05-25-2007, 10:48 PM
Here is Today in Blazer History from December of 2004
12/2/04 Nebraska
The Date:
Strangely, in 25 years of basketball, we have only played three games on December 2. We have won all three games. In 1978, our first year, we won our first road game on this date when we beat Eastern Kentucky 88-77 in the Show Me Classic in Columbia, Missouri. Also on this date in 1987, we beat Bethune Cookman 65-41.
Our biggest December 2 win came in 1983 when we won our first game over Auburn. On this date, the two teams played at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center in front of 16,803 Blazer and Tiger fans. The game was close throughout and went into overtime. The Blazers won the game in overtime by the score of 69-62. The Tigers had a very good team that year. They were led by Chuck Person and the “Round Mound of Rebound” himself, Charles Barkley. Barkley was injured, but continued to play, even while he limped noticeably. Jerome Mincy was unstoppable as he scored a career high of 27 points. Of course, even in overtime, Tiger fans began chanting “We want Bama” in anticipation of the football game the next day. But not even that could diminish the great feeling Blazer fans took home that night as they had won their first game against one of the “Big 2” in the state. The other in state team would fall ten years later.
The Opponent: 0-2
The Blazers have never beaten Nebraska, but then again, we have not played them in 25 years. The two games in the series happened in 1978 and 1979. The game in 1978 on November 24 was of course the very first basketball game ever played by the Blazers. Nebraska was a very good team that year, and had almost everyone back from a team that had won 22 games and was a quarterfinalist in the NIT the year before. In 1978, the Cornhuskers had been picked in the top 20 in several preseason polls. Joe Cipriano, coach at Nebraska, agreed to play UAB in a home and home series. It is a testament to Gene Bartow's connections that he got a big name school to agree to a home and home with a program who had never even played a game before. Bartow was a master at that. He did the same with Ray Meyer and Depaul, who was a major program then. UAB lost that first game by nine points, 64-55, but it was the beginning of a wonderful story.
The following year, in 1979, UAB travelled to Lincoln, Nebraska to complete the home and home series. Moe Iba was the interim coach at Nebraksa. The game was a matchup of two former Memphis State coaches. Iba had been the coach at Memphis State in the early 1970's and had been replaced by Gene Bartow. According to Wayne Martin, UAB's beat writer for the Birmingham News, the officials (one Sun Belt official, and one Lincoln prep official filling in for the Big 8) kept the Cornhuskers in the game early. In the first half, Nebraska went to the free throw line 18 times, hitting 16. The Blazers went to the line 3 times. Larry Spicer was quoted as saying "The officials just weren't very good." This game is memorable also, because it is the longest game ever played by UAB. The two teams played four overtime periods. At the end of regulation, Keith McCord hit a shot with 6 seconds left to put the game into the first overtime. At the end of the second overtime, with the score tied 70-70, UAB had two shots rim out at the end. In the third overtime, Spicer hit a shot with seven seconds left to put the game into the fourth overtime with the score 78-78. Unfortunately, in the 4th overtime, the Blazers, tired from a long road trip, had the bottom drop out. UAB got down three points early, and could not catch up. Nebraska won 92-84 in an unprecedented four overtimes. Larry Spicer led with 22 points. The two teams have not played since then...until tonight.
The Bench:
Prior to becoming Nebraska's head coach in 2000, Barry Collier was head coach at his alma mater, Butler for 11 seasons. He has never faced UAB as a head coach, but he did coach against the Blazers once as an assistant coach. In 1986, he was an assistant to Mike Montgomery and the Stanford Cardinal His team beat UAB 99-80 in Palo Alto, California. .
12/4/04 Marshall
The Date: 12/4/04
UAB has a losing record in games played on December 4, with a record of 4-5. In road games played on this date, the Blazers have a horrible 1-5 record. The one win came in 1985 when the Blazers defeated East Tennessee State by the score of 63-44. Jerome Mincy led all scorers with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Today actually marks an important date in UAB history. On this date in 1988, UAB played the very first game in UAB Arena against Vanderbilt. The Commodores were coached by former Alabama coach, C.M. Newton, who had refused to play the Blazers while in Tuscaloosa. The new arena cost $11 million to build and was one of the things that Gene Bartow wanted most of all...a true home court. The Blazers entered the game, somewhat in disarray as one of their players, Bruce Baker had left the team earlier in the week, citing personal problems. Vanderbilt came into the game riding a high, as they had beaten 13th ranked Louisville earlier in the week. The first game in the Arena had a crowd of 8397. The game started out badly for the Blazers as the Commodores jumped out to a 9-0 start. However, UAB tied the game at 11. The game went back and forth, but the Blazers took the lead for good with seven minutes to go in the game on an Andy Kennedy three pointer. The Blazers won the game 76-69, to open the new Arena. Kennedy led the Blazers with 26 points, despite missing his first five three pointers. UAB would be formidable in the Arena for the first couple of years. They only lost five games at home in their first four years in the Arena.
The Place: Huntington, West Virginia
Although UAB has never played Marshall on the road, the Blazers have played in the state of West Virginia on one occasion. On February 3, 1987, UAB played West Virginia in Morgantown. The Blazers lost by the score of 79-64.
The Opponent: Marshall
Without any question in my mind, the lowest point last year came on December 30 when UAB lost to Marshall, a team that would finish the year 12-17. That is the only game that UAB and Marshall have ever played, although they become conference foes next year. On that miserable night in 2003, the Thundering Herd beat the Blazers 68-66. The game was tied 66-66 when UAB’s Gabe Kennedy missed a short shot and the rebound fell out of bounds to Marshall with 15.4 seconds remaining in the game. Marshall’s Tre Whitted was almost tied up, but called a timeout with two seconds left. Marshall took the ball out of bounds, and got it to the Herd's Mark Patton on the left side of the foul lane. As he turned toward the basket, a foul was called. It appeared to many that the foul happened after time ran out, but the referees, in an effort to welcome Marshall to CUSA put 0.40 seconds on the clock. After a UAB timeout, Patton hit both free throws to win the game. UAB was led in scoring by Gabe Kennedy with 20 points. Coach Anderson was quoted as saying that the Blazers were "a half step behind all night". Hopefully, we can even up the series tonight.
The Coach: Ron Jirsa
As a head coach, Ron Jirsa is 1-0 against UAB, with his win in 2003. He has seen UAB a couple of times as an assistant coach. In 1984-85, he was a graduate assistant for J.D. Barnett at Virginia Commonwealth. This coaching staff included assistant coaches Tubby Smith and David Hobbs. UAB and VCU split their series that year. Jirsa coached against UAB again in 1991 when he joined Tubby Smith as an assistant coach in their first year at Tulsa. In that game, the Blazers won 90-75. So, overall, Jirsa is 2-2 against the Blazers.
12/10/04 Oklahoma State
The Date:
The Blazers' record on this date is 3-3. All three losses were on the road. Here's hoping we break this trend tonight.
The biggest game played on this date occurred in 1985 against Auburn. It was the fourth game in the series. Auburn fans could hardly concentrate on basketball, as Bo Jackson had won the Heisman Trophy three days before the game. Auburn coach Sonny Smith was dropping hints in the media about ending the UAB series. He was concerned about the crowds in Birmingham. Not that there were not enough people showing up for the game, but that they were mostly UAB fans. He wanted a more representative crowd. Imagine that. He did not think UAB should have a home court advantage in Birmingham of all places. Auburn had been ranked #10 in the preseason poll, but had lost two games and came into the UAB game 3-2. UAB was 5-1 and ranked #16 in polls, with only a loss to #3 Duke. These were two of the greatest teams UAB and Auburn have ever fielded. The Tigers had Chris Morris, Chuck Person, Frank Ford, Gerald White, and Jeff Moore. UAB had Steve Mitchell, Jerome Mincy, James Ponder, Michael Charles and Archie Johnson. Despite being televised on ESPN, 15,502 showed up for the game, and some even were Auburn fans. UAB led 35-27 at the half and four minutes into the second half, the Blazers had the lead up to fourteen points. However, Auburn scored 10 unanswered points. With 51 seconds left, Auburn had pulled to within two points. UAB had struggled at the line in the second half, hitting 5 of 13 in the final seven minutes, including missing four straight front ends of one and ones. With 40 seconds left, Auburn fouled Michael Charles, a pitiful 33% free throw shooter, who had missed three straight front ends of one and ones. However, when it counted, he hit both free throws giving UAB a four point lead. The Blazers won the game 62-56. Chuck Person led Auburn with 17 points. Michael Charles led UAB with 12 points.
