Basketball Update 1.8.22

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Both the UTSA men's and women's basketball teams are now full on into the conference portion of the 2021-22 season. The Men's team completed a three-game home stand on Saturday with a loss to Louisiana Tech. During that homestand the Roadrunners leading scorer, Dhieu Deing, left the program abruptly to pursue a professional opportunity.

"We love him, he did a good job for us and worked really hard," UTSA Head Coach Steve Henson said following Thursday's game. "He had some opportunities to go play professionally. It was pretty abrupt but we wish him well."

Deing had played in the African Championships last summer but where he is headed now is not known at the present time.

UTSA's women's basketball team has been dealing with COVID and were unable to play their two games at Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech this weekend. The Roadrunner women are currently 4-9 and 1-1 in the first year under new head coach Karen Aston.

Last weekend the Roadrunners had one of their conference games postponed, a trip to Middle Tennessee. It was the second game in a row UTSA had not been able to play. Prior to Christmas, the Roadrunners game with Our Lady of the Lake was canceled.

UTSA instead opened conference play at UAB last Saturday. The Roadrunners fell to the Blazers 87-59. It was the third straight loss for the Roadrunners. UTSA had lost to UT-Rio Grande Valley and Illinois State prior to taking a week off for Christmas.

On Monday night the Roadrunners welcomed Dallas Christian to town for a non-conference game that replaced the canceled OLLU game. UTSA was able to snap their three-game losing streak with a 101-48 win over the Crusaders. UTSA led 55-12 at halftime. The 12 points scored by Dallas Christian were tied for the fewest given up by a Roadrunner team in a first half. It was the Roadrunners first win since a 78-73 win over Sam Houston on Dec. 11 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

UTSA returned to conference play on Thursday night when they welcomed Southern Miss to the historic Convocation. The Roadrunners lost to Southern Miss 74-73 but UTSA had a chance to win at the last second. The shot attempt by Cedrick Alley Jr. was no good, although there was a lot of contact on the play.

On Saturday afternoon the Roadrunners ran into a red-hot Louisiana Tech team that had won four straight entering the game. UTSA fell behind 8-0 early but rallied to take a 14-13 lead with 10:48 remaining in the first half. It was a short-lived lead as Louisiana Tech closed the first half on a 27-12 run to take a 40-26 lead at the intermission.

It didn't get much better in the second half as the Louisiana Tech lead got to as large as 23 points. The Roadrunners managed to cut the deficit down to 16 points before the game ended in a 79-63 defeat.

The two losses to Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech dropped UTSA to 598-598 all-time as a program.

UTSA's men's team will be back in action Thursday night when they travel to play Old Dominion. The Roadrunners next home game will be Jan. 23 at 3 p.m. against UTEP.

UTSA's women's basketball team opened 2022 with a New Years Day win at home against UAB. That remains their most recent game after their games at Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech were postponed. The conference is working with UTSA and the other two schools to determine if those two games can be made up later in the season.

Prior to opening conference the Roadrunners had gone 3-9 in non-conference play. The three wins in non-conference came against UIW, Dartmouth and UT-RGV. UTSA lost to SFA, Abilene Christian, Texas State, Minnesota, Arizona State, Colorado State, Grand Canyon and Texas A&M in non-conference play.

The Roadrunners were able to beat UAB 68-60 in overtime last Saturday afternoon in the Convocation Center. It was the Roadrunners first win in conference since Jan. 9, 2020. UTSA is 1-1 in conference for the first time since that 2019-20 season in which the Roadrunners started conference 2-1 before finishing 2-16.

The UTSA women will return home this coming Thursday to face Old Dominion. That game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. The Roadrunners will then host Charlotte next Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Convocation Center.

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way