SAN ANTONIO – Winners of four of the last six games, UTSA men's basketball will return to action on Saturday, playing host to Illinois State, with tipoff at 3 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (4-7) will host Illinois State (5-6) in its final matchup before the holiday break. The Roadrunners are coming off an 88-78 loss vs. Oregon State in Houston's Toyota Center, which snapped a three-game winning streak. UTSA has won four of its last six games, after opening up the season with five consecutive losses – including at Oklahoma and No. 17/19 Utah State, before posting a home-opening win.
The Roadrunners turned the calendar to December and ripped off wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, at Texas State and vs. UT Permian Basin before the setback vs. Oregon State.
The matchup with Illinois State will pit a pair of teams with differing styles against each other. The Redbirds force opponents to use 19.1 seconds per possession, the second-longest length in the nation. While UTSA is known for pushing the pace and maximizing possession totals, ranking 19th in the nation last year in pace of play by KenPom.
UTSA is led by the nation's leading scorer, junior guard Jhivvan Jackson, who averages 25.5 points per game, sporting 5.6 rebounds per outing. The preseason Conference USA Player of the Year by Blue Ribbon Yearbook, Jackson is a member of the watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, given the nation's best player. He won the scoring title as a sophomore in C-USA with 22.9 points per game, a year after winning C-USA Freshman of the Year.
Jackson's running mate in the backcourt is junior guard Keaton Wallace, a native of Dallas, Texas. Wallace averages 16.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, leading the team with 4.6 assists per outing. As a sophomore, Wallace earned All-Conference USA honors with 20.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
After UTSA graduated three-year starting point guard Giovanni De Nicolao to Italian professional basketball after last year, Wallace was thrust into the point guard role in the first five games of the year. Since freshman Erik Czumbel has moved into the starting point guard position, Wallace has averaged 18.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, after averaging 13 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in the first five outings as the lead guard. As a team, UTSA was averaging 63.6 points per game with 10.4 assists per outing on a 34-percent clip from the field in the first five games. Since Czumbel has moved into the point guard role, UTSA is averaging 84 points and 16.7 assists per game, shooting 46.4 percent from the field.
Czumbel is averaging 5.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game, with freshman center Jacob Germany adding 5.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per outing. Junior forward Luka Barisic is averaging 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, with junior guard Knox Hellums sporting 5.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. Senior forward Byron Frohnen leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game. Frohnen has made all 111 starts in his career, the third-longest streak in the nation.
UTSA is averaging 74.7 points per game, holding opponents to 75.7 points per game and a 46.4 percent clip from the field. UTSA is shooting 40.7 percent from the field and 33.9 percent from 3-point range, averaging 38.3 rebounds, 13.8 assists, 13.2 turnovers and 7.1 steals per game.
The Redbirds enter the matchup in San Antonio having won its matchup on Wednesday vs. Illinois-Chicago, 67-66, after suffering a setback at Northern Kentucky on Dec. 15. The Redbirds have wins over Belmont, Little Rock and Illinois Springfield, also falling vs. UCF, Cincinnati, Western Kentucky and Grand Canyon.
ISU is led by senior guard Zach Copeland, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound native of Oakland, Calif., who averages 14.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Fourth-year junior forward Keith Fisher III averages 6.8 points and a team-leading 5.5 rebounds per game. Rey Idowu, a 6-9 sophomore, averages 7.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while freshman guard DJ Horne averages 5.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
As a team, ISU is averaging 68.5 points per game, shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from 3-point range. ISU is holding its opponents to 74.5 points per game, with its foes shooting 40.7 percent from the field and 33.9 percent from distance. ISU is averaging 13.1 assists, 34.5. rebounds, 13.7 turnovers, 5.4 steals and 2.9 blocks per game.
The all-time series is tied, 1-1, with UTSA falling on the road in 200, 95-87 and posting an 88-82 win over ISU in 2001 at the Convocation Center.
In the last meeting in the series, UTSA posted an 88-82 win over Illinois State in 2001 at the Convocation Center. Devin Brown had 23 points and McEverett Powers had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Brown had 23 points, six rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes, connecting on 10 of 13 efforts from the free-throw line. Powers finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and one steal. Illinois State was led in scoring by four players in double figures, including Bobocarr Bojang, who had 20 points and six boards. Shawn Jeppson (15), Gregg Alexander (18) and Vince Greene (12) each scored in double figures. ISU shot 50.8 percent from the field in the game, with UTSA shooting 48.4 percent.
- UTSA -
