SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball team officially begins its 2022-23 season tomorrow night, hosting the Trinity Tigers in the season lid-lifter. Tomorrow's game will be streamed on CUSA.tv, broadcast on Ticket 760 AM and is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
The Roadrunners are looking to begin the season with a win for the third straight season, having won their openers against Trinity in 2021 and UT Permian Basin in 2020. Trinity on the other hand is trying to carry its momentum from last season into 2022. The Tigers appeared in its conference's title game last season where it fell to St. Thomas in the championship game after finishing second in the conference during the regular season.
Leading the Roadrunners
UTSA returns eight contributing players from last year's team, seven of which had made starts at some point. Amongst the returners are 2021-22 mainstays Jacob Germany and Erik Czumbel. Germany led UTSA in minutes played, field goal percentage, rebounds, blocks and scoring, averaging 15.2 points per contest. Czumbel led the 'Runners in assists, totaling 90, and really controlled the UTSA offense. Other returning contributors include wing Isaiah Addo-Ankrah, forward Aleu Aleu, forward Lachlan Bofinger, forward Josh Farmer, forward Lamin Sabally and guard Christian Tucker.
Having lost 45.6 points per game from last season, UTSA will look to infuse six newcomers into the fold. The most prominent of the newcomers are JUCO guards John Buggs III and Japhet Medor. Buggs shot over 40% from three this past season at Hill College and began his collegiate career at UMass before heading to Hill College. He enters UTSA as a redshirt sophomore. Medor comes to UTSA having last played for Hillsborough [Fla.] Community College. Medor is a senior who figures to step into the starting point guard spot.
Three of the remaining four newcomers are true freshmen and will be experiencing their first taste of college ball this winter. DJ Richards, Massal Diouf and Sam Aldirawi are all in their first season with the Roadrunners and are looking to help contribute. UTSA also welcomes back Azavier Johnson, a redshirt freshman who will also look to contribute in his first college basketball action.
The final newcomer is Carlton Linguard Jr. who returns to San Antonio after two years with the Kansas State Wildcats. Linguard was a local star, playing his high school ball at Stevens High School, helping lead the Falcons to 39 wins and consecutive trips to the UIL Class 6A State Tournament over his final two years. As a senior, he averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 31 games for Coach Michael Raynes.
Scouting Trinity
Trinity returns 16 players from last season, including its top five scorers from a year ago. Two different Tigers averaged double-digit points (Enzo Sechi and Tanner Brown) and figure to again be featured heavily on offense.
Sechi, last year's leading scorer, averaged 14.4 points per game and returns to head the Trinity offense in the post. Sechi is flanked on the perimeter by the four other top-returning scorers. Brown (13.3 ppg) was the biggest threat last season while A.J. Clark (9.2), Jacob Harvey (8.3) and Kaleb Jenkins (9.3) will also be players to watch.
In last season's meeting, guard Ben Hanley had nine while Brown also had nine to lead the Tigers in scoring. Hanley and Clark each notched five assists to lead the team and Hanley had five boards to lead all Trinity players.
The Tigers went 23-6 (13-3 SCAC) last season, including an 8-3 record on the road. Last year's game at the Convocation Center was counted as an exhibition game for Trinity.
Series history
UTSA and Trinity have met twice before and will match up for the third time in program history tomorrow. The Roadrunners have beaten the Tigers in both previous outings and hold a 2-0 advantage. In their last meeting, 11/9/21, UTSA trounced the Tigers 97-66.
Up next
After opening the season at home against Trinity, UTSA heads to Corpus Christi for its first road game of the year to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this Friday, Nov. 11. The game is set to tip off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+. The game will not be held at TAMUCC's normal arena, instead being held at the Dugan Wellness Center.
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