-USA in pace of play, according to the KenPom rankings. UTSA had four games with at least 100 points scored last year, its most since 1992-93.
CONNECTING THE TEAMS
• The meeting with UTSA-Oklahoma marks a homecoming for UTSA head coach Steve Henson, who served as an assistant coach for the Sooners from 2011-16. Henson is a long-time disciple of Kruger, playing for him at Kansas State (1986-90). After Henson's nine -year professional playing career concluded, he began 15 seasons as an assistant for Kruger, including seven years at UNLV, five at OU, two with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and one with Illinois.
• UTSA associate head coach Mike Peck has connections to Kruger, as Peck was on the staff at UNLV, spanning two head coaches, Kruger and Charlie Spoonhour. Peck was the video coordinator and administrative assistant for UNLV, after a decade as a collegiate assistant. After his time at UNLV, Peck served as the head coach at powerhouse Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., while Kruger and Henson were at UNLV. He would later spend two seasons as the head coach of the NBA D-League's Idaho Stampede before joining Henson in their debut season at UTSA, 2016-17.
• Assistant coach Scott Thompson is a veteran of Kruger's staff as well, spending five seasons with Oklahoma (2011-16) as the video coordinator and character coach.
• Assistant coach Adam Hood played at the Air Force Academy, facing Kruger and Henson several times as conference foes while they were at UNLV. Director of Operations Jeff Luster was on the staff at TCU when the Horned Frogs were in the Mountain West, also facing Kruger and Henson while they were with UNLV.
• UTSA also boasts three student-athletes from the Sooner state, including freshman center Jacob Germany (Kingston), sophomore guard Adokiye Iyaye (Oklahoma City) and redshirt freshman forward Adrian Rodriguez (Tulsa). Germany was a four-star recruit out of Kingston High School, where he helped lead his team to the state 3A championship with a 21-point, 12-rebound effort in the title game last year. Kingston finished with a 28-2 record.
• Iyaye starred at Putnam City North High School, where he had 1,800 career points, averaging 18.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists as a senior in 2017-18, with Putnam winning the 6A state championship.
• Rodriguez prepped at Union High School, where he earned all-state honors after averaging 14.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game as a senior in 2016-17.
SERIES HISTORY, LAST MEETING
• The Sooners have won all four meetings between the two schools, who will be meeting for the third consecutive year.
• OU posted an 87-67 win over the Roadrunners in San Antonio in 2018-19, owning a 39-29 advantage in the first and a 48-38 mark in the second half. OU outscored UTSA 52-32 in the pair and 17-8 in fast-break points, shotting 50.7 percent from the field, while UTSA was held to 35.6 percent.
• The Roadrunners were led by a double-double from Giovanni De Nicolao, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds, adding two assists in 31 minutes. UTSA was without Jhivvan Jackson, who missed the game while recovering from season-ending injury suffered a year prior. Wallace led UTSA's scorers with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Nick Allen added 15 points. Byron Frohnen had nine points and 10 rebounds. OU got a game-best 24 points from Christian James, who was 8 of 10 from the field with a trio of 3-pointers. Brady Manek had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, with Kristian Doolittle adding eight points and 11 boards.
• In the 2017-18 meeting, OU posted a 97-85 win in Norman, using a 42-37 lead in the first and a 55-48 margin in the second for the win. Jackson went for 31 points on 11 of 17 shooting, with Wallace adding 17 points and six assists.
SEASON LIDLIFTERS
• The Roadrunners are 15-23 all-time in season openers, including a 1-2 mark under coach Steve Henson, who has faced Fresno State, East Central and St. Edward's in his first three seasons openers at the helm. Last year, UTSA fell to St. Edward's as the Roadrunners were without the scoring punch of Jhivvan Jackson, who missed the game while recovering from injury, and fell 77-76.
EXHIBITION WINNER
• UTSA posted an 89-60 win in its lone exhibition of the 2019-20 preseason, held on Oct. 30 vs. Texas A&M International.
