2023-11-05 17:57:38
SAN ANTONIO – After producing a pair of high-intensity offensive performances against NCAA Division III opponents, Trinity and McMurry, the UTSA men’s basketball team will finally play one for the record, Monday evening at the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners open their 43rd season against Western Illinois, tipping off at 7 p.m. in the first edition in the series with the Leathernecks. The 2023-24 season-opening game will be broadcast on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket with a telecast streaming live on ESPN+.
On the Air and the Web
Tuesday’s game will tip at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center and will air live on the Radio with Andy Everett doing play-by-play alongside analyst Tim Carter. The broadcast will appear on Sports Radio AM 760 The Ticket and is the first official game of Everett’s 17th season as the voice of Roadrunners basketball. The broadcast will feature a 30-minute pregame and 15-minute postgame show and will be available online at Ticket760.com or via the free iHeartRadio app.
In addition, Monday’s exhibition contest will air live on ESPN+ (for subscribers) with Karl Schoening (play-by-play) on the call, alongside UTSA basketball legend Devin Brown (analyst). A Homecoming inductee into the inaugural UTSA Athletics Hall of Fame class, Brown will be a familiar face and voice on broadcasts this season, leaning into experience garnered from phenomenal career at UTSA, an eight-year NBA career and as a coach/athletic director at Proskills San Antonio. Brown’s was the first of just two jerseys hoisted into the Convocation Center rafters.
UTSA Athletics also will provide LIVE STATS from the Convo.
Roadrunners Looking to Carry Forward Preseason Lessons
Opening the program’s 43rd season and the eighth year under head coach Steve Henson, UTSA will put its new-look roster to the test with a contest for the record on Monday night.
‣ The 2023-24 Roadrunners roster features 12 new players: forward Blessing Adesipe, guard PJ Carter, forward Chandler Cuthrell, forward/center Trey Edmonds, guard/forward Dre Fuller Jr., point guard Adante’ Holiman, guard Nazar Mahmoud, forward Josh Reid, guard Juan Reyna, guard Justin Thomas and guard Isaiah Wyatt.
‣ In addition, seven-foot Kansas State transfer center Carlton Linguard Jr. is turning heads after missing last season while fulfilling his year in residence for returning home to San Antonio.
‣ UTSA returns just two players from a year ago, junior guard Christian Tucker and sophomore forward Massal Diouf. Tucker saw 30 games with six starts – averaging 4.8 points, 1.4 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game, while Diouf played in 27 games and started 21 contests as a rookie forward for the Roadrunners – chipping in 2.7 rebounds per outing.
‣ Bolstering the roster with experience, former guard Jordan Ivy-Curry returns to San Antonio after a season at Pacific where he averaged 10.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in 33 games. Ivy-Curry played his first two years with the Roadrunners and started 19-of-21 appearances in 2021-22, scoring a team second-best 13.9 points per contest.
‣ Former UCF guard Fuller has shown an immediate impact, two years removed from averaging 5.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists through 67 games with the Knights.
‣ The former No. 1 player in Oklahoma, Holiman has been solid running the point since coming over from UTRGV, where he averaged 7.5 points and 3.0 assists on 44.7 percent shooting for the Vaqueros.
2023-24 UTSA Men’s Basketball Roster
No.
Name
Pos.
Ht.
Wt.
Yr.-Exp.
Hometown/Previous School(s)
23
Blessing Adesipe
G/F
6-6
210
Jr.-TR
Houston, Texas
/Alief Taylor HS/Miles [MT]
21
PJ Carter
G
6-5
175
Jr.-TR
Atlanta, Ga.
/Langston Hughes HS/Campbell/Georgia Highlands
10
Chandler Cuthrell
F
6-8
220
Jr.-TR
Baltimore, Md.
/Baltimore City College/Odessa College
14
Massal Diouf
F
6-9
240
So.-1L
Gouda, Netherlands
/Western Canada Prep Academy
3
Trey Edmonds
F/C
6-10
255
Jr.-TR
Aurora, Colo.
/George Washington HS/Utah Tech
4
Dre Fuller Jr.
G
6-6
220
GR-TR
Fayetteville, N.C.
/Admiral Farragut Academy/UCF
5
Adante’ Holiman
PG
6-0
175
So.-TR
McAlester, Okla.
/McAlester HS/UT Rio Grande Valley
1
Jordan Ivy-Curry
G
6-3
175
Jr.-2L
La Marque, Texas
/La Marque HS/Pacific
2
Carlton Linguard Jr.
