SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's basketball program is set to tip off Conference USA action this Thursday, Dec. 22, against the North Texas Mean Green in both teams' first taste of league play. Thursday's game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on Ticket 760 AM.
The Roadrunners (6-5) are 6-2 at home this season and enter this week's action having easily handled Bethune-Cookman on Sunday, downing the Wildcats by 21. North Texas (9-2) will be playing in their third-straight road contest and is currently riding a four-game win streak which includes a win at Grand Canyon.
The Roadrunners will try and snap a three-game losing streak in Conference USA-opening games on Thursday as UTSA hasn't won the first game of conference play since the 2018-2019 campaign.
Leading the Roadrunners
UTSA has been led on offense by newcomer guards Japhet Medor and John Buggs III through 11 games of action. Medor is averaging a team-high 12.4 points per game and leads the team in assists, having tallied 43 to date. Buggs rounds out the dynamic backcourt posting an average of 9.8 points per game. Buggs has knocked down a triple in every contest this season and is stroking the long ball at a 39.1% clip.
Senior stalwart Jacob Germany averages 11.7 points per game as the fourth-year Roadrunner out of Kingston, Okla. is churning out 7.4 rebounds per contest too, the third most of any player in C-USA. Germany, a 2021-22 Conference USA All-Conference Honorable Mention, adds 11 total blocks to the team, ranking seventh among all conference players.
Sharpshooters DJ Richards and Isaiah Addo-Ankrah are the remaining top minute-getters on the team and have made the second and third most threes on the team respectively. Richards, like Buggs, has made a three-pointer in all 11 contests this season. Richards is third on the team in rebounding while Addo-Ankrah is second on the team in assists. Richards owns the team's best three-point shooting percentage, shooting 41.4% from deep and is the back-to-back C-USA Freshman of the Week award winner.
Overall, the Roadrunners are shooting 41.2 percent as a team from the field and holding foes to 41.8 percent. UTSA averages 70.4 points, 37.3 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 4.2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game as a team.
Scouting the Mean Green
North Texas is led offensively by a trio of double-digit scorers with former first-team all-conference selection Tylor Perry leading the way with 17.7 a game. Perry is shooting a stellar 44.1% from deep and adds 2.4 boards and 2.5 assists per contest. Other double-figure scorers include Kai Huntsberry (12.6) and Abou Ousmane (11.2).
Ousmane leads the team in rebounding, pulling down an average of 6.3 boards a contest and also leads the team in blocks with 13. Also standing out on defense is Perry who has a team-high 16 steals on the year.
Overall, the Mean Green are shooting 38.3 percent as a team from the field and holding foes to an equal 38.3 percent. UNT averages 60.7 points, 36.3 rebounds, 10.2 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.5 blocks per game as a team.
Series History
Thursday's meeting will be the 32nd ever meeting between the two Texas-based Conference USA schools as the Mean Green lead the series 29-12 and have won two straight. In the teams' last meeting, UNT came to San Antonio and defeated the Roadrunners 59-48 on its way to winning the Conference USA regular season title. UTSA is 8-9 against North Texas in contests played in San Antonio.
Up Next
Following its conference opener against UNT, UTSA will hit the road for the first part of a two-game road trip as it heads to Ruston, La. to face off with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on December 29. Next Thursday's game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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