NORFOLK, Va. – The UTSA men's basketball team will open a three-game road swing with a 6 p.m. CT tip-off at Old Dominion on Thursday at Chartway Arena. The game will be televised live on ESPN+ and broadcast live on Ticket 760 AM with The Voice of the Roadrunners, Andy Everett, calling the action.
UTSA (7-9, 0-3 Conference USA) will face off with Old Dominion (6-8, 1-0 C-USA) on Thursday in the first of a three-game road trip that includes a Saturday matchup at Charlotte and a Jan. 20 outing at UTEP in El Paso.
The Roadrunners are coming off a pair of home outings last week, falling against Southern Miss, 74-73 last Thursday before suffering a loss to red-hot Louisiana Tech, 79-63.
UTSA has averaged 69.5 points, 40.8 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 6.2 steals and 2.9 blocks per game as a team in 2021-22, shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from 3-point range. Opponents are shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from distance.
The Roadrunners are led in scoring by sophomore guard Jordan Ivy-Curry, who averages 15.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Junior center Jacob Germany – who had a career-high 15 rebound night at ODU as a freshman – averages 14.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Senior Cedrick Alley Jr. adds 9.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Darius McNeill chips in 5.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per outing.
Old Dominion (6-8, 1-0 C-USA) has been idle since opening its league schedule on Dec. 30 at FIU with a 82-77 win. The Monarchs snapped a three-game losing streak with the win over the Panthers and own wins in 2021-22 over Virginia Wesleyan, Manhattan, Longwood, George Mason and William & Mary.
The Monarchs have averaged 65.6 points, 36.5 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 7.1 steals and 4.2 blocks per game as a team, shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from deep. Opponents are shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from range.
C.J. Keyser leads the team with 14.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, while Kalu Ezikpe adds 11.6 points and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per game. Austin Trice averages 9.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game off the bench, while Jaylin Hunter sports 9.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Mekhi Long averages 8.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
The all-time series with ODU is even at 5-5, with the Monarchs owning a 4-2 lead in games played in Norfolk. The teams split the last two meetings, both in 2019-20 in Norfolk. In the March 4, 2020 meeting, as part of C-USA's Bonus Play scheduling format, ODU posted an 84-59 win over UTSA, holding the Roadrunners to 32.8 percent from the field and 9 of 24 from deep. Five Monarchs scored in double figures, led by a 20-point, 12-rebound effort from A.J. Oliver II. UTSA got 18 points from Keaton Wallace and Jhivvan Jackson eclipsed the 2,000 career point mark with 14 points in 23 minutes. The other meeting in Norfolk that year was historic, as Jackson splashed an arena-record 45 points, Wallace had 21 points and Jacob Germany grabbed 15 points in his second career start as UTSA posted an 85-81 win in overtime at the defending league champs. Jackson was 17 of 33 from the field and made eight 3-pointers, going for 28 points in the first half, outscoring the Monarchs himself in the period 28-27.
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