MEMPHIS – The UTSA men’s basketball team (7-8, 1-1 AAC) heads east for its first game of the year against a ranked foe, traveling to No. 13 Memphis (13-2, 2-0 AAC) for a Wednesday-night American Athletic Conference tilt. Fresh off earning their first program AAC win on an 89-82 overtime victory against Rice in Houston, the Roadrunners look to earn their first win against the Tigers in the first meeting since 1993. Wednesday’s matchup will stream live on ESPN+ with the radio broadcast airing on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket.
On the Air and the Web
Wednesday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. at the FedEx Forum and will air live on the Radio with Andy Everett (play-by-play) on the call. The 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.
To watch the game live, subscribers can check out ESPN+. Greg Gaston (play-by-play) and Jon Albright (color) will cover the broadcast call.
Memphis Athletics will also provide LIVE STATS from the FedEx Forum.
Last Time Out
‣ UTSA arose from their second overtime of the season with a second overtime victory, defeating Rice, 89-82, on the court at the St. Thomas’ Jerabeck Center due to water damage at Tudor Fieldhouse.
‣ Center Carlton Linguard Jr. threw a wrench into the Rice defensive gameplan, as the 7-foot center hit three of his first four three-pointers in helping UTSA to jump out to an early 11-point lead. Linguard went on to finish with a career-high 24 points to lead all scorers.
‣ Guard/forward Dre Fuller Jr. came on strong in the second half and also put up 23 points, notching three steals. Linguard and Fuller combined for the second game this season with two players cresting 20 points.
‣ Despite the hot start for the Roadrunners, Rice guard Travis Evee brought the Owls back, scoring on three consecutive possessions, slicing the lead to a single possession in the final two minutes of the first half. Noah Shelby’s three dropped in and sent the Owls to the break leading 41-38.
‣ The Owls went up 10 early in the second half on a slow UTSA start, but a 13-1 run over a three-minute span brought the game back to contention.
‣ Trailing with just under two minutes to go, Jordan Ivy-Curry collapsed the Rice defense on a deep drive, kicking out to Christian Tucker on the perimeter for the game-tying three at 73-all. The scores shuffled with a pair from Evee and a stepback jumper from Fuller, but Ivy-Curry drew the crucial shooting foul with 3.1 seconds remaining, taking care of business to end regulation tied at 77.
‣ Ivy-Curry scored the first bucket of the extra period and the final free throws, but in between, Isaiah Wyatt turned the tide when he batted the ball away from forward Max Fiedler and raced the distance for the layup with 1:13 to go.
‣ Finishing with 15 points, Ivy-Curry hit 8-of-9 at the line, adding in seven rebounds and four assists. Topping an 18-assist team effort by the Roadrunners, Tucker scored 10 with seven assists.
‣ After collecting seven dimes, Tucker got right back on track as the American Athletic Conference leader in both assist stats, falling out of the top spot for just four days for the first time this season. He enters his 10th straight week leading the AAC in total assists (79) and is back in front of the conference for assists per game (5.3), ranking nationally at 38th and 36th, respectively.
‣ Showing their offensive diversity, the Roadrunners have six players averaging over nine points per contest. Also chipping in 5.6 rpg and 4.8 apg, Ivy-Curry holds onto the team lead for scoring at 14.0 ppg after unseating Tucker (13.2 ppg) last week for the first time. Meanwhile, Fuller is adding 11.4 ppg and Linguard is at 10.8 ppg.
‣ Another area with a lot of Roadrunners doing work is on the glass, where Trey Edmonds ties Linguard with a team-high 6.1 rpg. UTSA ranks third in the AAC with an average 40.13 rpg, coming in second in the league with 27.4 rpg on the offensive glass.
‣ The Roadrunners also rank second in the AAC and 38th nationally with 4.9 blocks per outing, led by Linguard with an AAC third-best 30 total rejections and 5.3 bpg.
‣ The Roadrunners are averaging 79.2 ppg as a team on 42 percent shooting for the third-best scoring offense in the conference (74th nationally), paced by a 17th-ranked (NCAA), AAC-leading 10.0 three-pointers per game. The team averages 11.9 turnovers and a 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.
‣ The last ranked opponent UTSA faced was Florida Atlantic in San Antonio (L, 64-83) on Jan. 19, 2023.
Series with Memphis
Wednesday will mark UTSA’s first appearance in the FedEx Forum, but their second game in the series with the Tigers – previously dropping a close one on Dec. 20, 1993 at the Pyramid, 72-78. This will be the first meeting between UTSA head coach Steve Henson and Memphis Coach Penny Hardaway.
Scouting Memphis
‣ Penny Hardaway has the Tigers rolling in his sixth season, off to a 13-2 start and 2-0 mark in AAC play after being picked at No. 2 in the Preseason AAC Coaches Poll.
‣ The Tigers have won eight straight since a Dec. 2 loss (77-80) at Ole Miss, including Sunday’s comeback win over SMU, 62-59 – with Jahvon Quinerly hitting the game-winning three at :03 for Memphis’ first lead.
‣ The Tigers have three players averaging over nine points, with senior David Jones shouldering the load on an NCAA 14th-ranked 20.7 ppg performance since joining Memphis this year from St. John’s. Jones is shooting 44.6 percent from the field and leads the team with 33 three-pointers and 30 steals, while averaging 6.7 rpg among the UM rebounding leaders.
‣ Quinerly is averaging 12.8 ppg and shooting 43.7 percent, while pacing the Tigers’ distribution with 67 assists.
‣ A mid-year grad transfer from Kansas State, Nae'Qwan Tomlin is averaging 10.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg.
‣ The highest-ranked of AAC teams, the Tigers average 78.1 ppg on team 45 percent shooting. UM hits 7.5 threes per game. The Tigers allow 13.5 turnovers per game to rank 13th in the AAC, but also collect 8.5 spg to come in third in the league.
Up Next
The Roadrunners head back home to the Convocation Center for the second nationally televised game of the year, hosting Charlotte on ESPNU at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13. The following week will see UTSA travel to Tulsa (Jan. 17) and then host conference preseason favorite Florida Atlantic (Jan. 21) at the Convo.
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