Last week’s offseason check-in: Rice.
2023-2024: 11-21, 5-13, T-14 American, 254th in KenPom
Steve Henson’s up-tempo, run-and-gun style of basketball finally ran its course last year, as a one-dimensional offense and a cripplingly bad defense staked the Roadrunners to a 5-13 conference record, good for last place in the American. The longtime UTSA coach’s contract was not renewed at the conclusion of the 2023-2024 season.
Despite fielding some of the more aesthetically appealing mid-major teams of the last decade, UTSA failed to find consistency or postseason success during Henson’s eight years at the helm. The halcyon days of the Jhivvan Jackson/Keaton Wallace era produced the program’s first top-150 KenPom finish in 2019, but a first-round conference tournament loss brought the season to an abrupt end. The Roadrunners never truly recovered from the 2021 departures of their backcourt stars — by the following year, UTSA would freefall to a sub-300 KenPom ranking.
Wayward son Jordan Ivy-Curry transferred home from Pacific last summer and helped the program recover some of its identity. In their inaugural season in the American, UTSA recorded their highest tempo ranking since 2021, put a scare into several of the league’s elite teams, and improved by nearly 25 KenPom spots from 2023. They also claimed victories against in-state rivals Lamar and Incarnate Word. However, a historically inefficient defense turned most conference games into gunfights the Roadrunners didn’t have the firepower to win. Goodwill built up during a late-season winning streak was washed away by a first-round tournament loss to Temple.
Similar to fired counterpart Scott Pera, formerly of Rice, Henson made lemons into lemonade at a school often reluctant to invest in basketball. The early Jackson/Wallace years produced some of the best and most watchable teams in program history; there was, at one point, a general consensus among Conference USA nerds that Henson was one of the more underrated coaches in the mid-major landscape.
But the state of the program has been unambiguously awful since 2021. Not all of that can be pinned on Henson — UTSA has suffered crippling portal attrition in recent years, a fact which probably speaks to the program’s reported lack of NIL and the school’s underwhelming basketball infrastructure — but it would’ve been baffling if AD Lisa Campos retained him.
This brings us to…
UTSA’s hiring of Austin Claunch fits the mold of their 2006 hiring of Brooks Thompson — a mid-30s, up-and-coming power school assistant looking to revitalize a program in desperate need of a shot in the arm.
Claunch served on Nate Oats’ staff at Alabama this past season, helping the Tide build their formidable offense into KenPom’s second-ranked unit as they rumbled to the Final Four. Prior to his brief stop in Tuscaloosa, Claunch was the head coach at Nicholls State of the Southland, a job he took when he was just 28 years old. The Colonels boasted a 90-61 record over Claunch’s five seasons in Thibodaux and made the NIT for the first time in program history.
Claunch is not only the best American hire of the offseason, but one of the conference’s best hires of the last several years. He’s from Houston, just a few hours east of San Antonio. He’s suffered one losing season in his eight years on the sidelines. He won multiple conference titles at Nicholls, one of the most cash-strapped programs in Division 1 (Claunch was on a higher annual salary as an Alabama assistant than he was as the Nicholls head coach).
At a time when the Roadrunners are desperate for a rejuvenation, the 34-year-old Claunch is well-known for his energy — he’s been described by Nate Oats as a “tireless recruiter” and “one of the hardest working guys in the business.”
The UTSA administration, which recently announced plans for a $35 million basketball practice facility to be completed by 2026, has finally begun to address the program’s glaring material needs; however, with the team floundering at the bottom of the standings, a well-handled leadership transition was critical. Steve Henson’s dismissal was a step in the right direction, but sticking the landing is always the hard part, and UTSA did so with aplomb. On paper, it’s difficult to draw up a more suitable candidate than Claunch.
Although the Roadrunners’ budget constraints are still apparent — according to Greg Luca of the San Antonio Express-News, Claunch will be on the same $550,000 annual salary as Steve Henson was, making him the lowest-paid coach in the American — UTSA’s blueprint for success is much less vague than it was just six months ago.
