05-25-2007, 10:52 PM
Today in Blazer History reports from January 2005
1/2/05 Murray State
The Date: 4-3
UAB is 4-3 on games played on the second day of the year, January 2. Of those games, we are 3-2 at home. On this date in 1988, UAB defeated Jackson State 65-51 to gain the 200th win in the programs history. Jackson State was coached by long time UAB assistant, John Prince.
On this date in 1999, UAB traveled to Memphis to play an early CUSA conference game against the Memphis Tigers. The Blazer team was somewhat in disarray as Murry Bartow had removed Fred Williams from the starting lineup due to a bad first half of the season. Williams had been suspended for half a game due to missing the plane to a game in Puerto Rico. He had also been slowed by a chipped bone in his hand. In the previous game against Tulane, Williams had a monstrous dunk, but was hit with a technical foul immediately following for trash talking about the dunk. Bartow benched him, saying he was a disruption to the team. On the other hand, Willie Mitchell was on fire heading into the Memphis game. He had scored 53 points in the past 3 games on 22-30 shooting. Against Memphis, UAB jumped out to a quick 17-6 lead at the Pyramid, and the Tigers missed the first 13 of 16 shots. However due to Blazer turnovers, Memphis cut the lead to 2 with four minutes to go in the half. UAB outscored Memphis 14-6 the rest of the half on three pointers by Eric Holmes and Willie Mitchell, and took a 10 point lead to the locker room. In the second half, the Blazers maintained their lead, hitting 17 of 20 free throws, and won the game 91-83. Torrey Ward had a career high 25 points and Willie Mitchell had 18. UAB would go on to win the National Division of CUSA and a spot in the NCAA tournament that year.
The last game played on this date was played two years ago in 2003 against the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. Mississippi State was ranked 8th in the country and came to Bartow Arena as the first visit to Bartow by a ranked opponent since Cincinnati had played there in 2000. An almost sellout crowd included basketball greats Jerry West and Gene Bartow as well as several hundred Bulldog fans. . The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick lead and led by 17 points at the half. UAB could get no closer than 15 points in the second half, and Mississippi State won 68-52. Gabe Kennedy was hobbled by an ankle injury, and UAB had no inside presence, giving the Bulldogs a 43-28 rebounding edge. Mo Finley was held to just 2 points in the second half, but finished as UAB's high scorer with 15 points. State shot 55% to UAB's 36%.
The Opponent: 0-3
The UAB Blazers have never beaten Murray State. That's right. NEVER. We have played them three times and lost all three in fairly close games. It's time to change that tonight. It's important that we look at all three games against Murray State and how they have ripped our hearts out each time.
Our first lost to them came December 29, 1982. It was an embarrassing loss in that it came in the finals of the UAB Classic, our own holiday tournament that UAB used to hold, inviting seemingly cupcake teams to booster the win total. However, this Racer team was not a cupcake. In an unfortunate piece of scheduling, the game was played at the exact same time that Bear Bryant was coaching his last football game in the Liberty Bowl. Still, there was 8,872 at the BJCC to watch the game. The Blazers had won five of their last seven games, after starting the season 1-4. The game was close throughout, with 22 lead changes, and seven ties. The Racers shot 58% from the field, and pulled out the upset win 81-75. Cliff Pruitt led the Blazers with 21 points, but was 6 of 16 from the field. The Racer's Ricky Hood, from Montgomery led all scorers with 29 points, 22 of which came in the second half. In other news that day, Watson Brown was named head coach of Cincinatti.
Our other two losses to Murray State are more recent. In 2000, the Racers and Blazers were both 3-1 entering the game, this time played at Bartow Arena. UAB led the entire game. Murray State was down by 13 points at half time, and with 10 1/2 minutes in the game, they were down 15. However, bad shooting for the Blazers doomed UAB in the second half, and Murray State went on a 23-8 run to tie the game. UAB made only 15 of their final 44 shots. Eric Batchelor and PJ Arnold were a paltry 3 of 19 from three point range. Murray State tied the game wth 41 seconds left and put the game into overtime. In OT, the Racers outscored the Blazers 18-6 and won the game 84-72. LeAndrew Bass led the Blazers with 16 points. Another Montgomery native for Murray State, Isaac Spencer led the Racers with 20 points.
On December 1, 2001, Murry Bartow took an odd all junior college starting lineup with Eric Batchelor, Antonae Roberson, Will Campbell, PJ Arnold and Eric Bush to Murray, Kentucky to take on the Racers. . Again, UAB seemed to be in control throughout the game. The Blazers led the entire game, except for one minute in the first half, and the last 18 seconds of the 2nd half. UAB had a 19 point lead midway through the second half, but the Racers outscored the Blazers 38-14 in the final 11 minutes. In the final 18 seconds, James Singleton of the Racers scored on successive dunks and two free throws. Twice during the comeback, UAB tried to call timeouts when the Racers tied up the ball, but the officials called the other TO's instead - turnovers. UAB had a nine point lead with three minutes to go, but would not score the rest of the game. Murray State beat the Blazers again 74-69.
The Bench:
Mick Cronin is in his second year as head coach of the Racers, but he has coached against the Blazers many times before as an assistant. From 1997-2001, he was an assistant coach under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati. During those years, the Bearcats won all six games played against UAB. In 2001, he left Cincinnati and joined Rick Pitino's staff at Louisville. Andy Kennedy replaced him at Cincinnati. During two years as a Louisville assistant, the Cardinals played UAB twice and won both games. Therefore, Mick Cronin is 8-0 against UAB in his coaching career.
As you can see, the Blazers have some significant trends to reverse tonight. Let's give Murray State and Mick Cronin their first loss to the Blazers.
1/5/05 Southern Miss
The Date: 6-4
UAB has won six games and lost four on this date. All six wins were at home, and we have lost two games at home, to Tulane in 1997 by the score of 86-61, and to Louisivlle in 2002 by the score of 88-77. This was Rick Pitino's first CUSA game at Louisivlle. We have lost the last three games played on January 5.
The loss to Tulane in 1997 was the second worst home loss that UAB has ever suffered. Murry Bartow was in his first season, and while Murry sometimes received criticism for not being enough of a disciplinarian, apparently this was not the case in his first year. Three players were not allowed to play in the first half of this Tulane game played January 5, 1997. Did they skip class? No. Were they late for practice? No. The sin of James Bristow, Hal Lewis and Will Bailey was that they had not shaved. Murry Bartow was quoted as saying "It is a simple matter. I require all the players to be clean shaven. They sat out until they were" When the three hairy players reported for the game, they were informed that they would not play until they had shaved. All three had baby smooth skin by half time, and were allowed to play in the second half. I guess Murry was trying to prove he was boss. His rule apparently was not permanent. The next year's media guide shows no less than six players with some sort of facial hair. An odd episode in Blazer history. Anyway back to the Tulane game. The return of the three players did not help UAB in the second half. UAB was down by seven points at the half, but Tulane shot 60% in the second half to put the Blazers away. UAB could not get any help from its star, Carlos Williams who was playing with a bandaged hand, and finished with only 5 points on 2 of 10 shooting. Tulane won the game 86-61. Jerold Honeycutt for the Green Wave led the way with 20 points. Torrey Ward finsihed with 13 for the Blazers.
Our greatest victory on this date came in 1985, when we defeated DePaul for the first time ever. DePaul had been the winningest team in the country in the past six years with an amazing record of 159-18. They had finished ranked in the top six each of the past six years. Of course that had all been under their legendary coach Ray Meyer. Ray had retired, and his son, Joey Meyer had taken the helm. DePaul came into the game ranked #10 in the country, with a 9-2 record. UAB and DePaul had played some close games in Birmingham. DePaul had won the last two games by a total of five points. DePaul was the only team to have been on UAB's schedule since its inaugural year, and UAB had never beaten them. A crowd of 17,222, the second largest home crowd in UAB's history came out to see the game. UAB shot 50% in the first half to take a 34-17 halftime lead. DePaul had shot only 25% in the first half. The Blue Demons improved their shooting in the second half, but the Blazers lead was too big and DePaul was forced to foul. The Blazers hit 20 of 25 free throws in the second half, and won the game 66-59. Steve Mitchell led the Blazers with 18 points as UAB defeated the tenth ranked Blue Demons for the first time.
The Opponent: 13-8
Over the years, we have beaten Southern Miss 13 times and lost eight times. However, since joining CUSA, we are only 9-8 against them. In Birmingham, we are a respectable 8-2 against them. We seem to have always had problems with Southern Miss.
This was not the case during our first season, when Southern Miss became the first school to be swept by during the season. On January 29, 1979, the Blazers won their very first game on an opponent’s court.against Southern Miss. Southern Miss was leading at halftime by the score of 29-24, having shut down UAB’s go-to guy, Larry Spicer, who only had 2 points at halftime. In the second half, Spicer had 16 points, as the Blazers got hot, shooting 66% in the second half after shooting 32% in the first half. With no shock clock, the Blazers held the ball without shooting from 3:14 to 1:32 in the second half. The Golden Eagles took the lead with 50 seconds to go in the game. Gene Bartow called time out and set up the play. With seven seconds to go, Greg Leet missed a jumper, but Leon Morris was there to put the basket in, giving the Blazers a 60-59 victory. Many were surprised by the low scoring game because UAB had beat Southern Miss 93-87 earlier in the season. However, Gene Bartow had slowed the tempo down in this game. He was quoted as saying “A lot of times when you have one of those 95-90 games on the road, you end up with the 90.”
