SAN ANTONIO – After four consecutive home games and 23 days without a road game, the UTSA men’s basketball team (5-4) looks to extend its three-game winning streak against their second straight opponent from Arkansas, traveling to Little Rock for a Dec. 13 matchup at the Jack Stephens Center. The Roadrunners are coming off a record-breaking long-range performance and tip off with the Trojans on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., the game airing live on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket with a telecast streamed on ESPN+.
On the Air and the Web
Wednesday’s game will tip at 6:30 p.m. at UALR’s Jack Stephens Center and will air live on the Radio with Andy Everett. The broadcast will appear on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket and will feature a 30-minute pregame and 15-minute postgame show – available online at Ticket760.com or via the free iHeartRadio app.
To watch the game live, ESPN+ subscribers can catch the Roadrunners and Trojans live on the streaming platform, featuring Dorian Craft (play-by-play) and Patrick Newton (analyst) live on the broadcast call.
Little Rock Athletics will also provide LIVE STATS from the Stephens Center.
Last Time Out
‣ UTSA set shooting records for the most three-pointers made (19) and attempted (47) in program history in running away with Sunday’s game in the second half of the 93-60 victory over Arkansas-Fort Smith.
‣ Facing their first, and only non-DI opponent of the year, the Roadrunners took care of business and set season marks for points (93), points in a half (58), field goals (34), field goals attempted (75), rebounds (53) and margin of victory (33).
‣ Earning the second-consecutive UTSA spot on the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll, senior center Carlton Linguard Jr. scored a career-best 21 points with a career-high five three-pointers on seven attempts. He also grabbed seven rebounds while only playing 23 minutes against the Lions.
‣ Isaiah Wyatt also lit up the scoreboard with his second 20-point performance in a row. The junior guard and previous week’s Honor Roll awardee for UTSA scored hit exactly 20 on 7-for-13 shooting, including five threes of his own. He also grabbed five rebounds and made two assists in just under 25 minutes on the court.
‣ Linguard and Wyatt’s tandem-20s marked the first time for UTSA with two reaching that mark since the 2021-22 season.
‣ Junior guard PJ Carter also scored 11 and grabbed a career-high five boards.
‣ The Roadrunners came out firing, opening up a 14-1 lead thanks to four quick hits beyond the arc in the first four minutes, while stalling the UAFS offense.
‣ UTSA led by as many as 17 in the opening period, but UAFS crept back into the game while the 7-footer Linguard was on an extended hiatus in the final eight minutes. In that stretch, the Lions narrowed the score to a 35-28 UTSA lead at the break.
‣ The Lions put down some shots to open the second, but UTSA again drained four threes over a two minute stretch and kept the pressure on with a subsequent 18-1 run, blowing the advantage out to a game-high 33 points as freshman Nazar Mahmoud delivered the record-breaking 19th three with 45 seconds remaining in the 93-60 win.
‣ The Roadrunners led basically wire-to-wire, 39:45, taking over just 15 seconds in on Christian Tucker’s three in the first possession.
‣ Tucker was the fourth Roadrunner in double-figures against UAFS with 17 points, logging a career-best four from distance along with his now commonplace six assists.
‣ In the assist game, Tucker shows no signs of slowing down as he enters his sixth consecutive week leading the American Athletic Conference in both assists (54) and assists per game (6.0), for which he’s ranking 30th and 23rd in the NCAA, respectively.
‣ Tucker also paces the Roadrunners with 13.0 ppg, snagging 3.0 rebounds and 11 steals on the year. His 2.84 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks sixth in the AAC and 55th nationally.
‣ Dre Fuller Jr. remains the rebounding leader at 7.6 rpg to complement 11.1 ppg, anchoring a UTSA rebounding effort that is in the top two of all three categories – leading the conference with an NCAA 34th-best 13.67 offensive rebounds per game. The Roadrunners are second in both rebounds per game at 42.44 (18th nationally) and defensive rebounds per game at 28.78 (33rd nationally)
‣ UTSA is averaging 79.8 ppg as a team, while shooting 41.4 from the field. The Roadrunners allow 11.8 turnovers per game to rank 121st nationally.
Series with Little Rock
In a lengthy series for the teams separated by over 500 miles, Little Rock leads the series 11-5. Long dormant with the last games played in 1991 when both programs were part of the Trans America Athletic Conference, UTSA won the last two in the 16-game set – the most recent coming with an 83-74 overtime victory on Feb. 14, 1991, in Little Rock. Since the series kicked off in 1985, UTSA is 1-6 in Little Rock. The current head coaches have never met.
Scouting Little Rock
‣ Now in the sixth season for coach Darrell Walker, the Trojans are 4-6 after losing 85-68 to Winthrop on Sunday.
‣ The Trojans have dropped two straight, the other to in-state foe Central Arkansas, after working out three straight wins at home over Tulsa, Ball State and Arkansas State.
‣ Texas A&M transfer KK Robinson opened the season strong with 19.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg, but hasn’t played for the Trojans in five games.
‣ South Florida grad transfer guard Jamir Chaplin has been leading the squad, putting up 16.7 ppg on 61.5-percent shooting, while also collecting a team-best 8.1 rpg.
‣ Grad forward DeAntoni Gordon is also averaging 15.9 ppg on 48.5-percent shooting, along with 6.5 rpg.
‣ A capable scoring group, Little Rock averages 80.4 ppg as a team, while opponents have scored 79.8 on average. The Trojans have been outrebounded by 2.0 on average while collecting 36.4 rpg. Matching UTSA’s count, UALR allows 11.8 turnovers per outing, but opponents are averaging 14.3 – helped along by the Trojans 6.9 spg.
Up Next
The Roadrunners will head northwest out of San Antonio on Saturday to face a Pac-12 opponent for the fourth time in the last five seasons, charted for a Dec. 17 trip to Oregon State. The Roadrunners and Beavers have met three prior times, all OSU wins; the last in the 2020-21 season. The Roadrunners return home to the Convo on Dec. 21 to face Army West Point.
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