SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball team will return to action on Thursday, playing host to FIU at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+, with Lincoln Rose (play-by-play) and LaDarrin McLane (analyst) voicing the game, and on Ticket 760 AM, with the Voice of the Roadrunners, Andy Everett calling the action.
The game will mark the first of two contests that will serve as UTSA's participation in the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits & Sneakers Week, benefiting the American Cancer Society. Coach Steve Henson and staff will be wearing the Suits & Sneakers polo to raise awareness for the American Cancer Society's fight against cancer. Visit www.SuitsandSneakers.orgfor more information.
UTSA (7-13, 0-7 Conference USA) comes into the matchup having just played its home-and-home series with travel partner UTEP last weekend, falling by five points in each contest. UTSA fell 69-64 in El Paso in a game that saw UTSA with six scholarship players, before falling on Sunday 59-54 in a game that saw UTSA play seven scholarship athletes.
The Roadrunners played their best half of the year on Thursday in the first stanza at UTEP, shooting 63 percent and owning an 11-point lead at the break before the Miners rallied to find their range from distance and outlast UTSA in the second half. On Sunday, UTSA trailed by 10 at halftime before roaring back to cut the lead to two with less than a minute left but the Miners were able to secure the win.
UTSA has averaged 66.7 points, 40.3 rebounds, 10.7 assists, 5.6 steals and 2.8 rebounds per game as a team in 2021-22, shooting 38.2 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from range. Opponents are scoring 71 points per game, shooting 44.5 percent and 35.6 percent from 3-point distance.
The Roadrunners are led in scoring by sophomore guard Jordan Ivy-Curry, who has missed four straight games due to COVID-19 protocols. Ivy-Curry owns 15.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Junior center Jacob Germany averages 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Senior guard Darius McNeill, who had 19 points at UTEP and 20 points in the return game on Sunday, averages 6.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, shooting 83.3 percent from the line. Freshman guard Christian Tucker averages 4.2 points, while freshman guard Lamin Sabally chips in 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
FIU (12-7, 2-4 C-USA) is coming off a pair of thrilling wins in Miami last week, posting a win over Marshall on Thursday, 70-66, before securing a win over Western Kentucky 86-83 on a last-second 3-pointer from Eric Lovett on Saturday. FIU is under the direction of fourth-year head coach Jeremy Ballard, known for an up-tempo style of play that helped lead the Panthers to 20 and 19 wins in his first two seasons. Ballard took over the helm in Miami after a three-year run at VCU.
The Panthers opened the year with a 8-1 record that featured wins over Trinity (Fla.), Ball State, Green Bay, UNV Greensboro, North Dakota, North Florida, FGCU and Stetson, before falling in four overtimes at Eastern Michigan, which started a three0game losing streak. The Panthers entered last week having dropped each of their first four league games before springing wins over the Herd and Toppers.
FIU averages 72.6 points, 37 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.5 blocks per game as a team in 2021-22, shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from range. Opponents are scoring 68 points per game, shooting 40.4 percent from the field and 30.2 percent from 3-point distance.
The Panthers are led in scoring by Tevin Brewer, a 5-foot-8 junior college transfer guard, who averages 15.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. Denver Jones, a 6-4 juco guard averages 12.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. A 6-8 transfer from Vanderbilt who prepped at San Antonio's Churchill High School, Clevon Brown has started 18 of 19 games with 7.9 points and a team-leading six rebounds per game. Senior juco guard Eric Lovett owns 7.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, while Isaiah Banks chips in 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Quinnipiac transfer Seth Pinkney – a 7-1 sophomore – has started all 19 games with 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
The Roadrunners lead the all-time series with FIU, 7-6 but the Panthers lead in games played in San Antonio, 3-2. UTSA won both meetings last year in Miami, an 84-80 win on Feb. 12 before posting a 90-47 win in the finale the next day. In the finale, Jhivvan Jackson broke the C-USA record for career field goals made, going for 22 points that featured 20 in the first half and a stretch of 16 of UTSA's 18 points scored to finish the half. Keaton Wallace chipped in a season-best 33 points in the win on Friday night and had 16 points, five assists and four rebounds in the Saturday finale. The Roadrunners, who led 49-25 at halftime after closing on an 18-2 run – grew the lead to 39 points before emptying the bench, and shot 52 percent in the win. UTSA's 47 points allowed marked the fewest allowed by the Roadrunners since 2011 and UTSA's 19 steals marked its most since 2008.
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