Texas-San Antonio Basketball: Roadrunners in the C-USA hunt for 2018-19

Don’t be surprised if Texas-San Antonio Basketball is among those teams chasing down Western Kentucky in Conference USA for the 2018-19 season.

When Charles Bassey reclassified to the class of 2018 and Desean Murray transferred from Auburn, Western Kentucky became the immediate favorite in Conference USA. There are a few teams that could chase down the Hilltoppers such as, Old Dominion, North Texas and Marshall. One more team that could join the chasing pack are the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners.

UTSA won 20 games last season and finished 5^th in the conference but fell in the quarterfinals to eventual conference champion Marshall.

The Roadrunners return six of their top eight scorers from last season, including two sophomore guards who led the team in scoring as freshmen, Keaton Wallace and the conference’s reigning Freshman of the Year Jhivvan Jackson.

Wallace, averaged 11 points per game last season despite shooting just 36% from the field and 33% from three-point territory while having the second most attempts on the team in both categories. He was also 2^nd on the team in assists at 2.7 per contest, dishing out a career-high 11 in a win over UAB. If Wallace can become more efficient with his shot he could be the perfect complement to Jackson.

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Jackson, the 6-0 native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico had one of the better seasons for a freshman at the mid-major level for head coach Scott Henson. He poured in 18.4 points per game, grabbed 3.2 rebounds and added 1.8 assists on his way to earning that Freshman of the Year honor as well as landing on the Conference USA second team. All of this came despite missing the team’s final six games with a knee injury. He eclipsed the 20-point plateau 14 times and 30 points three times, including a season-best 31 in a showdown with the nation’s top freshman Trae Young and Oklahoma. The team lost but he outscored Young 31-28.

Another guy coming off a solid first season is the team’s Italian import point guard Giovanni De Nicolao. He led the team in assists with 3.5, to go along with 8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds.

Besides Jackson, no other Roadrunner has as much excitement around him than redshirt-freshman Adrian Rodriguez. The 6-7 forward played just 14 minutes before being injured and missing the remainder of the season. In those 14 minutes, Rodriguez scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Where he could be most useful this season is just in giving the team a threat inside the paint, someone other teams have to keep an eye on, opening up better looks for Jackson and the rest of the perimeter players.

The frontcourt will also rely on a couple of upperclassmen, Nick Allen and Byron Frohnen. Allen is a 6-8 senior who is the team’s second-best returning rebounder, grabbing 5.1 per game to go with his 8.9 points and Frohnen, at 6-6 pulled down 7.2 boards, netted 7.7 points and even dished out two assists.

Also joining the Roadrunner frontcourt for head coach Steve Henson will be junior college transfer Atem Bior. Bior is a 6-7 235lb. forward from New Mexico Military Institute where he scored 13 points and grabbed nearly nine rebounds per game. The backcourt gets a couple of newcomers as well in Tamir Bynum and Adokiye Iyaye. Bynum comes to San Antonio after scoring over 2,700 points at Lamar high school in Houston, and Iyaye at 6-3 is an efficient shooter, knocking down 51% at Putnam City North in Oklahoma.

Next. In-depth look at Jhivvan Jackson. dark

UTSA returns more than just Jackson and with more efficient perimeter play and a rejuvenated inside presence, the Roadrunners can certainly join the pack trying to hunt down the Hilltoppers.