05-25-2007, 11:01 PM
Here is the Today in Blazer History reports from March 2005.
3/2/05 DePaul
The Date:
The Blazers are 2-4 on March 2nd. We are 1-0 in home games on this date and 1-2 in regular season games (remember the Sun Belt tournaments started early) To get us ready for conference tournament season, let's look at two of UAB's conference tournament games played on this date.
On this date in 1984, UAB hosted the Sun Belt Tournament in Birmingham. UAB was 20-10 after the regular season was finished and was the fifth seed. Their first round opponent was South Alabama, the fourth seed with a 20-6 record. Two of South Alabama's losses in the regular season had come against UAB. In the last regular season game for the Jaguars, South Alabama had trounced Bethune Cookman, and the fans had begun chanting "We want UAB!" In this game, Anthony "Big Jack" Gordon turned in the best game of his career, scoring 15 points and 14 rebounds, as the Blazers won the third game that year over South Alabama, 76-68. UAB had led by 17 points with 2:11 left in the first half, but South Alabama had pulled to within four points with 8:14 left in the game. In those days of the Sun Belt Conference, the Sun Belt was the only conference to have a shot clock on an experimental basis. However, the rule was that the shot clock was turned off with four minutes to go in the game. This rule was a great benefit to the team ahead at the four minute mark, as they often would immediately slow the ball down and force the other team to foul. In this game, after the shot clock was turned off, UAB hit 15 of 17 free throws to seal their victory. In the second half, as the Jaguars closed in, Big Jack took over. He had 11 points and 9 rebounds in the second half, plus two blocks and a steal. Jack Gordon, for two years, had refused to grant interviews to the media. This game would prove to be the exception. "I played with the highest intensity level tonight of any game I've played in." he was quoted as saying. "I just look to do my part on the boards." Keep in mind that quotes from Jack Gordon had never been read in any newspaper, so it created quite a stir. UAB would go forward and defeat Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion to win the 1984 Sun Belt Tournament. Jack Gordon would break the tournament record for rebounds, grabbing 34 boards in three games. He and McKinley Singleton, who was named Most Valuable Player was listed on the All-Tournament Team.
With the break up of Conference USA imminent and the CUSA tournament next week being the last gathering of its current members, I am reminded of a similar situation in 1991 when UAB and fellow Sun Belt members gathered in Mobile for the Sun Belt Tournament. Several Sun Belt teams were going in different directions. The Sun Belt Conference had been a very innovative conference in the 1980’s experimenting first with the shot clock, the three point shot, and was one of the first conferences to be seen regular on ESPN. Now, however, the conference of eight schools was going separate ways. Virginia Commonwealth, South Florida and North Carolina Charlotte were joining the Metro Conference. Old Dominion was moving to the Colonial Athletic Conference and UAB was headed to the newly formed Great Midwest Conference. Only South Alabama, Western Kentucky, and Jacksonville were staying put in the Sun Belt. In the first round, UAB entered the tournament with a 9-5 conference record and the 2nd seed. Their first round opponent was Old Dominion. The Monarchs led by seven points with seven minutes to go in the game. With Chris Gatling, Old Dominion had controlled the boards and their longest shot all night had been free throws. However, the Blazers scored seven straight points using a full court press and took an 83-80 lead with just seconds to go in the game. Old Dominion brought the ball down, and freshman Joe Leake hit Old Dominion's only three point shot they had even attempted with 10 seconds to go, and the Monarchs sent the game to overtime. In overtime, Chris Gatling took over for the Monarchs, hitting six points. He had 32 points and 13 rebounds in only 29 minutes of play. Old Dominion won the game 99-95 in overtime. Elbert Rogers had 30 points for the Blazers. This was the last Sun Belt game for UAB. It also marked the beginning of a bad streak: a drought in conference tournaments. UAB would never win a conference tournament game in the Great Midwest Conference, suffering a first round loss each time. As a matter of fact, Gene Bartow never won another conference tournament game. The drought would end in 1997, when Murry Bartow in his first year as head coach would win two games and make it to the semi finals in the Conference USA tournament held in St. Louis. Since then, UAB has won at least one game in the conference tournament in six of eight years.
The Opponent:
DePaul is one of UAB's oldest rivalries, the two teams beginning the series in the late 1970's when DePaul was a top team in the country. We have a losing record against the Blue Demons, 10-18, but we are 5-4 against them since the beginning of CUSA. DePaul has a two game winning streak over UAB, both games coming last year. UAB has won the last two games played in Birmingham in 1999 and 2000.
With both teams hoping for a spot in the NCAA tournament, the game that bears the most resemblance was the game played against DePaul March 4, 1999. UAB was hosting its first and only Conference USA tournament at the BJCC. The Blazers had finished 10-6 in the conference, winning the National Division and receiving the third seed and a first round bye. Their opponent in their first game was DePaul, who was the sixth seed. DePaul had beaten Tulane to make it to the second round. Both UAB and DePaul was on the bubble as far as making the NCAA tournament. UAB had a 20-12 record and a 49 RPI ranking. The game between UAB and DePaul became essentially a play-in game for the NCAA tournament. The Blazers learned before the game that they would be without Torrey Ward, who had a stomach virus. Fortunately, Eric Holmes stepped up his game scoring a season high 24 points, including four 3 pointers. UAB played a 2-3 zone against DePaul most of the night, forcing the Blue Demons to put up three pointers. They only made six three pointers out of 31 attempted. The win helped the Blazers gain a spot in the NCAA tournament. DePaul was sent to the NIT tournament.
The most recent game against DePaul was a heart breaker. In the 2004 Conference USA tournament, the Blazers were a #4 seed, taking on the #1 seed DePaul in the semi finals. DePaul had won the top seed as a result of a tiebreaker between five teams who had shared the regular season championship. In the second half, UAB had taken a 16 point lead, 49-33 as a result of UAB's pressure defense. DePaul had committed its 20th turnover at the 10:14 mark, but would not turn the ball over again in the game. The Blue Demons started working the ball inside and slowly began their comeback. Mo Finley tied the game at 68 with a three point play and sent the game to overtime. In the extra period, all seven of DePaul's points came from the free throw line, including the two free throws by senior Delonte Holland with 5.3 seconds to go in the game, which gave DePaul a 75-74 lead. Holland also swatted away Sidney Ball's baseline shot with 0.3 seconds in the game, securing the Blue Demon victory. Although the Holland's block of Ball's shot appeared to be a foul, the referees did not see it that way, and the DePaul was headed to the championship game. Finley led the Blazers with 20 points. Holland led DePaul with 21 points. Squeaky Johnson tied the tournament record with 11 assists. He also had 14 points.
