FORT WORTH, Texas – The inaugural UTSA men’s basketball (11-21) appearance in the American Athletic Conference Championships didn’t go to plan in the third meeting with Temple (13-19) over the past 25 days. However, the despite offensive setbacks in the first half, the Roadrunners never stopped fighting for their debut tournament victory and fell just three points short of the comeback with an opportunity on the final offensive possession in Wednesday’s tournament loss to Owls at Dickies Arena, 64-61.
The Roadrunners couldn’t create any offensive traction early in Wednesday’s AAC tournament game, posting a 1-for-11 shooting start to the contest. Dre Fuller Jr. pulled UTSA out of a four-minute drought with a grinding layup through traffic, kicking off a stretch where UTSA hit 6-for-12 to put much-needed points on the board over the next five minutes. PJ Carter put down the Roadrunners’ first three-pointer with 8:44 before halftime, trimming the deficit to only five. However, the Owls outpaced UTSA 14-5 over the remainder of the half for a 35-21 advantage at the break.
The lowest output and shooting efficiency for the Roadrunners in a half this season, UTSA was limited to just 24.3 percent shooting in the first half, while completing only 7.7 percent of three-point attempts.
The Roadrunners quickly snapped out of it at halftime and started making waves on both offense and defense. After trading scores for the first eight minutes of the second half, UTSA pushed Temple into six consecutive empty possessions. Meanwhile, Christian Tucker found PJ Carter for a three from the right arc at 11:58 and a pair of free throws from Chandler Cuthrell the next time down brought UTSA’s deficit down the nine. Tucker, Cuthrell and Isaiah Wyatt facilitated a scoring run, as Carlton Linguard Jr. capped off 13 unanswered points with a putback that made the deficit 45-44 with 8:45 to go. Tucker followed with a triple at 6:39 that knotted the score at 49-all.
For over three minutes, neither team logged a field goal, but the score was progressing strictly at the free throw line – sitting within a single possession for much of the stretch. Although Hysier Miller dropped a three that gave Temple a six-point advantage with 50 seconds left, Carter put away UTSA’s long-range answer just six seconds later. On the ensuing possession, Temple was forced to call consecutive timeouts to evade turnovers off UTSA’s trapping defense. However, the Roadrunners got one more chance, as Miller lost control of the ball for a backcourt turnover that granted UTSA the ball with 18 seconds left and only a three-point deficit. Shots from Linguard and Wyatt wouldn’t fall as time expired, and the Owls survived UTSA’s rally for the 64-61 win.
A night and day difference; UTSA shot 43.5 percent (41.7 percent from three) in the second half, while holding the Owls to 31-percent second half shooting from the field, blocking six Temple shots in the second period.
Tucker shot 5-for-11 to lead UTSA with 15 points, also credited with four assists. Linguard had only six points but notched four blocks and reeled in 15 rebounds – the most boards for UTSA in more than a year. Also in double-figures for the Roadrunners, Carter scored 12 while Wyatt had 11.
With the loss, the Roadrunners are eliminated from the AAC Championships, bringing a close to the 2023-24 season with an 11-21 final record.
- UTSA -