San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Czumbel’s career-high 22 carry ’Runners in finale win
As UTSA guard Erik Czumbel played through the first two months of the season without making a 3-pointer, the rest of the Roadrunners continued to encourage him to attack.
That style of play has not always been natural for Czumbel, a passfirst point guard who averaged 4.1 points on 3.5 shots per game for his three-year career entering Saturday.
But with his minutes expanding through the season amid starter Jordan Ivy-Curry’s decision to transfer, Czumbel has grown more assertive.
His offensive emergence hit a new peak Saturday, as he exploded for a career-high 22 points to lead UTSA to an 82-71 win against Rice during the Roadrunners’ regular-season finale in the Convocation Center.
“My role is always to be the distributor, but always looking to attack,” Czumbel said. “Usually, I try (to) attack and I try to kick it out more. Today, I was a little more aggressive with my shot, and it facilitated my ability to pass it out, too. So, I’m happy.”
Two days after making just one 3-pointer in a 59-48 loss to North Texas to mark UTSA’s first game without multiple 3-pointers since Dec. 1, 2016, the Roadrunners connected on a season-high 48.1 percent from beyond the arc, making 13-of-27.
Noticing Rice’s defense playing under screens rather than stretching out to guard the 3-point line, UTSA took advantage of the openings despite entering Saturday ranked No. 344 out of 350 teams nationally at 28.8 percent 3-point shooting.
“Just seeing the ball go through the net really made a difference for all of us and builds up the confidence,” Czumbel said.
The win allowed UTSA (10-21, 315 Conference USA) to avoid setting a new low-water mark for conference victories, as the Roadrunners
instead matched a three-win plateau hit three times previously.
UTSA was already assured the No. 6 seed in the West and a matchup against No. 7 seed Southern Miss in the opening round of the C-USA tournament at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Frisco.
“Keep doing the right things, keep working, and we can head to the next season feeling good. That’s what everybody is trying to do right now,” UTSA coach Steve Henson said. “We haven’t been winning the way we want to, but we’re in a much better space right now knowing we’ve played some pretty good basketball the past couple weeks.”
Czumbel’s career high in scoring marked only the fourth time in his career he netted more than 12 points, comfortably passing his previous high of 16.
He had only cracked doubledigit
shot attempts once in his career before hitting 8-of-16 on Saturday, including 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. During a slow start to the year, Czumbel missed all 10 of his attempts from beyond the arc in November and December, and at one point in early February, he was just 4-of-32 (12.5 percent) for the season.
In 37 minutes Saturday, Czumbel also picked up five assists, two rebounds, two steals and a block. His 3-point shooting for the year is up to 26.4 percent.
“He was terrific tonight, in addition to the scoring,” Henson said. “He looked like he was shooting it with confidence. I didn’t ever want to take him out. He played big minutes, and we needed him.”
The Roadrunners never trailed Saturday, jumping out to an 18-6 lead in less than six minutes. The Owls pulled within one midway
through the second half, but UTSA’s Dhieu Deing responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to restore the cushion.
“It feels great, man,” Czumbel said. “Everybody in the locker room is excited, and we’re just going to keep building on this. … It just boosts our confidence. We can do it. We know it. We just have to keep playing the way we did today.”
Saturday marked the final UTSA home game for seniors guard Darius McNeill and forward Phoenix Ford, who were honored in a pregame ceremony before taking their places in the starting lineup.
The Roadrunners also look toward next year without Ivy-Curry, who entered the transfer portal last month, and forward Cedrick Alley Jr., who sat out the season’s final 17 games due to academic ineligibility.
UTSA is slated to return three significant contributors as seniors in 2022-23, including its leading scorer and rebounder in center Jacob Germany (14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds per game). Deing, who ranks second on the team with 14.2 points per game and third with 5.4 rebounds per game, is also projected to return, as is Czumbel, the Roadrunners’ leader with 2.7 assists per game on top of the scoring flash he showed Saturday.
Henson described Czumbel as naturally a “very conservative player” who emphasizes limiting turnovers and taking only quality shots. But with UTSA in a situation where “our needs are bigger,” Henson said, Czumbel offered glimpses of a more assertive approach that could carry into next season.
“Erik is going to gauge the situation and see how we’re flowing offensively,” Henson said. “He’s not a guy who is typically going to decide, ‘Hey, I’m going to get 20 right now.’ But he understands we need some plays behind made. He got comfortable, made some plays early, and kept it going.”