SAN ANTONIO -- Fresh off a 97-71 season-opening win on Friday evening at the Convocation Center, UTSA will continue a two-game swing, traveling to face UTRGV on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Edinburg. The game will be broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network, and The Bull 93.3/92.25 with Dan Weiss calling the action.
This marks the third scheduled game for UTSA on opening week as the Roadrunners are coming off a 97-71 win on Friday night that became the season lid-lifter for UTSA after its scheduled opener was postponed on Wednesday at Oklahoma due to OU COVID-19 concerns.
The Roadrunners used scoring from 10 of their 11 players on that saw action on Friday, including a team-leading 20 points from junior Eric Parrish, who made his UTSA debut in the win after sitting out last year as a transfer from Nevada. Keaton Wallace chipped in 19 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore center Jacob Germany earned his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 boards.
UTSA is led by the dynamic scoring threats of senior guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Jackson broke Conference USA and UTSA scoring marks with 26.8 points per game as a junior, ranking second in the nation, while Wallace averaged over 18 points per game for the second consecutive season. Together the pair formed the nation's highest scoring backcourt in 2019-20.
Jackson owns UTSA's career and single-season records for scoring, while Wallace sits in sixth place with 1,663 career points scored. In addition to the guard duo, UTSA welcomes the addition of Parrish and Cedrick Alley Jr., a pair of transfers who had splashing debuts on Friday night in the win over UTPB. The two scored the first six points of the game for the Roadrunners, with Alley adding seven points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Roadrunners also welcome back several key contributors from a year ago, including three players who earned significant starts. Luka Barisic, a 6-foot-10 senior forward, averaged 6.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, with 21 starts in 32 games, in his debut season as a Juco transfer. Germany made starts in the final 10 games of the season, finishing the year with 5.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Erik Czumbel made 24 starts, averaging 4.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. Junior forward Adrian Rodriguez also chipped in a trioof starts as a sophomore.
UTRGV opened its season at Texas on Wednesday, falling 91-55 at the Frank Erwin Center. UTRGV was led in scoring by 13 points from Quinton Johnson II, with Chris Freeman chipping in 10 points. Johnson was 8 of 14 from the charity stripe, adding seven rebounds. In the loss, UTRGV was 18 of 69 from the field and 4 of 21 from 3-point range, with Texas outrebounding them 54-36.
Lew Hill is in his sixth season leading the Vaqueros and is coming off a 14-16 record, including a 9-7 mark, a year ago. UTRGV replaced two of five starters from a year ago and welcomed three newcomers and returned 10 letterwinners.
UTSA leads the all-time series with UTRGV 13-10, including a 7-4 mark in games played in Edinburg. This marks the first meeting with UTRGV since the school changed named from UT Pan-American. UTSA face UTRGV as conference foes for the 2014-15 season in the Western Athletic Conference.
UTSA has won three straight meetings in Edinburg. In the last meeting, UTSA used a balanced scoresheet to post a 68-43 win on Jan. 12, 2015. Jeromie Hill led four Roadrunners in double figures, scoring 18 and grabbing seven rebounds. Kaj-Bjorn Sherman had 14 points and nine rebounds, while Ryan Bowie had 15 points and Keon Lewis had 12 points.
- UTSA -