The Bench:
Southern Miss is now coached by former Iowa State and party pal Larry Eustachy. Eustachy has never coached against UAB as a head coach. However, from 1981 to 1986, he was an assistant coach to Bob Boyd at Mississippi State. UAB and Mississippi State played each other three times during that period and UAB won two of the three.
1/8/05 @South Florida
The Date:
The Blazers are 4-3 in games played on January 8. Of those seven games, four have been played on the road, and we are 2-2 in road games played this date. UAB has actually played two games against South Florida on this date in Tampa. In 1990, the Blazers won 83-66 and in 2003, UAB defeated the Bulls 79-69. .
On this date in 1997, the Blazers traveled to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats who were 9-2, and ranked #6 in the country. Remarkably, in the mid 1990's, the Blazers had the upper hand over the Bearcats and had won five of the last six games over Cincinnati. But that was the Gene Bartow era, and this was the first time that Murry Bartow would face Bob Huggins. UAB came into the game 9-6 and it was the first time in Blazer history for the team to open league play 0-3. UAB was outmanned in this game, although Cedric Dixon kept the game respectable by hitting six three pointers. He was the leading scorer with 27 points. Damon Flint and Danny Fortson led Cincinnati with 16 points each.
The Place: Tampa
The Blazers are 13-10 in games played in Tampa, Florida. All games have been played against South Florida. UAB has won the last two games played in Tampa.
The Opponent:
Because of our long conference ties with South Florida, first in the Sun Belt and now in Conference USA, the Blazers have played more games against the Bulls than any other team. UAB has won 32 games and lost 19. At one point between 1985 and 1991, UAB won 12 out of 13 games against the Bulls. We have won the last four games.
On this date in 1990, UAB traveled to Tampa with a 10-3 record and a six game winning streak. South Florida was 8-3. Wow. Almost history repeating itself today! UAB almost did not make it to Tampa for this game. They had played against Old Dominion in Norfolk and was flying from Norfolk to Tampa. The flight was delayed first because a stowaway was found aboard, and then mechanical problems caused the flight to be delayed four more hours. When they finally made it to Tampa, their luggage didn't, causing them to miss practice. Alan Ogg was coming into his own as a Blazer. In the past three games, he had made 12 of 12 shots, 8 of 10 shots and 7 of 11 shots. The South Florida students were ready for Ogg, wearing Alan Ogg masks at the game. The game was close for 13 minutes with three ties and 8 lead changes. Elbert Rogers put the Blazers ahead 22-21 at the seven minute mark of the first half. The Blazers then went on a 11-1 spurt and led by 10 at the half. In the second half, the Blazers put the game away, by hitting 8 of 9 free throws in the final five minutes. UAB won 83-66, with Andy Kennedy leading the way with 17 points. Larry Rembert had a double double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Ogg had 14 points, on 5 of 8 shooting. "I made some friends!" Ogg reported after the game. " I waved goodbye as a winner"
The other road game played on this date against South Florida came in 2003. South Florida was undefeated at home and UAB came to the game with Gabe Kennedy and Demario Eddins hobbled with injuries. However, Mo Finley took over the game in the second half to make sure the Blazers won 79-69. He only had three points at half time, but scored 25 points in the second half to lead all scorers with 28 points. He scored 16 of the last 18 points in the game. Eric Bush was quoted as saying about Finley, "I see that every day in practice". With under six minutes to go in the game, South Florida had cut the lead to four points, but Mo scored eight straight points to seal the victory.
The Bench:
Second year South Florida head coach, Robert McCullum is a native of Birmingham and is very familar with the city and UAB. He played in the mid 1970's for two years at Birmingham Southern, and was a coach from 1978-1982 at Ramsey High School. As an assistant at South Alabama, he coached against the Blazers many times, but he has a poor 2-8 record against UAB while at South Alabama. As a head coach at South Florida, he is 0-2 against the Blazers.
Trivia question:
I indicated earlier that UAB has lost to South Florida 19 times. This is the second most losses UAB has to any one school. Which school has beaten UAB more times than South Florida? No peeking at media guides.
1/12/05 Charlotte
The Date:
UAB has a respectable 5-2 in games played on January 12. They are 4-1 at home on this date. The last game played on this date is not a pleasant memory as UAB traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2002 to play Southern Miss. The Blazers lost 50-36, setting a UAB and tied a CUSA record for the lowest points scored in a game. UAB would finish the season with a 13-17. Southern Miss would do even worse with a 10-17 record.
A better memory comes from the year 2000, when the Blazers took on the 25th ranked Louisville Cardinals The Cards came to Birmingham with a 10-3 record. The Blazers were 7-5, and had a perfect record of 7-0 at home, although they were winless on the road. Louisville led 28-27 at the half, but that was not unusual for Blazer fans because UAB had been down at the half in their last 8 games. Coming out in the second half, the Blazers went on an 8-0 run with Myron Ransom scoring six of the points. The Cards came out cold and did not score from the field until the 13 minute mark of the second half. It was an ugly game as both teams combined for 50 turnovers (24 for UAB, 26 for UL). However, UAB shot 52% in the second half and won the game 56-50. Myron Ransom was 8 for 10 from the field and led the Blazers with 22 points. Eric Holmes had 12. Freshman Reece Gaines led Louisville with 15 points.
On this date in 1994, UAB came home to play Cal State Sacramento. The Blazers were riding high after ending Cincinnati's 25 game home winning streak and moving into #22 in the AP Poll. This was a perfect opportunity for a possible letdown at home. Cal State was a poor team with a 4-23 record from the previous year. At the beginning of the game, the Blazers were complacent and the crowd was quiet. UAB had only scored one basket in the first 4 1/2 minutes. After 3-4 minutes of lackluster play, Coach Gene Bartow decided to shake things up with his infamous "mad dog" play. Those long time fans will remember the excitement as Coach Bartow would jump up charge down the bench, selecting five players at random and substituting all five players for the starters who were not following his wishes. Off the bench came Chad Jones, George Wilkerson, Travis Harper, Reggie Allen and Carlos Browning, in favor of the starters, Carter Long, Corey Jackson, Clarence Thrash, Robert Shannon, and Frank Haywood. Bartow claimed that this was the first time that he had pulled the "mad dog" since 1986. The move energized the team and the crowd as it usually did, and UAB led 39-19 at the half. The Blazers would go on to win 88-46, with Robert Shannon leading the way with 19 points. Frank Haywood would have 14 points and 13 rebounds with 10 of his points and 12 of his rebounds coming in 11 minutes of second half playing time.
The Opponent: 25-14
The Blazers are 25-14 against Charlotte. Most of our games were played against them when they were known as North Carolina-Charlotte, or UNCC. We have won the last three games against the 49ers. We are 14-4 against them in Birmingham, but Charlotte won the last game played in Birmingham in 2002 by the score of 78-58.
UAB has actually played Charlotte on this date, back in 1987 at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. Charlotte was 0-11 at the BJCC and 0-8 there against UAB. James Ponder was on fire as he hit 9 of 12 field goals and 4 out of 5 three pointers to lead the Blazers with 22 points. Ponder was rebounding from a horrible outing the previous game in which he was 0-13. UAB won the game 69-46. An interesting side note to this game appeared in the Birmingham News. Wayne Martin, beat writer for UAB indicated that UAB was considering playing games at the "new practice facility on campus" which was in the planning stages. He wrote that UAB officials said there were no plans to play games there at this time, however, Gene Bartow was quoted in a Mobile paper as saying he wanted to move all games there, except for the Auburn game. This "on campus practice facility" of course would become Bartow Arena. It appears that Bartow almost had to sneak it past the Board of Trustees.
The Bench:
Bobby Lutz has been coach at Charlotte since 1998. He was an assistant coach there for three years prior to that. As a head coach, Lutz has won four games against the Blazers and lost five. As an assistant, he helped win two games and lose one against UAB.
1/15/05 @East Carolina
The Date: The Torrey Ward show
In 26 years, the Blazers have only played four games on January 15, all of them since 1995. We have lost twice at Marquette in 1995 and 2002, and beaten Louisville and South Florida at home in 1998 and 2000.
The game against Louisville in 1998 had an exciting end to a low scoring game. UAB entered the game 11-4 and had won seven in a row. Louisville was struggling with a 7-8 record. A near sellout of 8227 showed up to see the CUSA showdown. UAB led by five points with 7:28 left in the game, but could not hit a free throw to put the Cards away. The Blazers missed 8 of their final 10 free throws, and allowed Louisville to tie the game at 45. A free throw by Nate Johnson put the Cardinals ahead by one point. However, Torrey Ward would not be denied. He scored 7 of the final 10 points for the Blazers with only a Damon Cobb three pointer at 1:11 to go to break Ward's string. With 21 seconds to go in the game, and the game on the line, Willie Mitchell tossed the ball the lenghth of the court to Torrey Ward, who laid the ball in the basket. With 12 seconds to go and UAB up by one, Ward was at the free throw line. He missed his first, but hit his second, giving the Cardinals one last chance. Their shot fell short and the Blazers had their first win over Louisville in four tries, dating back to 1982 when the Cardinals kept us from making the Final Four. Ward led the Blazers with 15 points and Cedric Dixon had 14 points.