The Place:
UAB is 1-2 in games played in the State of Oklahoma. They beat Oklahoma City in 1979, and have lost two games played at Tulsa, in 1996 and in 1999. The Blazers will be making the trip to Oklahoma many more times in the future when Tulsa joins CUSA next year.
The Opponent:
This is the first meeting ever between UAB and Oklahoma State.
The Bench:
Eddie Sutton has been head coach at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. He has never faced UAB in his long career. An interesting note: His son, Sean is not listed as an assistant coach. He is the "Head Coach Designate". Don't you hate it when these legendary coaches think that they can bequeath their jobs to their offspring....Oh wait. Never mind.
12/15/04 Belmont
The Date:
UAB is 6-3 in games played on December 15th. Interestingly, we won our first six games played on this date, but have lost the last three games: Princeton in 1998, @ Virginia Commonwealth in 2001 and last year to Western Michigan.
On this date in 2001, UAB played Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond. UAB never led in the game and allowed the Rams to take as much as an 18 point lead in the second half. UAB made a late rally, but VCU withstood the barrage of three pointers, and won the game. The Blazers hit five three pointers in the last 1:22 to cut the lead to six points. VCU won 82-76. Will Campbell and Myron Ransom both had double doubles. Campbell had 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Ransom had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
A happier game to remember occurred on this date in 1992, when the Blazers took on #18 Tulane. This was the first time the Blazers had played the Green Wave, and it was a non-conference game. Tulane was 5-1 and ranked #18. Their only other loss had been to Indiana. The Blazers were 6-1 and had won six straight games. The game was televised nationally on ESPN. 6571 fans came to Bartow Arena on a rainy night. UAB led most of the game, with Carter Long scoring 17 points in 18 minutes of play. The Blazers faltered in the second half with six straight unforced turnovers.Tulane outscored UAB 13-4 to go up 55-54 with six minutes to go. Fortunately, Corey Jackson hit two free throws and UAB never trailed again. UAB was led in scoring by Stanley Jackson with 19 points, Carter Long had 17 points and Robert Shannon had 14. The Blazers would go on to win 10 straight games.
The Opponent:
The Blazers have never played Belmont, mainly because with few exceptions, we have not played NAIA schools which Belmont was until 1996.
The Bench:
Coach Rick Byrd has been at Belmont for 24 years. He has never coached against UAB. One of his assistants, however, Bryan Ayers was an assistant coach in 1996 and 1997 at Vanderbilt. During those years, the Commodores and Blazers played twice and won, once in 1996 and once in 1997. He is 2-0 against the Blazers.
12/17/04 Richmond
The Date:
UAB is 6-2 in games played on December 17. The only two losses were to Mississippi State in 1982 and to Santa Clara in 1994.
We have actually played Mississippi State twice on this date. We were beaten in a tournament in Chattanooga by 20 points in 1982, but in 1984, we played the Bulldogs in Birmingham, before a crowd of 5592. The Blazers won this game by two points 65-63 in a close and controversial game. A goaltending call gave the Blazers their only lead of the second half and the victory. Steve Mitchell took a shot that bounced high off the rim. Someone touched the ball and the referrees called goaltending. This occurred with 11 seconds to go in the game. Mississippi State Bob Boyd complained that the ball was outside the cylinder and it was Jerome Mincy who touched it. He also said that the call should not have been made with the game tied at the end of the game. Of course, I'm sure he would not have thought that had the call went the other way. Steve Mitchell led the Blazers with 26 points, including shooting 7 of 9 in the second half. Jack Gordon controlled the boards with 15 rebounds and Jerome Mincy had a solid game with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Another game played on this date in UAB history was a non conference game in 1985 against Cincinnati. UAB was ranked 14th in the AP poll and would win 69-52 to go to 9-1. The Bearcats shot 61.5% in the first half and UAB shot 56.5% and led by one point at half time. In the second half, after Cincinnati took a 44-42 lead with 14:48 to go, Jerome Mincy tied the game with two free throws and then UAB went on a 12-0 scoring spree over a five minute span. The Blazers won going away, with Steve Mitchell the leading scorer with 20 points.
Also, on this date in 1991, UAB hosted future CUSA member Tulsa in a game at Bartow Arena. UAB won the game 90-75 with fantastic games by Stanley Jackson with 29 points, and Elbert Rogers with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Tulsa was coached by a man who was in the fourth game of his first season of his career as a head coach. That coach was none other than Orlando “Tubby” Smith. Tubby had a slow start that year at Tulsa, and had only won one game. So, UAB was responsible for Tubby Smith's third loss in his career. For a coach in his first year, he had two assistant coaches on the bench that would go on to become head coaches. Shawn Finney is now the coach of Tulane, and Ron Jirsa is now the coach of Marshall, and former head coach of Georgia.
The Place:
Historically, Richmond, Virginia is one of the toughest places that UAB has ever attempted to get a win. Due to the dominance of VCU in the early 1980's, UAB rarely got a win when they played VCU at home. Through 1986, the Blazers had lost 6 of 7 games played in Richmond. It has not gotten much better. We are 1-1 against Richmond and 5-9 in Richmond against VCU - a pitiful 6 wins and 10 losses in the city. Before last years win at VCU, the Blazers had not won in Richmond since 1990, losing three games, to Richmond in 2002, and to VCU in 1991 and 2001.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 2-2 against Richmond with three of the games being played since 2001. UAB won last year against Richmond 83-75, but had lost the two previous game to the icky Spiders. The only other game against Richmond was played in 1989 in the NIT in Richmond. UAB had defeated Georgia Southern in the first round of the tournament to advance to round 2 against the 21-9 Spiders. Richmond had defeated the Temple Owls to advance. During that season, Richmond had only lost twice at home, and the Blazers were a poor 2-7 in the city of Richmond throughout its history. The big suprise at the start of this game was that Andy Kennedy did not start. He had gone 7 of 28 in the last four games and Bartow decided not to start him. He came off the bench with13:36 to go in the game and led a 12-0 spurt in 3 1/2 minutes. He finished the game with 15 points, shooting 4 of 6 from three point range. Reginald Turner was the leading scorer as the Blazers won 64-61. This Blazer team would go on to advance to the NIT Final Four.
The Bench:
Jerry Wainwright is 1-1 against Mike Anderson and the Blazers.
12/21/04 Clemson
Today is the first round of the Rainbow Classic. The Blazer opponent is Clemson from the ACC.
The Date:
UAB is an impressive 12-1 in games played on December 21. The Blazers are 2-1 in games played on this date in neutral sites. The one loss came in 1998 to Ohio State in Puerto Rico by the score of 71-66.
UAB has even played in Hawaii before on this date. In 2000, the Blazers defeated Cal State Northridge 71-67 in the Nike Festival. UAB was led by LeAndrew Bass, who shot an blazing 9 of 13 from the field and scored 22 points to lead the Blazers. The tournament was not kind to Murry Bartow and the Blazers as they lost the next two games in the islands to Georgia State and Hawaii. This year, UAB is making its first trip back to Hawaii since that unfortunate trip in 2000. Hopefully this trip to Hawaii will be more rewarding.
The most exciting game played on this date occured two years ago in Bartow Arena, against Alabama A&M. This, of course was "The Night of a Thousand Shards of Glass" starring Cedric Davis. Has it really been two years? For our newer fans or those with extreme short term memory loss, UAB was hosting Alabama A&M at Bartow Arena. UAB had played a flat uninspired first half and led by 5 at halftime, 43-38. At the 11:25 mark in the second half, UAB led by nine, 65-56. Then, as you all well remember, Cedric Davis, in what was his greatest play of the year, shattered the backboard on a fast break dunk. The game was delayed only 22 minutes, and when the game resumed, the Blazers stormed ahead on a 14-4 run to go up by 19 points. Gabe Kennedy scored all of his 16 points in the second half. Mo Finley led all scorers with 21 points as UAB won 91-68. Cedric Davis only scored 4 points and one backboard in the game.
