SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (1-2) is looking to rally back after consecutive road losses at the midpoint of the current four-game road swing. The Roadrunners will travel north to San Marcos for a Friday matchup against Texas State (1-2) in the 63rd playing of the Battle of I-35 series. The regional rivalry game between the Roadrunners and Bobcats is scheduled to tipoff at 7:15 p.m. following the Texas State women’s game against UT Rio Grande Valley and is scheduled to air on The Bull 93.3 with live streaming on ESPN+.
On the Air and the Web
Friday’s game will tip at an expected 7:15 p.m. at the Bobcats’ Strahan Arena at the University Events Center and will air live on the radio on The Bull 93.3 with Jay Howard doing play-by-play, alongside analyst Tim Carter. As always, the broadcast will feature a 30-minute pregame and 15-minute postgame show and will be available online at TheBullCountry.iheart.com or via the free iHeartRadio app.
To watch the game live, ESPN+ subscribers can catch the Roadrunners on the streaming platform.
TXST Athletics will also provide LIVE STATS from Strahan Arena.
Last Time Out
‣ A see-saw battle in Beaumont saw the Roadrunners fall into an insurmountable deficit in the final two minutes of Tuesday’s loss at Lamar.
‣ UTSA outshot Lamar 41.2 percent to 35.0 percent, but the most pivotal stat was on the glass, as the Cardinals led 57-45 in rebounds – specifically 25-12 on the offensive glass.
‣ Lamar made the most of 12 excess shot attempts over the Roadrunners, scoring 17 on second-chance opportunities, including several of their 11 three-point attempts.
‣ The Roadrunners were leading just three seconds before halftime, but a miraculous, well-covered Ja'Sean Jackson buzzer-beater from half court granted Lamar a 42-40 advantage.
‣ The game saw nine lead changes and 10 ties, while UTSA led the time in front, 19:23 to 15:07.
‣ It was a single-possession game at the 2:00 mark, but Lamar turned its fortunes from 68.1-percent free throw shooting the prior 38 minutes to putting away 8-of-8 down the stretch, pulling away for the 90-82 win.
‣ Point guard Adante' Holiman went off with a career night to take over UTSA’s second half en route to a 22-point output, hitting four threes of his career-high seven field goals.
‣ Forward Trey Edmonds logged his first career double-double of 12 points and a career-best 12 rebounds – the most boards for a UTSA player so far this year and his third double-figure performance in as many games. He also had a career-high four assists.
‣ Rounding out four players with double-digit scoring, center Carlton Linguard Jr. had 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while guard PJ Carter had 12 points for his second double-figure outing in three games.
‣ Returning junior guard Christian Tucker led the Roadrunners with six assists, bringing his three-game total to 19, ranking him second in the American Athletic Conference and 25th nationally with 6.3 apg. With just three turnovers, Tucker also ranks 26th in the NCAA and fourth in the AAC with a 6.33 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Series with Texas State
A throwback to UTSA’s 21 seasons in the Southland Conference, Friday’s matchup with Texas State is the 63rd meeting – making it the second-longest series in UTSA’s history. Their arenas separated by just under 55 miles, the programs have met in numerous epic battles since their first outing on Feb. 9, 1985 – including the UTSA’s 71-63 triumph to claim the 1999 Southland Tournament Championship. UTSA leads the all-time series 37-25, is 17-11 in San Marcos and have won four of the last five. The last UTSA series road victory was Dec. 19, 2019 (77-71), the last series road loss was Dec. 2, 2015 (53-76) and the last meeting was exactly one year ago, Nov. 17, 2022 (W, 61-56) at the Convocation Center.
Scouting Texas State
‣ Texas State is playing its first home game of the season.
‣ Starting off his fourth year, Terrence Johnson is 56-36 at Texas State, registering an 18-7 season in 2020-21 and following up with a 21-8 mark in 2021-22. So far, the Bobcats are 1-2.
‣ Texas State is fresh off a trip to Norman, Oklahoma and a 39-point loss on Tuesday to the Oklahoma Sooners – who held TXST to just 54 points and 31.3-percent shooting, outrebounding the Bobcats 43-32.
‣ The Bobcats also dropped their opener 71-66 at Little Rock.
‣ Fifth-year forward Tyrel Morgan is leading TXST in scoring and on the glass at 14.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg, after making 30 starts a year ago.
‣ Junior forward Brandon Love is also high on the stat sheet, scoring 10.7 ppg with 6.3 rpg.
‣ The Bobcats have notably taken the court without high-expectation guards grad Drue Drinnon (6.8 ppg, 2.2 apg las season) and sophomore Jordan Mason (6.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg last year), as well as guard Davion Sykes and Army transfer Coleton Benson.
‣ With only nine players seeing action, the starters have played about 78 percent of available minutes.
‣ The Bobcats are scoring 65.0 ppg as a team and shooting 38.6 percent from the field with 27.3-percent shooting from three. Oklahoma game included, Texas State hits the glass hard with a 43.0 rpg average and a 9.7 rebound margin. However, TXST does average 18.3 turnovers per contest, while opponents only turn it over 12.7 times per game.
Up Next
One more trip across I-10 to close out the road stretch with a Monday tilt at Houston Christian in the 11th meeting of the series – just the third this century. HCU is 0-2 after losses to BYU and FIU and will not have another contest before hosting the Roadrunners. Monday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Houston Sharp Gym.
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