UTRGV Vaqueros face struggles on road trip
The UTRGV Vaqueros (2-4) have been showing some struggles whenever they travel on the road. Granted, they’ve had some tough contests since the beginning of November.
Take for example this last Monday, UTRGV traveled to Illinois to take on the nationally ranked No. 13 Fighting Illini. A tough test on paper and in-game, the squad from Illinois won the game 87-73 — with an offensive display put on by Andrej Stojakovic. If the name sounds familiar, he’s the son of former NBA great Peja Stojakovic, who was famously known for knocking down threes with ease when he was with teams like the Sacramento Kings. Andrej had 24 points against UTRGV, along with 6 rebounds. The Fighting Illini also had four other players who were in double digits in scoring.
The game did start off with a bit of back and forth as both squads were looking to pull away from one another.
The tug of war was ultimately won by Illinois as they started to pull away about 12 minutes into the first half. There were eight lead changes before the Fighting Illini solidified a lead on the night and kept it.
For UTRGV, Kye Dickson led the offensive effort with 21 points off of 8-14 shooting. He knocked down two three-pointers and grabbed five rebounds. Filip Brankovic and Always Wright had 15 and 8 points, respectively.
Road Woes
Out of the six total games for UTRGV, five of them have been on the road.
In those five, the Vaqueros were able to take one dub against Southern Utah in commanding fashion, 95-72.
One of the ailments in the four road losses include defense and the allowance of total points for their opponents. In the four losses to — Baylor, Boise State, Missouri State and Illinois — the Vaqueros allow up to 85.5 points a game.
The Vaqueros sometimes have mixed results with rebounding in their road games. Against Illinois, the Fighting Illini had 44 rebounds compared to UTRGV’s 32. However, other times, such as in the away game against Missouri State, even when the Vaqueros outrebound their opponents, other plays really can knock the groove. Against the Bears, UTRGV outrebounded 36-26, but the 14 turnovers did a number on their offensive touches.
Wednesday’s game
The UTRGV Vaqueros were set to start their conference play against Stephen F. Austin (5-2) this Wednesday at SFA's house. UTRGV fell 73-60.
The Lumberjacks are also looking to bounce back from a loss, as they fell to the UT-Arlington Mavericks on Saturday by the score of 66-61. They are now 1-0 in conference play.