The Bench:
Dave Leito came to DePaul in 2002, the same year Mike Anderson arrived at UAB. Leito is 56-30 at DePaul while Anderson is 61-32. However, Dave Leito is 2-0 as a head coach against the Blazers, both wins coming last year. UAB and DePaul did not play each other from 2001-2004 due to the odd conference scheduling. He has faced the Blazers one other time on March 22, 1989 when the Blazers faced Connecticut in the consolation game of the NIT final four. Leito was an assistant at Connecticut at the time, under Jim Calhoun. UAB won the consolation game 85-79.
3/5/05 @Houston
The Date:
If you are looking to our record on this date to be a barometer as to whether we win today, you are out of luck. In games played on March 5, UAB is all even with four wins and four losses. We are 1-1 in regular season games, and UAB has lost the last two games on this date. UAB is 2-3 in games played outside of Birmingham on this date.
Question: What opposing player has owned UAB more than any other in Blazer history? Without looking it up, I would have to guess that Jeff Hodge of South Alabama has as much a claim to that honor as any. Hodge played for South Alabama from 1985-1989. He played high school basketball at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, but UAB did not recruit him, and apparently a scorned player is dangerous player. I mention him today because on this date in both 1988 and 1989, we played South Alabama in the Sun Belt Tournament, and Hodge reeked his revenge upon us.
On this date in 1988, UAB played South Alabama in the first round of the Sun Belt tournament in Richmond Virginia. It was a tough year for the Blazers, who were the pre season pick to win the league. However, they finished the league 7-7 and was seeded 5th in the tournament. First round matchup was the #4 seed Jaguars, who had beaten UAB twice in the regular sesaon. Michael Charles, leading scorer had missed his third straight game with a sprained toe. Apparently, there was some conflict between Charles and Coach Gene Bartow, who might have believed his star player should be willing to play with a sprained toe. Charles had been on the bench in street clothes for the other two games, but in this game, he was not even on the bench. South Alabama won the game 78-73. Jeff Hodge, who had 16 in the first half, finished with 28 points. In his three wins over UAB that year, he scored 92 points. South Alabama became the first team to ever beat the Blazers three times in one year. The game ended a season in which UAB had the most losses up to that point (15). It also ended a streak of seven straight NCAA tournament appearances. Bartow said "This is my hardest year". About Charles, he said "We lost three games without him, but we lost 12 games with him". Although he would not talk specifics about the team's problems, he said, "I put up with some things this year, let some things happen that I shouldn't have let happen. The reason I did it was greed. Greed for wins." Eddie Collins, Dylan Howard and Larry Wiksell each had 12 to lead the Blazers in scoring.
One year later, UAB faced South Alabama again in the Sun Belt tournament, this time in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round. UAB was the fourth seed and had defeated Old Dominion in overtime to get the the semifinals. South Alabama was the #1 seed and had defeated South Florida in the first round. Jeff Hodge only had 10 points against South Florida, but hey, its UAB, so he turned it up again. He scored 33 in this game as South Alabama destroyed the Blazers 103-84. South Alabama never trailed in the game. Hodge had 33 points to take further revenge against UAB. After the game, he said that it still bothered him that UAB did not recruit him out of Woodlawn. "I wanted to play for the home folks". Hodge had scored 31 points in an earlier game that season against UAB in which he shot 14 of 16 from the field and defeated UAB 114-84. He had 26 points in a loss in Birmingham. His stats for the year against UAB in 1988-89 was 36 of 51 from the field, 6 of 10 in three pointers, and 12-14 in free throws for 90 points. 182 points in two years!!! Unbelieveable. He had help in this game as his partner, Junie Lewis had a rare triple double (14 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists). Lewis said, "We get up for UAB and we beat them." Reginald Turner had 27 points in the loss. One final note on Hodge. A few weeks later, South Alabama another in state school, Alabama in the NCAA tournament. Before the game, Gene Bartow wrote Hodge and reminded him that Wimp didn't recruit him either.
The Place: Houston
The Blazers have played in Houston 15 times. Eleven of those games have been against Houston and we are 7-4 against the Cougars. We played in the 1985 NCAA tournament in Houston and defeated Michigan State before losing in overtime to Memphis. Also in 1985, UAB played in the Preseason NIT Tournament in Houston, defeating Texas A&M and losing to Duke. Our total record in Houston is 9-6.
The Opponent:
UAB's record against Houston is 12-3. We won the first eight games in the series, and have won the last three. Some impressive records have been set in the Houston series. In January 1999, UAB defeated Houston 116-78. It was the most points ever scored in a conference game. In February 1998, UAB won 104-70. The 34 point win was the largest margin of victory in an away game ever. In January 2004, UAB won 64-42. Houston tied the record for the least amount of points scored in the Mike Anderson era.
Let's look at two specific games against the Cougars, both played at the end of the year, with different results These two games reflect the beginning and end of Murry Bartow's tenure as head coach at UAB.
UAB has played Houston on this date before in 1997 in the Conference USA tournament in St. Louis. UAB had finished the conference season 7-7 and was hoping to reverse a disturbing trend for UAB in conference tournaments. Gene Bartow had not won a conference tournament game in six years, since 1990. UAB’s was the seventh seed, and their first round game was Houston, who was the 10th seed. It was Houston’s first year in CUSA, arriving one year later than the rest of the conference. UAB started slow, and was down 33-24 at the half. In the second half, Cedric Dixon helped lead the Blazers to a comeback with a barrage of three point shots. Damon Cobb was also a big in the game as he hit two three pointers in a one minute span as the Blazers came back from a 15 point deficit. Dixon hit the game winning shot to lead the Blazers to a 55-54 victory, their first tournament win in seven years. Dixon had a team high 23 points in the game. He would continue his heroics the following night with 22 points and eight rebounds in the upset victory over second seed Tulane. This tournament started a nice trend for the Blazers as they would make the semi finals of the CUSA Tournament for the next three years.