• The Roadrunners played all 13 of their players, with Jackson going for a team-high 15 points in 17 minutes. Byron Frohnen added 10 points, with Keaton Wallace totaling 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
STEVE HENSON IN FOURTH YEAR AT HELM
• The Roadrunners are led by fourth-year head coach Steve Henson, the 2017-18 Conference USA Coach of the Year.
• Henson, a former star player at Kansas State (1986-90), took over at UTSA for the 2015-16 season and has quickly transitioned the Roadrunners in an up-tempo, high-scoring offensive unit.
• The native of Kansas took over at UTSA after five years as an assistant at Oklahoma for Lon Kruger. Henson was also on the staff with Kruger for seven seasons at UNLV after a season at South Florida and with the Atlanta Hawks.
• A member of the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame who led K-State to four straight NCAA Tournaments, Henson owns program records for assists, assists per game, free-throw percentage, minutes played, minutes per game, starts, consecutive games played and consecutive starts. He ranks among the program best in nine categories, including 3-point field goals and percentage, steals, free throws, scoring and assist to turnover ratio.
• A two-sport standout at K-State, he was a decathlete and placed third as a sophomore and junior at the Big Eight Championships.
• He was a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1990 NBA Draft – going 44th overall – and played seven years in the NBA and two seasons in Italy and Greece.
• Henson is one of 21 coaches in the NCAA who played in the NBA.
• Henson earned Mr. Basketball honors while playing for his legendary father at McPherson High School.
• Henson has a knack for coaching elite scoring guards, including former Oklahoma standout Buddy Hield.
DYNAMIC DUO LEADS NATION IN BACKCOURT SCORING
• The Roadrunners are spurred by the nation's leading scoring backcourt, juniors Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace.
• The dynamic duo combined to lead the NCAA's backcourts with 43.1 points per game, with Jackson scoring a C-USA best 22.9 points per game and Wallace chipping in 20.2 point per outing.
• The pair are electric, with Jackson going for a conference-record 46 points at Western Kentucky in 2018-19 on a Thursday and Wallace charting 45 points in a win at Marshall on a Saturday.
• Jackson's scoring output came a year after he suffered a season-ending injury during a 2017-18 C-USA Freshman of the Year campaign. Jackson returned after missing the first four games of the year in 2018-19 and was on a significant minutes restriction for the next five games. In his 24 games as a starter in 2018-19, Jackson averaged 24.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 33.4 minutes. With Jackson as a starter, Wallace's offensive output jumped, averaging 21 points and 5.5 rebounds per game over 33.5 minutes.
FROHNEN AN EXPERIENCED WEAPON
• Senior forward Byron Frohnen is one of the most experienced players in program history. He ranks fifth in UTSA history in rebounds (690), third in games started (100), eighth in field-goal percentage (51.1) and 36th in points (751).
• The Las Vegas native has made all 100 starts in his career, ranking tied for third with Leon Watson for games started and just 22 games shy of the program record, held by Jeromie Hill (122).
• Frohnen currently has the fourth-longest active streak of consecutive games started, just shy of Oregon's senior guard Payton Pritchard (109), Penn State's Lamar Stevens and BYU's TJ Haws.
WALLACE FROM THREE
• Junior guard Keaton Wallace has etched his name throughout the record book with his ability to launch from 3-point range.
• The Dallas, Texas, native shattered the program record for 3-pointers in a season in 2018-19, connecting on 121 of 317 3-pointers, good for 38.2 percent. This came a year after Wallace drilled 74 of 223 3-pointers as a freshman, good for 33.2 percent, and the 13th-most 3-pointers in UTSA single-season history.
• He ranks third in the nation with 41 straight games with a 3-pointer, just shy of Eastern Illinois' Mack Smith (49 consecutive games) and Lafayette's Justin Jaworski (48).
NCAA's ACTIVE 3-POINTERS MADE STREAK
1. Mack Smith, Jr., Eastern Illinois – 49 consecutive games
2. Justin Jaworski, Jr., Lafayette – 48
3. Keaton Wallace, Jr., UTSA – 41
4. Jaylen Minnett, Jr., IUPUI – 36
Adam Flager, So., Presbyterian – 36
5. Luke Frampton, R-So., Davidson – 34
6. Jaevin Cumberland, R-Sr., Oakland – 33
A WIN WOULD ...