C
7-0
225
r-Sr.-TR
San Antonio, Texas
/Stevens HS/Temple CC/Kansas State
0
Nazar Mahmoud
G
6-5
180
Fr.-HS
Leander, Texas
/Spring Creek Academy
12
Josh Reid
F
6-7
220
Jr.-Tr
Havelock, N.C.
/Village Christian Acad./Miami-Dade Clg./Gulf Coast Clg.
20
Juan Reyna
PG
6-3
185
Jr.-TR
San Antonio, Texas
/Duncanville HS/Alabama State/Campbell
25
Justin Thomas
G
6-7
180
Jr.-TR
Baton Rouge, La.
/Village Christian Academy (NC)/Queens (NC)/Milwaukee
22
Christian Tucker
G
6-3
178
Jr.-2L
Chandler, Ariz.
/Gilbert Perry HS
11
Isaiah Wyatt
G/F
6-4
220
r-Jr.-TR
Toledo, Ohio
/N. Crowley HS/McClennan CC/SW Christian CC/Chadron St.
Summarizing the Exhibitions
UTSA racked up 225 points in the two exhibition games, defeating Trinity 100-70 and McMurry 125-84 – a combined 225-84 with all the starters averaging under 23 minutes.
‣ The McMurry total was the most points scored since 2017 and would have tied for the second-highest-scoring game in the program records, if not an exhibition.
‣ The 69-rebound effort against McMurry would have been the school record in a regular-season contest – in total, UTSA out-rebounded exhibition foes, 129-65.
‣ With plenty of contenders, as UTSA registered 14 double-figure scoring performances across the two games, Linguard registered the top scoring output. Setting the scoreboard ablaze in the opening exhibition with Trinity, Linguard put up 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, hit four from the perimeter, grabbed nine rebounds and made three assists.
‣ Linguard averaged 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in just 21 mpg of exhibition action, shooting .522 from the floor.
‣ Against McMurry, Tucker was on top with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, grabbing four boards and doling out five assists – he averaged 11.5 points and a team-high 5.0 assists.
‣ Cuthrell was steady in his pair of debuts, collecting a double-double in each contest and averaging 11.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists – throwing down a trio of dunks.
‣ Mahmoud averaged 13.0 points and 6.5 rebounds, while shooting .529 with a team-best five threes as the only first-year freshman on the floor.
‣ Fuller provided an all-around exhibition effort for the Roadrunners, going 11-for-25 with 13.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 4.0 apg and 1.5 steals per game.
‣ Edmonds was a physical interior presence, putting up 13.0 ppg on .647 shooting and 7.5 rpg.
‣ Carter was solid beyond the arc with 50 percent shooting from three and a 10.0 ppg average.
‣ Diouf topped UTSA with .857 shooting, going 6-for-7 for 6.0 ppg.
Series with Western Illinois
This contest will mark the first meeting between these schools and these coaches.
Scouting Western Illinois
Chad Boudreau leads the Leathernecks in his first year as a head coach, earning the big chair after being elevated to interim coach last April. He spent three seasons at Western Illinois as the associate head coach. WIU is also making the move from the Summit League to the Ohio Valley Conference this season. With Boudreau on staff, WIU went from single digit wins to consecutive 16-win seasons.
Western Illinois returns seven players and two starters from a squad that went 16-14 and 9-9 in Summit play a year ago. Unlike the Roadrunners, WIU will be taking the court for the first time on Monday – having skipped on holding any exhibition contests. The Leathernecks lost their top three scorers and the assist leader from 2022-23 but return the fourth and fifth scorers in redshirt senior guard Quinlan Bennett and senior forward Jesiah West – both averaging 9.7 ppg last season. At 6-foot-5, West was WIU’s rebounding leader at 7.3 per game, also adding 2.2 assists and producing 52 blocks on the year to earn a spot on the Summit League All-Defensive Team. Bennett also chipped in 5.4 rpg and shot 52.2 percent from the field, carrying three years of experience that started at Lamar and pushed him over 1,000 career points. In the offseason, WIU filled in the roster with eight transfers, boosting its roster height and adding some new weapons.
Up next
With the season officially under way, UTSA will kick off a four-game road swing in Minneapolis at Minnesota on Nov. 10 – the Roadrunners’ first Big 10 opponent since 2017. That game will air live on Peacock, a program-first for the Roadrunners. After heading to Lamar, Texas State and Houston Christian, UTSA will be back in the Convo on Nov. 24-25 for the Roadrunner/Cardinal Classic against Jacksonville State and UIW.
– UTSA –
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