In March of 2002, the two teams played in Houston. The Cougars had won the earlier game against the Blazers in Birmingham and UAB entered the game a horrible 13-15. UAB hoped that their chances for victory were improved when it was announced before the game that Houston's starting point guard, Kevin Gaines ahd been suspended after being charged for assaulting a woman at a night club in Greenville, North Carolina, where Houston had lost to East Carolina. UAB was also on a two game winning streak, rare in that season. The Cougars shot 71% in the second half. but UAB stayed close. UAB was down 71-63 with 32 seconds left, but cut the lead to 74-72 on Jeffrey Collins free throws with 9 seconds left. Eric Bush forced a held ball and UAB had the possession arrow. Bush lobbed an inbounds pass to Will Campbell, who was fouled with four seconds to go. The Blazers had a chance to tie the game at the line. Unfortunately, Campbell missed the first free throw. He missed the second one intentionally, but Mo Finley was called for a foul on the rebound. Houston hit two free throws to give them a four point win, 76-72. Campbell had 22 points and 11 rebounds. Myron Ransom led the Blazers with 23 points. Nine days later, Coach Murry Bartow would resign.
The Bench:
First year coach, Tom Penders holds the NCAA record for having coached at more schools than any other coach. He has coached at seven schools: Houston, George Washington, Texas, Rhode Island, Fordham, Columbia, and Tufts College. He is a such a moving target, he has never coached against UAB. He has come close to playing UAB however, back in 1982. Pender's Fordham Rams were invited to the UAB Classic, along with Alaska-Anchorage and Murray State. Murray State defeated Fordham, and UAB defeated Alaska-Anchorage in the first round, so the Blazers and Rams did not meet each other in the tournament.
Sidenote: Melvin Haralson, associate head coach for the Cougars played for Sonny Smith at Auburn from 1985-1987. He was 1-1 against the Blazers.
3/10/05 2nd Round CUSA Tournament
The Date: 3/10/2005
The Blazers have only played once on this date and it was a loss. On March 10, 1994, UAB played in the first round of the Great Midwest Tournament against Memphis. This tournament was held in Cincinnati, and UAB entered as the #3 seed with a 22-6 record. Their first round opponent was the #6 seed, Memphis, who was struggling along with a 12-15 record. UAB was a senior dominated team and looking to go far in the tournament. This would have been a reversal of fortunes for the Blazers, who had not won a conference tournament game since 1990. The Blazers started out poorly. The score was 4-0 against UAB before the Blazers were even able to get across half court, the result of two early turnovers as soon as the game started. Memphis had scored only 57 and 58 points in losses to the Blazers during the regular season, but in this tournament game, they had 47 points in the second half alone. UAB never led in the second half, but got the deficit down to four points with 7:44 left in the game. At that point, Cedric Henderson with the Tigers hit a three pointer and a foul away from the ball on David Vaughn which resulted in two free throws resulted in a five point play for Memphis. Carter Long cut the score to five with two three point shots and UAB had the ball. Robert Shannon was fouled, but missed both free throws with 3:57 to go. The Blazers could get no closer and Memphis won 91-86. Carter Long had 28 points and Robert Shannon had 26 points. Reginald Allen added 18 points. Gene Bartow would say in the post game press conference “It’s getting old”, referring to the string of first round losses he was going through. Memphis coach Larry Finch, who had played and coached under Bartow showed a lot of sympathy for his mentor, “I wish there were some other way. I hate it for him.” Fortunately, UAB’s record was strong enough for them to get an at large bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Place: Memphis
The Blazers have an overall record of 2-15 in Memphis. UAB is 2-12 against the Tigers in Memphis and 0-3 in conference tournaments. The Great Midwest Tournament was played in 1993 in Memphis and UAB lost in the first round to DePaul. The Conference USA Tournament has been played in Memphis in 1996 and in 2000. In 1996, UAB lost to South Florida in the first round and in 2000, the Blazers lost to Charlotte. Our two wins have come against Memphis in 1993 and 1999.
The Seed: #4
Since the beginning of Conference USA, the Blazers have had three byes in 1998, 1999 and 2004. We are 3-0 in our first games in years we have gotten a bye. However, UAB is 0-3 in the following games in the semifinals.
The Blazers have been the #4 seed twice since 1996. In 1998, UAB was the #4 seed in the tournament held in Cincinnati. The Blazers had a 10-6 record, and actually had the fifth best record in the conference. However, the conference rules at the time gave the top four seeds to the two teams at the top of the American Division and the two teams at the top of the National Division. UAB finished second to Memphis in the National Division, and poor Saint Louis, who finished third in the American Division with a 11-5 record had to play on the first day. Saint Louis won their opening round game and was the Blazers opponent the next day. Saint Louis was led by Larry Hughes, who had burned UAB for 30 points earlier in the year. However, UAB was on a scoring spree themselves, having point totals of 103, 104, 92, and 93 in their last four games. Early in the second half, UAB was down by 10 points, but led by Damon Cobb's three point shots, the Blazers battled back. With 1:02 left, UAB had a five point lead, but Larry Hughes hit a three pointer to cut the margin to two, 74-72. In the final minute, both teams missed seven straight free throws, four by Cedric Dixon in the final 10 seconds. The most important free throw miss however, came from Larry Hughes with no time left on the clock, as his miss sealed the victory for the Blazers 74-72. Although Hughes had 37 points and would set a tournament record for most points, he could not hit the two free throws when they counted, and UAB would advance to play #1 seed Cincinnati on their home court (UAB lost 100-85). Damon Cobb led UAB with 16 points, Cedric Dixon had 15 and Fred Williams had 14. This win over Saint Louis was the first ever win by a National Division team over an American Division team in the tournament.
The other time that UAB has been a #4 seed was last year when although the Blazers won a five way share of the regular season championship, tiebreakers gave them the #4 seed. Their first round matchup was against Charlotte, who had also won a share of the regular season championship, but was seeded #5 because of the tiebreakers. Charlotte had advanced after beating #12 seed Tulane by 30 points. The 49ers led at halftime by two points, but Mo Finley came out of the half and hit two straight three pointers, sparking the Blazers to a 16-2 run and giving UAB a 51-39 lead with 13:56 left. Finley, continued his hot shooting by scoring UAB's final 13 points of the game, including 6-6 from the free throw line and gave the Blazers a 77-66 win. Finley led the Blazers with 28 points. Brendan Plavich led Charlotte with 21 points, all three point shots.
The Opponent: DePaul
UAB has played DePaul three times in conference tournaments in 1993, 1999 and 2004. We are 1-2 against the Blue Demons in conference post season. The 1999 and 2004 games have been covered in a previous Today in Blazer History report, so today let's look at the 1993 game.
