SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball team returns home for a Sunday matchup with Our Lady of the Lake University, with tipoff at the Convocation Center slated for 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on CUSA TV and Ticket 760 AM.
UTSA (2-3) will wrap up its non-conference portion of the schedule with a pair of home matchups over a three-day span, hosting the Saints on Sunday before welcoming Lamar on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Roadrunners travel to Rice on Jan. 1-2 for their conference lid-lifter.
The matchup will mark a challenge, as the Saints are coming off a 61-58 win at Texas State on Dec. 12 in San Marcos. The Saints rallied from down 11 with just over nine minutes left before taking the lead with 1:48 left and holding out for the stunning upset win over the Cats.
The Roadrunners wrapped up their non-conference travel slate on Wednesday at Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore. UTSA owned a 34-30 halftime lead at the Beavers before fouls and a cold-shooting stretch allowed Oregon State to rally past the Roadrunners for the win. UTSA was in a position to pull its first power-five upset since 2009-10 in Corvallis thanks to a stifling defensive effort that held the Beavers to 40.4 percent in the game and 26.7 in the first half, surrendering just eight first-half buckets.
UTSA is led by its senior guard duo, Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. The pair have led the nation's backcourts in combined scoring each of the last two seasons and as seniors, have welcomed a more balanced roster into the fold to assist in the workload. Jackson averages 16.5 points per game, a year after setting the Conference USA record with 26.8 points per game, breaking UTSA single-season and career scoring marks in the process. Wallace, who averaged 20.2 points and 18.8 points per game each of the last two seasons, is averaging 11.6 points per game.
The dynamic scoring threats have been boosted by the addition of a pair of junior transfers, Cedrick Alley Jr. and Eric Parrish. Alley, who led UTSA with 14 points at Oregon State on Wednesday, has started each game this year and averages 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, bringing a strong defensive effort to the lineup. Parrish, a 6-foot-6 wing from Cypress, Texas, averages 9.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, with a team-leading nine steals.
Sophomore guard Erik Czumbel, who started 21 games in the lead-guard role last year, averages 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, sinking 10 of 16 3-point attempts. Sophomore center Jacob Germany averages 7.6 points and a team-leading 6.2 rebounds per game, swatting four shots. Senior forward Luka Barisic averages 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game off the bench, with freshmen Jordan Ivy-Curry sporting 6.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Freshman forward Lachlan Bofinger averages 4.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, while junior forwards Adrian Rodriguez and Phoenix Ford each average at least two rebounds per game.
As a team, the Roadrunners are averaging 75.8 points per game, shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 27.7 percent from distance. UTSA averages 41 rebounds, 13.2 assists, 6.2 steals and 4.0 blocks per game. The Roadrunners hold foes to a 40.8 percent clip from the field and a 36.5 percent mark from 3-point range.
Our Lady of the Lake (1-1) had its last scheduled game postponed at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi but enters the outing with the Roadrunners riding the momentum of the biggest win in program history a 61-58 result at Texas State on Dec. 12 in San Marcos. Down 11 with over nine minutes left, the Saints ripped off a run to take the lead with 1:48 left in regulation, holding off the Cats to post the thrilling comeback win. OLLU got 18 points and 11 rebounds from Ruben Monzon in the win. In their other game of 2020, OLLU fell 84-71 at Incarnate Word, trailing by 12 at halftime before a 43-point second stanza. David Johnson had 18 in the UIW game, with Monzon chipping in six rebounds.
The Roadrunners met Our Lady of the Lake for the first time in 2019-20, posting a 99-64 win over the Saints on Dec. 28 in the Convocation Center. UTSA got 30 points from Keaton Wallace, with Jhivvan Jackson chipping in 20. UTSA shot 55.6 percent in the game, sinking nine 3-pointers, holding OLLU to 25.8 percent from the field. Ruben Monzon had 12 points, with Michael Saladan leading the Saints with 15.
The outing with OLLU marks a special one for UTSA's highly praised strength coach Christian Wood, who played for the Saints from 2013-16 and served as their strength coach during the 2016-17 season. Wood was a two-time all-conference honoree with the Saints and was named to the 2015-16 all-tournament team. He was tabbed the 2015-16 OLLU Big Blue Top Saint and was named the 2015-16 defensive player of the year. His work, passion for the game of basketball, and enthusiasm for the constant improvement of the Roadrunners has been consistently praised over each of his first two seasons with the team.
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