The Place:
UAB is 12-5 in games played in Hawaii. However, this is the first time that UAB has played in a major 8-team tournament, such as the Rainbow or Maui Classic in Hawaii. Most of the previous games were smaller tournaments in which UAB played smaller schools.
The Opponent:
The Blazers have only played Clemson one time. That game was in March 22, 1993, at Bartow Arena. The game was the second round of the NIT, and UAB was coming off one of the biggest wins in its history, the 58-56 defeat of Alabama. I personally thought there was no way that this UAB team could come down from the clouds long enough to beat Clemson. However, this great Blazer team defeated Clemson 65-64 in a controversial game. UAB was facing former South Alabama coach and future Auburn coach Cliff Ellis. Clemson had advanced in the NIT by beating Auburn and UAB had defeated Alabama. UAB had overcome a 12 point deficit in the final 14 minutes of the game. The hero of the game was Robert Shannon, who had spent the night before in the hospital battling dehydration and the flu. He scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. He scored eight of UAB's last 10 points and 15 of the team's last 22 points, including the game winning three pointer with 0.51 remaining. This game ended in one of the most controversial ways any UAB game has ever ended. After Shannon scored with 51 seconds left and put the Blazers up 65-64, the Clemson Tigers held for the final shot. Sharone Wright for the Tigers sank what appeared to be the go ahead points, but the Ohio Valley referee whistled the play dead, thinking he had heard the shot buzzer go off. After much discussion among the officials, the basket was taken away, and Clemson was awarded the ball with six seconds left on the clock. The Tigers got the ball back into Wright, whose shot bounced off the rim. Another Clemson player put it back up and it bounced off again. Willie Chapman with UAB got the rebound. It was discovered at that point that the clock had not started. The officials whistled the game over while the clock was still running. After the game, Gene Bartow explained that the clock had malfunctioned and the officials were counting the game down manually, even though there was still time on the clock. A statement released by the officials stated that an "inadvertant whistle" had stopped the play. Cliff Ellis complained that an inadvertant whistle should not have stopped the game and the basket should have counted. Bartow stated after the game, that he did not ask any questions because the officials were already a "little mad" at him, referring to a technical foul Bartow had received earlier in the game. Despite the very strange ending, the Blazers won and would go on to the NIT Final Four that year.
The Bench:
Oliver Purnell has never beaten UAB as a head coach. During the 1994-95 season, Purnell was in his first year as head coach at Dayton, and the Flyers and Blazers played each other twice, both being members of the Great Midwest Conference. The Blazers won both matchups as did many of Purnell's opponents that year, since he only went 7-20 that year. However, he built Dayton up to a respectable mid-major and was hired by Clemson for the 2003-04 season, where he went 10-18 in his first year.
Purnell has had more luck against the Blazers as an assistant coach. From 1983-1985, he faced the Blazers as an assistant coach for the Old Dominion Monarchs. Those Old Dominion teams from the early and mid 1980's were very good, and Purnell as an assistant coach, went 4-4 against some of the best UAB teams ever.
Clemson assistant, Frank Smith also saw plenty of the Blazers when he played at Old Dominion from 1984-88. During his time with the Monarchs, the Blazers won six and lost three.
One advantage that Clemson may have over UAB is they have an assistant coach who is familiar with the Blazers. Kevin Nickleberry recently joined the Tigers as an assistant coach. For the past two years, he has been an assistant coach for UNC-Charlotte. He should be very familar with Mike Anderson's style of coaching. Fortunately, UAB has beaten Charlotte the last three times we have played them.
12/22/04 Southern Cal
The Date:
UAB's record is a mediocre 7-5 in games played on December 22. We are 2-1 in games played on neutral sites on this date. UAB has played three games in Hawaii on December 22. In 1982, UAB lost to Hawaii 65-61. Eight years later in 1990, UAB beat St. Francis of Pennsylvania in Kauai Classic in Hawaii. In 2000, the Blazers lost to Georgia State in the Nike Festival in Honolulu. The Blazers have lost their last two games on this date, when we lost in 2000 to Georgia State and in 2001, we lost to Lasalle.
On this date in 1984, UAB fans were shocked when the Blazers lost their own holiday tournament to George Mason 61-60. It was an ugly game as UAB shot 40.9% and George Mason shot 36.7%. The difference in the game lay at the free throw line where George Mason went to the line 31 times and hit 25 of them, while UAB only made 6 of 13 free throws for 46.2%. Mitchell hit 11 field goals out of 22 shots for 25 points, but he had little help from his teamates as no one else made it to double figures. One of the worse losses in UAB history.
The Opponent:
UAB and Southern Cal have never played each other.
The Bench:
The Southern Cal bench has been a revolving door as of late. On December 6, coach Henry Bibby was fired by the administration due to player dissent. His top assistant, Jim Saia, who was only hired by Bibby as an assistant on September 20th is now the interim head coach. Former Utah coach was named as head coach, but resigned five days later citing health problems.
Jim Saia was a seven year top assistant to Steve Lavin at UCLA. He was out of basketball until Bibby hired him at USC. During his first year at UCLA in 1997, his team met the Blazers in the Great Alaskan Shootout and UCLA won the game 86-72.
12/23/04 Oral Roberts
The Date
UAB is 6-2 on December 23, with losses in 1980 at Iowa State and in 2000 at Hawaii. The Blazers are actually 2-1 on this date in games played in Hawaii.
On this date in 1990, UAB defeated giant killer Chaminade in Hawaii 87-60. The Blazers went on an amazing 29-0 run to lead 43-19 at the half. This game was played in a high school gym and attendance was listed at 200. Elbert Rogers and Stan Rose led UAB with 17 points each.
On this date in 1983, I watched one of the most exciting games I have ever seen. It was the Championship of the UAB Classic, featuring the Blazers and Villanova. UAB had defeated Valparaiso 64-49 the night before. Rollie Massimino and Villanova had defeated Samford in the first round. Massimino was putting a team together that would record one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, when they defeated Georgetown the next year. The team playing in Birmingham had Ed Pinckney, Harold Pressley, and Dwayne McClain. The game was close throughout as neither team could build a lead. UAB had gone up by two points with eight seconds left in regulation, but Ed Pinckney tied the game at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime. At the end of the first overtime, Jerome Mincy put back a Steve Mitchell miss with 23 seconds left to go up by two, but again Villanova tied the game on two Dwayne McLain free throws with two seconds left. In Overtime #2, UAB was up by three points at 70-67, but McClain shot with five seconds left and tied the game again. Finally, in the third overtime, McKinley Singleton put UAB up to stay with 3:34 and the Blazers hit their free throws to win a hard fought game 81-76. Steve Mitchell went 6 for 6 from the line in the third overtime. He was 11 for 11 in the game. It is the longest game that UAB has ever played in Birmingham. The Blazers were led by Steve Mitchell who in 54 minutes of action, scored 23 points, and handed out 8 assists. He was named Tournament MVP.
On this date in 2000 in the Nike Festival. UAB was playing its third game in three days and had beaten Cal State Northridge, and lost to Georgia State. Up next was the home team, Hawaii. The game was played at the Stan Sheriff Center, where tonights game will be played. Hawaii entered the game 3-4 and UAB was 5-4. Hawaii was led by a player familar to UAB fans: Predrag Savovic, who had played his freshman year at UAB, but had transferred to Hawaii. At UAB, Savovic had not been very effective as an outside shooter, but on the islands he had found his touch and was Hawaii's leading scorer. Hawaii led most of the game and was up by as much as 21 points with 3 minutes to go in the game. UAB made a slight comeback at the end to make the game a little more respectable, but not by much. Hawaii won 100-86. Savovic had 17 points against his old team. UAB was led by David Walker who had 20 points and hit eight of eleven field goals.
The Opponent: Oral Roberts
UAB and Oral Roberts have never played each other.
The Bench:
Scott Sutton has been at Oral Roberts for five years, and has amassed a75-71 record entering this year. He was 17-11 last year. He is the son of Oklahoma State's legendary coach, Eddie Sutton. With Scott's brother as head coaching in waiting at Oklahoma State, UAB has played three members of the Sutton family this year. Scott Sutton has never coached against UAB.