• Improve UTSA to 1-0
• Make head coach Steve Henson 2-2 all-time in season openers
• Give UTSA its first win vs. Oklahoma in five meetings
REPLACING ALLEN, DE NICOLAO
• The biggest question mark entering the 2019-20 season is how UTSA will replace lineup stalwarts point guard Giovanni De Nicolao and forward Nick Allen. Allen shattered the program record for career games played in 2018-19 and has signed to play professionally in Hungry. De Nicolao graduated in just three years and signed to play professionally in Italy.
• The pair played a vital role in their off and on-court leadership, self-less approach to the game and ability to make those around them better. De Nicolao started all 100 games of his career as the point guard and averaged 8.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Allen finished his 129-game UTSA career with 7.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
• Candidates to replace De Nicolao at the point guard range from returning scoring guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace, and freshmen Erik Czumbel and Makani Whiteside. Whiteside boasts elite scoring potential after averaging 29 points per game as a senior in Madera, Calif., and Czumbel has great international experience as a member of Team Italy at the U-18 World Championships.
• At the post position that Allen vacates, UTSA signed junior college all-American Luka Barisic, who averaged 17 points per game last year at Highland Community College in Illinois. UTSA has also signed the highest ranked recruit in program history, four-star center Jacob Germany. A 6-foot-11, 220-pound athlete, Germany will have an immediate impact at the rim. The Roadrunners also welcome back senior forward Atem Bior, who average 5.6 points and 5.0 rebounds as a junior college transfer in 2018-19, and redshirt sophomore forward Adrian Rodriguez. Rodriguez, a native of Tulsa, Okla., suffered a season-ending injury in his collegiate debut in 2017-18 and returned to play vital reserve minutes as a redshirt freshman in 2018-19.
NATION'S FOURTH HIGHEST SCORING DUO
• UTSA boasts the nation's fourth-highest scoring duo and the top scoring pair among backcourts, sophomore guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace, who combine to score 43.1 points per game.
Top NCAA Scoring Duos (2018-19)
1. Duke (45 ppg)
R.J. Barrett (Fr., G) - 22.6 ppg (15th in NCAA)
Zion Williamson (Fr., F) – 22.6 ppg (16th in NCAA)
2. South Dakota State (45 ppg)
Mike Daum (Sr., F) – 25.3 ppg (4th in NCAA)
David Jenkins (So., G) – 19.7 ppg (55th in NCAA)
3. CSUN (44 ppg)
Lamine Diane (Fr., F) - 24.8 (6th in NCAA)
Terrell Gomez (So., G) - 19.2 (63rd in NCAA
4. UTSA (43.1 ppg)
Jhivvan Jackson (So., G) – 22.9 ppg (14th in NCAA)
Keaton Wallace (So., G) – 20.2 ppg (46th in NCAA)
GERMANY UTSA'S HIGHEST RANKED SIGNEE
• Part of building the UTSA basketball program for coach Steve Henson has been an ability to sign some of the top recruits, and classes, in school history. UTSA welcomed five newcomers for 2019-20, including freshman center Jacob Germany, a four-star recruit who is the highest ranked prospect UTSA has signed.
• A native of a small town in Oklahoma, Kingston, Germany is a 6-foot-11, 220-pound left-handed center who was ranked as a four-star recruit by ESPN and a composite three-star by Rivals and 247Sports. Rated as the top collegiate prospect in Oklahoma last year by OKPreps, Germany led Kingston HS to the 3A state championship, going for 21 points and 12 rebounds in the state championship game with his team finishing the year with a 28-2 record.
BIOR, IYAYE TO EXPAND ON ROLES FROM 2018-19
• A pair of key contributors from a year ago, senior forward Atem Bior and sophomore guard Adokiye Iyaye, are primed to take the next steps in their development during an encore season in 2019-20.