Torrey Ward was the hero two years later when we played South Florida at the Bartow Arena in 2000 in a truly ugly game. South Florida was 9-5 and UAB was 8-5 entering the game. South Florida had been the preseason favorite to win the National division of Conference USA. UAB was coming into the game after an upset of #25 Louisville and played uninspired ball in this game. At the eight minute point of the first half, UAB had a 31-13 lead over the Bulls, but UAB stopped scoring. The Blazers went from the 8:03 of the first half to the 11:14 point of the second half without a field goal. That is almost 17 minutes with no baskets. South Florida was playing just as bad, and UAB was leading through most of the game. Seth Greenberg, coach at South Florida was quoted as saying both teams set basketball back 15 years. Murry Bartow said "the game film won't be sent to the hall of fame." Free throws again was the curse to the Blazers as they missed six of their last eight free throws to allow South Florida to tie the game and put it into overtime. In the final 50 seconds, the Blazers took four shots within five feet of the basket and missed all four. Fortuately, in overtime, Torrey Ward stepped up as he often did, and hit six of seven free throws to give the Blazers an undeserved 75-66 victory over the Bulls in overtime. Ward had 18 points and Eric Holmes led the Blazers with 20.
The Opponent:
We have beaten East Carolina all three times we have played them. Two of those victories came last season. Our biggest victory was by 9 points in 2002. Both games last season were closer than they should have been.
The game in Birmingham last year was played on Valentines Day. UAB was down by eight points at the half after the Pirates had shot 55.6% in the first half. However, UAB opened the second half with a strong run to get back into the game. There were seven lead changes and four ties in the second half. Mo Finley hit a 12 foot jumper with 1:02 to go to give the Blazers a three point lead. Finley's shot fell short with seven seconds to go,giving the Pirates a chance to tie. However, Sidney Ball intercepted a pass and was fouled, sealing the victory. Gabe Kennedy and Demario Eddins scored 16 points each to lead the Blazers as UAB won 72-69.
The Place:
The only game we have ever played in Greenville, North Carolina was last season against East Carolina. Squeaky Johnson set career highs in points, assists, steals and minutes as he led the Blazers with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals in 32 minutes of play. The game was tied at 67-67 with 1:41 left in the game, when Squeaky stole the ball and passed it to Donell Taylor who found Mo Finley under the basket for a driving layup. The Blazers led the rest of the way and won 71-68. Gabe Kennedy was the leading scorer with 14 points.
The Bench:
Bill Herrion is 0-3 against UAB in his tenure at East Carolina. He has never coached against the Blazers anywhere else.
1/19/05 @Tulane
The Date:
Some poor trends for todays game. In addition to the unexplainable fact that we have not won in any sport in the state of Louisiana since the LSU football game in 2000, we also have the poor record of two wins and five losses on this date. We are 1-2 on the road on this date.
Our biggest (and only) win on the road on this date came in 1985 in Bowling Green, Kentucky against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Western Kentucky had started out the season 9-2, but had lost the last two games going into this Saturday afternoon game. They were led by Kannard Johnson and Tellis Frank and was coached by Clem Haskins. UAB was 15-4 entering the game, led by Steve Mitchell and Jerome Mincy. UAB had five busloads full of fans and students (including yours truly) make the roadtrip to Bowling Green for the 12:30 game. Western Kentucky led for most of the game and was up by 11 with 7:48 to go in the game. UAB had gone cold in the second half and only had one field goal from 17:33 to 7:45 in the second half. Steve Mitchell had 14 points at the half, but would score 10 points in the final seven minutes. Mitchell tied the score at 64 and then WKU committed a turnover with 1:05 to go. Mitchell’s shot bounced out with 27 seconds to go, but Michael Charles tipped it in. The Hilltoppers tied the game with 20 seconds left. With five seconds to go in the game, Steve Mitchell hit the winning basket, giving the Blazers a 68-66 win.
Also on this date, UAB was ranked #18 in the country in the AP poll entering a home game against Marquette in 1994. UAB had a 13-1 record. and Marquette was 9-4 and just outside of the top 25. Both teams were 2-0 in Great Midwest play. Marquette's star player was Jim McIlvaine, who had 24 points in this game. The Warriors, as they were called at the time, were 11 points down in the first half. Marquette came back and made it close in the second half. UAB had a 54-53 lead with 3:17 to play, but Marquette hit five straight and led 58-54 with only 1:15 to go in the game. Corey Jackson cut the lead to two points with 56 seconds to go. With a chance to tie, UAB's best player, Robert Shannon got the ball and was fouled as he went up to shoot. With 8 seconds left in the game, Shannon had a chance to tie it and put the game into overtime. He missed both free throws and the Blazers lost their second game of the year. UAB had gone 46 days between loss #1 and loss #2. Carter Long and Robert Shannon, the Blazers' three point shooters were a combined 1 out of 15 from three point range. The Blazers shot 38% from the field.
The Place:
The Blazers are 5-7 in the city of New Orleans. We won our very first game there on December 5, 1979 against the University of New Orleans by the score of 82-73. This is the only Sun Belt game we have ever played in New Orleans. The University of New Orleans was in the Sun Belt at the time. We lost to a Tim Floyd-coached New Orleans in a non conference game at their place on January 25, 1991. The score was 81-70. Elbert Rogers would lead the 20 points and Stan Rose had 19.
The rest of our games in the Crescent City have been played against today's opponent, Tulane. We are 4-6 against the Green Wave in New Orleans, and have lost our last three games there. We have not beaten Tulane in New Orleans since January 2001.
The Opponent:
Overall, we have eleven wins and ten losses to Tulane. Amazingly, we have lost four of the last five to the Green Wave, with our win at home last year against them being the only break in the losing streak.
One of the most exciting games that the Blazers and Green Wave occurred in the CUSA tournament in St. Louis in 1997. Tulane entered the tournament, led by All conference player, Jerald Honeycutt. They had finished the season 11-3 and had won the Red Divsion of CUSA. UAB had finished an even 7-7 in conference and with an 18-14 record, needed a win in the tournament for a hope at post season play. The Blazers were in a slump in tournament play and had not won a tournament game since 1990. Tulane was the second seed in the tournament and UAB was the seventh seed. Tulane led by six at halftime, but UAB, led by Carlos Williams and Cedric Dixon would storm back in the second half winning a close one by the score of 74-70. Carlos Williams had 25 points and Cedric Dixon had 22 points as the Blazers defeated the Green Wave. In Murry Bartow's first year, he set up high expectations as the Blazers would win again the next day against Charlotte and come within a possession of the championship game.
The Bench:
Tulane is Shawn Finney's first head coaching job, which he has held since 2000. In that time, he is 4-4 against UAB. . From 1990-1996, he was an assistant at Tulsa under both JD Barnett and Tubby Smith. UAB played Tulsa three times during that period, and Tulsa won two and lost one.
1/22/05 Memphis
The Date:
UAB has only played five games on this date, and is three wins and two losses. We are two and one on this date at home. Our last game played on this date was back in 1998 at Memphis.
To find UAB's biggest game played on January 22, you have to go all the way back to 1980. On this date in 1980, we played the #1 team in the country, the DePaul Blue Demons at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. DePaul was 15-0 entering the game and led by All American Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings. They had been Cinderella the previous year in the Final Four. A little known fact about the game is that it was a double header. The first game was a high school game between Berry High School and Homewood. High school senior, Murry Bartow had scored 17 points, leading Berry to the win. Although it was a rainy and stormy night, the largest home crowd ever to see a game, 17,309 fans turned out to see the Blazers play the #1 team in the country. UAB was 11-5, but had struggled of late, losing their last three games. UAB used an aggressive zone defense and DePaul shot 10 of 29 in the first half. The Blazers were shooting poorly also and was 10 of 31 in the first half. There were six lead changes in the first half. DePaul led by one at the half, 23-22. UAB's Larry Spicer had an amazing first half with 12 points and nine rebounds. However, in the second half, DePaul would shut him down and he would only take one shot. UAB was cold during the first 12 minutes of the second half and only had four field goals. They were down 46-31. Another Blazer took over the game at the 8:04 point as Keith McCord hit for 11 points in three minutes and pulled UAB to within two points. Sadly, the Blazers could not get any closer. With five minutes to go, Chris Giles missed a front end of a one and one that would have tied the game. UAB lost by the score of 57-54. Mark Aguirre had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Terry Cummings added 12 points. Keith McCord led the Blazers with 15 points and 8 rebounds and Larry Spicer had 14 points and 12 rebounds. George Jones added 10 points. The Blazers and its fans left the game losers on the scoreboard, but realized that they could compete with anyone in America. Terry Cummings was quoted as saying that “UAB is one gutsy ball club”. Former Birmingham News editor, Alf Van Hoose, who rarely had anything nice to say about basketball, wrote that the game had established the UAB program as “big time”.
The Blazers have played Memphis on this date once before in 1998. The Blazers travelled to Memphis leading the National division of CUSA with a 4-1 conference record and a 12-5 record overall. Memphis was also 4-1, but had a 7-6 overall record. This game was broadcast on ESPN. The Blazers stayed in the game in the first half, but a 13-4 run in the second half game the Tigers a 12 point lead four minutes in, after the brak. Detric Golden scored 27 points for the Tigers and Omar Sneed had 21 as the Tigers took over first place in the National Division with a 86-70 victory. Cedric Dixon had 15 points for the Blazers and freshman Leandrew Bass had 14. UAB shot 36% from the field for the game.
