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We hope you are ready for a season unlike any other: testing, distancing, and bubbles, oh my! Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, or whether anything actually will happen…but in the meantime we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches/administrators in the country. We continue our coverage with UTSA coach Steve Henson. He set a Kansas State record for career AST that still stands, faced Michael Jordan in the NBA playoffs, and was conference COY in San Antonio in 2018. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Henson about his brilliant backcourt and his expectations for this year.
In the 1988 NCAA tourney as a player at Kansas State you scored 6 PTS in a loss to eventual champion Kansas: how do you explain the “Sunflower Showdown” rivalry to people who have never experienced it in person? It is a terrific in-state rivalry: most kids in Kansas grow up following 1 of the 2 schools. I have a lot of friends who went to Kansas and a lot of friends who went to Kansas State. That year we played them 4 times: we won at Lawrence and then again in the Big 8 tourney…but they beat us when it counted.
In 1990 you led the Big 8 with 93 3PM and your 582 career AST remains the most in school history: what is the key to being a good PG? Just being able to translate the message from the head coach and getting everyone on the same page. You need to be a leader, bring it every day in practice, and have the respect of your teammates by being unselfish.
You played 9 years of pro basketball in the NBA and Italy: what was the biggest difference between basketball in the US vs. basketball overseas? The game here has changed dramatically: analytics, 3-PT shooting, lack of back-to-the-basket play, etc. A lot of that stems from international play. I remember hearing commentators talk about how physical it was overseas but it varied from 1 country to the next: I did not think it was that physical in Italy but it was definitely physical in Greece. There is less specialization now then there was years ago: we used to have elite post players in the NBA but now there are a bunch of players who can do so many different things that they act as interchangeable parts.
In the 1993 NBA Eastern Conference 1st round as a player for Atlanta you were swept by Chicago: what was it like to face Michael Jordan as he was on his way to his 3rd straight NBA title? They were an incredible team. I played a couple of years before that in Milwaukee so I saw them on a pretty regular basis. They moved the ball and had an unbelievable understanding of their roles. They were clearly the team to beat and on a great roll at that time.
You later became an assistant to your college coach Lon Kruger at UNLV/Illinois/Oklahoma: what makes Kruger such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you ever learned from him? His ability to relate to the players and get them to buy in. He is great at Xs and Os but what makes him special is how he treats people on a daily basis both inside and outside the program: he is a real role model.
You were hired at UTSA in 2016 and were named conference COY in 2018: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It meant a lot to our program. We only finished 5th in the league that year but it showed how much progress we had made. Several teams had more wins than us but the other coaches saw what we had done.
You won 20 games in 2018/17 games in 2019/13 games in 2020: how will you try to turn things around in 2021? We had a lot of returning talent last year but did not defend well enough and were not tough enough. We need to value possessions, compete on every single 1 of them, and work harder to get better shots. We have 2 elite scorers but relied on them too heavily.
Your senior backcourt of PG Jhivvan Jackson/SG Keaton Wallace combined to score almost 46 PPG last year: where do you think that they rank among the best pair of guards in the country? It is not for me to say but they have done it year in and year out. They are both tremendous talents who immediately impacted our program from the start. It has been fun to watch them grow and keep getting better: Keaton has really changed his body and Jhivvan was a big scorer for us right away. I think that we have some reinforcements this year who can take a little pressure off of those 2.
Your career 90 FT% remains among the best in NCAA history and last year your team’s 77.8 FT% was #12 in the nation: what is the secret to making FTs? For a team it is about having good FT shooters taking the majority of your FTs. Some of our big guys were also skilled enough to shoot a good percentage. I tried to keep it simple and have a good routine. You need some technique and then rep it to the point where it becomes automatic.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? We are excited to make progress on the defensive end. If we can do that then we will have a chance to win a lot of ballgames. I think our league will be the best that it has been since I got here: there are a lot of transfers who have entered our league and the bottom of our league is rising. We are chomping at the bit and will score the ball but defense will be the key to our success.