This game in 1993 has a lot of similarities to this year's game. The Great Midwest Tournament was in Memphis, UAB was the #4 seed and DePaul was the #5 seed. UAB had finished the regular season with a 17-12 mark and DePaul was 15-14. However, the Blue Demons had beaten UAB twice that year. In the game, DePaul had built up a seven point lead with 2:01 to go in the game, but the Blazers went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 63 with 56 seconds to go. Tom Kleinschmidt for DePaul hit two free throws with 36 seconds left to give DePaul a two point lead. UAB was fouled on the next possession. Clarence Thrash hit one of two free throws with 20 seconds. Kleinschmidt then was fouled and he hit one of two free throws with 17 seconds to go, putting DePaul up by two again. Clarence Thrash had a chance to win the game when he rebounded a Stanley Jackson miss and was fouled with 3.6 seconds. Down by two, Thrash missed the first free throw. He missed the second free throw on purpose and UAB's Robert Shannon got the rebound. However as he went up as the buzzer sounded, his shot was blocked. DePaul won over UAB for the third time that season, 66-64. Robert Shannon led UAB with 20 points and Stanley Jackson had 19 points. Coach Gene Bartow said he was unsure if UAB would get an NIT bid. They did. Their next game.....Alabama.
The Bench:
Dave Leito is no longer undefeated against UAB after the last week of the regular season. He is now
2-1. Let's even the record today.
3/11/05 Semi Finals CUSA Tournament
The Date: 3/11/2005
Today marks a special non game related event. On this date, three years ago, Murry Bartow resigned as head coach of the Blazers. Murry was 103-83 in six seasons at the helm of the Blazers. He took UAB to two NIT tournaments and one NCAA tournament in his first three years, but in his last three years, he failed to make either tournament. He was 44-45 in his last three years. After the Blazers lost their first round CUSA tournament game against South Florida, Murry did not travel home with the team, giving some a hint of what was to come.
The Blazers are all even on this date at two wins, two losses. We have played in a Great Midwest Tournament, a CUSA tournament, a NIT tournament and a NCAA tournament on this date. Today, let's move beyond conference tournaments and look at the NIT and NCAA tournaments games on this date.
On this date in 1998, UAB opened postseason play in the National Invitational Tournament. The Blazers (20-11) were sent to play against the Missouri Tigers in Columbia, Missouri. Missouri was 14-1 at home that season and had a 17-14 record overall. This arena was the site of UAB’s first road game in the history of the program. In 1978, UAB had played on Missouri’s home court in the Show Me Classic. In this game, Missouri jumped out to a big lead early and led by 17 with 8:19 left in the first half. The Blazers woke up finally and came storming back to trail by four points at half time, 37-33. In the second half, there were seven lead changes and six ties. The Blazers went ahead to stay on a Damon Cobb three pointer at the 4:11 mark. UAB had hit six three point shots in the second half in their spirited comeback. The Blazers won 66-64, handing Missouri their second home loss of the year. Fred Williams led five Blazers with double figures. He had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Cedric Dixon had 19 points and Damon Cobb had 17. Torrey Ward had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Dwayne Brown added 12 points. The Blazers learned immediately that their next game would be in Minneapolis against Minnesota.
One year later on this date, the Blazers were in the NCAA Tournament as a #12 seed and sent to Denver, Colorado to play the #5 seed, Iowa. UAB was 20-11 and Iowa was 18-9. Iowa coach, Tom Davis had announced his retirement prior to the tournament, so the Hawkeyes had that additional motivation. UAB’s motivation was simply proving that they belonged in the tournament after Dick Vitale’s total meltdown on national TV when UAB was announced as a member of the 64 team field. Vitale was making the argument for California or Toledo over UAB and told CM Newton, the selection committee chairman that he couldn’t “see the logic” of putting the Blazers in the tournament. Newton told Vitale that UAB had played its way in with a win over DePaul in the semi-finals of the CUSA tournament. Both teams were senior dominated. Iowa had four senior starters and the Blazers had six seniors on the team: Damon Cobb, Fred Williams, DeWayne Brown, Willie Mitchell, Antonio Jackson, and Felix Okam. Iowa came out shooting the lights out from three point range. They made ten first half three point shots, and the Blazers could never keep up. Seven different Hawkeye players hit a three point shot. UAB never led in the game, yet the game never slipped away. Fred Williams was 6-7 from the field in the first half, and finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds. DeWayne Brown answered a Iowa double digit lead with seven straight points to pull within three points. Iowa pulled back out to nine points and Fred Williams and Damon Cobb hit two three pointers to get the game within a point. However, Iowa answered again and got the lead out to ten points with 3:43 to go in the second half. Iowa won the game 77-64. The Blazers played a strong game, and many felt they had proved their spot in the tournament was warranted.
The Opponent: Louisville
If it is an year ending in an odd number, and the CUSA tournament, apparently UAB and Louisville are destined to play each other. We have met each other in the 1999, 2001, 2003 and now 2005 CUSA tournaments. UAB is 1-2 in the previous three tournaments. We all remember the 2003 tournament when UAB made the great run and almost beat Louisville in the finals, so lets look at the other two tournament games.
In the 1999 CUSA tournament in Birmingham, Alabama, the Blazers had defeated DePaul in the quarterfinals and was now facing Louisville in the semifinals. Sound familiar? It was the first time UAB had faced the Cardinals at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center since 1982 when they had met as a part of the NCAA Elite Eight, with the winner going to the Final Four. Louisville won that contest, so in 1999, UAB was seeking a spot in the championship game in their home town. Louisville had beaten UAB by 31 points 10 days earlier at Freedom Hall. In this game, The Blazers were the #3 seed and Louisville was the #2 seed. UAB was cold to start the game, going 0-10 on three point shots in the first half. UAB did not score the final eight minutes of the first half. During this time, Louisville built up an 11 point lead and stayed ahead the entire time. The Cardinals won 77-68. UAB shot 2 of 20 from three point range for the game and 34% from the field. Eric Holmes was 1 for 9 on three pointers. Fred Williams and Willie Mitchell led the Blazers with 17 points. However, UAB’s performance in the CUSA tournament earned them a bid to the NCAA tournament, their first in five years. Unfortunately, as we learned earlier, they lost the first round game to Iowa.