The Opponent:
UAB's record against Memphis is 8-20. UAB has lost to Memphis more than any other team we have ever played. The Blazers have lost the last three game to the Tigers,and six of the last seven. However, UAB has a slight edge in games played in Bartow Arena with six wins and five losses.
To me, the most exciting, most important and greatest game ever played against Memphis was its first game against the Tigers in 1985 in the NCAA tournament. If asked, Gene Bartow will probably tell you that the loss to Memphis in the 1985 NCAA tournament is the loss that most upset him in all of his years of coaching. UAB was playing its second game in the NCAA tournament in Houston, Texas after defeating Michigan State in the first round. The second round game was against the fourth ranked Memphis Tigers with a record of 28-3
In this game, nine of the 10 starters for both teams were from the Memphis area. Going into the game, a superstitious person would have thought UAB had the upper hand. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and the Blazers were wearing green. That had to be a good sign. It was a fantastic game. The Blazers fell behind 12-4 early, but came back on a 10-2 run and led at halftime 32-27. James Ponder led the charge with 12 points in the first half, 18 points in the game. There was a questionable call in the first half that had an impact on the game. With 12:20 remaining in 1st half, Archie Johnson dunked a follow up shot, cutting Memphis’s lead to 12-10. The force of the dunk caused Johnson to steady himself by grabbing the rim. When he pulled down on the rim, the ball apparently popped out of the top of the basket. Dana Kirk vigorously protested the call. Hank Nichols was quoted as saying “In the judgment of the referees, it went through the basket. If it didn’t, it didn’t. But we thought it did at the time” After the game, it was ruled that the officials had made a mistake since the ball did not go completely through the net. The basket should not have been allowed, and a technical should have been called for hanging on the rim.
Memphis never led in the second half. With 25 seconds left in the second half and UAB leading 61-60, Andre Turner took a bad shot, and UAB rebounded. They hurried a pass up the floor, but it was deflected and Turner got the ball. He saw Lee under the basket, and Lee tied the game with one free throw. With the score tied 61-61, Steve Mitchell was working for a last second shot, when he found himself trapped between seven footer William Bedford, and 6’10” Keith Lee. He turned the ball over on a “held ball” call with four seconds left. The Tigers missed a game winning shot and the game went to overtime.
The overtime period had four lead changes. UAB got a break 62 seconds into overtime when Keith Lee fouled out. Lee led all scorers with 28 points on 12 of 17 shots. When he was tagged with his final foul, Lee, who was playing in his last game if they lost, screamed as though he had been stabbed. With 43 seconds left in overtime, UAB missed four straight shots before Jack Gordon rammed in the rebound. The Blazers were up 66-65. Andre Turner brought the ball down and dribbled the clock down to six seconds. He then shot the ball over his junior high teammate, friend and rival, Steve Mitchell. His 15 foot shot with 6 seconds left gave Memphis State its first lead in over 25 minutes. But UAB had a last chance with five seconds left. James Ponder streaked across midcourt and fired one from 25 feet. Vincent Askew got a hand on him as he shot, deflecting the ball. Bartow wanted the foul and chased the referees into the tunnel, protesting the no-call. “Did he deflect the ball when he hit my man?” Bartow said later in the press conference. “Usually a shooter will go to the line in those situations, but not this time” Ponder agreed. “I think he fouled me on the hand as I released the ball.”
The Blazers had lost a heartbreaker to the team that Gene Bartow wanted to beat more than any other. It hurt even more for the four UAB seniors from Memphis to lose to their hometown school in such an important game. Memphis State moved on from this game to win two more games and make it all the way to the Final Four. Who knows, with the talent on this team, if that foul had been called, it might have been UAB in the Final Four that year.
The Bench:
John Calipari has won six of seven games against UAB. The one loss to the Blazers occurred in 2002 in Murry Bartow's last year. UAB had lost 102-81 in Memphis earlier in the season, and not many fans expected them to do much better when the Tigers returned the game to Bartow Arena. Memphis was 20-4 and undefeated in CUSA play. UAB was struggling along with a 10-12 record and 3-6 in conference play. Memphis would trail by double digits for the first time in conference play as UAB led by 10 in the first half. The Tigers cut the score to four, 30-26 by half time. In the second half, UAB gradually pulled away and won the game by 18 points, and held Memphis to its lowest output since 1997. Memphis shot just 30% and superstar freshman Dajuan Wagner made just 6 of 23 shots, scoring 23 points. UAB was led by Mo FInley with 19 points, and Will Campbell scored his fourth double double in five games, scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. The final score was UAB 64, Memphis 46.
Calipari has actually met up with UAB on one other occasion. In 1984, he was an assistant coach on a Larry Brown coached Kansas team that lost to UAB by the score of 50-46 in the championship game of the Great Alaskan Shootout.
1/29/05 South Florida
The Date:
It's a good day for the Blazers to play basketball today, as we are 7-1 on games played on January 29. We are 3-1 at home on this date.
Naturally, the game I find the most interesting is the only game we have lost on this date. It happened on this date in 1983 against DePaul. The Blue Demons entered the game 10-5 and UAB was 11-9, but was on a four game win streak and hoped to end the futility streak against DePaul, who had beaten them every year since the beginning. UAB was favored by two points going into the game. Both teams shot poorly, 37% for UAB and 40% for DePaul. The game went back and forth in the second half and UAB went up by one point with 2:37 to go with a Singleton basket and free throw. His three point play was the last Blazer points of the game, unfortunately. UAB missed a shot with 1:49 to go, but got the ball back after DePaul knocked the rebound out of bounds. Down by one point, Coach Gene Bartow chose to work for a final shot with 22 seconds left in the game. Tyrone Corbin stripped the ball away from Luellen Foster before he could get a shot off. DePaul won the game 56-54. After the game, Coach Bartow said that it was the first time he had chose to work for the last shot when he was behind. DePaul's coach Ray Meyer also questioned the decision saying "I don't know why he would do something like that. I certainly don't want to criticize. He's an outstanding coach, but I would never have done that." The Blazers was led by McKinley Singleton with 15 points. The only other Blazer in double figures was Raymond Gause with 10 points.
On this date in 2002, UAB was struggling along at 9-11 entering a game against TCU . The Horned Frogs were slightly better at 11-10. TCU was playing their first season in Conference USA and coach Billy Tubbs was in his last season as coach. One of his assistants was current UAB assistant, Scott Edgar. UAB let a 14 point second half lead disingrate as the Horned Frogs tied the game at 65 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the game. However, TCU had no answer for Will Campbell, and the Blazers went on a 12-6 run to win the game. Three days earlier, Campbell had 27 points. Against TCU, he had 30 points and 19 rebounds, probably his best game in his career. It is too bad that one of our greatest post players played on such crappy teams. The Blazers won 77-71. It was Murry Bartow's 100th win as a head coach. He would only get three more at UAB.
The Opponent:
We are 33-19 against the Bulls. It is hard to believe with them leaving CUSA that this may be the last time we play them for a while. They were in the Sun Belt Conference with us from 1978-1991 and in CUSA from 1995 to the present. We still managed to play them as a nonconference game most years between 1991-1995. The only season we have not played South Florida is 1991-92.
It is hard to choose games to spotlight with South Florida because there are so many. As a tribute to our long lasting series with South Florida, instead of looking at specfic games, here are some interesting moments, good and bad, in no particular order. Cue flashback music - .
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1. In 1980, UAB won the game 92-83, played in Lakeland Florida because South Florida did not have a home arena, as the Sun Dome was being built. The game was played in front of 336 fans.
2. Also in 1980, in Birmingham, Keith McCord scores 34 points and 11 rebounds as UAB wins 78-70. McCord becomes the first Blazer to score at least 30 points in a game.
3. In 2003, Mo Finley scoring 25 second half points, including 16 of the last 18 points to seal a 10 point victory on the road
4. In 1990, South Florida students wearing Alan Ogg masks in our game in Tampa trying to intimidate him. Did not work as he scored 14 points and the Blazers won 83-66.
5. In 2002, rowdy South Florida students travel to Bartow Arena to watch their Bulls lose 83-78 to the Blazers. UAB fans are shocked and angered when they cheer and hoot during the performance of the National Anthem.
6. In 1985, the Bulls prolific scorer, Charlie Bailey missing the front end of a one and one with seven seconds to go to ice a Bulls win. It was his first free throw miss in 29 tries. Seconds later, Steve Mitchell hits two free throws to give the Blazers a one point victory.
7. The worst Blazers home loss ever on February 21, 2001 when South Florida defeats UAB at home 75-47.
8. Defeating the Bulls in the 1983 Sun Belt Conference Tournament title game to win the Sun Belt Championship. It was UAB's 100th victory.
9. In 1999, Myron Ransom and BB Walden go face to face after Ransom gets a forearm to the throat. Ransom has to be restrained from going after the fans as he is escorted to the lockerroom. UAB wins a close one by three.
10. Sidney Ball's three pointer with 0.8 seconds to go in the game last year to give us a two point victory and assure UAB of a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Can anyone add to this list?
The Bench:
Birmingham native South Florida head coach, Robert McCullum is 0-3 against the Blazers.
