Motivating snub
UTSA guard Keaton Wallace is on a mission after being left off All-C-USA first team.
Looking back at the Conference USA regular season, UTSA coach Steve Henson said he believes guard Keaton Wallace was “one of the three legitimate Player of the Year candidates.”
The league’s coaches and media saw things differently. Wallace on Monday was named to the CUSA second team, while teammate Jhivvan Jackson was a first-team selection.
On Wednesday, the league announced that Old Dominion’s B.J. Stith was the Conference USA Player of the Year.
“I feel like I was one of the best players in the conference, so for me to get second team, I’m not satisfied, but it is what it is,” Wallace said. “I’m going to come back, and you’re going to see an even better Keaton Wallace.”
Wallace and the Roadrunners begin play in the Conference USA tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 5 seed UAB at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at The Star in Frisco.
The tournament’s No. 4 seed, UTSA earned a firstround bye. UAB beat No. 12 Middle Tennessee 70-61 on Wednesday.
“To be honest, a little disappointed for Keaton,” Henson said. “Keaton’s body of work is just fantastic. The points he’s scoring. Rebounds. It'll motivate him. I'm sure he’s proud of it, but he also knows that he, in my mind, should’ve been a legitimate candidate for the Player of the Year.”
Henson believes Jackson and Wallace would have garnered greater consideration had the Roadrunners won the league’s regular season title. Old Dominion finished atop the league standings at 13-5 and 23-8 overall, while UTSA went 11-7 and 17-14.
Stith, a senior, averaged 17.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on 42.3 percent shooting and 37.4 percent from 3-point range.
Wallace, a sophomore, posted 20.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, hitting 42.4 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc.
“He most definitely should’ve gotten first team, no doubt,” Jackson said. “The season he’s had, he grew so much from last year, and just to see a guy grow like that, my best friend. He pushes me so hard. … I still haven’t been able to beat him one-onone yet.”
Jackson led Conference USA in scoring, posting 22.4 points per game on 38.7 percent shooting, including 35.2 percent from 3-point range.
“This is one of the best players I've ever played with, since I was little growing up,” Wallace said. “This is one of the best players I've played with or played against. For him to get that achievement is big time.”
Jackson is preparing to compete in the C-USA tournament for the first time after a torn ACL cost him the final month of his freshman season last year.
The No. 4 seeding for UTSA is the program’s highest in a conference tournament since 2005. The team is seeking its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011.
“Our mindset right now is completely different. Our goal is to get to the tournament,” Jackson said. “Our whole mindset has shifted to trying to win every game now. There's no room for errors.”
UTSA is coming off its most lopsided loss of the season, falling 81-48 Saturday against Southern Miss. The Roadrunners were without senior forward Nick Allen due to a broken toe, but Henson said he hoped Allen would be able to “get it taped up and play a little bit for us Thursday.”
UTSA could potentially face Old Dominion in a semifinal matchup at 12:30 p.m. Friday, with the tournament final set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The Roadrunners split a pair of home matchups against the Monarchs this year, erasing a 17point deficit in a little more than three minutes to win 74-73 on Jan. 26 before losing to ODU 65-64 on Feb. 28.
Old Dominion established itself as the best team in the league this year, with a “logjam” behind the Monarchs. The 11 other teams in the C-USA tournament field finished within three games of each other in the league standings.
“There’s just not that much separation,” Henson said. “What we’ve been telling our guys for about the last two months is if we play really, really well, we have a great chance to win. If we play just average, it’ll be tough. Anything less than that, we won’t win. So the big key was just getting that first-round bye.”