SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball team will wrap up the 2020 portion of its 2020-21 schedule with a Tuesday night matchup vs. Lamar, with tipoff slated for 6 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The game will be broadcast live on CUSA TV and Ticket 760 AM.
UTSA (3-3) will conclude its regular-season, non-conference schedule with the matchup with Lamar (1-6) on Tuesday. The Roadrunners will open Conference USA play as the calendar turns to 2021, traveling to face Rice in Houston on Jan. 1-2.
The Roadrunners are coming off a 102-70 win over Our Lady of the Lake on Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center. UTSA has opened the year with a 3-3 record through its first six games, including wins over UT Permian Basin and Sul Ross State.
In the win over the Saints on Sunday, UTSA grabbed a season-high 65 rebounds, including 31 offensive boards, outrebounding OLLU, 65-38. The Roadrunners got 27 points from Jhivvan Jackson, who led four UTSA standouts in double-figures, including a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double from sophomore center Jacob Germany. UTSA held OLLU to 32.8 percent from the field in the game, scoring 52 of its 102 points in the paint.
UTSA has been led in 2020-21 by senior guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace, a pair that have led the nation's backcourts in combined scoring each of the last two seasons. Jackson averages 18.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while Wallace chips in 11.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per outing, with 3.7 assists per game. Jackson, who set the C-USA record with 26.8 points per game last year, owns the program standard in career scoring, with Wallace ranking third.
Sophomore center Jacob Germany averages 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and juniors Eric Parrish (8.0 points, 5.5 rebounds per game) and Cedrick Alley Jr. (5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds per game) help round out the lineup. Senior forward Luka Barisic averages 7.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, while sophomore guard Erik Czumbel averages 7.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. Freshman Jordan Ivy-Curry chips in 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.
As a team, UTSA is averaging 80.2 points, 45 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.2 blocks per game. UTSA shoots 42.4 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from 3-point range, holding foes to 39.4 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from distance.
Lamar (1-6) has had a stout schedule to open the year, including losses at Houston, Tulane, Air Force and Louisiana Tech, also falling vs. Lipscomb and Southern Miss. The Cardinals, who have been one of the most dominate teams in the Southland Conference and enter 2020-21 looking for a fifth consecutive winning season, own a win over ULM on Dec. 9.
The Cardinals average 57.4 points and 35 rebounds per game as a team, shooting 36.2 percent from the field and 21.1 percent from distance. LU is holding opponents to 45.3 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from 3-point range.
Lamar leads the all-time series with UTSA, 19-15, with the series even at 9-9 in games played in San Antonio. UTSA won the last meeting, 76-69 in the 2018 CollegeInsider.com Tournament in San Antonio. In the 2017-18 meeting, UTSA had four players in double figures, led by Deon Lyle's 16, with Giovanni De Nicolao adding 14, Nick Allen 13 and Byron Frohnen 11. Nick Garth led the Cards with 15 points and five boards. UTSA shot 47.3 percent in the game, holding Lamar to 38.8 percent from the field, with the Cards winning 41-36 in the rebounding battle. The Roadrunners assisted on 17 of their 26 made buckets in the win, committing just eight turnovers.
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