Roadrunner men's basketball team enter 2019-20 season with a nationally-recognized duo and hopes of an invite to postseason tournament action
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Tuesday night the Roadrunners will open their 2019-2020 basketball season with a trip to play the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman. In their lone exhibition game against Texas A&M International last week, the Roadrunners got all 13 players onto the court and 12 of those 13 scored at least one point to help the Roadrunners to an 89-60 win.
Now the games start for real and the Roadrunners enter the new season with some holes to fill but with the best chance in many years to make a first trip to the NCAA tournament since the 2011 season.
The season for the Roadrunners will hinge on the dynamic back-court duo of Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace. Jackson and Wallace, both juniors, led the country in scoring last season, averaging 22.9 points and 20.2 points per game respectively.
Jackson will enter the 2019-20 season with a number of accolades. Blue Ribbon Yearbook has named him the preseason Conference USA player of the year for 2019-20 season. Jackson is also tabbed as a member of the all-conference USA team by both the coaches and four different media outlets.
Wallace enters the season with a streak of 41-straight games with a made three pointer. That is good for third longest active streak in the NCAA. Wallace has also been named to the preseason all-conference team by both the coaches and the same publications as Jackson. Together the duo helped push the Roadrunners to one of the fastest paces of play in the country last season.
The Roadrunners will have to replace a number of contributors from last season.
Nick Allen graduated from UTSA after having set the school record for games played and finished his four year career as a Roadrunner with 899 points, good for 22nd all-time among Roadrunners.
Giovanni DeNicolao left early to go pro in Italy. He finished his Roadrunner career having started all 100 games that he played. DeNicolao also became the fifth Roadrunner to finish his career with at least 700 points, 300 assists, 300 rebounds and 150 steals. His 153 steals are the 10th most by a Roadrunner in program history.
In addition to the back court of Jackson and Wallace the Roadrunners return some key contributors from last season.
Byron Frohnen returns for his senior season having started all 100 games he has played so far in his career. Last season Frohnen led the Roadrunners in rebounding when he came down with 216 total boards. Frohnen also finished last season with 205 points.
Adrian Rodriguez was a key contributor for the Roadrunners off the bench last season but could see a larger role this season. Rodriguez played in 29 games last season and shot 62 percent with an average of 9.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
Atem Bior made 12 starts last season and played in all 32 games. Bior averaged 20.7 minutes per game, 5.6 points and 5 rebounds per game last season. Those numbers should go up as he and other Roadrunners will be called upon to fill the shoes of Nick Allen.
Adokiye Iyaye is another returning Roadrunner from last season. Iyaye played in all 32 games last season and averaged 4.9 points in 18.3 minutes per game. Like Bior and Rodriguez, Iyaye will be in line for a larger role this season.
The Roadrunners also have a strong group of newcomers that could be key contributors.
Jacob Germany is a 6'-11" Center who comes to UTSA as a four-star recruit out of Kingston (OK) High School. He became a fan favorite in the exhibition game when he tried to dunk from almost 20 feet to right of the basket.
Luka Barisic was the fourth highest scoring Roadrunner in the exhibition, finishing with nine points. Barisic comes to UTSA from Highland (IL) Community College where he was a third-team NJCAA All-American.
Knox Hellums also scored nine points in the exhibition win over Texas A&M International. Hellums, a native of Tomball, Texas transferred to UTSA from Pepperdine in California. While at Pepperdine Hellums was named to the West Coast Conference Comissioners Honor Roll in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
Makani Whiteside comes to UTSA from Liberty High School in Madera, CA. ESPN rated Whiteside as the 45th-best point guard in the country and the 26th-best player in California. In the exhibition Whiteside scored four points in nine minutes of action.
Erik Czumbel continues the line of Italian Roadrunners. Czumbel comes to UTSA from Verona where he played for Liceo Leonardo Di Vinci. Czumbel has also played for the Italy U-23 national team and for the Italy U-18 team in the FIBA U-18 European tournament. In the exhibition Czumbel played 20 minutes and scored seven points.