1/2/05 Murray State
The Date: 4-3
UAB is 4-3 on games played on the second day of the year, January 2. Of those games, we are 3-2 at home. On this date in 1988, UAB defeated Jackson State 65-51 to gain the 200th win in the programs history. Jackson State was coached by long time UAB assistant, John Prince.
On this date in 1999, UAB traveled to Memphis to play an early CUSA conference game against the Memphis Tigers. The Blazer team was somewhat in disarray as Murry Bartow had removed Fred Williams from the starting lineup due to a bad first half of the season. Williams had been suspended for half a game due to missing the plane to a game in Puerto Rico. He had also been slowed by a chipped bone in his hand. In the previous game against Tulane, Williams had a monstrous dunk, but was hit with a technical foul immediately following for trash talking about the dunk. Bartow benched him, saying he was a disruption to the team. On the other hand, Willie Mitchell was on fire heading into the Memphis game. He had scored 53 points in the past 3 games on 22-30 shooting. Against Memphis, UAB jumped out to a quick 17-6 lead at the Pyramid, and the Tigers missed the first 13 of 16 shots. However due to Blazer turnovers, Memphis cut the lead to 2 with four minutes to go in the half. UAB outscored Memphis 14-6 the rest of the half on three pointers by Eric Holmes and Willie Mitchell, and took a 10 point lead to the locker room. In the second half, the Blazers maintained their lead, hitting 17 of 20 free throws, and won the game 91-83. Torrey Ward had a career high 25 points and Willie Mitchell had 18. UAB would go on to win the National Division of CUSA and a spot in the NCAA tournament that year.
The last game played on this date was played two years ago in 2003 against the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. Mississippi State was ranked 8th in the country and came to Bartow Arena as the first visit to Bartow by a ranked opponent since Cincinnati had played there in 2000. An almost sellout crowd included basketball greats Jerry West and Gene Bartow as well as several hundred Bulldog fans. . The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick lead and led by 17 points at the half. UAB could get no closer than 15 points in the second half, and Mississippi State won 68-52. Gabe Kennedy was hobbled by an ankle injury, and UAB had no inside presence, giving the Bulldogs a 43-28 rebounding edge. Mo Finley was held to just 2 points in the second half, but finished as UAB's high scorer with 15 points. State shot 55% to UAB's 36%.
The Opponent: 0-3
The UAB Blazers have never beaten Murray State. That's right. NEVER. We have played them three times and lost all three in fairly close games. It's time to change that tonight. It's important that we look at all three games against Murray State and how they have ripped our hearts out each time.
Our first lost to them came December 29, 1982. It was an embarrassing loss in that it came in the finals of the UAB Classic, our own holiday tournament that UAB used to hold, inviting seemingly cupcake teams to booster the win total. However, this Racer team was not a cupcake. In an unfortunate piece of scheduling, the game was played at the exact same time that Bear Bryant was coaching his last football game in the Liberty Bowl. Still, there was 8,872 at the BJCC to watch the game. The Blazers had won five of their last seven games, after starting the season 1-4. The game was close throughout, with 22 lead changes, and seven ties. The Racers shot 58% from the field, and pulled out the upset win 81-75. Cliff Pruitt led the Blazers with 21 points, but was 6 of 16 from the field. The Racer's Ricky Hood, from Montgomery led all scorers with 29 points, 22 of which came in the second half. In other news that day, Watson Brown was named head coach of Cincinatti.
Our other two losses to Murray State are more recent. In 2000, the Racers and Blazers were both 3-1 entering the game, this time played at Bartow Arena. UAB led the entire game. Murray State was down by 13 points at half time, and with 10 1/2 minutes in the game, they were down 15. However, bad shooting for the Blazers doomed UAB in the second half, and Murray State went on a 23-8 run to tie the game. UAB made only 15 of their final 44 shots. Eric Batchelor and PJ Arnold were a paltry 3 of 19 from three point range. Murray State tied the game wth 41 seconds left and put the game into overtime. In OT, the Racers outscored the Blazers 18-6 and won the game 84-72. LeAndrew Bass led the Blazers with 16 points. Another Montgomery native for Murray State, Isaac Spencer led the Racers with 20 points.
On December 1, 2001, Murry Bartow took an odd all junior college starting lineup with Eric Batchelor, Antonae Roberson, Will Campbell, PJ Arnold and Eric Bush to Murray, Kentucky to take on the Racers. . Again, UAB seemed to be in control throughout the game. The Blazers led the entire game, except for one minute in the first half, and the last 18 seconds of the 2nd half. UAB had a 19 point lead midway through the second half, but the Racers outscored the Blazers 38-14 in the final 11 minutes. In the final 18 seconds, James Singleton of the Racers scored on successive dunks and two free throws. Twice during the comeback, UAB tried to call timeouts when the Racers tied up the ball, but the officials called the other TO's instead - turnovers. UAB had a nine point lead with three minutes to go, but would not score the rest of the game. Murray State beat the Blazers again 74-69.
The Bench:
Mick Cronin is in his second year as head coach of the Racers, but he has coached against the Blazers many times before as an assistant. From 1997-2001, he was an assistant coach under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati. During those years, the Bearcats won all six games played against UAB. In 2001, he left Cincinnati and joined Rick Pitino's staff at Louisville. Andy Kennedy replaced him at Cincinnati. During two years as a Louisville assistant, the Cardinals played UAB twice and won both games. Therefore, Mick Cronin is 8-0 against UAB in his coaching career.
As you can see, the Blazers have some significant trends to reverse tonight. Let's give Murray State and Mick Cronin their first loss to the Blazers.
1/5/05 Southern Miss
The Date: 6-4
UAB has won six games and lost four on this date. All six wins were at home, and we have lost two games at home, to Tulane in 1997 by the score of 86-61, and to Louisivlle in 2002 by the score of 88-77. This was Rick Pitino's first CUSA game at Louisivlle. We have lost the last three games played on January 5.
The loss to Tulane in 1997 was the second worst home loss that UAB has ever suffered. Murry Bartow was in his first season, and while Murry sometimes received criticism for not being enough of a disciplinarian, apparently this was not the case in his first year. Three players were not allowed to play in the first half of this Tulane game played January 5, 1997. Did they skip class? No. Were they late for practice? No. The sin of James Bristow, Hal Lewis and Will Bailey was that they had not shaved. Murry Bartow was quoted as saying "It is a simple matter. I require all the players to be clean shaven. They sat out until they were" When the three hairy players reported for the game, they were informed that they would not play until they had shaved. All three had baby smooth skin by half time, and were allowed to play in the second half. I guess Murry was trying to prove he was boss. His rule apparently was not permanent. The next year's media guide shows no less than six players with some sort of facial hair. An odd episode in Blazer history. Anyway back to the Tulane game. The return of the three players did not help UAB in the second half. UAB was down by seven points at the half, but Tulane shot 60% in the second half to put the Blazers away. UAB could not get any help from its star, Carlos Williams who was playing with a bandaged hand, and finished with only 5 points on 2 of 10 shooting. Tulane won the game 86-61. Jerold Honeycutt for the Green Wave led the way with 20 points. Torrey Ward finsihed with 13 for the Blazers.
Our greatest victory on this date came in 1985, when we defeated DePaul for the first time ever. DePaul had been the winningest team in the country in the past six years with an amazing record of 159-18. They had finished ranked in the top six each of the past six years. Of course that had all been under their legendary coach Ray Meyer. Ray had retired, and his son, Joey Meyer had taken the helm. DePaul came into the game ranked #10 in the country, with a 9-2 record. UAB and DePaul had played some close games in Birmingham. DePaul had won the last two games by a total of five points. DePaul was the only team to have been on UAB's schedule since its inaugural year, and UAB had never beaten them. A crowd of 17,222, the second largest home crowd in UAB's history came out to see the game. UAB shot 50% in the first half to take a 34-17 halftime lead. DePaul had shot only 25% in the first half. The Blue Demons improved their shooting in the second half, but the Blazers lead was too big and DePaul was forced to foul. The Blazers hit 20 of 25 free throws in the second half, and won the game 66-59. Steve Mitchell led the Blazers with 18 points as UAB defeated the tenth ranked Blue Demons for the first time.
The Opponent: 13-8
Over the years, we have beaten Southern Miss 13 times and lost eight times. However, since joining CUSA, we are only 9-8 against them. In Birmingham, we are a respectable 8-2 against them. We seem to have always had problems with Southern Miss.
This was not the case during our first season, when Southern Miss became the first school to be swept by during the season. On January 29, 1979, the Blazers won their very first game on an opponent’s court.against Southern Miss. Southern Miss was leading at halftime by the score of 29-24, having shut down UAB’s go-to guy, Larry Spicer, who only had 2 points at halftime. In the second half, Spicer had 16 points, as the Blazers got hot, shooting 66% in the second half after shooting 32% in the first half. With no shock clock, the Blazers held the ball without shooting from 3:14 to 1:32 in the second half. The Golden Eagles took the lead with 50 seconds to go in the game. Gene Bartow called time out and set up the play. With seven seconds to go, Greg Leet missed a jumper, but Leon Morris was there to put the basket in, giving the Blazers a 60-59 victory. Many were surprised by the low scoring game because UAB had beat Southern Miss 93-87 earlier in the season. However, Gene Bartow had slowed the tempo down in this game. He was quoted as saying “A lot of times when you have one of those 95-90 games on the road, you end up with the 90.”
