UTSA
Men's Basketball Announces 2001-2002 Schedule
(Aug. 15, 2001)--The University of Texas at San Antonio men's basketball
coach Tim Carter announced Monday that the Roadrunners will play a 27-game
schedule in 2001-2002 that features two regular season tournaments, road games
at Nebraska and TCU, a San Antonio visit by Illinois State and a full 20-game
Southland Conference (SLC) slate.
"We play a tough schedule that will help us grow as a team," said
Carter, who is beginning his seventh year as UTSA's coach. "The games
at Nebraska and TCU along with the two tournaments and a home game with Illinois
State will have us ready for conference play which begins in December."
Play will open with a pair of home exhibition games with St. Edward's (Nov.
5) and Midwestern State (Nov. 10). The regular season opens with UTSA playing
at the Florida International Tournament on Nov. 16-17 in Miami, Fla. It will
be the first non-conference tournament for the Roadrunners since the 1997-98
season. Other teams participating include UTSA's first round opponent, Maine,
as well as St. Peter's and Florida International.
On Nov. 27, UTSA will travel to Lincoln, Neb. to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The Roadrunners are 0-2 all-time versus Nebraska, with UTSA coming up short
96-85 in 1993-94, and 79-76 in 1996-97 in Carter's second season as UTSA head
coach.
UTSA will open its home schedule on Dec. 1 when Illinois State makes its first-ever
visit to San Antonio. It will be the second in a home-and-home series that
saw the Roadrunners fall to the Cardinals, 95-87, last season in Normal, Ill.
in the first-ever meeting between the schools.
The Roadrunners will then be part of a four-team field at the Southwest Missouri
State Tournament on Dec. 7-8. First round opponent Idaho State along with
Southern and Southwest Missouri State will provide the competition. UTSA will
close out the non-conference portion of its schedule with a Dec. 15 road game
in Fort Worth against the TCU Horned Frogs. The Horned Frogs lead UTSA 5-3
all-time, including a 91-80 win over the Roadrunners last season in San Antonio
in a game that saw Devin Brown torch TCU with 39 points.
Late December thru March will be conference-only games, with Lamar (Dec. 20)
and Sam Houston State (Dec. 22) starting things off at home. January home
games will come against Southeastern Louisiana (Jan. 3), Nicholls State (Jan.
5), McNeese State (Jan. 10), Texas-Arlington (Jan. 24) and Stephen F. Austin
(Jan. 26). The February home schedule includes appearances by Louisiana-Monroe
(Feb. 8), Northwestern State (Feb. 10) and Southwest Texas State (Feb. 16).
The 2001-2002 regular season concludes with three road games at Nicholls State,
Feb. 21; Southeastern Louisiana, Feb. 23; and Southwest Texas State, March
2.
The SLC Tournament will be played March 5-9 at home sites, with the top six
teams in the league participating to see who wins the automatic bid to the
NCAA Tournament. UTSA returns eight lettermen, five of whom are seniors and
four starters. The Roadrunners open the season with 66.5 points of its offense
returning intact from last season to go along with the SLC's top overall defensive
team.
The preseason conference favorite last season, UTSA ended with a 14-15 overall
record and a 12-8 second place conference finish. The Roadrunners expect to
be picked amongst the best in the conference again this year, and would love
to live up to the hype. Carter has a full compliment of all-conference type
players in the lineup again this season. Carter, who is beginning his seventh
season in San Antonio, needs 14 wins to reach the 100-win mark at UTSA and
will rely on a team to stay healthy, something that was a problem last year.
"With eight lettermen returning this season, we should be a team with
players that know their roles," said Carter, who has a 86-81 record at
UTSA. "The majority of our returnees have received major minutes during
their collegiate careers and that should definitely be a plus for us. This
combined with the fact that I feel we've signed a solid recruiting class,
gives us great optimism for this season."
The SLC's winningest program over the last four seasons, the UTSA Roadrunners
have won 63 games during that period, appeared in one NCAA Tournament and
will be looking for a conference regular season championship as the 2001-2002
season tips off.
This season will mark the final collegiate campaign for one of the top players
to ever wear the UTSA blue, orange and white as Brown enters his senior year
at the shooting guard position. Brown, a first team all-SLC and NABC all-district
team member last season, enters his final season needing only 283 points to
become the all-time leading scorer in UTSA basketball history with 1,692 points.
Last season he ranked third in the SLC in scoring at 19.9 points per game
while also pulling down a team-high 7.6 rebounds.
For more on UTSA sports go to the UTSA Roadrunners Official Athletic Web site.