SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (10-14, 4-8 AAC) closes off a two-game road swing on Saturday evening at Tulsa (10-15, 4-8 AAC), heading to the Reynolds Center to rematch with the Golden Hurricane with a 5 p.m. tipoff. Right on the razor’s edge, the Roadrunners are looking to snap a three-game skid that has been decided by a combined total of seven points over the past 10 days. Saturday’s matchup will air on UTSA radio and be televised nationally on ESPNU for the Roadrunners’ third TV game of the season.
On TV, on the Air and on the Web
Saturday’s 5 p.m. matchup at the Reynolds Center will be broadcast on ESPNU for a national audience and can be streamed live on ESPN+, with David Saltzman (play-by-play) and Mark Adams (analyst) 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.
Tulsa Athletics will also provide Live Stats.
About the UTSA Roadrunners
It’s been a close four in a row for the Roadrunners, beginning with a 54-50 victory at North Texas on Feb. 1, but since then UTSA dropped a pair of one-point contests and the buckets just wouldn’t fall in the closing moments of Wednesday’s 69-64 setback at Wichita State. The Roadrunners are looking to snap the skid with a key American Athletic Conference tilt on Saturday against the Golden Hurricane. The Roadrunners’ offense has proven its mettle and is hardly the team Tulsa faced in the AAC home opener at the start of January, ranking fifth in the conference with a 76.6 ppg average and playing as one of the fastest teams in the nation at 15.96 ppg off fast breaks. Including last game’s 20 turnovers off the Shockers, UTSA ranks 20th in the nation with an AAC-high 15.3 turnovers forced per game – featuring the NCAA’s 10th-best steals average (9.6 spg) to lead the conference. The most dangerous aspects of UTSA’s shooting are beyond the arc and at the free throw line. The Roadrunners have the AAC’s most aggressive three-point effort, shooting 27.3 triples per game and knocking down 9.5 per outing. Given the chance at the line, UTSA is No. 2 in the NCAA with an 81.1 percent average.
Seeking his 11th-straight double-figure game, Marcus Millender is averaging 13.5 on the season and has a 16.0 ppg average in AAC games, putting away 31 threes in league play. At the forefront of UTSA’s scorers all season, Primo Spears has six straight double-figure games and has 20 on the season with 12 games over 20 points toward his 19.8 ppg average – including the 40-spot he dropped on the Golden Hurricane at the Convocation Center. Coming on strong in conference play, Raekwon Horton is fresh off a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double in Wichita and averages 12.5 points and 6.0 rebounds – going 14.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.3 apg and 1.8 spg against AAC opposition. Horton is third in the conference at 1.9 spg. Damari Monsanto has surpassed his NCAA-14th 3.3 three-pointers per game in 10 contests this season, including four triples in Wichita and a season-high seven at Florida Atlantic. He’s averaging 10.8 ppg and has upped his numbers on the boards lately, grabbing 5.3 rpg over the past four games. Leading that category, Jonnivius Smith has been steady for the Roadrunners, listing at fourth in the AAC stats with 7.9 rpg, and ranks fifth in the AAC in blocks per game (1.6) while coming off his second four-block affair and sixth of at least three stops this season.
About the Series
The Roadrunners and Golden Hurricane are meeting for the 10th time in the series UTSA fell to Tulsa in the Jan. 7 tilt at home by an 82-77 margin. The teams split games last year toward the home teams. Tulsa leads 8-1 and the Roadrunners will be looking for their first road victory of the series at the Reynolds Center on. The first meeting was in Dec. 1994.
In January at the Convocation Center, UTSA claimed a nine-point halftime lead after holding the Golden Hurricane to just 27.6 percent shooting in the opening period. However, Tyshawn Archie and Keaston Willis got hot in the second half and led Tulsa to a 53-39 scoring advantage the second period to pull out the comeback 82-77 win – with the lead only changing hands in the final minute.
This will be the 16th matchup with UTSA for third-year Tulsa head coach Eric Konkol, who holds a 10-5 record against the Roadrunners including his highly successful seven-year run at Louisiana Tech. He is 2-1 against UTSA at Tulsa.
About the Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Coming in at 10-15 and also 4-8 in conference play, the Golden Hurricane just snapped their four-game losing streak on the road in Philadelphia, defeating Temple, 80-74, on Wednesday, after taking the decisive edge in the second half. Like UTSA, Tulsa likes to fire deep shots, ranking second behind the Roadrunners with 25.8 threes attempted per game, knocking down 8.4 Not as much pace as the Roadrunners, but the Golden Hurricane push 10.8 ppg off fast breaks toward their league-10th 72.6 ppg. Tulsa opponents are averaging 74.0 ppg this season. However, Tulsa does well on the boards, ranking fifth in the AAC with 37.4 rebounds per outing.
Georgia State transfer Dwon Odom has taken over as the multi-faceted player for the Golden Hurricane, leading the team with 13.6 ppg on 54.3 percent shooting, grabbing a team second-best 5.1 rpg with an AAC-leading 5.3 assist average. Former LA Tech guard Willis is still as much of a threat as any point in his career, averaging 12.9 ppg and taking the bulk of Tulsa’s threes with 73 on the season. Ian Smikle isn’t as much of a scoring threat at 5.6 ppg, but leads the squad with 5.8 rpg. The Golden Hurricane have a diverse roster for scoring, with three additional players putting up at least eight points on average, including Archie (10.2), Isaiah Barnes (9.6), Jared Garcia (9.6) and Braeden Carrington (8.0) – who held the Golden Hurricane together in San Antonio with 17 of his 20-points coming in the first half.
Up Next
UTSA returns to the Convocation Center to host South Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 19, for Rowdy Rodeo, then traveling to the Tarheel State for the rematch with East Carolina on Sunday in Greenville.
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