- UTSA will face Marshall at 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
- Roadrunners rank 20th in nation in pace of play, Thundering Herd 10th.
- Jhivvan Jackson ranks second in nation with 27 points per game.
- UTSA sits a game shy of Marshall in league standings.
SAN ANTONIO – In a matchup of the two fastest-paced offenses in Conference USA, UTSA men's basketball will play host to Marshall on Thursday, with tipoff slated for 8 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
The game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network, with John Sadak (play-by-play) and Chris Walker (analyst) voicing the game. The game will also be broadcast live on the Roadrunners Sports Network, with the Voice of UTSA, Andy Everett calling the action along with Jim Goodman (analyst) live on Ticket 760-AM and goUTSA.com.
UTSA (11-14, 5-7 Conference USA) will face the league leader in pace of play, according to KenPom rankings, with the Thundering Herd ranking 10th in the NCAA and the Roadrunners checking in 20th.
The Roadrunners heads into the matchup with Marshall coming off a two-game road swing on the East Coast, splitting matchups with Old Dominion and Charlotte. UTSA posted a 85-81 overtime win at ODU, the defending league champions, on Thursday of last week, getting a 45-point performance from junior guard Jhivvan Jackson, who was named Conference USA Player of the Week for the fourth time on the year on Monday. Saturday saw Charlotte post a 91-84 win over the Roadrunners as the 49ers exploded for a season-high point total and got 26 points from Jordan Shepherd.
UTSA is led in 2019-20 by the nation's highest scoring duo, junior guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Jackson averages 27 points and six rebounds per game, ranking second in college basketball in points per game behind only Marquette senior Markus Howard (27.3). Wallace adds 19 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, ranking third in C-USA. The pair average 46 points per game in their junior campaigns, a year after they combined for 43.1 points per game to rank fourth among duos and tops among NCAA backcourts.
Junior forward Luka Barisic ranks third on the team with seven points and 2.9 rebounds per game, while junior guard Knox Hellums has been a weapon off the bench with 5.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per outing. Freshman center Jacob Germany, who pulled down 15 rebounds in the win at ODU, averages 4.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Freshman point guard Erik Czumbel averages 4.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game, with senior forward Atem Bior adding 4.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
Senior forward Byron Frohnen has made all 125 starts in his career – a school record – and sits just four games played away from tying Nick Allen for the UTSA mark. Frohnen ranks fifth in C-USA with 6.9 rebounds per game, adding 3.7 points.
UTSA has averaged 79 points, 38.6 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 6.0 steals and 2.8 blocks per game as a team in 2019-20. The Roadrunners are shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from 3-point range, while holding opponents to 44.5 percent and 34.4 percent from distance.
Marshall (12-13, 6-6 C-USA) comes into the matchup with the Roadrunners after sweeping a pair of home games last week in Huntington, W.Va. The Thundering Herd posted an 83-79 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday, after posting a 73-58 win over Southern Miss on Thursday. The Herd have won three of their last four games, including a 91-73 win at FIU on Jan. 30. Marshall also has wins over Rice, Middle Tennessee and ODU in league action.
The Thundering Herd average 75.2 points per game in 2019-20, with 38 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 15.2 turnovers, 8.8 steals and 5.7 blocks per game. Marshall is shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 29.8 percent from distance, holding foes to 41.3 percent from the field and 33.1 percent from range.
Marshall has been led by one of the top small forwards in C-USA, 6-foot-5 sophomore Taevion Kinsey, who averages 15.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Veteran 5-11 junior guard Jarrod West adds 14.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, while Andrew Taylor averages 10.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Iran Bennett, a physical 6-9 forward, leads the team with 5.8 rebounds per game, adding 9.8 points.
Marshall leads the all-time series with UTSA, 4-3, with UTSA leading the series, 3-1 in games played in San Antonio. UTSA has won two of the last three games with Marshall.
The two teams squared off in an epic battle last year on Feb. 2 in Huntington, a 116-106 UTSA win in overtime at the Cam Henderson Center. The Roadrunners got 45 points from Keaton Wallace, who also grabbed seven rebounds and made 15 of 24 shots, and 30 points from Jhivvan Jackson, who added nine rebounds. The Thundering Herd held an eight-point lead at halftime before the Roadrunners roared back to outscore Marshall 54-46 in the second half and 24-14 in overtime. Marshall scoring dynamo Jon Elmore had 29 points, with C.J. Burks chipping in 31 points. UTSA shot 54.2 percent from the field and was 10 of 23 from 3-point range, while Marshall shot 50.6 percent and was 13 of 37 from distance.
- UTSA -