Bulldogs ready to host Roadrunners
RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech returns home this weekend to face Texas-San Antonio in a pair of games inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
The first matchup comes Friday at 6:30 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. tipoff on Saturday between the Bulldogs and Roadrunners.
Louisiana Tech (9-4, 2-2 C-USA) is coming off a road split with Western Kentucky, dropping a hard-fought game 66-64 on Friday before bouncing back to take the win on Saturday by a final score of 63-58.
Defense and bench scoring were prevalent in both games. The Bulldogs held the Hilltoppers to 35.7 and 35.2 percent shooting in the two contests.
The team currently ranks second in C-USA in field goal percentage defense, allowing just 40.3 percent shooting.
And the bench production was key, outscoring Western Kentucky 53-14, in that category.
Among the bench play
ers that shined were Isaiah Crawford, who scored a teamhigh 14 points on Friday and then followed that up with an all-around game where he registered eight points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. He currently ranks second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game.
There was also Andrew Gordon, who arguably played his best basketball as a Bulldog. The forward came off the bench and averaged 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, shooting 12-of-14 from the field versus the Hilltoppers.
In the first game, he registered his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
So far this season, the bench is averaging 28.5 points per game, which is the second most in program history. They have outscored the opponents bench 11 times (out of 13) this season.
As for the starters, Amorie Archibald poured in a gamehigh 14 points in the second game, becoming the 43rd member of the 1,000-point club at Louisiana Tech in the process.
UTSA (5-6, 1-3 C-USA) will be the first West Division opponent for Louisiana Tech this conference season. The Roadrunners snapped a three-game losing skid this past Saturday, defeating North Texas 77-69 in San Antonio.
The Roadrunners are one of the top rebounding teams in the country.
They rank first in the league in rebounds per game (40.36) and second in offensive rebounds per game (13.36). Both marks also rank in the top 50 in the nation.
Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace are still putting up a lot of points for UTSA. The guard duo have combined to score nearly 4,000 career points. Jackson is averaging 18.7 points while Wallace is averaging 13.4 points as the team's top two scorers.
Louisiana Tech leads the all-time series 12-6. However, the Roadrunners have had the upper hand as of late, winning four of the last six meetings.