A couple quick notes to begin with.
First, I'm sure they are sick of seeing pictures like this.
And maybe pictures like this....
Finally, UTSA is not the college where people go to learn to touch your junk. K?
You are going to start hearing more about UTSA, as they, along with Texas State, are joining the WAC in all sports starting in 2012. That means UTSA will upgrade to FBS in football. Their football coach is former Miami Hurricane Coach Larry Coker.
On the hardwood, UTSA is 6-4 this season, but 2 of those wins are against non D1 competition. They have a nice win over San Jose State, and then their other D1 wins (Troy, @Pepperdine, @Houston) were against teams currently in the bottom third or so of D1. Their ability to win on the road is hereby noted.
Their losses are at @Evansville, @UC-Riverside, Samford and @Tulsa. Of all of them, I'm sure they'd like the loss to Samford at home back.
True to their name, this is a team that likes to play up-tempo. They are in the top 50 in the country in possessions per game. With that comes a scoring rate of about 75 points a game, which is a little more average when you realize that's 1.03 points per possession. The problem with creating all those possessions is that the other team gets the ball too, and they are allowing exactly 1 point per possession on defense.
Interestingly, their FG% is 43%, which is not so good, but their shooting from 3 (34.6%) and their FT shooting (71%) are both pretty good. So, it seems like this is a pretty typical, uptempo, 3-shooting team on offense. BG has been making its bones on turnovers, and UTSA has done a good job of taking care of the ball this season.
Defensively, they allow their opponents to shoot 40% from the field but 35% from beyond the arc, which is how they end up giving up 1 point per possession. They get to the line, but they also give up a lot of free throws. They commit almost 21 fouls per game (on a lot of possessions, however).
Here are how the teams stack up on the four factors. From this, I would anticipate a nice rebounding battle. BG will need to continue to show the ability to score the basketball, and continue to be strong in not fouling. It will be interesting to see if we continue to get steals against this team.
Individually speaking, they are led by Sr. G Devin Gibson, who is getting 15.8 points, 6 board and 6 assists per game. Fr. Jeromie Hill scores 14 points per game and leads the team with 6.4 rebounds and is shooting 3s at over 46% (He's 6'8"). Melvin Johnson III is scoring 13.8 PPG and takes the most 3s of anyone on the team. He is a 6'5" Sophomore.
Yes, those are based on having more possessions than normal, but even tempo-free those guys are all above 1.05 points per possession.
Their Coach is Brooks Thompson, who played for several years in the NBA, including in the finals for the Magic. This makes the second time this season that a former NBA player will oppose the Falcons. He played his college ball at Oklahoma State.
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