This Thursday night, November 5th, UTSA Basketball will open the Convocation Center at the Main Campus with an exhibition game against Southeastern Oklahoma State. I wanted to provide a little preview of the Roadrunners' opponent.
In early October, Southeastern was picked to finish eighth this coming season out of the Great American Conference (GAC) in a preseason poll voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches.
The team is coming off a 15-14 season which ended in a first round loss at the GAC tournament against Arkansas Tech. This year, Southereastern is looking to replace a pair of all conference performers in Taylor Smaller and Darius Harris.
To begin the season, Sami Bzai is expected to be the team's leading returning scorer after putting up 12 points per game last season, including shooting 45% from three point range.
In April, the program hosted an open tryout for prospective student-athletes to play basketball for the team. Not long after that, in both May and June, the program added two players that may be the replacements they were looking for.
Bobby Johnson was signed to the team in May and will play this season. Johnson is a 6-4, 180 pound guard who averaged 16.3 points per game over his career, was named the Class 3A Player of the Year, OCA All-State, Oklahoma Indian All-State, Vype Magazine's Mr. Basketball in 2015, and received All-Star recognition from OBCA and Kiamichi.
As someone who is credited with having led his high school team to a 63-20 record and back-to-back 3A State Tournament appearances in 2014 and 2015, Johnson will bring the Savage Storm offense and defense.
Within weeks of Bobby’s arrival, the second big signing was announced: JUCO transfer Marti Fonolla.
A 6-4 guard from Spain, Fonolla transfers to Southeastern as a sophomore after spending his freshman season at Las Positas Community College in Livermore, Calif.
It was in Livermore that he was a first team All-North Coast Conference selection after averaging 12.6 points per game while shooting 42.7% t from the floor and 38.6% from three point range.
As a versatile guard, Fonolla will make an immediate impact on this Southeastern team. He can score, create off the dribble, and rebound very well.
This is an exhibition game at home but we can fully expect that the Roadrunners will have to tip off at 7pm on all cylinders if the result is to be a UTSA win.
In early October, Southeastern was picked to finish eighth this coming season out of the Great American Conference (GAC) in a preseason poll voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches.
The team is coming off a 15-14 season which ended in a first round loss at the GAC tournament against Arkansas Tech. This year, Southereastern is looking to replace a pair of all conference performers in Taylor Smaller and Darius Harris.
To begin the season, Sami Bzai is expected to be the team's leading returning scorer after putting up 12 points per game last season, including shooting 45% from three point range.
In April, the program hosted an open tryout for prospective student-athletes to play basketball for the team. Not long after that, in both May and June, the program added two players that may be the replacements they were looking for.
Bobby Johnson was signed to the team in May and will play this season. Johnson is a 6-4, 180 pound guard who averaged 16.3 points per game over his career, was named the Class 3A Player of the Year, OCA All-State, Oklahoma Indian All-State, Vype Magazine's Mr. Basketball in 2015, and received All-Star recognition from OBCA and Kiamichi.
As someone who is credited with having led his high school team to a 63-20 record and back-to-back 3A State Tournament appearances in 2014 and 2015, Johnson will bring the Savage Storm offense and defense.
Within weeks of Bobby’s arrival, the second big signing was announced: JUCO transfer Marti Fonolla.
A 6-4 guard from Spain, Fonolla transfers to Southeastern as a sophomore after spending his freshman season at Las Positas Community College in Livermore, Calif.
It was in Livermore that he was a first team All-North Coast Conference selection after averaging 12.6 points per game while shooting 42.7% t from the floor and 38.6% from three point range.
As a versatile guard, Fonolla will make an immediate impact on this Southeastern team. He can score, create off the dribble, and rebound very well.
This is an exhibition game at home but we can fully expect that the Roadrunners will have to tip off at 7pm on all cylinders if the result is to be a UTSA win.