• Bior, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound native of Bisbane, Australia, played in all 32 games in 2018-19 and made 12 starts in place of Jhivvan Jackson – who was recovering from injury while UTSA went with a three-forward lineup – and in the stead of Nick Allen, who missed time late with a foot injury. Bior averaged 5.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, logging 20.7 minutes while shooting 48.2 percent from the field.
• Iyaye, who scored over 1,800 career points at Oklahoma City's Putnam City North High School, was a vital sixth man in 2018-19, playing in all 32 games off the bench. He averaged 18.3 minutes, 4.9 points and 1.4 rebounds per game, serving as the go-to bench player in the backcourt behind high-volume scorers Jackson and Keaton Wallace – the nation's leading scoring backcourt.
ITALIAN POINT GUARD PIPELINE
• With the graduation of Italian point guard Giovanni De Nicolao to professional basketball following his 100-start UTSA career, the Roadrunners are in search of a new man to run the point.
• Among those candidates are freshman Erik Czumbel, who joins De Nicolao as UTSA point guards hailing from Italy.
• Czumbel, a 6-foot-3 native of Verona, Italy, had a decorated career internationally playing for Team Italy in the FIBA U-18 European Championships. He averaged 8.3 points, 2.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game of 23.5 minutes during the FIBA U-18 European Championships.
WELCOME TO THE FLOOR, KNOX!
• For the first time since the 2017-18 season while at Pepperdine University, UTSA junior guard Knox Hellums will suit up on the bench with an ability to play. Hellums joined the UTSA roster last year and had to sit out due to NCAA transfer policies.
• Hellums was limited to practice as a redshirt last year but shined during the Costa Rica Foreign Tour, averaging 13.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
• Hellums averaged 4.5 pints and 1.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore at Pepperdine, after averaging 4.5 points in 30 games as a freshman.
• He starred at Concordia Lutheran High School in Tomball, Texas, after opening his high school career at Klein in Spring, Texas. He averaged 19.6 points per game as a senior and 20.6 points as a junior.
JHIVVAN BACK FOR MORE
• UTSA's offensive attack is carried by its dynamic duo of junior guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace, a pair who have the ability to light up the scoreboard and put up 40 or more points on any given night. Jackson has been a scoring machine since he arrived on campus to win C-USA Freshman of the Year honors in 2017-18.
• Jackson averaged 18.4 points per game as a freshman, connecting on 43.1 percent from 3-point land to win top freshman honors in the circuit. This came after he missed the final three games of the year after suffering a season-ending knee injury.
• He returned after missing the first three games of 2019-20 and played the first five games of his season on a minute restriction. Jackson finished the year with All-Conference USA honors from the league coaches and all-district accolades from the USWBA and the NABC. Jackson won UTSA's first league scoring crown since 2003-04 with 22.9 points per game, adding 4.1 rebounds per outing over 30.8 minutes per game. He and Wallace combined to rank fourth in the NCAA in scoring duos (43.1 points per game), while leading the nation's backcourts in scoring.
• Jackson returned to full speed during the offseason, losing the knee brace which he lugged around during his sophomore season. He enters the preseason as the pick for player of the year by Blue Ribbon Yearbook and is a unanimous all-conference selection by Blue Ribbon, Lindy's, Street & Smith's and Athlon Sports.
CROATIAN MUSCLE
• With the departure of four-year fixture Nick Allen in the post, the Roadrunners are in need of production in 2019-20 from a variety of post players, including junior forward Luka Barisic. Allen was a stretch 4, capable of burning a defense that sagged towards UTSA's dynamic scoring guards, and owning the toughness, length and physicality to bang in the post with some of C-USA's better inside presences.
• Barisic is a prime candidate to step into the starting lineup in place of Allen in 2019-20. A 6-foot-10, 240-pound native of Osijek, Croatia, Barisic is coming off a third-team junior college All-America season at Illinois' Highland Community College. He averaged 17.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in 2018-19, shooting 42 percent from 3-point land and 49.6 percent from the field.
• As a freshman at Highland CC, he averaged 15.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on 52.9 percent shooting from the field.
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