That’s not to say Claunch is going to lead the Roadrunners to immediate victory. Next season’s outlook is murky at best; among other obstacles, UTSA lost their entire 2023-2024 core to the transfer portal. Let’s take a look at…
UTSA will field the most unrecognizable group of players in the conference next season, rivaled only by Rice. Nearly every Roadrunner that saw playing time in 2023-2024 departed after Henson’s firing, leading Claunch and his staff to bring in a transfer class numbering double-digits.
RETURNERS
Nazar Mahmoud, G
As of right now, Mahmoud is the only player from last year’s UTSA team committed to returning. A three-star recruit coming out of high school in 2023, Mahmoud spent his freshman season on the bench behind Jordan Ivy-Curry. He’s played just 78 minutes in his brief career.
TRANSFERS
Primo Spears, Florida State G
The concept of a “winning player” is probably a little antiquated at this point, but it’s hard to ignore Spears’ track record. The senior guard began his career at Duquesne, spent 2023 at Georgetown, and migrated to Florida State last year. He ‘lead’ both Duquesne and Georgetown to sub-215 KenPom rankings before suffering a career-worst season on a mediocre Seminoles team, seeing huge usage rates at each stop. His career winning percentage? 31.5%.
Spears is an effective playmaker and ball-handler when things are going well; his quick first step allows him to be disruptive inside the arc. However, he’s a bad three-point shooter and a subpar defender, although he does consistently average over 1 steal per game. Spears feeds on a shot diet that includes plenty of midrange jumpers, one of the reasons his eFG% was an ugly 42.6 last season.
On paper, the drop in competition should do him well, but he’s a shot-chucker in a Roadrunner backcourt with a lot of mouths to feed. This could go either way.
Tai’Reon Joseph, Southern G
Joseph is another high-usage guard with a shaky history of winning. In his career, he’s played for three sub-215 KenPom teams and a community college. UTSA will be his fifth school in five years.
Last season at Southern, Joseph averaged 20.5 points per game while taking 40% of the Jaguars’ shots, an unfathomable rate that led the nation. He wasn’t particularly efficient, although it’s hard to judge his efficiency numbers on a rate of nearly 18 field goals per game. Joseph missed the team’s last month of play due to injury and Southern’s offense got noticeably worse.
The 6’3″, 175-pound Joseph won’t provide much in the way of defense, but the offensive upside is very apparent. Last season, he put up an efficient 22 points in a loss to Arizona, an efficient 23 in a loss to Tulane, and an efficient 27 in a win over Mississippi State. Claunch isn’t going to let him take 9 threes a game on 30% shooting again, though. The fit with Spears will be interesting.
Marcus Millender, South Alabama G
If you can believe it, Millender is another offensively-focused guard, although mercifully he’s in a far different mold from Spears and Joseph. As USA’s primary pick-and-roll ballhandler, Millender recorded an assist rate of 23.3%, a top-ten mark in the Sun Belt, while keeping his turnover rate at a manageable 19.7%. He also made 47% of his threes last season (albeit on low volume) and ranked in the 82nd percentile of D1 jump shooters, per Synergy.
At 5’11”, Millender isn’t much of a defender — his USA teammates used to call him “Smurf” — but he’s a connective offensive piece that profiles as more of a true point guard than Spears or Joseph. Millender also has three years of eligibility remaining.
Can’t really see this one busting. One of Claunch’s best gets of the class.
Paul Lewis, Vanderbilt G
In two years at Vanderbilt, Lewis averaged less than 15 minutes per game. He’s rarely gotten to the rim in his brief college career. He has a little bit of shooting pedigree, although his three-point percentage cratered to 23.1% last season. Doesn’t project as a particularly good defender at 6’2″, 175 pounds. Transferring down a level seems like the right call.
A fine, if unspectacular, pickup. I think Lewis is better than his numbers indicate, but UTSA still has a bit of a project on their hands.
Sky Wicks, Incarnate Word wing
Another high-usage guy with questionable efficiency numbers and high scoring upside. Wicks took 30.2% of Incarnate Word’s shots last season, a top-85 rate in the country. He’s less of a midrange scorer than Spears or Joseph, doing most of his damage from beyond the arc or at the rim. Wicks put up some real stinkers down the stretch, but also scored an efficient 26 points on the road against Texas and recorded 24 points against this very same UTSA team.
