SAN ANTONIO – The Roadrunner men's basketball team will wrap its two-game C-USA road trip on Saturday afternoon, squaring off with preseason number one C-USA team UAB at the Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Ala. Saturday's game is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m., will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on Ticket 760 AM.
UTSA (6-7, 0-2 C-USA) enters Saturday's matinee looking to end 2022 on a high note by earning its first road victory of the season over the last year's C-USA NCAA Tournament representative. UAB (11-2, 2-0 C-USA) is riding a four-game win streak and just overcame a double-digit second-half deficit to defeat UTEP in double overtime on Thursday evening.
UAB currently has five student-athletes who have scored at least 1,000 career points in the collegiate ranks, the only known school in the country to have such a claim. Of those 1,000-point scorers is last year's C-USA Player of the Year, Jordan "Jelly" Walker. Walker is back leading the Blazers and currently leads all D1 players in points per game, averaging 24.7.
Leading the Roadrunners
UTSA is led on offense by a trio of double-digit scorers through 13 games of action. Leading the way is JUCO transfer Japhet Medor who churns out a team-high 12 points per game. Medor not only leads the team in scoring, but also in assists (54) and steals (19) while also pulling down 4.1 boards per contest – the second most by any Roadrunner.
Flanking Medor in the backcourt is fellow JUCO newcomer guard John Buggs III. Buggs chips in 10.6 points per game and is coming off of a career-high 20 points where he knocked down six threes in his return to his home state Louisiana when UTSA played La Tech. Through 13 games, Buggs is shooting a team-high 43.4 from downtown.
Senior stalwart Jacob Germany is the third double-digit scorer and averages 11.1 points per game. The fourth-year Roadrunner out of Kingston, Okla. is churning out 7.4 rebounds per contest too, the third-most by 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.
Overall, the Roadrunners are shooting 40.8 percent as a team from the field and holding foes to 43.4 percent. UTSA averages 69 points, 35.7 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 4.2 steals and 2.9 blocks per game as a team.
Scouting the Blazers
UAB's starting lineup consists of all transfers and its top seven scorers all began their collegiate careers elsewhere. Besides the aforementioned Walker, Ledarrius Brewer, Tavin Lovan, KJ Buffen and Ty Brewer are all 1,000-point scorers.
Clemson transfer Trey Jemison pulls in eight rebounds a game, the most in C-USA, and leads the team in blocks with 24. Gaines and Walker each have 58 assists on the season as they're tied for the team lead in assists. Gaines, an LSU transfer, also leads UAB with 22 steals.
Overall, the Blazers are shooting 47.2 percent as a team from the field and holding foes to 40.7 percent. UAB averages 86.3 points, 41.9 rebounds, 16.7 assists, 8.7 steals and 4.8 blocks per game as a team.
Series History
Saturday's meeting will be the 15th-ever meeting between UAB and UTSA as the Blazers lead the series 9-5 and have won two straight meetings. In the teams' last matchup, UTSA fell at home to UAB, 68-56. Coach Henson is 5-7 all-time against UAB while Andy Kennedy is 3-1 against the Roadrunners. UTSA is 1-4 in games played against the Blazers in Birmingham.
Up Next
After its first road C-USA road trip, UTSA will be back in action next Thursday, Jan. 5, when it welcomes Middle Tennessee to the Convocation Center. Next Thursday's game is set to tip off at 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+ as well as broadcast on Ticket 760 AM.
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