The Bench:
Southern Miss is now coached by former Iowa State and party pal Larry Eustachy. Eustachy has never coached against UAB as a head coach. However, from 1981 to 1986, he was an assistant coach to Bob Boyd at Mississippi State. UAB and Mississippi State played each other three times during that period and UAB won two of the three.
1/8/05 @South Florida
The Date:
The Blazers are 4-3 in games played on January 8. Of those seven games, four have been played on the road, and we are 2-2 in road games played this date. UAB has actually played two games against South Florida on this date in Tampa. In 1990, the Blazers won 83-66 and in 2003, UAB defeated the Bulls 79-69. .
On this date in 1997, the Blazers traveled to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats who were 9-2, and ranked #6 in the country. Remarkably, in the mid 1990's, the Blazers had the upper hand over the Bearcats and had won five of the last six games over Cincinnati. But that was the Gene Bartow era, and this was the first time that Murry Bartow would face Bob Huggins. UAB came into the game 9-6 and it was the first time in Blazer history for the team to open league play 0-3. UAB was outmanned in this game, although Cedric Dixon kept the game respectable by hitting six three pointers. He was the leading scorer with 27 points. Damon Flint and Danny Fortson led Cincinnati with 16 points each.
The Place: Tampa
The Blazers are 13-10 in games played in Tampa, Florida. All games have been played against South Florida. UAB has won the last two games played in Tampa.
The Opponent:
Because of our long conference ties with South Florida, first in the Sun Belt and now in Conference USA, the Blazers have played more games against the Bulls than any other team. UAB has won 32 games and lost 19. At one point between 1985 and 1991, UAB won 12 out of 13 games against the Bulls. We have won the last four games.
On this date in 1990, UAB traveled to Tampa with a 10-3 record and a six game winning streak. South Florida was 8-3. Wow. Almost history repeating itself today! UAB almost did not make it to Tampa for this game. They had played against Old Dominion in Norfolk and was flying from Norfolk to Tampa. The flight was delayed first because a stowaway was found aboard, and then mechanical problems caused the flight to be delayed four more hours. When they finally made it to Tampa, their luggage didn't, causing them to miss practice. Alan Ogg was coming into his own as a Blazer. In the past three games, he had made 12 of 12 shots, 8 of 10 shots and 7 of 11 shots. The South Florida students were ready for Ogg, wearing Alan Ogg masks at the game. The game was close for 13 minutes with three ties and 8 lead changes. Elbert Rogers put the Blazers ahead 22-21 at the seven minute mark of the first half. The Blazers then went on a 11-1 spurt and led by 10 at the half. In the second half, the Blazers put the game away, by hitting 8 of 9 free throws in the final five minutes. UAB won 83-66, with Andy Kennedy leading the way with 17 points. Larry Rembert had a double double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Ogg had 14 points, on 5 of 8 shooting. "I made some friends!" Ogg reported after the game. " I waved goodbye as a winner"
The other road game played on this date against South Florida came in 2003. South Florida was undefeated at home and UAB came to the game with Gabe Kennedy and Demario Eddins hobbled with injuries. However, Mo Finley took over the game in the second half to make sure the Blazers won 79-69. He only had three points at half time, but scored 25 points in the second half to lead all scorers with 28 points. He scored 16 of the last 18 points in the game. Eric Bush was quoted as saying about Finley, "I see that every day in practice". With under six minutes to go in the game, South Florida had cut the lead to four points, but Mo scored eight straight points to seal the victory.
The Bench:
Second year South Florida head coach, Robert McCullum is a native of Birmingham and is very familar with the city and UAB. He played in the mid 1970's for two years at Birmingham Southern, and was a coach from 1978-1982 at Ramsey High School. As an assistant at South Alabama, he coached against the Blazers many times, but he has a poor 2-8 record against UAB while at South Alabama. As a head coach at South Florida, he is 0-2 against the Blazers.
Trivia question:
I indicated earlier that UAB has lost to South Florida 19 times. This is the second most losses UAB has to any one school. Which school has beaten UAB more times than South Florida? No peeking at media guides.
1/12/05 Charlotte
The Date:
UAB has a respectable 5-2 in games played on January 12. They are 4-1 at home on this date. The last game played on this date is not a pleasant memory as UAB traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2002 to play Southern Miss. The Blazers lost 50-36, setting a UAB and tied a CUSA record for the lowest points scored in a game. UAB would finish the season with a 13-17. Southern Miss would do even worse with a 10-17 record.
A better memory comes from the year 2000, when the Blazers took on the 25th ranked Louisville Cardinals The Cards came to Birmingham with a 10-3 record. The Blazers were 7-5, and had a perfect record of 7-0 at home, although they were winless on the road. Louisville led 28-27 at the half, but that was not unusual for Blazer fans because UAB had been down at the half in their last 8 games. Coming out in the second half, the Blazers went on an 8-0 run with Myron Ransom scoring six of the points. The Cards came out cold and did not score from the field until the 13 minute mark of the second half. It was an ugly game as both teams combined for 50 turnovers (24 for UAB, 26 for UL). However, UAB shot 52% in the second half and won the game 56-50. Myron Ransom was 8 for 10 from the field and led the Blazers with 22 points. Eric Holmes had 12. Freshman Reece Gaines led Louisville with 15 points.
On this date in 1994, UAB came home to play Cal State Sacramento. The Blazers were riding high after ending Cincinnati's 25 game home winning streak and moving into #22 in the AP Poll. This was a perfect opportunity for a possible letdown at home. Cal State was a poor team with a 4-23 record from the previous year. At the beginning of the game, the Blazers were complacent and the crowd was quiet. UAB had only scored one basket in the first 4 1/2 minutes. After 3-4 minutes of lackluster play, Coach Gene Bartow decided to shake things up with his infamous "mad dog" play. Those long time fans will remember the excitement as Coach Bartow would jump up charge down the bench, selecting five players at random and substituting all five players for the starters who were not following his wishes. Off the bench came Chad Jones, George Wilkerson, Travis Harper, Reggie Allen and Carlos Browning, in favor of the starters, Carter Long, Corey Jackson, Clarence Thrash, Robert Shannon, and Frank Haywood. Bartow claimed that this was the first time that he had pulled the "mad dog" since 1986. The move energized the team and the crowd as it usually did, and UAB led 39-19 at the half. The Blazers would go on to win 88-46, with Robert Shannon leading the way with 19 points. Frank Haywood would have 14 points and 13 rebounds with 10 of his points and 12 of his rebounds coming in 11 minutes of second half playing time.
The Opponent: 25-14
The Blazers are 25-14 against Charlotte. Most of our games were played against them when they were known as North Carolina-Charlotte, or UNCC. We have won the last three games against the 49ers. We are 14-4 against them in Birmingham, but Charlotte won the last game played in Birmingham in 2002 by the score of 78-58.
UAB has actually played Charlotte on this date, back in 1987 at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. Charlotte was 0-11 at the BJCC and 0-8 there against UAB. James Ponder was on fire as he hit 9 of 12 field goals and 4 out of 5 three pointers to lead the Blazers with 22 points. Ponder was rebounding from a horrible outing the previous game in which he was 0-13. UAB won the game 69-46. An interesting side note to this game appeared in the Birmingham News. Wayne Martin, beat writer for UAB indicated that UAB was considering playing games at the "new practice facility on campus" which was in the planning stages. He wrote that UAB officials said there were no plans to play games there at this time, however, Gene Bartow was quoted in a Mobile paper as saying he wanted to move all games there, except for the Auburn game. This "on campus practice facility" of course would become Bartow Arena. It appears that Bartow almost had to sneak it past the Board of Trustees.
The Bench:
Bobby Lutz has been coach at Charlotte since 1998. He was an assistant coach there for three years prior to that. As a head coach, Lutz has won four games against the Blazers and lost five. As an assistant, he helped win two games and lose one against UAB.
1/15/05 @East Carolina
The Date: The Torrey Ward show
In 26 years, the Blazers have only played four games on January 15, all of them since 1995. We have lost twice at Marquette in 1995 and 2002, and beaten Louisville and South Florida at home in 1998 and 2000.
The game against Louisville in 1998 had an exciting end to a low scoring game. UAB entered the game 11-4 and had won seven in a row. Louisville was struggling with a 7-8 record. A near sellout of 8227 showed up to see the CUSA showdown. UAB led by five points with 7:28 left in the game, but could not hit a free throw to put the Cards away. The Blazers missed 8 of their final 10 free throws, and allowed Louisville to tie the game at 45. A free throw by Nate Johnson put the Cardinals ahead by one point. However, Torrey Ward would not be denied. He scored 7 of the final 10 points for the Blazers with only a Damon Cobb three pointer at 1:11 to go to break Ward's string. With 21 seconds to go in the game, and the game on the line, Willie Mitchell tossed the ball the lenghth of the court to Torrey Ward, who laid the ball in the basket. With 12 seconds to go and UAB up by one, Ward was at the free throw line. He missed his first, but hit his second, giving the Cardinals one last chance. Their shot fell short and the Blazers had their first win over Louisville in four tries, dating back to 1982 when the Cardinals kept us from making the Final Four. Ward led the Blazers with 15 points and Cedric Dixon had 14 points.