Better results occured in 2001 when UAB played Louisville in the first round of the CUSA tournament. The tournament was played at Freedom Hall. It was a strange situation for the Cardinals, as they were playing at home, but because they were the lower seed, they sat on the visitors bench and wore the dark uniforms. Denny Crum, coaching his last game went to the wrong bench, out of habit. For the second time in nine days, UAB knocked off Louisville by double digits in Freedom Hall. The Blazers shot 55% from the field, and Louisville shot 31%. UAB led 27-23 at the half. The Cards pulled to within seven when they trailed 51-44, but a subsequent 7-0 UAB run put the game away. The Blazers won 74-61, and moved to the second round against Cincinnati. LeAndrew Bass led UAB with 16 points, while four other UAB players scored in double-figures: Will Campbell had 13, while David Walker, Eric Batchelor and P.J. Arnold all had 10. Louisville would end the season 12-18, while the Blazers, with a record of 16-13, saw their season live one more day.
The Bench:
Rick Pitino has still never lost to UAB. He is 4-0 against the Blazers while he has been Louisville's coach. He also upset the Blazers in the 1987 NCAA tournament when he was coach at Providence. This may be the Blazers last chance to hang a defeat on Pitino.
3/17/05 NCAA Tournament First Round
The Date:
UAB has played three games on St. Patricks Day, March 17. We have won one game and lost two. All three games were NCAA tournament games. Today, we will only look at two games. The third game, in case you are wondering was a 1994 NCAA Tournament loss to George Washington in the first round.
The first game played on this date that we will focus on was perhaps the biggest win in school history. On this date, the basketball world once again turned toward the state of Alabama as Gene Bartow and his UAB Blazers played the role of giant killer. UAB, led by Oliver Robinson, Chris Giles and others, had earned a spot in the Sweet 16 one week earlier by beating defending national champion, Indiana. The regional finals of the NCAA was being held in Birmingham, and the four teams present was Louisville, Minnesota, UAB, the Cinderella, and the heavy favorite, #3 ranked Virginia, led by Player of the Year, 7’1” Ralph Sampson. The Blazers would play #1 seed Virginia, who had a 30-3 record. The game was close throughout, as the Blazers strategy was to double and triple team Sampson to deny him the ball. Virginia led 37 to 33 at the half, but UAB battled back and had built the lead to 57-52 with 6:54 to go in the game when Oliver Robinson got to shoot free throws as a result of Virginia coach Terry Holland getting a technical while protesting a call with the referee. The Blazer combo of Donnie Speer, Norman Anchrum and Chris Giles were very effective in shutting Ralph Sampson down. He went 11:40 in the second half without scoring. He was quoted afterward as saying “I had trouble getting the ball. I got a lot of elbows in my back and also a shot in my side…it was a normal game.” The Blazers’ final field goal occurred with 7:18 to go in the game. However, they would hit 14 of 18 free throws down the stretch to secure the win. UAB won the game 68-66, in what I consider to be their greatest victory ever. They had just defeated the #1 seed, they had defeated the third ranked team in the country and they had defeated probably the best player in the country. They had defeated a team that had 30 wins against only three losses. And best of all, they were one game away from the Final Four in only their fourth year of existence.
We go from one of the greatest wins in our history to what Gene Bartow called one of the worst losses in his illustrious career: the 1985 NCAA second round game in Houston, Texas, played on this date against Bartow's old team, the Memphis State Tigers. UAB had beaten Michigan State, led by Scott Skiles in the first round. The second round game was against the fourth ranked Memphis State 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. Memphis State coach, Dana Kirk vigorously protested the call. Referee 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 school 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 Place: Boise Idaho
Idaho is one of the 10 states that UAB has never played a game in. After tonight, there will be only nine: Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington. We have played Idaho State twice, but both games were in neutral states. We have never played any other school from the state of Idaho.
The Opponent: LSU
We have only played LSU once in the 2003-04 season. That game was played December 27, 2003 in the Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans. LSU fans could barely concentrate on this game in anticipation of the upcoming Sugar Bowl football game in which the Tigers were playing for the national championship. This game was a coming out party for LSU freshman Brandon Bass, whose previous game high was 15 points. He had 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Blazers. Also making an impact was freshman point guard Tack Minor, who came off the bench to score 11 first half points. His driving layup with around 13 minutes to go in the first half, put the Tigers up over UAB for good. He later hit a three pointer, scooped up a loose ball for a layup and hit a bank shot to finish the half 4 for 4 from the field. The Blazers trailed by 10 points at halftime, but made a comeback early in the half. LSU failed to score on its first four possessions, and the Blazers whittled down the lead to two, 50-48 with 15 minutes to go in the half. Ronell Taylor scored 10 of his 22 points in the five minute span to start the second half. Unfortunately, LSU then started a 9-0 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes and never looked back. During that run, the Blazers had nine consecutive scoreless possessions. The Tigers won 78-62 to improve their record to 8-0. The Blazers dropped to 6-3. UAB was led by Ronell Taylor with 22 points and seven rebounds. Gabe Kennedy had 13 points and Sidney Ball had 12 points. Mike Anderson said the turning point of the game was Gabe Kennedy getting into foul trouble, but another key factor was that this first game that Mo Finley had played after separating his shoulder. He played 17 minutes and scored four points on 2-10 shooting. The Blazers woes would continue as they lost their next game at home to Marshall.
The Bench:
John Brady is 1-0 against UAB as a head coach, as a result of LSU's win last year. In January 1992, he travelled to UAB Arena as an assistant coach under Tim Floyd at the University of New Orleans. He was also an assistant coach under Bob Boyd at Mississippi State and coached against UAB in 1982 and 1983. UAB won all three of those games.
Another UAB connection. Assistant coach Nikita Johnson has a strong connection to Scott Edgar, UAB's assistant. Johnson was Edgar's assistant coach when Edgar was head coach at Murray State and at Duquesne from 1993-1998.
3/19/05 NCAA Tournament Second Round
The Date:
UAB has played three games on March 19: two NCAA tournament games and an NIT tournament game. We are 2-1 on this date. After today, we will have played on March 19 the last three years. In 2003, we played Louisiana Lafayette in the NIT, and last year we played Washington in the NCAA tournament.
