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Here’s an early look at UTSA’s game Saturday afternoon against UAB as the Roadrunners attempt to halt a season-long four-game losing streak.
UAB (14-9, 7-3) @ UTSA (9-13, 4-5)
Site – Convocation Center.
Time – 3 p.m. Saturday.
Radio/TV – KTKR (760).
Sagarin ratings – UAB 118, UTSA 297.
Point spread – UAB favored by 6½.
Series: UAB leads the series 3-0, including the Blazers’ 104-82 home victory last season.
UAB projected starting lineup – F Tosin Mehinti 6-9 sr. (6.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg), F William Lee 6-9 jr. (12.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg), G Denzell Watts 6-2 sr. (6.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.0 apg), G Hakeem Baxter 6-2 sr. (8.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.2 apg), G Dirk Williams (10.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg).
UTSA projected starting lineup – F Jeff Beverly 6-6 jr. (15.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg), C Lucas O’Brien 6-10 sr. (5.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg), G Giovanni De Nicolao 6-3, fr. (8.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.8 apg), G Gino Littles 6-0 jr. (6.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.4 apg), G Byron Frohnen 6-5 fr. (8.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg).
UAB factoids – The Blazers are attempting to rebound after a 63-59 loss Thursday night at UTEP … UAB guard Chris Cokley needs six points to become the 21st player in school history to score 1,000 points … UAB is directed by first-year coach Robert Ehsan, who previously served as former UAB coach Jerod Haase’s lead assistant before this season … UAB has not lost back-to-back games all season … UAB’s perimeter defense has been suffocating in recent games, limiting opponents to 16.4 percent from 3-point range … UAB is 21st nationally, hitting 76.2 percent of their free throws and 40th in blocked shots with 5.0 per game.
UTSA factoids – The Roadrunners’ 69-59 loss Thursday night to Middle Tennessee stretched their losing streak to four games – longest of the season and longest since a seven-game losing streak at the end of last season and the beginning of this season … Jeff Beverly had another big game against Middle Tennessee scoring a team-high 21 points including 18 in the second half … UTSA endured another couple of frigid shooting stretches against Middle Tennessee, missing 10 of 11 late in the first half and 10 of 11 during a pivotal second-half run where the Blue Raiders blew the game open with 17 consecutive points … UTSA finished better by hitting 10 of their final 20 shots to conclude the game … UTSA ranks 17th nationally with 40.1 rebound per game to lead Conference USA. The Roadrunners were outrebounded Thursday night by Middle Tennessee, 35-30.
They said it:
UTSA coach Steve Henson on his team putting the loss to Middle Tennessee behind them: “Fridays are so important in this league. If you are playing Thursday and Saturday, you can’t take a day off on Friday. We don’t practice real long on Friday, but we’ve got to work. We’ve got one day to game plan for a great opponent.”
UTSA coach Steve Henson on how his team can rebound after the four-game losing streak: “We’ve got to take away their most important strength and try to negate that and build on what we’re doing. There’s a lot of film and a little bit of work on the court and then we bounce back quickly.”
UTSA forward Jeff Beverly on what was learned in loss to Middle Tennessee: “We played hard and played together but we have to do more. There are little things we’ve got to do.”
UTSA center Lucas O’Brien on the team’s four-game losing streak: “This is one of those points for our team. We can either get down on ourselves after losing four in a row or we can say we’ve got to change and do something. We know what we can do after the Middle Tennessee loss. We’ve just got to come back for UAB and be ready.”
tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
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