HOUSTON – The UTSA men’s basketball team (5-25, 1-17 AMER) closed out the 2025-26 season on Sunday at Tudor Fieldhouse, as a second-half rally at Rice (12-18, 6-11 AMER) came up short despite a boosted second-half offensive performance from the Roadrunners. Leading the charge, freshman Mathéo Coffi had a career-best double-double and junior Brent Moss scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half to spark the Roadrunners.
A slow start proved to be the biggest challenge for the Roadrunners against the Owls on Senior Day in Houston, as UTSA opened just 2-of-12 from the field and Rice rang up a an 11-0 scoring drive by the time grad LJ Brown got the Roadrunners back on track with a three-pointer with 12 minutes to go. After Rice made the most of offensive rebounds early with 10 points off just four offensive boards, the Roadrunners also started to even the battle on the glass. Coffi, Brown and Baboucarr Njie battled the game back with a 16-5 push that narrowed the deficit to 31-22 on Jamir Simpson’s free throw with 8:06 on the clock – scoring on six of eight possessions coming out of the drought.
After playing a pivotal role in building the early lead, Nick Anderson hit back-to-back threes to keep UTSA at arm’s length, while the Roadrunners edged closer with opportunities at the free throw line. Both teams went ice cold for over two minutes until Jamir Simpson drained a three to make it 39-29 with 3:14 left. Njie closed the half with a bucket to send the teams to the locker room with Rice ahead 45-32.
It was a flurry of scoring to open the half as the margin remained at 13 but the score advanced to 58-45 after only five minutes of play in the new period. Stalling the Roadrunners again, Rice grew its advantage to as many as 19 with 8:40 to go, but the Roadrunners started to pick up steam. Following five consecutive points from freshman Dorian Hayes, Moss pulled up for three to move the line back to 13, but the Owls pushed back once again.
Coming down the stretch, UTSA made one final rally push, with Njie, Moss and Simpson leading a drive that just couldn’t move fast enough, cutting the Owls’ lead to nine on a Hayes three with 13 seconds to go – wrapping up the game and the season on an 80-71 setback.
Njie and Moss led all scorers with 16 points apiece, with Moss making it a double-double on 10 boards, while Njie had four. Coffi earned a career day with 12 points and a UTSA season-best 14 rebounds, shooting 5-of-7 with two assists and two blocks. The fourth Roadrunner in double figures, Simpson added 11 points and five rebounds.
After a sluggish 29.4 percent shooting in the first half, UTSA bounced back to 41.7 percent in the second half, also nearly balancing the rebounding effort with a 50-47 deficit.
- UTSA -