TULSA, Okla. – The UTSA men’s basketball team (7-10, 1-3 AAC) is looking to get back in the conference win column with Wednesday’s road showdown at Tulsa (9-7, 0-4 AAC), tipping off at 7 p.m. at the Reynolds Center. The Roadrunners and Golden Hurricane are squaring off for the first time since 2017 in the inaugural meeting as American Athletic Conference opponents. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ alongside the radio broadcast Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket.
On the Air and on the Web
Wednesday’s matchup in Oklahoma will air live on the radio from the Reynolds Center with Andy Everett (play-by-play) on the call. The radio broadcast will appear on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket and, as always, will feature a 30-minute pregame and 15-minute postgame show – available online at Ticket760.com or via the free iHeartRadio app.
The live stream of the game will run on ESPN+ for subscribers. Chad McKee (play-by-play), Pooh Williamson (analyst) and Michelle Montaine (courtside) will cover the broadcast call in Tulsa.
Tulsa Athletics will also provide LIVE STATS from the Reynolds Center.
Last Time Out
‣ The Roadrunners couldn’t find their offensive groove against visiting Charlotte, but still had multiple opportunities to stay in the game before Charlotte pulled away for good in the second half.
‣ UTSA opened the night a foreboding 1-for-6 from the field while Charlotte was hovering around 50 percent shooting. Meanwhile, UTSA was ice cold beyond the arc despite being the American Athletic Conference’s top three-point shooting team.
‣ The Roadrunners never earned a lead and fell behind by as many as 12 in the first half – however, Trey Edmonds, Chandler Cuthrell and PJ Carter reeled off seven unanswered points to slice the deficit to only five with 87 seconds to half, and went into the break trailing 32-27.
‣ The 49ers re-established their lead out to 13 points, but UTSA started to chip away as Jordan Ivy-Curry’s floater in the lane trimmed it to a seven-point game with 4:20 to go.
‣ However, Charlotte made the most of their free throw opportunities, and closed the game hitting 7-of-8 across the final 2:15 to secure the 66-58 CLT win.
‣ Despite dominating on the boards, 46-26, UTSA’s scoring challenges were magnified by 17 turnovers on the night, limiting Roadrunner possessions and allowing 19 Charlotte points.
‣ Putting up 16 in the second half, Ivy-Curry finished with a game-high 20 points for his fourth game over 20 this season and second in a row. PJ Carter also scored 13 points, while Edmonds logged an 11-rebound performance to lead UTSA.
‣ For a season-first, Christian Tucker was held to a single assist. However, he’s still holding steady with his AAC-leading assist rankings for the 11th week, coming in at No. 1 with 87 total assists (39th in NCAA) and 5.1 assists per game (44th in NCAA). Tucker also leads the conference with a .872 free throw percentage, coming in fourth in the league with 75 free throws made.
‣ Ivy-Curry has been an offensive force since joining the active roster on Dec. 17, averaging a team-high 16.9 ppg to lead six scorers with at least a 9-point average. Ivy-Curry also is grabbing the second-most rebounds at 5.9 rpg and the second-most assists at 2.29 apg.
‣ Also leading the UTSA scorers with double-digit averages are Tucker (12.8 ppg), Dre Fuller Jr. (10.6 ppg) and Carlton Linguard Jr. (10.2 ppg), while the top rebounding spot goes back to Edmonds at 6.2 rpg.
‣ Despite being held to half their average against Charlotte, UTSA remains on top of the AAC three-point standings, taking an AAC-high 29.1 long-rangers a game (12th in NCAA) and putting away a league-high 10.1 threes per outing (16th NCAA).
‣ The Roadrunners are averaging 79.2 ppg for the fourth-highest AAC scoring offense, shooting 41.8 percent as a team. UTSA ranks third in the AAC with a 40.12 rpg average, while allowing 12.0 turnovers per game on a 1.20 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Series with Tulsa
The Roadrunners and Golden Hurricane are meeting for the seventh time in a series that has completely gone to Tulsa. UTSA is 0-6 so far, with all series games played in Tulsa. The first meeting was in Dec. 1994 and the latest edition came on Nov. 28, 2017, UTSA falling 96-100.
Scouting Tulsa
‣ Led by second-year head coach Eric Konkol, the Golden Hurricane are off to an improved start but are sitting at an 0-4 start to conference play heading into Wednesday’s game, riding a four-game slide as well.
‣ Konkol was formerly at LA Tech for seven years and went 10-4 against the Roadrunners, 8-4 against Steve Henson-coached UTSA teams.
‣ Leading a Tulsa team that likes to play to the fast break, sensational freshman PJ Haggerty is the second-best scorer in the AAC at 18.9 ppg on a 46.1 shooting average. He’s also putting on a strong rebounding performance at 4.6 rpg from the guard position and ranking second on the team with 3.38 apg, firing off a team-high 30 threes.
‣ A familiar face from UTSA’s Conference USA days, former LA Tech star guard Cobe Williams is putting up 12.9 ppg with a team high 58 (3.36 apg) assists.
‣ Jared Garcia and Matt Reed are leading on the boards at 5.8 rpg and 5.7 rpg, respectively.
‣ The Golden Hurricane average 76.3 ppg on 43.1 percent shooting as a team. Tulsa ranks third in the AAC with 14.25 fast break ppg, and don’t sit far behind UTSA from the perimeter, ranking fourth in the AAC with 24.3 attempts per game but sixth with 8.0 threes per outing. Tulsa collects 37.4 rpg as a team and surrender a league-high 14.1 turnovers per contest.
Up Next
UTSA returns to the Convocation Center for a big one this weekend, hosting preseason favorite and 2023 Final Four squad, No. 23 Florida Atlantic on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. The Following week sees the Roadrunners host Tulane (Jan. 24) and travel to face South Florida (Jan. 27).
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