The first game played on this date came in 1982 in the NCAA tournament. In only the fourth year of existence, the Blazers were one game away from the Final Four, and the game was on their home court at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. After upsetting #3 ranked Virginia in the round of 16, the Blazers took on the 20th ranked Louisville Cardinals, which was the #3 seed. The winner headed to New Orleans as a member of the Final Four. Gene Bartow had the opportunity to be the only coach at the time to ever take three different schools to the Final Four. Louisville had defeated Minnesota to earn the right to play the Blazers. Their coach, Denny Crum had been hospitalized the week before because of kidney stone problem, and during the Minnesota game, had his doctor on the bench in case there was a problem. The BJCC was filled to capacity with 16,754 as the listed attendance. The key to this game was bench play. Louisville had it and we didn’t. The Louisville bench outscored the UAB bench 31-6. The Card bench hit 11 of 13 shots from the field, while the Blazers bench hit 2 of 7. Louisville was ahead 62-60 with 3:02 left on two free throws made by Charles Jones who lead all Louisville scorers with 19 points off the bench. With 1:15 left, he pulled down a rebound and was fouled again. He hit two more free throws, and made the score 72-64, effectively putting the game away. The final score was 75-68 Louisville, but it was hard for any Blazer fan to be upset when you see how far they had come in four short years. Oliver Robinson led the Blazers with 20 points. He was named the Mideast Region Most Outstanding Player.
After playing a game on March 19 in 1982, we waited until 2003 before we played another game on this date. That game was the NIT first round game against Louisiana Lafayette played at Bartow Arena. UAB was riding high after their amazing run through the Conference USA tournament. Their three wins in the tournament had earned them a bid in the NIT, something that had seemed unlikely just a couple of weeks earlier. The Blazers were awarded a home game against Louisiana-Lafayette, who were 20-9 entering the NIT. This was a bruising hard fought game, in which neither team really deserved to lose. The game was even delayed for about ten minutes as one of the Raging Cajuns fell hard to the floor when attempting a dunk with 3:17 left in the game, and UAB up 73-71. He was taken away on a stretcher. A foul was called and La-La tied the game at 73. However, Eric Bush hit a 3-pointer followed by a 2-point jump shot to give UAB a 78-73 lead. The Cajuns pulled to within 80-79 in the final minute, but another jumper by Bush gave UAB an 82-79 lead with 10.7 seconds left. The game appeared to be in hand, when Brandon Tobias was called for a technical with 2.8 seconds to go in the game, as he and another player scrambled for a loose ball. ULL would get two free throws and the ball with enough time to score. They made only one of two free throws, making the score 82-80. They inbounded the ball and tried to get it inside, but it was batted away. The Blazers had won a very tough game, and their season would live at least one more game. Gabe Kennedy led the Blazers with 19 points and Mo Finley had 17 points.
On this date last year, UAB was excited to make a return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999. Their first round game was Washington, who had entered the tournament at 19-11 getting hot at the end of the season and ending Stanford's 26 game winning streak. The Huskies got an idea of what kind of game they were involved in when the Blazers jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the first seven minutes. During the run, six different Blazers scored. UAB held a single digit lead for most of the first half as the teams traded baskets. A three pointer and layup by Nate Robinson on consecutive Washington possessions allowed the Huskies to tie the game at 43 points. He added a three pointer minutes later that put Washington on top. Washington went to the break with a 53-51 lead. UAB opened up the second half with a 16-1 run that gave UAB a 72-61 lead with 12:03 to go. However, Washington would not go away and cut the lead to 90-89 with 1:53 to go. It was at this point that DeMario Eddins and Nate Robinson were involved in the play that probably decided who won this high scoring game. UAB led 94-91 with 38 seconds to go. Nate Robinson drove down the lane and scored. However, the basket was waved off as DeMario Eddins drew a charge on Robinson and UAB maintained its three point lead. "I let the ball go, and the dude kind of stood there in front of me and I was going forward," Robinson said. "It's tough. I take full responsibility because that changed the game." Eddins took over in the last minute. In addition to the charge he took, he hit two free throws with 16.2 seconds left and blocked a shot giving UAB their first NCAA tournament victory since 1986. UAB won the game by the score 102-100, the first time a UAB opponent had ever scored 100 points and lost to UAB. Eddins scored a career high 26 points and was 13 of 15 from the free throw line. Mo Finley had 20 points. Nate Robinson scored 27 points for Washington.
The Opponent: Arizona
UAB has never played Arizona. We haven't even played a team from the state of Arizona. We are 4-5 verses the Pac 10. Our last win was against Washington in the 2004 NCAA tournament and our last loss was against Southern Cal, earlier this year.
The Bench:
Because UAB has never played Arizona, Lute Olson has never coached against UAB. He has coached at Arizona for 22 years, only five years less than UAB has played basketball. Prior to Arizona, he was a head coach at Iowa for nine years, and did not face the Blazers then either.
However, Lute Olson and Mike Anderson have met before. In 1994, Arizona and Arkansas squared off in the semi finals of the Final Four. Mike Anderson was an associate head coach on the Arkansas team that defeated the Wildcats 91-82. Arkansas would defeat Duke in the next game to become the 1994 National Champions.
3/2/05 DePaul
The Date:
The Blazers are 2-4 on March 2nd. We are 1-0 in home games on this date and 1-2 in regular season games (remember the Sun Belt tournaments started early) To get us ready for conference tournament season, let's look at two of UAB's conference tournament games played on this date.
On this date in 1984, UAB hosted the Sun Belt Tournament in Birmingham. UAB was 20-10 after the regular season was finished and was the fifth seed. Their first round opponent was South Alabama, the fourth seed with a 20-6 record. Two of South Alabama's losses in the regular season had come against UAB. In the last regular season game for the Jaguars, South Alabama had trounced Bethune Cookman, and the fans had begun chanting "We want UAB!" In this game, Anthony "Big Jack" Gordon turned in the best game of his career, scoring 15 points and 14 rebounds, as the Blazers won the third game that year over South Alabama, 76-68. UAB had led by 17 points with 2:11 left in the first half, but South Alabama had pulled to within four points with 8:14 left in the game. In those days of the Sun Belt Conference, the Sun Belt was the only conference to have a shot clock on an experimental basis. However, the rule was that the shot clock was turned off with four minutes to go in the game. This rule was a great benefit to the team ahead at the four minute mark, as they often would immediately slow the ball down and force the other team to foul. In this game, after the shot clock was turned off, UAB hit 15 of 17 free throws to seal their victory. In the second half, as the Jaguars closed in, Big Jack took over. He had 11 points and 9 rebounds in the second half, plus two blocks and a steal. Jack Gordon, for two years, had refused to grant interviews to the media. This game would prove to be the exception. "I played with the highest intensity level tonight of any game I've played in." he was quoted as saying. "I just look to do my part on the boards." Keep in mind that quotes from Jack Gordon had never been read in any newspaper, so it created quite a stir. UAB would go forward and defeat Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion to win the 1984 Sun Belt Tournament. Jack Gordon would break the tournament record for rebounds, grabbing 34 boards in three games. He and McKinley Singleton, who was named Most Valuable Player was listed on the All-Tournament Team.
