In a recovery practice for the team, fundamentals were the key focal point. UTSA focused mainly on the routine stretching and shooting drills the players run through at the beginning of every practice. Once finished, the team then ran through various offensive sets to prepare for their Wednesday night home contest against Tulane. Preparing for the matchup zone defense of the Green Waves, the Roadrunners focused on running a motion offense to keep movement while spreading the ball.
“We’re gonna have to make plays. We had time to watch some film, it’s not the type of defense where we can script things,” coach Henson said about the offensive game plan.
The offense was certainly not all the team covered, as the ‘Runners worked with numerous defensive sets to prepare for the Green Wave offense. With a focus on defensive help recovery, players were put in one-on-two situations where they were forced to help and then recover back to their man for a one-on-one matchup. The situation was meant to mimic guarding one of Tulane’s top players, center Kevin Cross, who leads the team in points, rebounds and assists.
“Initially we’ll probably put Carlton on him and treat him like a power forward. We definitely don’t want him getting downhill and driving right,” Henson said of the Tulane center.
Practice ended on an intense scrimmage with the teams running through their planned offensive and defensive sets for the Wednesday night matchup.
“We just gotta take our time, just because it’s a matchup zone you don’t want to have a lot of turnovers. We want to have them scatter not really knowing what to do,” guard PJ Carter said of the team’s offensive mindset.
Starting guard Isaiah Wyatt remained a full practice participant despite suffering an injury late in the FAU game. Wrapping up his upper leg where the injury was sustained, Wyatt looked fully healthy in his practice run. As for Adante’ Holiman, the guard continued to get shots up through a multitude of drills, though mainly away from the team as he continues to battle back from his injury.
“He’s right on track with the type of injury that he has, but there’s no chance of him playing Wednesday,” coach Henson said of Holiman’s status.
The team will have one more day of practice and rest before facing Tulane on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center.
