SAN ANTONIO -- UTSA men's basketball will hit the road for matchup at UTEP on Wednesday, with tipoff slated for 8 p.m. CT at the Don Haskins Center.
The game will be televised live on ESPN+ and will be broadcast live on the Roadrunners Sports Network, with the Voice of UTSA, Andy Everett, calling the action.
The matchup will be a tough one for the Roadrunners, who will face a UTEP (10-7, 1-3 C-USA) team that owns a 9-1 record at the Don Haskins Center. UTSA and UTEP are C-USA's travel partners, which sets up a two-game week against each other, as the Roadrunners will then host UTEP on Saturday at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (8-9, 2-2 Conference USA) is coming off a 2-0 week that pulled the Roadrunners even in conference play after a pair of losses on a Florida, league-opening road swing. UTSA cruised to a 16-point win over league frontrunner Louisiana Tech on Thursday, owning a 29-point lead in the early stages of the second half and splashing a program record 18 3-pointers in the win. On Saturday, UTSA overcame a sluggish rebounding outing to top Southern Miss 80-70, extending a home winning streak to six games.
The Roadrunners are paced by the nation's top scoring duo, junior guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Jackson ranks No. 2 in the NCAA with 25.8 points per game, just shy of Marquette's Markus Howard's 26.8 points per game. Wallace is right behind with 16.6 points per game, adding 4.6 rebounds per outing. Jackson enters the matchup as the regining C-USA Player of the Week after combining for 60 points over the two games at the Convocation Center last week. He is a member of the Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List, while Wallace is on the Lute Olson Award Watch List, with each award given to the nation's best player. Last year, Jackson won the C-USA scoring crown with 22.9 points per game, while Wallace added 20.2 points and 5.0 rebounds.
UTSA has gotten a boost from juniors Luka Barisic and Knox Hellums, with Barisic averaging 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Hellums is averaging 6.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Freshman Erik Czumbel, who has helped UTSA to an 8-4 record as a starter, is averaging 4.8 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. Senior forward Byron Frohnen, who has made all 117 starts in his career, leads the club with 7.1 rebounds per game.
UTSA is averaging 78 points per game, while leading C-USA with 39.8 rebounds per game. UTSA is shooting 42.4 percent as a team and 35.7 percent from 3-point range, while holding opponents to 75.2 points and 44.5 percent from the field. UTSA is averaging 14.2 assists, 13.7 turnovers, 6.5 steals and 3.1 blocks per game in 2019-20.
The Roadrunners have won five straight meetings against the Miners after sweeping the series in 2018-19. UTSA head coach Steve Henson is 6-1 in his career against UTEP, with six of UTSA's eight wins over the Miners coming under his guidance. UTEP owns a 7-3 advantage in games played in El Paso, Texas, with UTSA winning two straight meetings.
In the last meeting between the two schools, UTSA outlasted the Miners in El Paso, 67-63, getting a game-best 24 points from Jhivvan Jackson, with Keaton Wallace adding 16 and Nick Allen 14 points. UTEP was led by an 18-point game from Evan Gilyard, with Efe Odigie grabbing 16 rebounds with eight points. UTSA shot just 37. Percent from the field and were 7 of 22 from 3-point range, while UTEP was 39.3 percent from the field with 10 made 3-pointers. UTEP owned a 40-33 halftime lead but the Roadrunners outscored the Miners by 11 in the final stanza, getting 28 points off UTEP's 12 turnovers.
UTEP (10-7, 1-3 C-USA) is coming off a 1-1 week that saw the Miners post a 76-64 win on Thursday over Southern Miss in El Paso before falling 64-61 to Louisiana Tech on Saturday. UTEP fell in its two-game Florida road swing, with FIU edging UTEP 69-67 and FAU posting a 59-56 win two days later in Boca Raton.
The Miners opened the year with an 8-1 record with wins over New Mexico State, New Mexico and UC Irvine. UTEP is averaging 68.1 points per game, holding foes to 63.4 points per game and a 40.1 shooting percentage. UTEP is shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 29.9 percent from 3-point range, averaging 34.9 rebounds, 12.3 assists and 6.2 steals per game, blocking 3.1 shots.
UTEP is led by 6-foot-8 junior guard Bryson Williams, who is averaging 18.4 points per game to rank 60th in the NCAA. Williams, who sat out last year as a transfer from Fresno State, adds 6.8 rebounds per game and is shooting 46.3 percent from range. Souley Boum is averaging 11.3 pints and 2.9 rebounds per game, while Daryl Edwards is sporting 9.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Efe Odigie, who averaged a double-double last year, averages 6.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
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