GREENVILLE, N.C. – The UTSA men’s basketball team (4-19, 0-11 AMER) takes on East Carolina (7-16, 2-8 AMER) on Wednesday for the first of two contests with the Pirates in a 14-day, traveling to Minges Coliseum. The Roadrunners are looking to snap their losing skid and capture a conference road victory, while the Pirates are chasing their first league win at home. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
On the Air and on the Web
Wednesday’s 6 p.m. CT tipoff with the Pirates on Williams Court at Minges Coliseum will be streamed on ESPN+, with Patrick Johnson (play-by-play) and Jay Sonnhalter (analyst) on the call.
The radio broadcast will appear on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket with Andy Everett (play-by-play) covering the action live from Greenville. The broadcast will feature a 30-minute pregame and 15-minute postgame show – available online at Ticket760.com or via the free iHeartRadio app.
East Carolina Athletics will also provide Live Stats.
About the UTSA Roadrunners
The Roadrunners head to Greenville fighting a slump but also squaring off with the late-season injury bug, going up against competition also fighting for the opportunity to reach the conference tournament. In three of the last four games, the Roadrunners have had breakout moments despite the losses, including a season-high power-shooting performance at league-leading South Florida (56.1 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from three). After stalling in the minutes surrounding the half on Saturday, UTSA is coming off an 81-58 loss to North Texas. On the season, UTSA averages 68.7 ppg on 39.6 percent shooting, logging 12.1 fast break ppg. On the boards, UTSA collects 36.2 rpg, including an NCAA 77th-ranked 12.3 rpg on the offensive glass. The Roadrunners also rank 43rd nationally and fourth in the American with 4.6 bpg on the season.
Steady as can be, grad student Jamir Simpson logged his 21st double-figure performance with 17 against UNT and leads the team with a 16.1 ppg average – ranking eighth among American scorers. Junior Brent Moss was on fire in Tampa and dropped the best individual UTSA performance of the year, ninth-best in the American, while logging a career-high 32 points and has put up 10.6 ppg with 5.7 rpg in conference games. Sophomore Baboucarr Njie paces Roadrunner rebounding with 5.4 rpg, ahead of freshman Kaidon Rayfield’s 4.8 rpg and Moss’ 4.7 rpg – while also ranking third in the American and 25th nationally with 2.0 bpg (44 on the season).
About the East Carolina Pirates
While the Pirates have their own conference challenges, East Carolina has grabbed a couple of big league wins in the fourth season under Michael Schwartz – toppling FAU two games back in Boca Raton, 76-75, and downing North Texas in Denton, 63-59. ECU is looking for its first home conference win and first win at Minges since Dec. 17. The Pirates average 68.9 ppg on 40.7 shooting while focusing their efforts inside the paint and have been limited in transition with 9.2 fast break ppg. East Carolina has allowed opponents to shoot 45.1 percent from the field and the Pirates grab 35.9 rpg.
In his second year with the Pirates, senior guard Riley Jordan is a standout scorer, averaging an American-high (NCAA 12th) 23.3 ppg with a heavy volume on 43.4 percent shooting (scoring 88.6 percent of his points inside the arc). Riley also hits the glass at 5.6 rpg along with 2.3 apg and a team-best 1.6 spg. George Mason transfer center Giovanni Emejuru adds 13.3 ppg and an American-second 9.6 rpg, collecting a team-high 44 blocks with his 6-foot-10 reach.
Series History
The Pirates ended the Roadrunners’ 2024-25 season with a 70-65 finish in the opening round of the American Championships. It was the third consecutive close finish between these teams in the series ECU leads 6-0. Last time in Greenville, it was a dogfight all the way to the end of regulation and ECU pulled away in the extra period on late UTSA turnovers – and RJ Felton carrying the Pirates with 30 points toward the 96-89 overtime final. The first meeting last season in San Antonio saw the Roadrunners suffer a one-point loss, as UTSA built a seven-point halftime lead, but the Pirates battled back throughout the second half and an untimely jump ball gave ECU the opportunity for CJ Walker to hit the game-sealing turnaround jumper with :04 on the clock for the 80-79 final. The Pirates are 2-0 in Greenville.
Up Next
UTSA will head back to North Carolina over the weekend, traveling to Charlotte for a Feb. 15 rematch at Halton Arena in a nationally televised bout on ESPNU.
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