SAN ANTONIO – After a nail-biting contest in El Paso on Thursday night, UTSA men's basketball will venture back home to host UTEP in the final of the two-game, home-and-home series, with tip-off on Sunday at the Convocation Center slated for 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on CUSA TV and Ticket 760 AM.
The game is sponsored by Credit Human and will feature several promotional opportunities, including the opportunity for fans can get their pictures taken with UTSA's Conference USA Championship trophy in the back lobby of the Convocation Center.
UTSA (7-12, 0-6 C-USA) is coming off a thrilling clash at the Miners on Thursday night as the first of the traditional home-and-home series. The Roadrunners, playing just six scholarship players and seven total student-athletes due to COVID-19 concerns and injuries, owned an 11-point lead on behalf of a hot-shooting first half (63 percent) and a new-look defense. The Roadrunners saw the Miners held to 33 percent from the field in the first half but shoot 46.4 percent in the final stanza, with UTSA held to 28.1 percent in the second. UTSA had a chance to tie the game with 36 seconds left but the attempt in the paint rimmed out and the Miners got a key basket on the following possession to help secure the win.
The Roadrunners got 21 points and 10 rebounds from Jacob Germany in the Thursday matchup, with senior guard Darius McNeill going for a UTSA career-high 19 points and five rebounds in a full 40 minutes. McNeill was joined by Erik Czumbel – who had a career-high eight assists and six rebounds – as players who played every minute of the game, with five Roadrunners logging career highs in minutes.
UTSA has averaged 67.4 points, 40.5 rebounds, 10.8 assists, 5.6 steals and 2.9 rebounds per game as a team in 2021-22, shooting 38.4 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from range. Opponents are averaging 71.6 points per game, shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 35.4 percent from 3-point distance.
The Roadrunners are led in scoring by sophomore guard Jordan Ivy-Curry, who has missed three straight games and five overall due to COVID-19 protocols. Ivy-Curry averages 15.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game and is shooting 39.3 percent from distance. Junior center Jacob Germany averages 14.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while Darius McNeill adds 5.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, nailing 82.4 percent of his free-throw attempts.
Freshman guard Christian Tucker averages 4.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game, while freshman Lamin Sabally chips in 3.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
UTEP (10-8, 3-3 C-USA) is under the direction of first-year head coach Joe Golding, who took over the program after leading Abilene Christian to a historic run in the NCAA Tournament in 2020-21 that included a 24-win season, a Southland Conference Championship and an upset win over Texas in the Big Dance.
The Miners average 68.9 points, 33.2 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 7.9 steals and 3.5 blocks per game as a team on the year, shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range. Opponents are shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from range.
San Francisco transfer Souley Boum – who had a key bucket and led the team with 20 points on Thursday – leads the team with 19.1 points per game. Oklahoma transfer Jamal Bieniemy averages 14.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Keonte Kennedy chips in 13.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Jorrell Saterfield, who made six 3-pointers on Thursday – shots 47.9 percent from distance and averages 8.5 points per game.
UTEP leads the all-time series with UTSA, 13-10, with UTSA leading the series in San Antonio, 6-3. The Roadrunners have won seven of the last 10 meetings in the series and split the two-game set in 2020-21, with each home team winning for the second consecutive year.The Miners opened the two-game series in 2021-22 with a 69-64 win on Thursday. In the last meeting in 2020-21, UTEP posted a 69-51 win over the Roadrunners, breaking open a three-point game at halftime with a 15-point advantage in the final period. Souley Boum led UTEP with 20 points, while Bryson Williams – now starring for Texas Tech – had seven points and nine rebounds. Jamal Bieniemy had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Miners, who shot 44.6 percent from the field and was 16 of 18 from the line. UTSA was held to 29.5 percent from the field, going 2 of 17 from deep. Keaton Wallace had 16 points, while Jacob Germany chipped in 11 points and five rebounds. Jhivvan Jackson finished with seven points and three boards in 25 minutes. In the last meeting in San Antonio last year, Jackson poured in 32 points in an 86-79 win, with Keaton Wallace going for 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
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