FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas men’s basketball will host Texas-San Antonio on Dec. 7 at Bud Walton Arena, according to the Roadrunners’ schedule that was released Monday.
It will be the seventh meeting between the programs and the first since the Razorbacks’ 79-67 victory Dec. 15, 2018, in North Little Rock. Arkansas leads the series 6-0.
UTSA, like Arkansas under John Calipari, is entering a new era under first-year coach Austin Claunch. The Roadrunners parted ways with former coach Steve Henson and announced Claunch’s hiring March 19.
Claunch was last an assistant for Nate Oats at Alabama.
UTSA finished last season 11-21 and in a five-way tie for last place in the 14-team American Athletic Conference. The Roadrunners were rated 254th in KenPom’s rankings of all 362 Division I men’s basketball programs.
Claunch will lead a new-look Roadrunners team, with sophomore Nazar Mahmoud being the only returner from last season.
Jordan Ivy-Curry (Central Florida), Christian Tucker (California), Trey Edmonds (Minnesota), PJ Carter (Memphis) and Justin Thomas (Florida State) were the headlining departures. The others were Carlton Linguard (San Francisco), Josh Reid, Juan Reyna, Blessing Adesipe (Angelo State), Massal Diouf (Western Illinois), Adante’ Holiman (Georgia Southern) and Chandler Cuthrell (Purdue-Fort Wayne)
UTSA added heavily through the NCAA transfer portal. Florida State’s Primo Spears is the headlining newcomer, while James Madison transfer Raekwon Horton was an important part of the Dukes’ NCAA Tournament team.
The other D1 newcomers are Jaquan Scott (Mississippi State), Zach Gonsoulin (TCU), Moe Njie (SMU), Tai’Reon Joseph (Southern), Paul Lewis (Vanderbilt), Marcus Millender (South Alabama), Jonnivius Smith (Buffalo) and Skylar Wicks (Incarnate Word). The Roadrunners brought David Hearnes, LJ Brown and Jackson Fazande from lower levels. Baboucarr Njie is the lone freshman.
With Claunch’s time under Oats with the Crimson Tide, UTSA will be expected to run a high-tempo offense that relies heavily on the three-point line. Wicks is a strong outside shooter from his time at Incarnate Word while Joseph was a big part of Southern’s offense.
Spears is likely to be UTSA’s primary scoring threat with others such as Wicks and Joseph playing secondary roles.
The Razorbacks’ nonconference schedule will also include home games vs. Lipscomb (Nov. 6), Troy (Nov. 13), Pacific (Nov. 18), Arkansas-Little Rock (Nov. 22), Maryland-Eastern Shore (Nov. 25), North Carolina A&T (Dec. 21) and Oakland (Dec. 30).
Arkansas is also scheduled to play Baylor on Nov. 9 in Dallas; Illinois on Nov. 28 in Kansas City; at Miami on Dec. 3 as part of the ACC-SEC Challenge; against Michigan on Dec. 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York as part of the Jimmy V Classic; and against Central Arkansas in North Little Rock on Dec. 14.
SEC play begins Jan. 4 at Tennessee and runs through March 8. The SEC Tournament will take place March 12-16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Editor’s note: The opener against Lipscomb was inadvertently left out in the original story.