12/28/04 Alabama A&M
The Date
In games played on December 28, UAB is a mediocre 8-7. However, only two games have been at home. Most of the rest were played in holiday tournaments against teams like Duke, UNLV, and Michigan. UAB has won its last three games on this date.
The Blazers played Duke was played in the Trojan Classic in Los Angeles in 1984. UAB was led by McKinley Singleton, Steve Mitchell and Jerome Mincy. The Duke team reads today like a who's who in coaching. On that team was Tommy Amaker, current coach at Michigan, David Henderson, current head coach at Delaware, and Johnny Dawkins, current assistant coach at Duke and everyone's darling when it comes time to hire a new coach. Plus everyone's favorite ESPN basketball guru, Jay Bilas. Unfortunately Duke won 76-62 as they shot almost 60% from the field, and UAB shot 36%. Jerome Mincy had a strong game with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Duke was led by Johnny Dawkins with 16 points.
UAB played impressive defense on this date in 1987 when they played California in the first round of the Sun Bowl Classic in El Paso, TX. One stat line alone tells the story. "Halftime score- UAB 32, California 8" That's right. The UAB record was set that night for fewest points in a half by an opponent. The Blazers coasted in the second half to a 64-50 win. Leading scorer for UAB was Michael Charles with 15 points.
The Opponent
Unsurprisingly, we are 4-0 against tonight's opponent, Alabama A&M. What is surprising however is that we had not ever played this in-state school, prior to 1999. This is probably because they were Division 2 until 1998. We have beaten A&M by margins of victory of 29, 35, 22 and last year's "squeaker", 13 points.
Last year's game marked the second game in a row that UAB played without it's leader, Mo Finley, due to his shoulder injury. The Blazers did not appear to need him early as they jumped out to a 19-2 lead. However, A&M switched to a zone defense and the Blazers couldn't hit anything outside. At halftime, although the Blazers led, they were 1 of 14 from three point range. Alabama A&M pulled to within seven points at 39-32 early in the second half. Then, Gabe Kennedy took over and scored 8 straight points to lead a Blazer 12-2 run. The Blazers were also sparked by Derrick Broom who came off the bench to score a career high 12 points. Kennedy led in scoring with 15 points as the Blazers won 81-68.
The Bench:
Alabama A&M 's coach, Vann Pettaway has been at the school for 18 years, and has an 0-4 record against the Blazers. Pettaway has only had two losing seasons at A&M, one of which was last year's 13-17 mark.
12/31/04 South Alabama
The Date:
UAB has only played one game on New Years Eve. That game came at home against South Florida in 1993. South Florida was coached by Bobby Paschal. The Bulls and Blazers were no longer in the Sun Belt Conference and had not yet reunited in the CUSA conference. UAB was playing in the Great Midwest, and South Florida had joined the Metro Conference. UAB came out on top in this battle between former conference foes. This was a better than average South Florida team. They came into the game 7-2 with wins over Florida State and Southern Cal. In a great defensive effort by the Blazers, UAB won 78-41, holding the Bulls to a pitiful 26% field goal percentage for the game. It was the Bulls' lowest scoring output in 12 years. Carter Long led the Blazers with 27 points and Frank Haywood had 13 rebounds. This win came in the middle of what would be a 11 game win streak for the Blazers. They would finish 22-8 and go to the NCAA tournament.
The Place:
UAB has a losing record in the city of Mobile with seven wins and eleven losses. We are 7-9 in Mobile against South Alabama, and 0-2 in other games. In 1991, Mobile hosted the Sun Belt tournament. This was the last year in the Sun Belt for UAB, VCU, Charlotte and Old Dominion. Unfortunately, UAB would have a short visit and lose in the first round. The Blazers ran into a hot Chris Gatling and Old Dominion. Gatling shot 14 of 19, for 32 points as the Monarchs beat the Blazers 94-88 in overtime.
The other non South Alabama loss came last year to Western Michigan in the 2003 Coors Classic. UAB was coming off a heartbreaking loss at Mississippi State, and played much of this game without it's floor leader, Mo Finley who dislocated his shoulder and left the game after playing only 17 minutes. He would miss three games as a result of the injury. Western Michigan, who would win the Mid America Conference and make the NCAA tournament, led most of the game. The Blazers made a second half comeback and cut the lead to four with a minute and a half left. However, they could not finish as Western Michigan hit 10 of 11 free throws in the last minute and a half, to win the game 69-62. DeMario Eddins led the Blazers with 18 points.
UAB's first game in Mobile occurred February 8, 1979 during the Blazers inaugural season. UAB had won the first game against the Jaguars in Birmingham by three points. The Blazers had a distraction that was going to become a familiar story. Gene Bartow was being mentioned for another job. Memphis State’s coach, Wayne Yates had just resigned and Bartow was being mentioned as possibly returning to Memphis as the new coach. They were willing to make him head coach and athletic director. Gene Bartow had not finished a full season at UAB and wanted to see if he could accomplish his great experiment. He denied interest in the Memphis job. These rumors would continue in almost every season that he was at UAB. South Alabama was 14-4, and had won 12 of their last 13 games. They jumped out to a big lead, but UAB made a great comeback, outscoring South Alabama by 15 points in the last 14 minutes. It was a very hostile environment. The South Alabama band blasted loud music every time that UAB had the ball. Several players complained about the band after the game. The Blazers had a chance to tie the game on the last shot. Leon Morris missed his jumper, but Stan Scales grabbed the rebound. Unfortunately, his shot was blocked as the buzzer sounded and South Alabama won 71-69. The Blazers dropped to 13-9.
We have not played South Alabama in Mobile since 1998.
The Opponent:
UAB's record against South Alabama is 26 wins against 13 losses. Only South Florida has played more games against the Blazers. The Blazers have won the last three games against the Jaguars, with the last loss coming in Mobile in 1996.
UAB was ranked #14 when they played South Alabama in Birmingham in 1986. The Blazers came into the game with an impressive 15-2 record with their only losses to Duke and UNLV. South Alabama was coached by former Samford coach, Mike Hanks. UAB controlled this game throughout and won 77-64. Steve Mitchell had 24 points on 12 of 24 shooting, and Jerome Mincy had 23 points on 8-12 field goals. Jeff Hodge, a Birmingham native who was recruited by and thought to be attending UAB scored 14 for South Alabama. UAB would move up two spots to #12 in the next poll and achieve its highest ranking of the year. Unfortunately, the conference schedule would slowly wear the Blazers down and they would go 9-9 the rest of the year, finishing third in the regular season of the Sun Belt. It was a disappointing finish to a year that started with so much hope for Mitchell and Mincy in their senior years.
By 1989, Jeff Hodge had been a thorn in the Blazer's side for four years. During Hodge's junior and senior years at South Alabama, UAB was 1-5 against the Jaguars. In 1989, Hodge and his team played three amazing games against the Blazers. In the first game, UAB had the most points ever scored on them when they played South Alabama in Mobile. South Alabama beat the Blazers 114-84, a humiliating 30 point loss. Jeff Hodge would score 31 points, making 14 of 16 shots from the field. He would score 26 points against the Blazers in Birmingham, but UAB would win 93-91. The two teams would meet a third time in Sun Belt semi finals, and South Alabama would win again 103-84. Jeff Hodge would lay 33 points on the Blazers. He scored 90 points in three games against UAB that year. And he originally was thought to be coming to UAB.
One final amusing note about Jeff Hodge and South Alabama. One of the Jaguars biggest wins came in the 1989 NCAA tournament, when 11th seed South Alabama defeated #6 seed Alabama. Prior to the game, Gene Bartow sent Jeff Hodge an encouraging letter, wishing him luck in the game, and reminding him that Wimp Sanderson didn't recruit him either.
The Bench: Pelphrey is 0-2 against the Blazers. He lost to the Blazers in 2003 as head coach of South Alabama to the Blazers 90-75. He has faced the Blazers once before, when he was an assistant coach under Billy Donovan at Florida in 1997. In that game, UAB beat Florida 80-73 in the Orange Bowl Classic in Miami. Pelphrey is 4-3 against Mike Anderson when Pelphrey was an assistant at Florida and Anderson was an assistant at Arkansas.
