SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball team will return to action on Thursday, traveling to face Oklahoma at 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Oklahoma, available on Fox Sports Southwest Plus in Texas, and will be broadcast live on Ticket 760 AM.
The game marks a rescheduled outing of the postponed Nov. 25 contest, which was slated to be the season lid-lifter for both teams in Norman at the Lloyd Noble Center. Due to COVID-19 concerns in the OU program, the game was postponed and the Sooners were forced to cancel the following two games on their schedule, including a road matchup at UCF and a home contest against Florida. The contest will mark the season opener for the Sooners, who have won 19 straight season lid-lifters.
UTSA enters the outing with Oklahoma coming off a loss at UTRGV in its first road test of the year on Saturday, after posting a win on Friday in its season opener at the Convocation Center. UTSA posted a 97-71 win over UT Permian Basin in the opener last Friday, before UTRGV raced to an 81-64 win on Saturday night in Edinburg, Texas, bombing in 10 of 23 attempts from 3-point range in the win.
The Roadrunners are led through the first two games by guards Keaton Wallace and Eric Parrish, with Wallace averaging 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game to lead the team. Parrish, a 6-foot-6 junior transfer, averages 12 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore center Jacob Germany, a native of Kingston, Okla., averages 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Senior guard Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA's all-time leading scorer, had 10 points and four rebounds in his season debut on Saturday.
UTSA has averaged 80.5 points through two games to open the year, shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from 3-point range, grabbing 42.5 rebounds per game.
The meeting with UTSA-Oklahoma marks a homecoming for UTSA head coach Steve Henson, who served as an assistant coach for the Sooners from 2011-16. Henson is a long-time assistant coach for Kruger, also playing for him at Kansas State (1986-90). After Henson's nine-year professional playing career concluded, he began 15 seasons on the staff of Lon Kruger.
UTSA associate head coach Mike Peck has connections to Kruger, as Peck was on the staff at UNLV, spanning two head coaches, Kruger and Charlie Spoonhour. Peck was the video coordinator and administrative assistant for UNLV, after a decade as a collegiate assistant. After his time at UNLV, Peck served as the head coach at powerhouse Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., while Kruger and Henson were at UNLV. He would later spend two seasons as the head coach of the NBA D-League's Idaho Stampede before joining Henson in their debut season at UTSA, 2016-17.
Assistant coach Scott Thompson is a veteran of Kruger's staff as well, spending five seasons with Oklahoma (2011-16) as the video coordinator and character coach.
Assistant coach Adam Hood played at the Air Force Academy, facing Kruger and Henson several times as conference foes while they were at UNLV. Director of Operations Jeff Luster was on the staff at TCU when the Horned Frogs were in the Mountain West, also facing Kruger and Henson while they were with UNLV.
UTSA also boasts two student-athletes from the Sooner state, including sophomore center Jacob Germany (Kingston) and redshirt junior forward Adrian Rodriguez (Tulsa). Germany was a four-star recruit out of Kingston High School, where he helped lead his team to the state 3A championship with a 21-point, 12-rebound effort in the title game in 2018-19. Kingston finished with a 28-2 record.
Rodriguez prepped at Union High School, where he earned all-state honors after averaging 14.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game as a senior in 2016-17.
The Sooners are under the direction of legendary head coach Lon Kruger, who is in his 10th year at Oklahoma. OU is anchored by senior forward Brady Manek, who has started 91 of OU's last 97 games, including 65 consecutive games. He averages 12.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in his career, scoring 1,188 career points. OU must replace standout senior Kristian Doolittle but return senior forward Kur Kuath, who averaged 3.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks last year. Senior guard Austin Reaves also returns after leading the team with 14.7 points per game, adding 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists. Sophomore guard De'Vion Harman averaged 28.4 minutes per game as a freshman, averaging 7.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.
As a team last year, OU averaged 70.2 points and surrendered 67.4 points per game, shooting 42 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from 3-point range. Opponents shot 39.9 percent and 33.6 percent from distance, owning a 38.1-36.9 margin in rebounds per game.
The Sooners have won all five meetings between the two schools, who will be meeting for the fourth consecutive year. The Sooners posted an 85-67 win over UTSA in the season opener in 2019-20 in Norman, as OU got 23-point outings from De'Vion Harmon and Austin Reaves. Jamal Bienemy had 11 rebounds, while Victor Iwuakor added seven points and six rebounds. UTSA was led by Jhivvan Jackson's 24 points, despite a 1-for 10 shooting from distance, with Keaton Wallace chipping in 17 points and nine rebounds.
OU posted an 87-67 win over the Roadrunners in San Antonio in 2018-19, owning a 39-29 advantage in the first and a 48-38 mark in the second half. OU outscored UTSA 52-32 in the pair and 17-8 in fast-break points, shotting 50.7 percent from the field, while UTSA was held to 35.6 percent.
The Roadrunners were led by a double-double from Giovanni De Nicolao, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds, adding two assists in 31 minutes. UTSA was without Jackson, who missed the game while recovering from season-ending injury suffered a year prior. Wallace led UTSA's scorers with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Nick Allen added 15 points. Byron Frohnen had nine points and 10 rebounds. OU got a game-best 24 points from Christian James, who was 8 of 10 from the field with a trio of 3-pointers. Brady Manek had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, with Kristian Doolittle adding eight points and 11 boards.
In the 2017-18 meeting, OU posted a 97-85 win in Norman, using a 42-37 lead in the first and a 55-48 margin in the second for the win. Jackson went for 31 points on 11 of 17 shooting, with Wallace adding 17 points and six assists.
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