At 6’6″, Wicks has a little more defensive upside than Spears or Joseph, but I still wouldn’t classify him as a positive on that end.
Raekwon Horton, James Madison wing
Horton is a winner. He spent the first two seasons of his career at Pat Kelsey’s Charleston, where he contributed to a record-setting 31-4 campaign. He transferred to James Madison, won 32 more games, and left after Mark Byington’s departure.
Horton is a veteran wing with consistently outstanding defensive numbers — he boasted a 3.5% steal rate last season, ranking in the nation’s top 85 — and impressive offensive rebounding statistics. He’s not a very high-usage offensive guy, but can make a three when called upon and is an obscenely efficient interior scorer.
Horton is just what a rebuilding team like UTSA needs on the wing. Good get.
Jesus Carralero, Missouri wing (?)
Carralero is a weird player. Entering his sixth year of college basketball, he only has one good full season under his belt (2022 at Campbell). He’s a fantastic defender, a solid rebounder, and a great passer from the elbow, à la Aly Khalifa. However, Carralero is a non-shooter and doesn’t have a clear positional fit. He could use another inch or two on his 6’8″ frame. He was ineffective at Missouri last season, but everyone was ineffective at Missouri last season.
An interesting acquisition. Interested to see how Claunch utilizes him.
Jonnivius Smith, Buffalo F
I’d usually be skeptical of the decision to take a role player from a 4-27 MAC team, but Smith was obviously not the problem at Buffalo last season. In 2023-2024, he sported offensive and defensive rebounding rates that both ranked top-60 in the country, recorded a block rate of 4.3%, made nearly 60% of his two-pointers, made nearly 40% of his three-pointers (on extremely limited volume), and was far-and-away Buffalo’s best player by every advanced metric you can find. At 6’9″, 200 pounds, Smith has an AAC frame and an AAC skillset. Should be a productive pickup.
JaQuan Scott, Mississippi State F
The 6’8″, 230-pound Scott was one of the nation’s highest-rated JUCO prospects in 2023, coming in two spots behind Alejandro Vasquez (his teammate at Salt Lake City CC) and three spots ahead of Yaxel Lendeborg. He rarely saw the floor in his one season at Mississippi State, but as UAB fans have seen firsthand, JUCO players can find plenty of success at the American level. Not a bad guy to take a flyer on.
David Hermés, Indian Hills (JUCO) F
Hermés is an interesting player. The 6’10” forward, a member of the Syrian national team, is very mobile for his size, can play on the perimeter, and can shoot the three. He received very little hype as a prospect, but Hermes is a gamble who immediately becomes UTSA’s largest body.
There’s scoring upside here, but Primo Spears has been one of the country’s least efficient players for the last several seasons and Tai’Reon Joseph is an up-transfer from America’s worst conference. Neither have displayed the ability to effectively shoot three-pointers and both subsist on a shot diet that would make Mike D’Antoni cry. In fact, no one on the team has demonstrated the ability to knock down threes at a high clip. The 2024-2025 Roadrunners will likely push a fast tempo and score plenty of points, but it will be shocking if they’re efficient.
The backcourt could also be the worst defensive group in the league. Neither Spears nor Joseph are great defenders, Marcus Millender is 5’11”, and Paul Lewis is similarly limited by his height. There’s more defensive talent in the frontcourt and the wing — UTSA might not field a bottom-20 unit in the nation again — but it seems as though the Roadrunners are going to find themselves in gunfights more often than not.
I’ve convinced myself the roster is better than last season’s, and I think it’s reasonable to pick UTSA over Rice in the conference right now, but this is probably not a team that’s going to make a whole lot of noise. By my count, they do have a few scholarships left to offer, which is something to keep an eye on.
Either way, UTSA has pushed the right buttons over the last few months. Henson’s dismissal and Claunch’s hiring were both correct decisions. The flawed yet intriguing roster may not lead the Roadrunners to immediate success, but the program seems to be making tangible forward progress, something that hasn’t been true in several years.
