SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (9-10, 3-4 AAC) are coming off a key victory at home and hit the road for consecutive away dates, starting with a trip to Boca Raton and Florida Atlantic (10-10, 3-4 AAC) on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena. The Roadrunners and Owls will meet on Wednesday for the 18th time in the series after an overtime barnburner last year at the Convo. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m CST and the game will air on UTSA Radio, streaming live on ESPN+.
On the Air and on the Web
Wednesday’s matchup at Baldwin Arena will stream live on ESPN+ with
Frank Forte (play-by-play), Chris Williams (analyst) and Gabriella Haugland (sideline) on the broadcast call.
The radio broadcast will appear on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket with Andy Everett (play-by-play) covering the action. As always, the broadcast will feature a 30-minute pregame and 15-minute postgame show – available online at Ticket760.com or via the free iHeartRadio app.
Florida Atlantic Athletics will also provide Live Stats.
About the UTSA Roadrunners
After running right up against a missed overtime opportunity at preseason American Athletic Conference favorite UAB on the road (78-81), the Roadrunners returned to the Convocation Center and logged a statement win in a team effort over Temple on Saturday, 88-79. In that contest, Raekwon Horton lit the Owls early with a scorching Temple for 15 points that set a tone and helped UTSA to a 16-point first-half lead. Though the Owls found their footing in the second half, UTSA didn’t blink in the face of adversity and never surrendered the lead. After Temple tied it with 3:55 remaining, UTSA stayed steady on both ends and locked up free throw opportunities to secure the nine-point win over one of the AAC’s upper-tier teams this season. Horton and Primo Spears finished with 20, while Marcus Millender had 18 and Damari Monsanto had 17 – the group accounting for 13 of the team’s 14 threes against the Owls.
At 3-4 in conference play with two of those losses five points or less, the Roadrunners are coming together at just the right time to finish out the AAC schedule strong. Leading UTSA since day one, Spears remains one of the best scorers in the nation – only dropping out of the top-10 for one single day earlier this month. Spears currently ranks seventh nationally on an AAC-second 21.1 ppg – logging 12 games of at least 20 points. He’s also tops on the team with an average of 3.9 assists. Lighting things up from long range even more lately, Monsanto has four games of at least five three-pointers and leads the AAC, while ranking 14th in the NCAA in three-pointers per game (3.28) on an AAC-third 41.5 percent shooting – putting in an average of 11.0 ppg. Averaging 12.3 ppg at point guard, Millender also is averaging 2.0 threes per outing.
The Roadrunners are the only team in the AAC with five players averaging in double-figures. Grabbing a 10/10 double-double in the win over Temple, Jonnivius Smith ranks third in the AAC on the boards at 7.9 rpg. Facilitating the spread out scoring, UTSA is still sixth in the nation with 17.2 fast break points per game, ranking 25th in the NCAA with a 10.1 three-pointer average, 13th nationally in steals per game (9.7) and 24th in turnovers forced (15.6).
About the Series
The Owls and Roadrunners will meet for the 18th time on Wednesday in a series that dates to 2014 when UTSA joined Conference USA. Florida Atlantic is leading the overall at 11-6 and the Roadrunners are 1-5 in Boca Raton. UTSA has lost four straight in the series, with five consecutive road losses. Last year’s nailbiter at the Convocation Center had the Roadrunners within striking distance of downing the 23rd-ranked Owls at the end of regulation. However, a three-shot foul gave FAU the tie with 16 seconds remaining and FAU pulled away in overtime112-103. The last and only road win was Feb. 7, 2015, 74-59. The last series victory for UTSA was an 86-75 victory on Feb. 13, 2021, following up an 84-80 victory the prior night during the COVID season.
About Florida Atlantic Owls
Similar to what Claunch had to do in San Antonio, John Jakus had to rebuild nearly a full roster heading into his debut season at Florida Atlantic. The Owls’ record is deceptive at the middle of the road after a brutally challenging non-conference schedule that ranks 54th. The point distribution of the Owls’ second-ranked 79.9 ppg is balanced, with seven players averaging at least 7.7 ppg individually. Florida Atlantic is prone to transition offense and three-point looks, ranking sixth in fast break points (13.2) and third in three-pointers per game (8.6). Ahead in their turnover margin (+1.4), the Owls also pressure the opposition with an AAC third-best turnovers forced per game (13.5), but also allow 11.9 giveaways of their own per outing. The Owls have dropped two of their last three, both on the road while falling to Tulane and North Texas, topping Rice by two.
Coming off the bench in most contests, Tre Carroll and Kaleb Glenn can score in bunches, both averaging 12.4 ppg despite only playing 20-24 minutes. Baba Miller is an all-around threat at 11.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg, an AAC-high 1.75 bpg, while also notching an average of more than one triple per game and 2.6 assists.
Up Next
The Roadrunners will remain on the road after finishing up in Boca, traveling directly to Denton for Saturday’s February-opening rematch at North Texas in the Super Pit.
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