SAN ANTONIO – Winners of seven of eight home games to open the 2020-21 season, UTSA men's basketball will host UTEP on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and Ticket 760 AM.
UTSA (7-8, 3-5 Conference USA) and UTEP (7-7, 3-5 C-USA) meet in a crucial two-game series that concludes on Saturday at 8 p.m. CT in El Paso at the Don Haskins Center. The Roadrunners and the Miners are in a three-way tie in the league standings with Southern Miss, with UTSA owning the tiebreaker with Southern Miss (3-5).
The Roadrunners are coming off a two-game sweep over Southern Miss at the Convocation Center last weekend, posting a 70-64 win on Friday night and a 78-72 win on Saturday. Jhivvan Jackson went for 25 and 24 points in the win, earning Lute Olson Award National Player of the Week honors from CollegeInsider.com.
UTSA has won seven of eight home games to open the year and sports a 51-17 record at home under Coach Steve Henson.
The Roadrunners have dominated the series with UTEP under Coach Steve Henson, winning seven of nine meetings. Overall, UTEP leads the all-time series, 11-9, with UTSA owning a 5-3 mark in games played in San Antonio. UTSA has won six of the last seven meetings in the series, with UTEP using a monster second-half comeback in the first meeting last year to post an 80-77 overtime win. UTSA rebounded with an 86-70 win in the finale in San Antonio three days later.
In the meeting last year, UTSA used a 23-point, seven-rebound performance from Jhivvan Jackson, and a 21-point, eight-rebound effort from Keaton Wallace to post a 16-point win in San Antonio. UTSA built a monster first-half lead, 48-31, and used a stiff defense to close out the win. UTEP shot 35.7 percent in the game and was 6 of 32 from 3-point range, while UTSA shot 48.3 percent. Jackson was 12 of 12 from the free-throw line. Atem Bior had 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
UTSA is averaging 76.7 points, 38.9 rebounds, 14.0 assists, 12.5 turnovers, 6.1 steals and 3.3 blocks per game as a team. The Roadrunners are shooting at a 42.3 percent clip and a 30.9 mark from 3-point range, holding foes to a 43.6 percent mark from the field and 36.4 percent from distance.
The Roadrunners are led in scoring by their senior guard combination of Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Jackson, UTSA's all-time leading scorer and the third-highest scorer in league history, averages 19.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Last year, Jackson – who leads all NCAA's active players in career scoring – set a new C-USA standard with 26.8 points per game. Wallace, a native of Dallas, Texas, averages 14.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Sophomore center Jacob Germany averages 10.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while freshman guard Jordan Ivy-Curry averages 6.9 points and 2.7 rebounds per outing. Juniors Cedrick Alley Jr. and Eric Parrish have been fixtures in the lineup, with Alley averaging 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing. Parrish averages 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
UTEP is coming off a two-game split with Louisiana Tech and have lost four of its last five games entering the matchup with UTSA, facing common foes as UTSA. The Miners split with Southern Miss and Rice – including a 101-89 win on Jan. 8 – and were swept by defending league champion North Texas in Denton, including a 63-33 result. Last weekend, the Miners won the opener with the strong Louisiana Tech squad in El Paso, 82-74, before falling in the finale on Saturday, 73-55.
Guard Souley Boum leads the Miners in scoring, averaging 17.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. All-Conference USA standout Bryson Williams averages 15.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per outing. Jamal Bieniemy, a transfer from Oklahoma, averages 10.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Keonte Kennedy sports 8.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while Tydus Verhoeven averages 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
As a team, UTEP averages 72 points, 33.8 rebounds, 12.9 assists, 10.5 turnovers, 6.9 steals and 2.6 blocks per game. UTEP shoots at a 42.8 percent clip from the field and 32.9 percent from distance, while opponents are shooting 44.0 percent and 35.2 percent from range.
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