Torrey Ward was the hero two years later when we played South Florida at the Bartow Arena in 2000 in a truly ugly game. South Florida was 9-5 and UAB was 8-5 entering the game. South Florida had been the preseason favorite to win the National division of Conference USA. UAB was coming into the game after an upset of #25 Louisville and played uninspired ball in this game. At the eight minute point of the first half, UAB had a 31-13 lead over the Bulls, but UAB stopped scoring. The Blazers went from the 8:03 of the first half to the 11:14 point of the second half without a field goal. That is almost 17 minutes with no baskets. South Florida was playing just as bad, and UAB was leading through most of the game. Seth Greenberg, coach at South Florida was quoted as saying both teams set basketball back 15 years. Murry Bartow said "the game film won't be sent to the hall of fame." Free throws again was the curse to the Blazers as they missed six of their last eight free throws to allow South Florida to tie the game and put it into overtime. In the final 50 seconds, the Blazers took four shots within five feet of the basket and missed all four. Fortuately, in overtime, Torrey Ward stepped up as he often did, and hit six of seven free throws to give the Blazers an undeserved 75-66 victory over the Bulls in overtime. Ward had 18 points and Eric Holmes led the Blazers with 20.
The Opponent:
We have beaten East Carolina all three times we have played them. Two of those victories came last season. Our biggest victory was by 9 points in 2002. Both games last season were closer than they should have been.
The game in Birmingham last year was played on Valentines Day. UAB was down by eight points at the half after the Pirates had shot 55.6% in the first half. However, UAB opened the second half with a strong run to get back into the game. There were seven lead changes and four ties in the second half. Mo Finley hit a 12 foot jumper with 1:02 to go to give the Blazers a three point lead. Finley's shot fell short with seven seconds to go,giving the Pirates a chance to tie. However, Sidney Ball intercepted a pass and was fouled, sealing the victory. Gabe Kennedy and Demario Eddins scored 16 points each to lead the Blazers as UAB won 72-69.
The Place:
The only game we have ever played in Greenville, North Carolina was last season against East Carolina. Squeaky Johnson set career highs in points, assists, steals and minutes as he led the Blazers with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals in 32 minutes of play. The game was tied at 67-67 with 1:41 left in the game, when Squeaky stole the ball and passed it to Donell Taylor who found Mo Finley under the basket for a driving layup. The Blazers led the rest of the way and won 71-68. Gabe Kennedy was the leading scorer with 14 points.
The Bench:
Bill Herrion is 0-3 against UAB in his tenure at East Carolina. He has never coached against the Blazers anywhere else.
1/19/05 @Tulane
The Date:
Some poor trends for todays game. In addition to the unexplainable fact that we have not won in any sport in the state of Louisiana since the LSU football game in 2000, we also have the poor record of two wins and five losses on this date. We are 1-2 on the road on this date.
Our biggest (and only) win on the road on this date came in 1985 in Bowling Green, Kentucky against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Western Kentucky had started out the season 9-2, but had lost the last two games going into this Saturday afternoon game. They were led by Kannard Johnson and Tellis Frank and was coached by Clem Haskins. UAB was 15-4 entering the game, led by Steve Mitchell and Jerome Mincy. UAB had five busloads full of fans and students (including yours truly) make the roadtrip to Bowling Green for the 12:30 game. Western Kentucky led for most of the game and was up by 11 with 7:48 to go in the game. UAB had gone cold in the second half and only had one field goal from 17:33 to 7:45 in the second half. Steve Mitchell had 14 points at the half, but would score 10 points in the final seven minutes. Mitchell tied the score at 64 and then WKU committed a turnover with 1:05 to go. Mitchell’s shot bounced out with 27 seconds to go, but Michael Charles tipped it in. The Hilltoppers tied the game with 20 seconds left. With five seconds to go in the game, Steve Mitchell hit the winning basket, giving the Blazers a 68-66 win.
Also on this date, UAB was ranked #18 in the country in the AP poll entering a home game against Marquette in 1994. UAB had a 13-1 record. and Marquette was 9-4 and just outside of the top 25. Both teams were 2-0 in Great Midwest play. Marquette's star player was Jim McIlvaine, who had 24 points in this game. The Warriors, as they were called at the time, were 11 points down in the first half. Marquette came back and made it close in the second half. UAB had a 54-53 lead with 3:17 to play, but Marquette hit five straight and led 58-54 with only 1:15 to go in the game. Corey Jackson cut the lead to two points with 56 seconds to go. With a chance to tie, UAB's best player, Robert Shannon got the ball and was fouled as he went up to shoot. With 8 seconds left in the game, Shannon had a chance to tie it and put the game into overtime. He missed both free throws and the Blazers lost their second game of the year. UAB had gone 46 days between loss #1 and loss #2. Carter Long and Robert Shannon, the Blazers' three point shooters were a combined 1 out of 15 from three point range. The Blazers shot 38% from the field.
The Place:
The Blazers are 5-7 in the city of New Orleans. We won our very first game there on December 5, 1979 against the University of New Orleans by the score of 82-73. This is the only Sun Belt game we have ever played in New Orleans. The University of New Orleans was in the Sun Belt at the time. We lost to a Tim Floyd-coached New Orleans in a non conference game at their place on January 25, 1991. The score was 81-70. Elbert Rogers would lead the 20 points and Stan Rose had 19.
The rest of our games in the Crescent City have been played against today's opponent, Tulane. We are 4-6 against the Green Wave in New Orleans, and have lost our last three games there. We have not beaten Tulane in New Orleans since January 2001.
The Opponent:
Overall, we have eleven wins and ten losses to Tulane. Amazingly, we have lost four of the last five to the Green Wave, with our win at home last year against them being the only break in the losing streak.
One of the most exciting games that the Blazers and Green Wave occurred in the CUSA tournament in St. Louis in 1997. Tulane entered the tournament, led by All conference player, Jerald Honeycutt. They had finished the season 11-3 and had won the Red Divsion of CUSA. UAB had finished an even 7-7 in conference and with an 18-14 record, needed a win in the tournament for a hope at post season play. The Blazers were in a slump in tournament play and had not won a tournament game since 1990. Tulane was the second seed in the tournament and UAB was the seventh seed. Tulane led by six at halftime, but UAB, led by Carlos Williams and Cedric Dixon would storm back in the second half winning a close one by the score of 74-70. Carlos Williams had 25 points and Cedric Dixon had 22 points as the Blazers defeated the Green Wave. In Murry Bartow's first year, he set up high expectations as the Blazers would win again the next day against Charlotte and come within a possession of the championship game.
The Bench:
Tulane is Shawn Finney's first head coaching job, which he has held since 2000. In that time, he is 4-4 against UAB. . From 1990-1996, he was an assistant at Tulsa under both JD Barnett and Tubby Smith. UAB played Tulsa three times during that period, and Tulsa won two and lost one.
1/22/05 Memphis
The Date:
UAB has only played five games on this date, and is three wins and two losses. We are two and one on this date at home. Our last game played on this date was back in 1998 at Memphis.
To find UAB's biggest game played on January 22, you have to go all the way back to 1980. On this date in 1980, we played the #1 team in the country, the DePaul Blue Demons at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. DePaul was 15-0 entering the game and led by All American Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings. They had been Cinderella the previous year in the Final Four. A little known fact about the game is that it was a double header. The first game was a high school game between Berry High School and Homewood. High school senior, Murry Bartow had scored 17 points, leading Berry to the win. Although it was a rainy and stormy night, the largest home crowd ever to see a game, 17,309 fans turned out to see the Blazers play the #1 team in the country. UAB was 11-5, but had struggled of late, losing their last three games. UAB used an aggressive zone defense and DePaul shot 10 of 29 in the first half. The Blazers were shooting poorly also and was 10 of 31 in the first half. There were six lead changes in the first half. DePaul led by one at the half, 23-22. UAB's Larry Spicer had an amazing first half with 12 points and nine rebounds. However, in the second half, DePaul would shut him down and he would only take one shot. UAB was cold during the first 12 minutes of the second half and only had four field goals. They were down 46-31. Another Blazer took over the game at the 8:04 point as Keith McCord hit for 11 points in three minutes and pulled UAB to within two points. Sadly, the Blazers could not get any closer. With five minutes to go, Chris Giles missed a front end of a one and one that would have tied the game. UAB lost by the score of 57-54. Mark Aguirre had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Terry Cummings added 12 points. Keith McCord led the Blazers with 15 points and 8 rebounds and Larry Spicer had 14 points and 12 rebounds. George Jones added 10 points. The Blazers and its fans left the game losers on the scoreboard, but realized that they could compete with anyone in America. Terry Cummings was quoted as saying that “UAB is one gutsy ball club”. Former Birmingham News editor, Alf Van Hoose, who rarely had anything nice to say about basketball, wrote that the game had established the UAB program as “big time”.
The Blazers have played Memphis on this date once before in 1998. The Blazers travelled to Memphis leading the National division of CUSA with a 4-1 conference record and a 12-5 record overall. Memphis was also 4-1, but had a 7-6 overall record. This game was broadcast on ESPN. The Blazers stayed in the game in the first half, but a 13-4 run in the second half game the Tigers a 12 point lead four minutes in, after the brak. Detric Golden scored 27 points for the Tigers and Omar Sneed had 21 as the Tigers took over first place in the National Division with a 86-70 victory. Cedric Dixon had 15 points for the Blazers and freshman Leandrew Bass had 14. UAB shot 36% from the field for the game.