12/2/04 Nebraska
The Date:
Strangely, in 25 years of basketball, we have only played three games on December 2. We have won all three games. In 1978, our first year, we won our first road game on this date when we beat Eastern Kentucky 88-77 in the Show Me Classic in Columbia, Missouri. Also on this date in 1987, we beat Bethune Cookman 65-41.
Our biggest December 2 win came in 1983 when we won our first game over Auburn. On this date, the two teams played at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center in front of 16,803 Blazer and Tiger fans. The game was close throughout and went into overtime. The Blazers won the game in overtime by the score of 69-62. The Tigers had a very good team that year. They were led by Chuck Person and the “Round Mound of Rebound” himself, Charles Barkley. Barkley was injured, but continued to play, even while he limped noticeably. Jerome Mincy was unstoppable as he scored a career high of 27 points. Of course, even in overtime, Tiger fans began chanting “We want Bama” in anticipation of the football game the next day. But not even that could diminish the great feeling Blazer fans took home that night as they had won their first game against one of the “Big 2” in the state. The other in state team would fall ten years later.
The Opponent: 0-2
The Blazers have never beaten Nebraska, but then again, we have not played them in 25 years. The two games in the series happened in 1978 and 1979. The game in 1978 on November 24 was of course the very first basketball game ever played by the Blazers. Nebraska was a very good team that year, and had almost everyone back from a team that had won 22 games and was a quarterfinalist in the NIT the year before. In 1978, the Cornhuskers had been picked in the top 20 in several preseason polls. Joe Cipriano, coach at Nebraska, agreed to play UAB in a home and home series. It is a testament to Gene Bartow's connections that he got a big name school to agree to a home and home with a program who had never even played a game before. Bartow was a master at that. He did the same with Ray Meyer and Depaul, who was a major program then. UAB lost that first game by nine points, 64-55, but it was the beginning of a wonderful story.
The following year, in 1979, UAB travelled to Lincoln, Nebraska to complete the home and home series. Moe Iba was the interim coach at Nebraksa. The game was a matchup of two former Memphis State coaches. Iba had been the coach at Memphis State in the early 1970's and had been replaced by Gene Bartow. According to Wayne Martin, UAB's beat writer for the Birmingham News, the officials (one Sun Belt official, and one Lincoln prep official filling in for the Big 8) kept the Cornhuskers in the game early. In the first half, Nebraska went to the free throw line 18 times, hitting 16. The Blazers went to the line 3 times. Larry Spicer was quoted as saying "The officials just weren't very good." This game is memorable also, because it is the longest game ever played by UAB. The two teams played four overtime periods. At the end of regulation, Keith McCord hit a shot with 6 seconds left to put the game into the first overtime. At the end of the second overtime, with the score tied 70-70, UAB had two shots rim out at the end. In the third overtime, Spicer hit a shot with seven seconds left to put the game into the fourth overtime with the score 78-78. Unfortunately, in the 4th overtime, the Blazers, tired from a long road trip, had the bottom drop out. UAB got down three points early, and could not catch up. Nebraska won 92-84 in an unprecedented four overtimes. Larry Spicer led with 22 points. The two teams have not played since then...until tonight.
The Bench:
Prior to becoming Nebraska's head coach in 2000, Barry Collier was head coach at his alma mater, Butler for 11 seasons. He has never faced UAB as a head coach, but he did coach against the Blazers once as an assistant coach. In 1986, he was an assistant to Mike Montgomery and the Stanford Cardinal His team beat UAB 99-80 in Palo Alto, California. .
12/4/04 Marshall
The Date: 12/4/04
UAB has a losing record in games played on December 4, with a record of 4-5. In road games played on this date, the Blazers have a horrible 1-5 record. The one win came in 1985 when the Blazers defeated East Tennessee State by the score of 63-44. Jerome Mincy led all scorers with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Today actually marks an important date in UAB history. On this date in 1988, UAB played the very first game in UAB Arena against Vanderbilt. The Commodores were coached by former Alabama coach, C.M. Newton, who had refused to play the Blazers while in Tuscaloosa. The new arena cost $11 million to build and was one of the things that Gene Bartow wanted most of all...a true home court. The Blazers entered the game, somewhat in disarray as one of their players, Bruce Baker had left the team earlier in the week, citing personal problems. Vanderbilt came into the game riding a high, as they had beaten 13th ranked Louisville earlier in the week. The first game in the Arena had a crowd of 8397. The game started out badly for the Blazers as the Commodores jumped out to a 9-0 start. However, UAB tied the game at 11. The game went back and forth, but the Blazers took the lead for good with seven minutes to go in the game on an Andy Kennedy three pointer. The Blazers won the game 76-69, to open the new Arena. Kennedy led the Blazers with 26 points, despite missing his first five three pointers. UAB would be formidable in the Arena for the first couple of years. They only lost five games at home in their first four years in the Arena.
The Place: Huntington, West Virginia
Although UAB has never played Marshall on the road, the Blazers have played in the state of West Virginia on one occasion. On February 3, 1987, UAB played West Virginia in Morgantown. The Blazers lost by the score of 79-64.
The Opponent: Marshall
Without any question in my mind, the lowest point last year came on December 30 when UAB lost to Marshall, a team that would finish the year 12-17. That is the only game that UAB and Marshall have ever played, although they become conference foes next year. On that miserable night in 2003, the Thundering Herd beat the Blazers 68-66. The game was tied 66-66 when UAB’s Gabe Kennedy missed a short shot and the rebound fell out of bounds to Marshall with 15.4 seconds remaining in the game. Marshall’s Tre Whitted was almost tied up, but called a timeout with two seconds left. Marshall took the ball out of bounds, and got it to the Herd's Mark Patton on the left side of the foul lane. As he turned toward the basket, a foul was called. It appeared to many that the foul happened after time ran out, but the referees, in an effort to welcome Marshall to CUSA put 0.40 seconds on the clock. After a UAB timeout, Patton hit both free throws to win the game. UAB was led in scoring by Gabe Kennedy with 20 points. Coach Anderson was quoted as saying that the Blazers were "a half step behind all night". Hopefully, we can even up the series tonight.
The Coach: Ron Jirsa
As a head coach, Ron Jirsa is 1-0 against UAB, with his win in 2003. He has seen UAB a couple of times as an assistant coach. In 1984-85, he was a graduate assistant for J.D. Barnett at Virginia Commonwealth. This coaching staff included assistant coaches Tubby Smith and David Hobbs. UAB and VCU split their series that year. Jirsa coached against UAB again in 1991 when he joined Tubby Smith as an assistant coach in their first year at Tulsa. In that game, the Blazers won 90-75. So, overall, Jirsa is 2-2 against the Blazers.
12/10/04 Oklahoma State
The Date:
The Blazers' record on this date is 3-3. All three losses were on the road. Here's hoping we break this trend tonight.
The biggest game played on this date occurred in 1985 against Auburn. It was the fourth game in the series. Auburn fans could hardly concentrate on basketball, as Bo Jackson had won the Heisman Trophy three days before the game. Auburn coach Sonny Smith was dropping hints in the media about ending the UAB series. He was concerned about the crowds in Birmingham. Not that there were not enough people showing up for the game, but that they were mostly UAB fans. He wanted a more representative crowd. Imagine that. He did not think UAB should have a home court advantage in Birmingham of all places. Auburn had been ranked #10 in the preseason poll, but had lost two games and came into the UAB game 3-2. UAB was 5-1 and ranked #16 in polls, with only a loss to #3 Duke. These were two of the greatest teams UAB and Auburn have ever fielded. The Tigers had Chris Morris, Chuck Person, Frank Ford, Gerald White, and Jeff Moore. UAB had Steve Mitchell, Jerome Mincy, James Ponder, Michael Charles and Archie Johnson. Despite being televised on ESPN, 15,502 showed up for the game, and some even were Auburn fans. UAB led 35-27 at the half and four minutes into the second half, the Blazers had the lead up to fourteen points. However, Auburn scored 10 unanswered points. With 51 seconds left, Auburn had pulled to within two points. UAB had struggled at the line in the second half, hitting 5 of 13 in the final seven minutes, including missing four straight front ends of one and ones. With 40 seconds left, Auburn fouled Michael Charles, a pitiful 33% free throw shooter, who had missed three straight front ends of one and ones. However, when it counted, he hit both free throws giving UAB a four point lead. The Blazers won the game 62-56. Chuck Person led Auburn with 17 points. Michael Charles led UAB with 12 points.