Phoenix Ford played last year at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Prior to that he was at Richmond. The St. Petersburg, FL native made one free throw in nine minutes of play in the exhibition.
Austin Timperman arrived at UTSA last year from The Woodlands High School in The Woodlands north of Houston. Timperman redshirted last season. The former Highlander was the lone Roadrunner who didn't score in the exhibition game but as a 6'-9" forward he should get a chance to contribute this season.
The Roadrunners, both old and new, will have a manageable schedule this season after the opener at Oklahoma. This weekend the Roadrunners will take on Southern Illinois, Oakland (MI) and Delaware in the Sunshine Slam tournament in Kissimmee, Florida. After that the Roadrunners will have eight days to prepare for their trip to face Utah State in Logan Utah. That will be the last Roadrunner trip outside of the state of Texas until conference play.
On November 22 the Roadrunners will have their official home opener of the 2019-20 season when they welcome Wiley College to the historic Convocation Center. Eight days after that they will close out the month of November by welcoming Prairie VIew A&M to town.
The Oklahoma game is likely to be a loss for the Roadrunners but every other game in November is a winnable contest for UTSA.
In December the Roadrunners will play some old foes and some new. On December 3 UTSA will welcome Texas A&M Corpus Christi to the Convo in the 25th all-time meeting of the schools on opposite ends of I-37. The all-time series is knotted at 12-12.
Four days later the Roadrunners renew their I-35 rivalry when they travel to San Marcos and face Texas State in a series the Roadrunners lead 35-25 all-time. On December 15 the Roadrunners will try to beat UT-Permian Basin for the first time as the Falcons won the only previous meeting in a rare January non-conference game back in 2015.
UTSA will then travel to Houston on December 18 for a neutral site contest with Oregon State in the house Hakeem built, the Toyota Center. The Beavers won the only other previous meeting with the Roadrunners up in Corvallis in November 2016. The Roadrunners then return home on December 21 to host Illinois State. It will be the first time the Roadrunners and Cardinals face off since December 2001 when UTSA won the second-all-time meeting.
After Christmas UTSA will close out 2019 with a cross-town showdown against Our Lady of the Lake. The Saints and Roadrunners have never played each other but on December 28 that will change in the Convocation Center.
Like November, December's non-conference slate provides the Roadrunners with some winnable games. The toughest one will probably be Oregon State in Houston but the games against A&M Corpus Christi and Texas State will also be no easy outs.
In January UTSA will begin conference with a trip to Florida to face the FAU Owls and FIU Panthers before returning home for the conference home opener against Louisiana Tech and a saturday afternoon matinee against Southern Miss.
The middle week of January will be dominated by the I-10 westbound rivalry between UTSA and UTEP. The Roadrunners visit El Paso on the 15th and the Miners visit San Antonio on the 18th.
The week after the I-10 westbound circuit the Roadrunners will road-trip to Denton and Houston for games against North Texas and Rice. UTSA will close out January with a visit from UAB to the Convocation Center.
Conference USA games are always toss-ups. With almost half the team being new comers there could be some growing pains for the Roadrunners but the January schedule is manageable. A strong January could help the Roadrunners weather a tough February schedule.
That tough February schedule starts on the first day of the month when Middle Tennessee comes to San Antonio. UTSA then travels Old Dominion and Charlotte in the second weekend of February before returning home to close out the first portion of conference play with games in the Convo against Marshall and Western Kentucky.
Conference Pod play will begin on February 22 and run through March 7. The Roadrunners will hope to play in the top pod like they did last season. It will help determine whether they are playing from day one at the conference tournament or start their quest for a conference crown on the second day of the tournament.
With the duo of Jackson and Wallace and the talent assembled around them the Roadrunners could head to Frisco in March with a strong case for winning the conference tournament and with it an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Even if the Roadrunners don't win the conference tournament, if they make the tournament final or semifinals they might get an at-large bid to the tournament or an invite to the NIT or another postseason tournament.
One thing is certain, whether UTSA is playing into the middle of March or not, the 2019-20 season should be one of the most exciting for the Roadrunners in some time.
FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way
