HOUSTON – The UTSA men's basketball team will continue a three-game road swing, traveling to face North Texas on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Super Pit. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and Ticket 760 AM.
The Roadrunners are in the midst of a three-game road trip that started on Thursday at Rice with a 91-78 loss in Houston. UTSA will then venture to Denton to take on UNT on Saturday before leaving from Dallas on Sunday to take on Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro. In the Thursday outing at Rice, UTSA got 20 points and nine rebounds from Jacob Germany, a career-high nine assists from Jordan Ivy-Curry, and a career-high 15 points from Isaiah Addo-Ankrah but couldn't overcome a 63.8 percent shooting performance from the Owls.
UTSA (8-15, 1-9 Conference USA) averages 67.3 points, 40.3 rebounds, 11.1 assists, 5.7 steals and 3.0 blocks per game as a team, shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 28.1 percent from 3-point range. Opponents are shooting 44.8 percent and 35.8 percent from deep.
Sophomore guard Jordan Ivy-Curry leads UTSA with 15.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. Junior guard Dhieu Deing averages 14.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while junior center Jacob Germany averages 14.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Senior guard Darius McNeill averages 6.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
North Texas (15-4, 8-1 C-USA) enters the matchup having won seven straight games and have only one setback in league play, vs. UAB on Jan. 6 in Denton. The Mean Green – under the direction of fifth-year head coach Grant McCasland – have won two straight C-USA regular-season titles and earned a win over Purdue in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. With a winter storm currently crippling the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, UNT postponed its game with UTEP, scheduled for Thursday, till Monday.
The Mean Green plays a rugged, slow paced style of play that emphasizes defense and quality possessions. UNT averages 66.4 points, 34.4 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 6.9 steals and 2.8 blocks per game, shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from deep. Opponents are shooting 42.4 percent and 28.7 percent from 3-point range.
Junior college guard Tylor Perry leads the Mean Green with 14.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Junior forward Thomas Bell averages 12.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while senior 6-foot-2 guard Mardrez McBride chips in 10.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Abou Ousmane, a 6-10 forward, averages 9.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Rubin Jones has started all 19 games and averages 8.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
UNT leads the all-time series with UTSA, 17-12, including an 8-4 mark in games played in Denton. UTSA and North Texas split the two-game series last year in a back-to-back scenario in San Antonio. UNT won the opener, 77-70 on Friday night before the Roadrunners posted a 77-69 win in the finale. Jhivvan Jackson had 31 points – including 26 in the second half – to spur a furious UTSA comeback that saw UTSA rally from down three at half and outscore the Mean Green by 11 in the final stanza. Jacob Germany had 16 points and six rebounds, while Keaton Wallace chipped in 14 points. UTSA shot 50.9 percent in the win, holding UNT to 38.9 percent. Javion Hamlet had 18 points, including 9 of 10 from the free throw line on a 4 of 15 shooting night, to lead the Mean Green.
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