The Place:
UAB is 1-2 in games played in the State of Oklahoma. They beat Oklahoma City in 1979, and have lost two games played at Tulsa, in 1996 and in 1999. The Blazers will be making the trip to Oklahoma many more times in the future when Tulsa joins CUSA next year.
The Opponent:
This is the first meeting ever between UAB and Oklahoma State.
The Bench:
Eddie Sutton has been head coach at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. He has never faced UAB in his long career. An interesting note: His son, Sean is not listed as an assistant coach. He is the "Head Coach Designate". Don't you hate it when these legendary coaches think that they can bequeath their jobs to their offspring....Oh wait. Never mind.
12/15/04 Belmont
The Date:
UAB is 6-3 in games played on December 15th. Interestingly, we won our first six games played on this date, but have lost the last three games: Princeton in 1998, @ Virginia Commonwealth in 2001 and last year to Western Michigan.
On this date in 2001, UAB played Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond. UAB never led in the game and allowed the Rams to take as much as an 18 point lead in the second half. UAB made a late rally, but VCU withstood the barrage of three pointers, and won the game. The Blazers hit five three pointers in the last 1:22 to cut the lead to six points. VCU won 82-76. Will Campbell and Myron Ransom both had double doubles. Campbell had 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Ransom had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
A happier game to remember occurred on this date in 1992, when the Blazers took on #18 Tulane. This was the first time the Blazers had played the Green Wave, and it was a non-conference game. Tulane was 5-1 and ranked #18. Their only other loss had been to Indiana. The Blazers were 6-1 and had won six straight games. The game was televised nationally on ESPN. 6571 fans came to Bartow Arena on a rainy night. UAB led most of the game, with Carter Long scoring 17 points in 18 minutes of play. The Blazers faltered in the second half with six straight unforced turnovers.Tulane outscored UAB 13-4 to go up 55-54 with six minutes to go. Fortunately, Corey Jackson hit two free throws and UAB never trailed again. UAB was led in scoring by Stanley Jackson with 19 points, Carter Long had 17 points and Robert Shannon had 14. The Blazers would go on to win 10 straight games.
The Opponent:
The Blazers have never played Belmont, mainly because with few exceptions, we have not played NAIA schools which Belmont was until 1996.
The Bench:
Coach Rick Byrd has been at Belmont for 24 years. He has never coached against UAB. One of his assistants, however, Bryan Ayers was an assistant coach in 1996 and 1997 at Vanderbilt. During those years, the Commodores and Blazers played twice and won, once in 1996 and once in 1997. He is 2-0 against the Blazers.
12/17/04 Richmond
The Date:
UAB is 6-2 in games played on December 17. The only two losses were to Mississippi State in 1982 and to Santa Clara in 1994.
We have actually played Mississippi State twice on this date. We were beaten in a tournament in Chattanooga by 20 points in 1982, but in 1984, we played the Bulldogs in Birmingham, before a crowd of 5592. The Blazers won this game by two points 65-63 in a close and controversial game. A goaltending call gave the Blazers their only lead of the second half and the victory. Steve Mitchell took a shot that bounced high off the rim. Someone touched the ball and the referrees called goaltending. This occurred with 11 seconds to go in the game. Mississippi State Bob Boyd complained that the ball was outside the cylinder and it was Jerome Mincy who touched it. He also said that the call should not have been made with the game tied at the end of the game. Of course, I'm sure he would not have thought that had the call went the other way. Steve Mitchell led the Blazers with 26 points, including shooting 7 of 9 in the second half. Jack Gordon controlled the boards with 15 rebounds and Jerome Mincy had a solid game with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Another game played on this date in UAB history was a non conference game in 1985 against Cincinnati. UAB was ranked 14th in the AP poll and would win 69-52 to go to 9-1. The Bearcats shot 61.5% in the first half and UAB shot 56.5% and led by one point at half time. In the second half, after Cincinnati took a 44-42 lead with 14:48 to go, Jerome Mincy tied the game with two free throws and then UAB went on a 12-0 scoring spree over a five minute span. The Blazers won going away, with Steve Mitchell the leading scorer with 20 points.
Also, on this date in 1991, UAB hosted future CUSA member Tulsa in a game at Bartow Arena. UAB won the game 90-75 with fantastic games by Stanley Jackson with 29 points, and Elbert Rogers with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Tulsa was coached by a man who was in the fourth game of his first season of his career as a head coach. That coach was none other than Orlando “Tubby” Smith. Tubby had a slow start that year at Tulsa, and had only won one game. So, UAB was responsible for Tubby Smith's third loss in his career. For a coach in his first year, he had two assistant coaches on the bench that would go on to become head coaches. Shawn Finney is now the coach of Tulane, and Ron Jirsa is now the coach of Marshall, and former head coach of Georgia.
The Place:
Historically, Richmond, Virginia is one of the toughest places that UAB has ever attempted to get a win. Due to the dominance of VCU in the early 1980's, UAB rarely got a win when they played VCU at home. Through 1986, the Blazers had lost 6 of 7 games played in Richmond. It has not gotten much better. We are 1-1 against Richmond and 5-9 in Richmond against VCU - a pitiful 6 wins and 10 losses in the city. Before last years win at VCU, the Blazers had not won in Richmond since 1990, losing three games, to Richmond in 2002, and to VCU in 1991 and 2001.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 2-2 against Richmond with three of the games being played since 2001. UAB won last year against Richmond 83-75, but had lost the two previous game to the icky Spiders. The only other game against Richmond was played in 1989 in the NIT in Richmond. UAB had defeated Georgia Southern in the first round of the tournament to advance to round 2 against the 21-9 Spiders. Richmond had defeated the Temple Owls to advance. During that season, Richmond had only lost twice at home, and the Blazers were a poor 2-7 in the city of Richmond throughout its history. The big suprise at the start of this game was that Andy Kennedy did not start. He had gone 7 of 28 in the last four games and Bartow decided not to start him. He came off the bench with13:36 to go in the game and led a 12-0 spurt in 3 1/2 minutes. He finished the game with 15 points, shooting 4 of 6 from three point range. Reginald Turner was the leading scorer as the Blazers won 64-61. This Blazer team would go on to advance to the NIT Final Four.
The Bench:
Jerry Wainwright is 1-1 against Mike Anderson and the Blazers.
12/21/04 Clemson
Today is the first round of the Rainbow Classic. The Blazer opponent is Clemson from the ACC.
The Date:
UAB is an impressive 12-1 in games played on December 21. The Blazers are 2-1 in games played on this date in neutral sites. The one loss came in 1998 to Ohio State in Puerto Rico by the score of 71-66.
UAB has even played in Hawaii before on this date. In 2000, the Blazers defeated Cal State Northridge 71-67 in the Nike Festival. UAB was led by LeAndrew Bass, who shot an blazing 9 of 13 from the field and scored 22 points to lead the Blazers. The tournament was not kind to Murry Bartow and the Blazers as they lost the next two games in the islands to Georgia State and Hawaii. This year, UAB is making its first trip back to Hawaii since that unfortunate trip in 2000. Hopefully this trip to Hawaii will be more rewarding.
The most exciting game played on this date occured two years ago in Bartow Arena, against Alabama A&M. This, of course was "The Night of a Thousand Shards of Glass" starring Cedric Davis. Has it really been two years? For our newer fans or those with extreme short term memory loss, UAB was hosting Alabama A&M at Bartow Arena. UAB had played a flat uninspired first half and led by 5 at halftime, 43-38. At the 11:25 mark in the second half, UAB led by nine, 65-56. Then, as you all well remember, Cedric Davis, in what was his greatest play of the year, shattered the backboard on a fast break dunk. The game was delayed only 22 minutes, and when the game resumed, the Blazers stormed ahead on a 14-4 run to go up by 19 points. Gabe Kennedy scored all of his 16 points in the second half. Mo Finley led all scorers with 21 points as UAB won 91-68. Cedric Davis only scored 4 points and one backboard in the game.