The Opponent:
UAB's record against Memphis is 8-20. UAB has lost to Memphis more than any other team we have ever played. The Blazers have lost the last three game to the Tigers,and six of the last seven. However, UAB has a slight edge in games played in Bartow Arena with six wins and five losses.
To me, the most exciting, most important and greatest game ever played against Memphis was its first game against the Tigers in 1985 in the NCAA tournament. If asked, Gene Bartow will probably tell you that the loss to Memphis in the 1985 NCAA tournament is the loss that most upset him in all of his years of coaching. UAB was playing its second game in the NCAA tournament in Houston, Texas after defeating Michigan State in the first round. The second round game was against the fourth ranked Memphis Tigers with a record of 28-3
In this game, nine of the 10 starters for both teams were from the Memphis area. Going into the game, a superstitious person would have thought UAB had the upper hand. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and the Blazers were wearing green. That had to be a good sign. It was a fantastic game. The Blazers fell behind 12-4 early, but came back on a 10-2 run and led at halftime 32-27. James Ponder led the charge with 12 points in the first half, 18 points in the game. There was a questionable call in the first half that had an impact on the game. With 12:20 remaining in 1st half, Archie Johnson dunked a follow up shot, cutting Memphis’s lead to 12-10. The force of the dunk caused Johnson to steady himself by grabbing the rim. When he pulled down on the rim, the ball apparently popped out of the top of the basket. Dana Kirk vigorously protested the call. Hank Nichols was quoted as saying “In the judgment of the referees, it went through the basket. If it didn’t, it didn’t. But we thought it did at the time” After the game, it was ruled that the officials had made a mistake since the ball did not go completely through the net. The basket should not have been allowed, and a technical should have been called for hanging on the rim.
Memphis never led in the second half. With 25 seconds left in the second half and UAB leading 61-60, Andre Turner took a bad shot, and UAB rebounded. They hurried a pass up the floor, but it was deflected and Turner got the ball. He saw Lee under the basket, and Lee tied the game with one free throw. With the score tied 61-61, Steve Mitchell was working for a last second shot, when he found himself trapped between seven footer William Bedford, and 6’10” Keith Lee. He turned the ball over on a “held ball” call with four seconds left. The Tigers missed a game winning shot and the game went to overtime.
The overtime period had four lead changes. UAB got a break 62 seconds into overtime when Keith Lee fouled out. Lee led all scorers with 28 points on 12 of 17 shots. When he was tagged with his final foul, Lee, who was playing in his last game if they lost, screamed as though he had been stabbed. With 43 seconds left in overtime, UAB missed four straight shots before Jack Gordon rammed in the rebound. The Blazers were up 66-65. Andre Turner brought the ball down and dribbled the clock down to six seconds. He then shot the ball over his junior high teammate, friend and rival, Steve Mitchell. His 15 foot shot with 6 seconds left gave Memphis State its first lead in over 25 minutes. But UAB had a last chance with five seconds left. James Ponder streaked across midcourt and fired one from 25 feet. Vincent Askew got a hand on him as he shot, deflecting the ball. Bartow wanted the foul and chased the referees into the tunnel, protesting the no-call. “Did he deflect the ball when he hit my man?” Bartow said later in the press conference. “Usually a shooter will go to the line in those situations, but not this time” Ponder agreed. “I think he fouled me on the hand as I released the ball.”
The Blazers had lost a heartbreaker to the team that Gene Bartow wanted to beat more than any other. It hurt even more for the four UAB seniors from Memphis to lose to their hometown school in such an important game. Memphis State moved on from this game to win two more games and make it all the way to the Final Four. Who knows, with the talent on this team, if that foul had been called, it might have been UAB in the Final Four that year.
The Bench:
John Calipari has won six of seven games against UAB. The one loss to the Blazers occurred in 2002 in Murry Bartow's last year. UAB had lost 102-81 in Memphis earlier in the season, and not many fans expected them to do much better when the Tigers returned the game to Bartow Arena. Memphis was 20-4 and undefeated in CUSA play. UAB was struggling along with a 10-12 record and 3-6 in conference play. Memphis would trail by double digits for the first time in conference play as UAB led by 10 in the first half. The Tigers cut the score to four, 30-26 by half time. In the second half, UAB gradually pulled away and won the game by 18 points, and held Memphis to its lowest output since 1997. Memphis shot just 30% and superstar freshman Dajuan Wagner made just 6 of 23 shots, scoring 23 points. UAB was led by Mo FInley with 19 points, and Will Campbell scored his fourth double double in five games, scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. The final score was UAB 64, Memphis 46.
Calipari has actually met up with UAB on one other occasion. In 1984, he was an assistant coach on a Larry Brown coached Kansas team that lost to UAB by the score of 50-46 in the championship game of the Great Alaskan Shootout.
1/29/05 South Florida
The Date:
It's a good day for the Blazers to play basketball today, as we are 7-1 on games played on January 29. We are 3-1 at home on this date.
Naturally, the game I find the most interesting is the only game we have lost on this date. It happened on this date in 1983 against DePaul. The Blue Demons entered the game 10-5 and UAB was 11-9, but was on a four game win streak and hoped to end the futility streak against DePaul, who had beaten them every year since the beginning. UAB was favored by two points going into the game. Both teams shot poorly, 37% for UAB and 40% for DePaul. The game went back and forth in the second half and UAB went up by one point with 2:37 to go with a Singleton basket and free throw. His three point play was the last Blazer points of the game, unfortunately. UAB missed a shot with 1:49 to go, but got the ball back after DePaul knocked the rebound out of bounds. Down by one point, Coach Gene Bartow chose to work for a final shot with 22 seconds left in the game. Tyrone Corbin stripped the ball away from Luellen Foster before he could get a shot off. DePaul won the game 56-54. After the game, Coach Bartow said that it was the first time he had chose to work for the last shot when he was behind. DePaul's coach Ray Meyer also questioned the decision saying "I don't know why he would do something like that. I certainly don't want to criticize. He's an outstanding coach, but I would never have done that." The Blazers was led by McKinley Singleton with 15 points. The only other Blazer in double figures was Raymond Gause with 10 points.
On this date in 2002, UAB was struggling along at 9-11 entering a game against TCU . The Horned Frogs were slightly better at 11-10. TCU was playing their first season in Conference USA and coach Billy Tubbs was in his last season as coach. One of his assistants was current UAB assistant, Scott Edgar. UAB let a 14 point second half lead disingrate as the Horned Frogs tied the game at 65 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the game. However, TCU had no answer for Will Campbell, and the Blazers went on a 12-6 run to win the game. Three days earlier, Campbell had 27 points. Against TCU, he had 30 points and 19 rebounds, probably his best game in his career. It is too bad that one of our greatest post players played on such crappy teams. The Blazers won 77-71. It was Murry Bartow's 100th win as a head coach. He would only get three more at UAB.
The Opponent:
We are 33-19 against the Bulls. It is hard to believe with them leaving CUSA that this may be the last time we play them for a while. They were in the Sun Belt Conference with us from 1978-1991 and in CUSA from 1995 to the present. We still managed to play them as a nonconference game most years between 1991-1995. The only season we have not played South Florida is 1991-92.
It is hard to choose games to spotlight with South Florida because there are so many. As a tribute to our long lasting series with South Florida, instead of looking at specfic games, here are some interesting moments, good and bad, in no particular order. Cue flashback music - .
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1. In 1980, UAB won the game 92-83, played in Lakeland Florida because South Florida did not have a home arena, as the Sun Dome was being built. The game was played in front of 336 fans.
2. Also in 1980, in Birmingham, Keith McCord scores 34 points and 11 rebounds as UAB wins 78-70. McCord becomes the first Blazer to score at least 30 points in a game.
3. In 2003, Mo Finley scoring 25 second half points, including 16 of the last 18 points to seal a 10 point victory on the road
4. In 1990, South Florida students wearing Alan Ogg masks in our game in Tampa trying to intimidate him. Did not work as he scored 14 points and the Blazers won 83-66.
5. In 2002, rowdy South Florida students travel to Bartow Arena to watch their Bulls lose 83-78 to the Blazers. UAB fans are shocked and angered when they cheer and hoot during the performance of the National Anthem.
6. In 1985, the Bulls prolific scorer, Charlie Bailey missing the front end of a one and one with seven seconds to go to ice a Bulls win. It was his first free throw miss in 29 tries. Seconds later, Steve Mitchell hits two free throws to give the Blazers a one point victory.
7. The worst Blazers home loss ever on February 21, 2001 when South Florida defeats UAB at home 75-47.
8. Defeating the Bulls in the 1983 Sun Belt Conference Tournament title game to win the Sun Belt Championship. It was UAB's 100th victory.
9. In 1999, Myron Ransom and BB Walden go face to face after Ransom gets a forearm to the throat. Ransom has to be restrained from going after the fans as he is escorted to the lockerroom. UAB wins a close one by three.
10. Sidney Ball's three pointer with 0.8 seconds to go in the game last year to give us a two point victory and assure UAB of a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Can anyone add to this list?
The Bench:
Birmingham native South Florida head coach, Robert McCullum is 0-3 against the Blazers.