With the break up of Conference USA imminent and the CUSA tournament next week being the last gathering of its current members, I am reminded of a similar situation in 1991 when UAB and fellow Sun Belt members gathered in Mobile for the Sun Belt Tournament. Several Sun Belt teams were going in different directions. The Sun Belt Conference had been a very innovative conference in the 1980’s experimenting first with the shot clock, the three point shot, and was one of the first conferences to be seen regular on ESPN. Now, however, the conference of eight schools was going separate ways. Virginia Commonwealth, South Florida and North Carolina Charlotte were joining the Metro Conference. Old Dominion was moving to the Colonial Athletic Conference and UAB was headed to the newly formed Great Midwest Conference. Only South Alabama, Western Kentucky, and Jacksonville were staying put in the Sun Belt. In the first round, UAB entered the tournament with a 9-5 conference record and the 2nd seed. Their first round opponent was Old Dominion. The Monarchs led by seven points with seven minutes to go in the game. With Chris Gatling, Old Dominion had controlled the boards and their longest shot all night had been free throws. However, the Blazers scored seven straight points using a full court press and took an 83-80 lead with just seconds to go in the game. Old Dominion brought the ball down, and freshman Joe Leake hit Old Dominion's only three point shot they had even attempted with 10 seconds to go, and the Monarchs sent the game to overtime. In overtime, Chris Gatling took over for the Monarchs, hitting six points. He had 32 points and 13 rebounds in only 29 minutes of play. Old Dominion won the game 99-95 in overtime. Elbert Rogers had 30 points for the Blazers. This was the last Sun Belt game for UAB. It also marked the beginning of a bad streak: a drought in conference tournaments. UAB would never win a conference tournament game in the Great Midwest Conference, suffering a first round loss each time. As a matter of fact, Gene Bartow never won another conference tournament game. The drought would end in 1997, when Murry Bartow in his first year as head coach would win two games and make it to the semi finals in the Conference USA tournament held in St. Louis. Since then, UAB has won at least one game in the conference tournament in six of eight years.
The Opponent:
DePaul is one of UAB's oldest rivalries, the two teams beginning the series in the late 1970's when DePaul was a top team in the country. We have a losing record against the Blue Demons, 10-18, but we are 5-4 against them since the beginning of CUSA. DePaul has a two game winning streak over UAB, both games coming last year. UAB has won the last two games played in Birmingham in 1999 and 2000.
With both teams hoping for a spot in the NCAA tournament, the game that bears the most resemblance was the game played against DePaul March 4, 1999. UAB was hosting its first and only Conference USA tournament at the BJCC. The Blazers had finished 10-6 in the conference, winning the National Division and receiving the third seed and a first round bye. Their opponent in their first game was DePaul, who was the sixth seed. DePaul had beaten Tulane to make it to the second round. Both UAB and DePaul was on the bubble as far as making the NCAA tournament. UAB had a 20-12 record and a 49 RPI ranking. The game between UAB and DePaul became essentially a play-in game for the NCAA tournament. The Blazers learned before the game that they would be without Torrey Ward, who had a stomach virus. Fortunately, Eric Holmes stepped up his game scoring a season high 24 points, including four 3 pointers. UAB played a 2-3 zone against DePaul most of the night, forcing the Blue Demons to put up three pointers. They only made six three pointers out of 31 attempted. The win helped the Blazers gain a spot in the NCAA tournament. DePaul was sent to the NIT tournament.
The most recent game against DePaul was a heart breaker. In the 2004 Conference USA tournament, the Blazers were a #4 seed, taking on the #1 seed DePaul in the semi finals. DePaul had won the top seed as a result of a tiebreaker between five teams who had shared the regular season championship. In the second half, UAB had taken a 16 point lead, 49-33 as a result of UAB's pressure defense. DePaul had committed its 20th turnover at the 10:14 mark, but would not turn the ball over again in the game. The Blue Demons started working the ball inside and slowly began their comeback. Mo Finley tied the game at 68 with a three point play and sent the game to overtime. In the extra period, all seven of DePaul's points came from the free throw line, including the two free throws by senior Delonte Holland with 5.3 seconds to go in the game, which gave DePaul a 75-74 lead. Holland also swatted away Sidney Ball's baseline shot with 0.3 seconds in the game, securing the Blue Demon victory. Although the Holland's block of Ball's shot appeared to be a foul, the referees did not see it that way, and the DePaul was headed to the championship game. Finley led the Blazers with 20 points. Holland led DePaul with 21 points. Squeaky Johnson tied the tournament record with 11 assists. He also had 14 points.
The Bench:
Dave Leito came to DePaul in 2002, the same year Mike Anderson arrived at UAB. Leito is 56-30 at DePaul while Anderson is 61-32. However, Dave Leito is 2-0 as a head coach against the Blazers, both wins coming last year. UAB and DePaul did not play each other from 2001-2004 due to the odd conference scheduling. He has faced the Blazers one other time on March 22, 1989 when the Blazers faced Connecticut in the consolation game of the NIT final four. Leito was an assistant at Connecticut at the time, under Jim Calhoun. UAB won the consolation game 85-79.
3/5/05 @Houston
The Date:
If you are looking to our record on this date to be a barometer as to whether we win today, you are out of luck. In games played on March 5, UAB is all even with four wins and four losses. We are 1-1 in regular season games, and UAB has lost the last two games on this date. UAB is 2-3 in games played outside of Birmingham on this date.
Question: What opposing player has owned UAB more than any other in Blazer history? Without looking it up, I would have to guess that Jeff Hodge of South Alabama has as much a claim to that honor as any. Hodge played for South Alabama from 1985-1989. He played high school basketball at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, but UAB did not recruit him, and apparently a scorned player is dangerous player. I mention him today because on this date in both 1988 and 1989, we played South Alabama in the Sun Belt Tournament, and Hodge reeked his revenge upon us.