The Place:
UAB is 12-5 in games played in Hawaii. However, this is the first time that UAB has played in a major 8-team tournament, such as the Rainbow or Maui Classic in Hawaii. Most of the previous games were smaller tournaments in which UAB played smaller schools.
The Opponent:
The Blazers have only played Clemson one time. That game was in March 22, 1993, at Bartow Arena. The game was the second round of the NIT, and UAB was coming off one of the biggest wins in its history, the 58-56 defeat of Alabama. I personally thought there was no way that this UAB team could come down from the clouds long enough to beat Clemson. However, this great Blazer team defeated Clemson 65-64 in a controversial game. UAB was facing former South Alabama coach and future Auburn coach Cliff Ellis. Clemson had advanced in the NIT by beating Auburn and UAB had defeated Alabama. UAB had overcome a 12 point deficit in the final 14 minutes of the game. The hero of the game was Robert Shannon, who had spent the night before in the hospital battling dehydration and the flu. He scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. He scored eight of UAB's last 10 points and 15 of the team's last 22 points, including the game winning three pointer with 0.51 remaining. This game ended in one of the most controversial ways any UAB game has ever ended. After Shannon scored with 51 seconds left and put the Blazers up 65-64, the Clemson Tigers held for the final shot. Sharone Wright for the Tigers sank what appeared to be the go ahead points, but the Ohio Valley referee whistled the play dead, thinking he had heard the shot buzzer go off. After much discussion among the officials, the basket was taken away, and Clemson was awarded the ball with six seconds left on the clock. The Tigers got the ball back into Wright, whose shot bounced off the rim. Another Clemson player put it back up and it bounced off again. Willie Chapman with UAB got the rebound. It was discovered at that point that the clock had not started. The officials whistled the game over while the clock was still running. After the game, Gene Bartow explained that the clock had malfunctioned and the officials were counting the game down manually, even though there was still time on the clock. A statement released by the officials stated that an "inadvertant whistle" had stopped the play. Cliff Ellis complained that an inadvertant whistle should not have stopped the game and the basket should have counted. Bartow stated after the game, that he did not ask any questions because the officials were already a "little mad" at him, referring to a technical foul Bartow had received earlier in the game. Despite the very strange ending, the Blazers won and would go on to the NIT Final Four that year.
The Bench:
Oliver Purnell has never beaten UAB as a head coach. During the 1994-95 season, Purnell was in his first year as head coach at Dayton, and the Flyers and Blazers played each other twice, both being members of the Great Midwest Conference. The Blazers won both matchups as did many of Purnell's opponents that year, since he only went 7-20 that year. However, he built Dayton up to a respectable mid-major and was hired by Clemson for the 2003-04 season, where he went 10-18 in his first year.
Purnell has had more luck against the Blazers as an assistant coach. From 1983-1985, he faced the Blazers as an assistant coach for the Old Dominion Monarchs. Those Old Dominion teams from the early and mid 1980's were very good, and Purnell as an assistant coach, went 4-4 against some of the best UAB teams ever.
Clemson assistant, Frank Smith also saw plenty of the Blazers when he played at Old Dominion from 1984-88. During his time with the Monarchs, the Blazers won six and lost three.
One advantage that Clemson may have over UAB is they have an assistant coach who is familiar with the Blazers. Kevin Nickleberry recently joined the Tigers as an assistant coach. For the past two years, he has been an assistant coach for UNC-Charlotte. He should be very familar with Mike Anderson's style of coaching. Fortunately, UAB has beaten Charlotte the last three times we have played them.
12/22/04 Southern Cal
The Date:
UAB's record is a mediocre 7-5 in games played on December 22. We are 2-1 in games played on neutral sites on this date. UAB has played three games in Hawaii on December 22. In 1982, UAB lost to Hawaii 65-61. Eight years later in 1990, UAB beat St. Francis of Pennsylvania in Kauai Classic in Hawaii. In 2000, the Blazers lost to Georgia State in the Nike Festival in Honolulu. The Blazers have lost their last two games on this date, when we lost in 2000 to Georgia State and in 2001, we lost to Lasalle.
On this date in 1984, UAB fans were shocked when the Blazers lost their own holiday tournament to George Mason 61-60. It was an ugly game as UAB shot 40.9% and George Mason shot 36.7%. The difference in the game lay at the free throw line where George Mason went to the line 31 times and hit 25 of them, while UAB only made 6 of 13 free throws for 46.2%. Mitchell hit 11 field goals out of 22 shots for 25 points, but he had little help from his teamates as no one else made it to double figures. One of the worse losses in UAB history.
The Opponent:
UAB and Southern Cal have never played each other.
The Bench:
The Southern Cal bench has been a revolving door as of late. On December 6, coach Henry Bibby was fired by the administration due to player dissent. His top assistant, Jim Saia, who was only hired by Bibby as an assistant on September 20th is now the interim head coach. Former Utah coach was named as head coach, but resigned five days later citing health problems.
Jim Saia was a seven year top assistant to Steve Lavin at UCLA. He was out of basketball until Bibby hired him at USC. During his first year at UCLA in 1997, his team met the Blazers in the Great Alaskan Shootout and UCLA won the game 86-72.
12/23/04 Oral Roberts
The Date
UAB is 6-2 on December 23, with losses in 1980 at Iowa State and in 2000 at Hawaii. The Blazers are actually 2-1 on this date in games played in Hawaii.
On this date in 1990, UAB defeated giant killer Chaminade in Hawaii 87-60. The Blazers went on an amazing 29-0 run to lead 43-19 at the half. This game was played in a high school gym and attendance was listed at 200. Elbert Rogers and Stan Rose led UAB with 17 points each.
On this date in 1983, I watched one of the most exciting games I have ever seen. It was the Championship of the UAB Classic, featuring the Blazers and Villanova. UAB had defeated Valparaiso 64-49 the night before. Rollie Massimino and Villanova had defeated Samford in the first round. Massimino was putting a team together that would record one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, when they defeated Georgetown the next year. The team playing in Birmingham had Ed Pinckney, Harold Pressley, and Dwayne McClain. The game was close throughout as neither team could build a lead. UAB had gone up by two points with eight seconds left in regulation, but Ed Pinckney tied the game at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime. At the end of the first overtime, Jerome Mincy put back a Steve Mitchell miss with 23 seconds left to go up by two, but again Villanova tied the game on two Dwayne McLain free throws with two seconds left. In Overtime #2, UAB was up by three points at 70-67, but McClain shot with five seconds left and tied the game again. Finally, in the third overtime, McKinley Singleton put UAB up to stay with 3:34 and the Blazers hit their free throws to win a hard fought game 81-76. Steve Mitchell went 6 for 6 from the line in the third overtime. He was 11 for 11 in the game. It is the longest game that UAB has ever played in Birmingham. The Blazers were led by Steve Mitchell who in 54 minutes of action, scored 23 points, and handed out 8 assists. He was named Tournament MVP.
On this date in 2000 in the Nike Festival. UAB was playing its third game in three days and had beaten Cal State Northridge, and lost to Georgia State. Up next was the home team, Hawaii. The game was played at the Stan Sheriff Center, where tonights game will be played. Hawaii entered the game 3-4 and UAB was 5-4. Hawaii was led by a player familar to UAB fans: Predrag Savovic, who had played his freshman year at UAB, but had transferred to Hawaii. At UAB, Savovic had not been very effective as an outside shooter, but on the islands he had found his touch and was Hawaii's leading scorer. Hawaii led most of the game and was up by as much as 21 points with 3 minutes to go in the game. UAB made a slight comeback at the end to make the game a little more respectable, but not by much. Hawaii won 100-86. Savovic had 17 points against his old team. UAB was led by David Walker who had 20 points and hit eight of eleven field goals.
The Opponent: Oral Roberts
UAB and Oral Roberts have never played each other.
The Bench:
Scott Sutton has been at Oral Roberts for five years, and has amassed a75-71 record entering this year. He was 17-11 last year. He is the son of Oklahoma State's legendary coach, Eddie Sutton. With Scott's brother as head coaching in waiting at Oklahoma State, UAB has played three members of the Sutton family this year. Scott Sutton has never coached against UAB.
