SAN ANTONIO – Though an early battle swayed back and forth between the UTSA men’s basketball team (4-4) and the visiting South Alabama Jaguars (7-1), the defending Sun Belt Co-Champion pulled away after half and dealt the Roadrunners an 82-58 defeat on Sunday at the Convocation Center. UTSA closes the opening month of 2025-26 action at .500.
The Roadrunners stuck to the offensive game plan early against the South Alabama zone defense, keeping pace with long-range shooting from freshman Dorian Hayes and grad student Jamir Simpson. UTSA drew the game to a single possession six times in the first 14 minutes of Sunday’s non-conference action. With a huge bucket while trailing 27-22 with 6:15 remaining, Hayes drained his fourth three-pointer for a new high on his rookie season, drawing the deficit to 27-25. However, the Jaguars fired off a burst in an 8-0 run via a pair of field goals and four free throws to create their first cushion.
Though a Simpson triple broke up the run with 2:31 remaining, South Alabama outscored UTSA 9-3 heading into a 44-31 lead at the break.
Despite three-point efforts from Austin Nunez and Simpson, the Jaguars opened the second period outscoring the Roadrunners 23-12 in the first 10 minutes of the new half. The Roadrunners and Jaguars traded scores down the stretch with a 15-13 South Alabama edge in the final 10 minutes, but the deficit proved too deep as the Jaguars finished with an 82-58 result.
As expected, the Roadrunners fired it up from beyond the arc like never previously attempted, setting the school three-point attempts record at 56 shots, paced by Hayes who notched the new school individual record at 20 attempts. Hayes finished with a new career-best 15 points, dishing out a season-high six assists to go with two steals. Simpson led UTSA’s scorers with 17 points for his eighth consecutive UTSA double-figure scoring performance, in addition to registering five rebounds and three assists.
Freshman Mathéo Coffi led all rebounders with a season-best 10 boards.
Up Next
The Roadrunners have a few days off the court heading into finals, but hit the road in the next one against a prime time opponent, traveling to Tuscaloosa to face No. 8 Alabama on Sunday, Dec. 7 at Coleman Coliseum.
- UTSA -