Blistering hot Roadrunners host UAB in final regular-season finaleBlistering hot Roadrunners host UAB in final regular-season finale
Jeff Huehn/UTSA Athletics
Men's Basketball

Blistering hot Roadrunners host UAB in final regular-season finale

SAN ANTONIO – Winners of seven of its last eight games and claiming 10 of 11 home wins, the UTSA men's basketball team will wrap up its regular-season schedule with a pair of tough tests against UAB at the Convocation Center. UTSA will host UAB on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m., with both games broadcast live on ESPN+ and Ticket 760 AM. 
 
UTSA (12-9, 8-6 Conference USA) will conclude the regular season schedule with the matchup with the Blazers, a team that has spent the majority of the season in first place in the league divisional standings. 
 
UAB (18-5, 10-4 C-USA) heads into the weekend two games back of North Texas (8-2) in the western division, with UTSA sitting 2.5 games back of North Texas and two full games back of UAB and Louisiana Tech (10-4) in second place. UNT and Western Kentucky lead the league with 8-2 records, good for an 80 percent winning clip. 
 
The weekend will serve as an opportunity to honor three Roadrunners who will be going through senior-day festivities, Phoenix Ford, Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Ford has been a two-year member of the Roadrunners after transferring from Richmond and Mississippi Gulf Coast College. A native of St. Petersburg, Fla., Ford has played in 18 of 21 games in 2020-21, making one start. 
 
Jackson, a native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, has had one of the most productive careers in college basketball history for the Roadrunners. After joining UTSA after a decorated career at Euless Trinity High School in the DFW area, Jackson stepped right into the Roadrunners lineup to earn C-USA Freshman of the year honors after averaging 18.4 points per game. As a sophomore, he returned on a minute restriction after missing the first four games following a season-ending injury the year before. He averaged 22.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, earning first-team honors from the league. His junior season saw Jackson break the program and league standard with 26.8 points per game, shattering nearly every season record in the UTSA book with the most points scored in a season in C-USA history. As a senior, Jackson has established new career highs in assists but still averages 20.4 points per game, shooting career highs from the field (46.6%) and 3-point range (36.2%). 
 
Jackson has passed Northeastern great J.J. Barea (2003-06), a native of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, to become the all-time leading Latin-born scorer in NCAA history as a senior. He topped former Rutgers/Manhattan standout Luis Flores (San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic), Felipe Lopez (Santo Domingo, D.R.), a former star at St. John's from 1995-98, and former Kansas State star Rolando Blackman (Panama City, Panama), who scored 1,844 points from 1978-81. 
 

A native of Dallas, Texas, Wallace joined the Roadrunners after prepping at Richardson High School in 2017-18. He earned all-freshman team honors during his debut season, averaging 11.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. His broke out as a sophomore, averaging 20.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, making a program record 121 3-pointers. After earning all-league and all-district honors in 2018-19, Wallace set career highs as the primary point guard during his junior season, averaging 3.1 assists, 18.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. During his senior season, Wallace has moved into second in UTSA history – and ninth in C-USA history – with 1,964 career points. He is just 36 points shy of becoming the 615th all-time player in college basketball history to eclipse the 2,000 point mark. He ranks among UTSA's career leaders in eight statistical categories and is the 11th all-time member of the 500 rebound club. He also ranks among UTSA's top-10 in eight single-season categories. 
 
The Roadrunners head into the final two games on the schedule having clinched a berth in the C-USA Championships, hosted at The Star in Frisco. UTSA has won seven of its last eight games and sport a sparkling 10-1 record at the Convocation Center. UTSA has won four straight, including six consecutive at home, with the Roadrunners claiming consecutive sweeps in league play at FIU and Florida Atlantic in its last two series outings. UTSA had its series at Charlotte postponed last weekend due to the historic weather in Texas, and its impact on air-travel options, and electricity and water supplies. 
 
UTSA has averaged 77.9 points, 37.8 rebounds, 13.9 assists, 6.5 steals and 3.1 blocks per game as a team, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from range. Opponents are shooting 43.3 percent and 34.2 percent from distance. 
 
Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace lead the Roadrunners in scoring for the fourth consecutive season. Jackson averages 20.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while Wallace checks in with 15.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Freshman center Jacob Germany – who had a 26-point and 12-rebound outing on Friday vs. FAU – averages 10.3 points and a team-leading 6.0 rebounds per game. 
 
Juniors Eric Parrish and Cedrick Alley Jr. have had large impacts in their debut seasons. Alley averages 6.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while Parrish averages 7.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Freshman guard Jordan Ivy-Curry averages 6.8 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. 
 

The Blazers come into the matchup with the Roadrunners having won two of their last three, including a non-conference win vs. Rust on Monday. The Blazers have lost three of their last four league games, including a sweep at Louisiana Tech and a home split with red-hot Old Dominion. UAB entered the series at LA Tech with a 17-2 record and a 9-1 mark in league play. 
 
UAB averages 73.9 points, 37 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 8.4 steals and 4.1 blocks per game as a team, shooting 45.9 percent and 29.6 percent from 3-point range. The Blazers are holding opponents to just 39.2 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from distance. 
 
Tavin Lovan leads UAB with 12.6 points per game, one of four Blazers with double-digit averages in scoring. Michael Ertel (12.5), Quan Jackson (10.9) and Jalen Benjamin (10.2) help power the scoring, along with Tyreek Scott-Grayson, who averages 9.2 points. Kassim Nicholson leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game, adding 6.8 points per outing. 
 
UAB leads the all-time series with UTSA, 6-4 but the Roadrunners have won four of six meetings in San Antonio. Last year, the teams split the regular-season meetings, both in San Antonio and 32 days apart, before the Blazers posted a 74-69 win in the first round of the C-USA Tournament. Keaton Wallace had a career outing from behind the arc in the C-USA Championships meeting last year, connecting on eight 3-pointers during a 28-point outing. Jhivvan Jackson had 12 points and Jacob Germany chipped in 10 points and five boards. Tavin Lovan had 17 points and eight boards to lead UTAB, who shot49.1 percent from the field and 57.1 percent (8 of 14) from distance. UTSA shot 38.8 percent from the field and was 10 of 27 from 3-point range. 
 
In the last meeting between UTSA and UAB in San Antonio, Jackson had 28 points and five rebounds – including 16 points during a 20-2 run for UTSA to close the game – leading UTSA to the comeback win. He was held to just 12 points with 4:53 left in regulation before he exploded for 14 points during a 16-0 run over a three-time stretch. 
 
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