- UTSA has earned the No. 10 seed in the 2020 C-USA Championships.
- Roadrunners to face No. 7 seeded UAB on Wednesday.
- UTSA split a pair of meetings with UAB in San Antonio in 2019-20.
- Game to tipoff at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday on ESPN+.
SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball team has earned the No. 10 seed in the Air Force Reserve Conference USA Championships and will face No. 7 seed UAB on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. in the first round at The Star in Frisco.
The game will be televised live on ESPN+, following a 6 p.m. matchup between No. 8 seeded Old Dominion and No. 9 FAU. The game will also be live on the Roadrunners Sports Network, with the Voice of UTSA, Andy Everett (play-by-play) and Jim Goodman (analyst) calling the action. Fans can hear the game live on Ticket 760 AM and goUTSA.com.
It will mark the third meeting between UTSA and UAB in 2019-20, with the teams splitting the pair in San Antonio. The Blazers used a dominating performance on the glass to post a 76-68 win over the Roadrunners on Jan. 30 before UTSA posted a thrilling 66-59 win over UAB on March 1. In the last meeting UTSA trailed by nine with just over four minutes left in regulation and spurted off on a 20-2 run to finish – including a 16-0 stretch that saw Jhivvan Jackson score 14 points. UTSA shot just 36.5 percent in the win, with UAB held to a 36.1 percent clip, including a 5 of 22 mark from 3-point range. UTSA owned a 42-40 advantage in rebounds in the win. The game was tied at just 23 at halftime before UTSA outscored the Blazers 43-36 in the final stanza. Jackson had 28 points to lead all scorers, with Keaton Wallace owning 18 points and nine rebounds.
The Blazers lead the all-time series with UTSA 6-4, including posting a win in the C-USA Championships last season, eliminating the fourth-seeded Roadrunners, 85-76.
UTSA is seeking its fifth all-time conference title and its first since joining C-USA in 2013-14. UTSA won three Southland Conference Championships (1998-99, 2003-04, 2010-11) and the 1987-88 Trans America Athletic Conference Championship.
The Roadrunners are 2-6 all-time in the C-USA Tournament, last posting a win during the 2017-18 championships.
UTSA owns a 26-26 all-time record in league tournaments, posting a 2-1 record in the 2012-13 Western Athletic Conference Tournament, and a 17-15 mark in the Southland Conference. UTSA went 5-4 in the Trans America Athletic Conference. UTSA Coach Steve Henson owns a 2-3 record in his career in the league tourney.
The Roadrunners come into the league tournament having lost a pair of consecutive games, including an 82-77 setback vs. Marshall on Saturday afternoon in San Antonio. UTSA finished the regular season with a 7-11 record in league play, going 5-4 vs. C-USA foes at home and 2-7 on the road.
UTSA is averaging 77.2 points per game, with 39.2 rebounds, 12.9 turnovers, 12.5 assists, 6.0 steals and 2.7 blocks per game. UTSA is shooting 41.8 percent as a team in 2019-20 and 34.9 percent from distance, with opponents held to a 43.8 percent clip and a 33.8 percentage from 3-point range.
UTSA has been led in 2019-20 by the nation's No. 2 leading scorer, junior guard Jhivvan Jackson, who sports 27.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He sits just shy of Marquette's Markus Howard for the nation's lead in points per game (27.8). His 5.8 rebounds per game ranks second in the nation among players six-feet and under, shy of only Canisius College's Malik Johnson (5.9 rebounds per game).
Jackson boasts 12 games in 2019-20 with at least 30 points scored, including a pair of 40+ point games. He has scored 20 or more in 27 of UTSA's 31 games and owns five double-doubles.
Jackson is joined in the backcourt by Keaton Wallace, who ranks third in C-USA with 18.5 points per game. Wallace, who averaged 20.2 points per game as a sophomore, combines with Jackson to form the nation's No. 2 scoring duo, averaging 45.7 points per game.
Senior forward Byron Frohnen ranks seventh in C-USA with 6.8 rebounds per game. Frohnen, a native of Las Vegas, has made all 131 starts in his career and owns program records in rebounds, games played and games started. Frohnen averages 3.6 points per game.
Junior forward Luka Barisic adds 6.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, while freshman center Jacob Germany has chipped in 5.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
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