HCU vs. UTSA
Houston Christian University steps away from home for the first time since November 13 when it travels down I-10 to face University of Texas-San Antonio on Saturday. The Huskies will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak with tip-off against the Roadrunners at the Convocation Center set for 3 pm.
The Huskies are 2-5 on the campaign and are coming off a four-game homestand that saw them win the first then drop three tough games in a row by a combined seven points. HCU fell to cross-town rival Rice University last Friday 61-58 before a pair of losses in its MTE on Monday and Wednesday to Eastern Michigan and Northern Arizona that were polar opposites in every sense.
Highlighted by four triples from
D'Aundre Samuels in four minutes, the Huskies put forth a furious rally from a 16-point deficit with eight minutes to go against Eastern Michigan only to come up just shot, falling lose by one, 74-73 on Monday night. Then on Wednesday, HCU exploded out of the gates to a 24-8 lead in the first half and a 17-point lead with 14 to go against Northern. That lead evaporated as a huge final surge from the Lumberjacks was capped by a three-pointer by Trenton McLaughlin with two seconds left, handing the Huskies a 74-71 defeat and offsetting career performances from
Elijah Brooks and
Julian Mackey, who combined for 57 points on the night.
Brooks started the NAU game by making his first 12 attempts from the field and finished with a personal-best 29 points. It is the second time this season he has eclipsed his career-high, having come into the season with 17 as his best, then cracking that with 21 against Rockford before the big game on Monday.
Likewise, Mackey put in a huge night, going 10-19 from the floor and 3-9 from the arc for a personal high 28 points, while also setting a new high of eight rebounds. The 28-points was also the second time for Mackey to break his personal best, out-doing his first career 20-piece on November 8 at then No. 19 Texas.
The 57 points by Brooks and Mackey represent the highest combined total since Darius Lee tied the single-game scoring record with 52 points and Khristion Courseault added 30 during HCU's 149-144 four-OT win over McNeese on March 5, 2002.
The Huskies are led by first-year head coach
Craig Doty, who was hired as the ninth head coach in school history back in March as the program is now in its 59th season. Doty brings 12 years of head coaching experience to the HCU sidelines, having coached on the NJCAA, NAIA and NCAA Division II levels while capturing three national titles along the way. The Huskies have just four players returning from last year's club, as Pierce and
Porter Bazil,
Nathan Self and
Marques Gates join a class of 11 transfers, the largest incoming class since the first season of transition back to Division 1 in 2007-08.
Mackey now leads a trio of Huskies in double-digits on the season at 12.4 per game, while also pulling down 3.7 rebounds and dishing out a team-best 2.3 assists. Brooks upped his average to an even dozen per game, leads the team at 4.7 caroms per outing and is second to Mackey at two helpers per.
Bryson Dawkins rounds out the 10+ crew at 10.4 ppg and four rebounds a game.
Once conference foes in the Trans America Athletic Conference (now Atlantic Sun Conference) from 1986-1989, HCU and UTSA will square off for the 11th time overall. The series is tied at five games apiece with the last meeting happening last November 20 at Sharp Gym, with the Roadrunners holding off a late rally by the Huskies for an 89-87 victory. Only two players who saw action in that game remain;
Pierce Bazil for HCU and Nazar Mahmoud for UTSA.
UTSA comes into the game at 2-3 overall, and are led by Houston native Austin Claunch, now in his first season in the Alamo City. No stranger to HCU, Claunch was the head coach at Southland foe Nicholls State from 2018- 23. The Runners are coming off a 1-1 showing in the Trojan Turkey Tip-off hosted by Troy University. UTSA fell to the host Trojans 86-72 on Monday before a 76-74 victory over Merrimack on Wednesday.
The Roadrunners place three in double-digit scoring, led by 6'3 senior transfer guard Primo Spears, who averages 22.2 points and right at four assists per game in his first season with UTSA after coming over from Florida State. South Alabama transfer Marcus Millender and grad transfer Damari Monsanto from Wake Forest chip in 11.8 and 10.5 respectively, while 6'9 Buffalo transfer Jonnivius Smith averages 10.5 boards per contest.
HCU is 7-10 all-time in games played on November 30. The Huskies last played on this date in 2016, a 90-77 loss at Rice. HCU's last win on this date was a 74-72 victory at West Point over Army in 2013.
A return to the friendly confines comes on December 5 and 7 when the Huskies take on East Texas A&M and Northwestern State. Those two games open the conference season in earnest and complete a span of six games out of seven stretch in Sharp Gym over the first month of the season.
#DawgsUp
