FORT WORTH, Texas – The 14th-seeded UTSA men’s basketball team (11-20, 5-13 AAC) is kicking off its inaugural American Athletic Conference Championships at 2 p.m. on Wednesday with a repeat opponent, facing 11th-seeded Temple for the third time in 25 days and for the second game in a row. The conference championships will be played at Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena and the rematch will air live on ESPN+, complementing UTSA’s radio broadcast on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket.
How to follow, watch and hear the Roadrunners against the Owls
For fans wishing to watch UTSA in the tournament, individual session tickets can be found here. Fans in town for the tournament are in invited to send off the team from the hotel on game day at 12 p.m. in the lobby of the Sheraton Fort Worth Downtown Hotel, 1701 Commerce St. in Fort Worth.
Wednesday’s championships matchup at Dickies Arena will air live on the radio with Andy Everett (play-by-play) and Tim Carter (analyst). 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. Mike Corey (play-by-play) and Perry Clark (analyst) will be on the broadcast call.
The AAC will also provide LIVE STATS from Dickies Arena.
The complete 2024 American Men's Basketball Championship tournament information, including the bracket, can be found on the Championship Central page, located here.
Last Time Out
‣ The Owls dampened UTSA’s senior Day for Dre Fuller Jr., Carlton Linguard Jr. and Isaiah Wyatt with a second-half comeback that culminated in a buzzer-beating leaner by Hysier Miller, dealing UTSA the 82-84 loss in its final regular season game, snapping the Roadrunners’ three-game win streak.
‣ The Owls and Roadrunners traded blows in the first half, and the game remained within a single possession for all but 74 seconds of the first 19 minutes of the half.
‣ After eight ties, PJ Carter drained a three for the ninth lead change of the half, while Linguard, Carter and Trey Edmonds combined to give UTSA the 45-39 edge at the break.
‣ UTSA came out of halftime firing and built up a 13-point lead that began to evaporate in the final 10 minutes. Temple surged to trim the deficit to a single point at 5:54 off a 13-4 run, but a final Carter three set the game at 82-all with 1:27 on the clock.
‣ Coming out of a timeout with the shot clock off, Temple held for the final shot and Miller’s fade-away leaner around Edmonds’ heavy defense found the target to cap the 84-82 Owls win.
‣ Carter notched a career-high 27 points off career marks of six three-pointers and 7-of-8 shooting at the free throw line. Both teams had four players in double-figures, including Linguard (15), Christian Tucker (13) and Fuller (10). Linguard and Edmonds both recorded nine rebounds apiece as UTSA outrebounded Temple 41-32.
‣ Limited for the day with only six points, Jordan Ivy-Curry leads the Roadrunners with a 17.1 ppg average, logging 10 performances of 20+ points in 21 tries – four in the last six games. Ivy-Curry has recorded 15 games with double-figure scoring – aiding the Roadrunners at No. 2 in assists (3.00 apg) and No. 3 in rebounds (5.2 rpg).
‣ Tucker has racked up 28 assists in last three games after garnering five against the Owls. Against Tulsa, he tied the UTSA and AAC single-game assists records with 14. He remains atop the conference with a league-leading 169 assists (32nd NCAA) and 5.5 apg (32nd NCAA) – Tucker paced the AAC for 15th consecutive weeks in both stats.
‣ A junior guard, Tucker is firmly at No. 3 among the single-season UTSA assists efforts, surpassing Lloyd Williams (159 - 1999-2000) at SMU. He’s now 14 behind Devin Gibson (159 – 2010-11) at No. 2. Tucker is also back within striking distance of UTSA’s single season record, held by Ronnie Ellison with 186 dimes in 1991-92.
‣ Tucker's AAC leadership continues at the line for his ninth week topping the league in free throw percentage, now at 87.1 percent (122-140), coming in at 50th nationally.
‣ UTSA has collected at least 40 rebounds in five of the last seven games, slipping just behind SMU (40.27 rpg) in The American rankings with a 40.13 rpg average, ranking 14th in the NCAA.
‣ Before falling to Temple, UTSA had three consecutive wins as payoff for patience throughout a more-than-meets the eye season that has included 12 setbacks by single digits, nine single-digit losses in league play and seven outings decided by six points or less.
‣ The Roadrunners rank fourth among AAC scoring offenses at 78.1 ppg, knocking down a league-high 9.8 threes per outing, which ranks17th in the NCAA.
Series with Temple
Playing for the third time this season, UTSA has fallen in both meetings this year since the inaugural face-off between these teams. The Owls made up a seven-point halftime deficit and tied the game at 44-all in the second half when they met on Feb. 18 in Philadelphia. Temple then hit a string of nine consecutive shots to take an eight-point lead. Though Carter hit a three with 2:11 remaining for a three-point game, the Owls survived UTSA’s surge and claimed an 83-77 win at the Liacouras Center.
Scouting Temple
‣ After snapping a 10-game losing skid against the Roadrunners, Temple extended their fortunes to three consecutive wins, adding road victories at Wichita State and Rice. The Owls dropped back-to-back games at home to Tulsa and UAB heading into their trip to Texas.
‣ Picked at 12th in the preseason AAC Coaches Poll, a challenging first season under former Penn State associate head coach Adam Fisher have placed the Owls at 12-19 overall and 5-13 in AAC play – picking up the No. 11 seed in the tournament. This season, Temple experienced five conference losses by just a single possession.
‣ Putting up 20 in the first meeting and 16 with the game-winning shot in the second time around, junior guard Hysier Miller leads the Owls’ scoring effort at a steady 15.4 ppg average, serving as the team’s best three-point threat (64), assist leader (122/3.94 apg) and steals leader (48). A volume shooter who leads the AAC in field goal attempts on 34.2-percent shooting, he’s reached double-figures in the last 11-of-12 games.
‣ Scoring 16 against UTSA on Sunday, junior guard Jordan Riley adds 12.4 ppg while also hitting the glass at a 5.8 rpg clip to tie for the team high.
‣ Shooting a team-best 47.1 percent, junior guard Jahlil White scores 11.0 ppg and hits the glass with 5.7 rpg.
‣ Temple is 11th in the conference in scoring at 71.3 ppg, while allowing an AAC ninth-ranked 73.9 ppg. Multiple guards hit the glass as much as the post players and Temple grabs 36.45 rpg. Limiting turnovers to just two on Sunday, the Owls are the AAC’s second-best squad at protecting the ball, limiting to an NCAA 50th-ranked 10.0 per game, while forcing 12.03 turnovers per outing.
Up Next
The winner of Wednesday’s game will move on to the second round and face No. 6 seed SMU on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT in an ESPNU-televised matchup.
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