12/28/04 Alabama A&M
The Date
In games played on December 28, UAB is a mediocre 8-7. However, only two games have been at home. Most of the rest were played in holiday tournaments against teams like Duke, UNLV, and Michigan. UAB has won its last three games on this date.
The Blazers played Duke was played in the Trojan Classic in Los Angeles in 1984. UAB was led by McKinley Singleton, Steve Mitchell and Jerome Mincy. The Duke team reads today like a who's who in coaching. On that team was Tommy Amaker, current coach at Michigan, David Henderson, current head coach at Delaware, and Johnny Dawkins, current assistant coach at Duke and everyone's darling when it comes time to hire a new coach. Plus everyone's favorite ESPN basketball guru, Jay Bilas. Unfortunately Duke won 76-62 as they shot almost 60% from the field, and UAB shot 36%. Jerome Mincy had a strong game with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Duke was led by Johnny Dawkins with 16 points.
UAB played impressive defense on this date in 1987 when they played California in the first round of the Sun Bowl Classic in El Paso, TX. One stat line alone tells the story. "Halftime score- UAB 32, California 8" That's right. The UAB record was set that night for fewest points in a half by an opponent. The Blazers coasted in the second half to a 64-50 win. Leading scorer for UAB was Michael Charles with 15 points.
The Opponent
Unsurprisingly, we are 4-0 against tonight's opponent, Alabama A&M. What is surprising however is that we had not ever played this in-state school, prior to 1999. This is probably because they were Division 2 until 1998. We have beaten A&M by margins of victory of 29, 35, 22 and last year's "squeaker", 13 points.
Last year's game marked the second game in a row that UAB played without it's leader, Mo Finley, due to his shoulder injury. The Blazers did not appear to need him early as they jumped out to a 19-2 lead. However, A&M switched to a zone defense and the Blazers couldn't hit anything outside. At halftime, although the Blazers led, they were 1 of 14 from three point range. Alabama A&M pulled to within seven points at 39-32 early in the second half. Then, Gabe Kennedy took over and scored 8 straight points to lead a Blazer 12-2 run. The Blazers were also sparked by Derrick Broom who came off the bench to score a career high 12 points. Kennedy led in scoring with 15 points as the Blazers won 81-68.
The Bench:
Alabama A&M 's coach, Vann Pettaway has been at the school for 18 years, and has an 0-4 record against the Blazers. Pettaway has only had two losing seasons at A&M, one of which was last year's 13-17 mark.
12/31/04 South Alabama
The Date:
UAB has only played one game on New Years Eve. That game came at home against South Florida in 1993. South Florida was coached by Bobby Paschal. The Bulls and Blazers were no longer in the Sun Belt Conference and had not yet reunited in the CUSA conference. UAB was playing in the Great Midwest, and South Florida had joined the Metro Conference. UAB came out on top in this battle between former conference foes. This was a better than average South Florida team. They came into the game 7-2 with wins over Florida State and Southern Cal. In a great defensive effort by the Blazers, UAB won 78-41, holding the Bulls to a pitiful 26% field goal percentage for the game. It was the Bulls' lowest scoring output in 12 years. Carter Long led the Blazers with 27 points and Frank Haywood had 13 rebounds. This win came in the middle of what would be a 11 game win streak for the Blazers. They would finish 22-8 and go to the NCAA tournament.
The Place:
UAB has a losing record in the city of Mobile with seven wins and eleven losses. We are 7-9 in Mobile against South Alabama, and 0-2 in other games. In 1991, Mobile hosted the Sun Belt tournament. This was the last year in the Sun Belt for UAB, VCU, Charlotte and Old Dominion. Unfortunately, UAB would have a short visit and lose in the first round. The Blazers ran into a hot Chris Gatling and Old Dominion. Gatling shot 14 of 19, for 32 points as the Monarchs beat the Blazers 94-88 in overtime.
The other non South Alabama loss came last year to Western Michigan in the 2003 Coors Classic. UAB was coming off a heartbreaking loss at Mississippi State, and played much of this game without it's floor leader, Mo Finley who dislocated his shoulder and left the game after playing only 17 minutes. He would miss three games as a result of the injury. Western Michigan, who would win the Mid America Conference and make the NCAA tournament, led most of the game. The Blazers made a second half comeback and cut the lead to four with a minute and a half left. However, they could not finish as Western Michigan hit 10 of 11 free throws in the last minute and a half, to win the game 69-62. DeMario Eddins led the Blazers with 18 points.
UAB's first game in Mobile occurred February 8, 1979 during the Blazers inaugural season. UAB had won the first game against the Jaguars in Birmingham by three points. The Blazers had a distraction that was going to become a familiar story. Gene Bartow was being mentioned for another job. Memphis State’s coach, Wayne Yates had just resigned and Bartow was being mentioned as possibly returning to Memphis as the new coach. They were willing to make him head coach and athletic director. Gene Bartow had not finished a full season at UAB and wanted to see if he could accomplish his great experiment. He denied interest in the Memphis job. These rumors would continue in almost every season that he was at UAB. South Alabama was 14-4, and had won 12 of their last 13 games. They jumped out to a big lead, but UAB made a great comeback, outscoring South Alabama by 15 points in the last 14 minutes. It was a very hostile environment. The South Alabama band blasted loud music every time that UAB had the ball. Several players complained about the band after the game. The Blazers had a chance to tie the game on the last shot. Leon Morris missed his jumper, but Stan Scales grabbed the rebound. Unfortunately, his shot was blocked as the buzzer sounded and South Alabama won 71-69. The Blazers dropped to 13-9.
We have not played South Alabama in Mobile since 1998.
The Opponent:
UAB's record against South Alabama is 26 wins against 13 losses. Only South Florida has played more games against the Blazers. The Blazers have won the last three games against the Jaguars, with the last loss coming in Mobile in 1996.
UAB was ranked #14 when they played South Alabama in Birmingham in 1986. The Blazers came into the game with an impressive 15-2 record with their only losses to Duke and UNLV. South Alabama was coached by former Samford coach, Mike Hanks. UAB controlled this game throughout and won 77-64. Steve Mitchell had 24 points on 12 of 24 shooting, and Jerome Mincy had 23 points on 8-12 field goals. Jeff Hodge, a Birmingham native who was recruited by and thought to be attending UAB scored 14 for South Alabama. UAB would move up two spots to #12 in the next poll and achieve its highest ranking of the year. Unfortunately, the conference schedule would slowly wear the Blazers down and they would go 9-9 the rest of the year, finishing third in the regular season of the Sun Belt. It was a disappointing finish to a year that started with so much hope for Mitchell and Mincy in their senior years.
By 1989, Jeff Hodge had been a thorn in the Blazer's side for four years. During Hodge's junior and senior years at South Alabama, UAB was 1-5 against the Jaguars. In 1989, Hodge and his team played three amazing games against the Blazers. In the first game, UAB had the most points ever scored on them when they played South Alabama in Mobile. South Alabama beat the Blazers 114-84, a humiliating 30 point loss. Jeff Hodge would score 31 points, making 14 of 16 shots from the field. He would score 26 points against the Blazers in Birmingham, but UAB would win 93-91. The two teams would meet a third time in Sun Belt semi finals, and South Alabama would win again 103-84. Jeff Hodge would lay 33 points on the Blazers. He scored 90 points in three games against UAB that year. And he originally was thought to be coming to UAB.
One final amusing note about Jeff Hodge and South Alabama. One of the Jaguars biggest wins came in the 1989 NCAA tournament, when 11th seed South Alabama defeated #6 seed Alabama. Prior to the game, Gene Bartow sent Jeff Hodge an encouraging letter, wishing him luck in the game, and reminding him that Wimp Sanderson didn't recruit him either.
The Bench: Pelphrey is 0-2 against the Blazers. He lost to the Blazers in 2003 as head coach of South Alabama to the Blazers 90-75. He has faced the Blazers once before, when he was an assistant coach under Billy Donovan at Florida in 1997. In that game, UAB beat Florida 80-73 in the Orange Bowl Classic in Miami. Pelphrey is 4-3 against Mike Anderson when Pelphrey was an assistant at Florida and Anderson was an assistant at Arkansas.