First off, A&M-Corpus & UTSA split their head to head match ups this season with both teams winning on the road. Corpus escaped the convo with a 66-62 OT win and UTSA then returned the favor by beating Corpus 57-56 at the American Bank Center. Corpus has had success when their star Kevin Palmer gets support as he did from Demond Watt during their game at the Convo. On the flip side, UTSA's guard play is what had them on the brink of sweeping Corpus. Here's a position by position breakdown:

(Guards/Wings)

A&M-Corpus: Kevin Palmer leads the Islander attack and just finished the regular season as the 3rd leading scorer in the SLC with averaging just under 20 (19.7) points a contest. In both games against UTSA, Palmer has been held relatively in check & tallied outputs of 18 & 19 points. At the Convo Palmer only had 2 points going into the half when he finished with a modest 16, 6 of which came on 10 free throw attempts. Outside of Palmer, Corpus' has not had any major contributions from their other guard or wing players. LaMarr Drake & Marcus Hammonds are the next closest contributors with 7 pts a piece. Drake had 7 in Corpus and Hammonds at the Convo. The key is to continue and contain Palmer and smother all other guards and wings to make sure there is no unexpected hero.

UTSA: The Runners are lead by a 3 headed guard attack that could all potentially be All-Conference performers, Devin Gibson, Mo Smith & Omar Johnson. Gibson leads UTSA in scoring & is averaging 13 a game. In the 2 match ups this past season, Gibson averaged 14pts, Smith averaged 13pts and Johnson 12 points as well. It is simple, with the shooting ability of the 3 head monster lead by Gibson, Corpus has to play the Runners further out or face the consequences of giving up the three point shot. The double edged sword is that if Corpus extends the defense, the UTSA guards/wings can put the ball on the floor and attack the rim. UTSA freshman Melvin Johnson finished 2nd in the SLC at shooting 43% from downtown. As of late, as in the SFA game, Johnson has now shown to put the ball on the floor and just not settle for the three. With Johnson's stroke, stepping to the charity stripe is almost automatic for the smooth shooting freshman.

(Post)

A&M-Corpus: The height of the Corpus front-line would appear to be an advantage for the Islanders, but this season it's been rather regulated. Corpus goes 6'7" to 6'9" across their front-line. Demond Watt (6'7"), Horace Bond (6'8") and Justin Reynolds (6'9"). Neither has had a dominating complete game against UTSA this year, but Watt's 15points & 8rebs were enough to help the Islanders push past UTSA at the convo. Corpus also has 6'9" Juwan Nelson & 7'0" Filip Toncinic who come off the bench, but neither played more than 12 minutes this season against UTSA. In a tough, knock'em down drag out fight, the Islanders do have the bodies to throw at you.

UTSA: It's no secret that UTSA's tallest rotation player is 6'7". A tie between Terry Fields & Demarco Stepter. Although, normally not part of the rotation, Richie Frolich in 15 minutes of action turned in a nice 7 point, 5 rebound effort against SFA in the season finale. The lack of height down low can be an Achilles heel for the Runners. An injury or foul trouble could wreak havoc if the Runners are struggling from the outside. Head to head, both teams have won the rebounding battle once. The missing big man is also felt defensively as the Runners have only mustered one block shot against Corpus  in two games this year. Compared to Corpus' who has seven.

Analysis:

In the two match ups during the conference schedule, the Runners made 8 & 9 3-pointers respectively. This will be a match up of the Roadrunners guard play against Kevin Palmer and the biggs of Corpus. In defeat UTSA shot 36%, in victory they shot 41%. Corpus on the other hand shot 47% & 49%. A reason the Islanders were able to survive a barrage of 3's from the Runners. On the boards, despite size, both teams were pretty much even. UTSA out-rebounded Corpus 35-31, then Corpus returned the favor 30-28. A key stat was also that in the two games, Devin Gibson averaged 7 assists and that was with sub-par shooting on the Runners part. If UTSA wants to have some breathing room, the defense must be better not to allow the Islanders to shoot anywhere near 50%. On the other hand, if Corpus remains hot from the field, it could be a tough dog fight for the Runners.

Prediction:

Cold FG shooting cannot haunt UTSA three times this year against Corpus. With just average FG shooting to match their 3 point shots, UTSA could make it difficult for Corpus to hang. The Islanders only shot 12% & 23% from behind the arc against the Runners. The Islanders have no dead on shooter who can match up with the sharpshooters that Brooks Thompson has. The Runner defense has been able to contain Palmer and again no big man has dominated inside for the Islanders. It's up to Coach Thompson and his staff to make the adjustments necessary to chill the stroke of the Islanders. With that said, 8 seniors who have been here before give UTSA some much needed experience going into the tourney, along with winning 6 out of 7 games heading to Katy. Those included wins over the top two teams in the conference. An OT thriller at home against Sam and a nail biter on the road over SFA and the Stache. UTSAtailgaters is feelin' pretty good!

UTSA WINS 65-59!

Tournament Bracket

Men's Basketball Schedule/Results