On this date in 1988, UAB played South Alabama in the first round of the Sun Belt tournament in Richmond Virginia. It was a tough year for the Blazers, who were the pre season pick to win the league. However, they finished the league 7-7 and was seeded 5th in the tournament. First round matchup was the #4 seed Jaguars, who had beaten UAB twice in the regular sesaon. Michael Charles, leading scorer had missed his third straight game with a sprained toe. Apparently, there was some conflict between Charles and Coach Gene Bartow, who might have believed his star player should be willing to play with a sprained toe. Charles had been on the bench in street clothes for the other two games, but in this game, he was not even on the bench. South Alabama won the game 78-73. Jeff Hodge, who had 16 in the first half, finished with 28 points. In his three wins over UAB that year, he scored 92 points. South Alabama became the first team to ever beat the Blazers three times in one year. The game ended a season in which UAB had the most losses up to that point (15). It also ended a streak of seven straight NCAA tournament appearances. Bartow said "This is my hardest year". About Charles, he said "We lost three games without him, but we lost 12 games with him". Although he would not talk specifics about the team's problems, he said, "I put up with some things this year, let some things happen that I shouldn't have let happen. The reason I did it was greed. Greed for wins." Eddie Collins, Dylan Howard and Larry Wiksell each had 12 to lead the Blazers in scoring.
One year later, UAB faced South Alabama again in the Sun Belt tournament, this time in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round. UAB was the fourth seed and had defeated Old Dominion in overtime to get the the semifinals. South Alabama was the #1 seed and had defeated South Florida in the first round. Jeff Hodge only had 10 points against South Florida, but hey, its UAB, so he turned it up again. He scored 33 in this game as South Alabama destroyed the Blazers 103-84. South Alabama never trailed in the game. Hodge had 33 points to take further revenge against UAB. After the game, he said that it still bothered him that UAB did not recruit him out of Woodlawn. "I wanted to play for the home folks". Hodge had scored 31 points in an earlier game that season against UAB in which he shot 14 of 16 from the field and defeated UAB 114-84. He had 26 points in a loss in Birmingham. His stats for the year against UAB in 1988-89 was 36 of 51 from the field, 6 of 10 in three pointers, and 12-14 in free throws for 90 points. 182 points in two years!!! Unbelieveable. He had help in this game as his partner, Junie Lewis had a rare triple double (14 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists). Lewis said, "We get up for UAB and we beat them." Reginald Turner had 27 points in the loss. One final note on Hodge. A few weeks later, South Alabama another in state school, Alabama in the NCAA tournament. Before the game, Gene Bartow wrote Hodge and reminded him that Wimp didn't recruit him either.
The Place: Houston
The Blazers have played in Houston 15 times. Eleven of those games have been against Houston and we are 7-4 against the Cougars. We played in the 1985 NCAA tournament in Houston and defeated Michigan State before losing in overtime to Memphis. Also in 1985, UAB played in the Preseason NIT Tournament in Houston, defeating Texas A&M and losing to Duke. Our total record in Houston is 9-6.
The Opponent:
UAB's record against Houston is 12-3. We won the first eight games in the series, and have won the last three. Some impressive records have been set in the Houston series. In January 1999, UAB defeated Houston 116-78. It was the most points ever scored in a conference game. In February 1998, UAB won 104-70. The 34 point win was the largest margin of victory in an away game ever. In January 2004, UAB won 64-42. Houston tied the record for the least amount of points scored in the Mike Anderson era.
Let's look at two specific games against the Cougars, both played at the end of the year, with different results These two games reflect the beginning and end of Murry Bartow's tenure as head coach at UAB.
UAB has played Houston on this date before in 1997 in the Conference USA tournament in St. Louis. UAB had finished the conference season 7-7 and was hoping to reverse a disturbing trend for UAB in conference tournaments. Gene Bartow had not won a conference tournament game in six years, since 1990. UAB’s was the seventh seed, and their first round game was Houston, who was the 10th seed. It was Houston’s first year in CUSA, arriving one year later than the rest of the conference. UAB started slow, and was down 33-24 at the half. In the second half, Cedric Dixon helped lead the Blazers to a comeback with a barrage of three point shots. Damon Cobb was also a big in the game as he hit two three pointers in a one minute span as the Blazers came back from a 15 point deficit. Dixon hit the game winning shot to lead the Blazers to a 55-54 victory, their first tournament win in seven years. Dixon had a team high 23 points in the game. He would continue his heroics the following night with 22 points and eight rebounds in the upset victory over second seed Tulane. This tournament started a nice trend for the Blazers as they would make the semi finals of the CUSA Tournament for the next three years.
In March of 2002, the two teams played in Houston. The Cougars had won the earlier game against the Blazers in Birmingham and UAB entered the game a horrible 13-15. UAB hoped that their chances for victory were improved when it was announced before the game that Houston's starting point guard, Kevin Gaines ahd been suspended after being charged for assaulting a woman at a night club in Greenville, North Carolina, where Houston had lost to East Carolina. UAB was also on a two game winning streak, rare in that season. The Cougars shot 71% in the second half. but UAB stayed close. UAB was down 71-63 with 32 seconds left, but cut the lead to 74-72 on Jeffrey Collins free throws with 9 seconds left. Eric Bush forced a held ball and UAB had the possession arrow. Bush lobbed an inbounds pass to Will Campbell, who was fouled with four seconds to go. The Blazers had a chance to tie the game at the line. Unfortunately, Campbell missed the first free throw. He missed the second one intentionally, but Mo Finley was called for a foul on the rebound. Houston hit two free throws to give them a four point win, 76-72. Campbell had 22 points and 11 rebounds. Myron Ransom led the Blazers with 23 points. Nine days later, Coach Murry Bartow would resign.
The Bench:
First year coach, Tom Penders holds the NCAA record for having coached at more schools than any other coach. He has coached at seven schools: Houston, George Washington, Texas, Rhode Island, Fordham, Columbia, and Tufts College. He is a such a moving target, he has never coached against UAB. He has come close to playing UAB however, back in 1982. Pender's Fordham Rams were invited to the UAB Classic, along with Alaska-Anchorage and Murray State. Murray State defeated Fordham, and UAB defeated Alaska-Anchorage in the first round, so the Blazers and Rams did not meet each other in the tournament.
Sidenote: Melvin Haralson, associate head coach for the Cougars played for Sonny Smith at Auburn from 1985-1987. He was 1-1 against the Blazers.
3/10/05 2nd Round CUSA Tournament
The Date: 3/10/2005
The Blazers have only played once on this date and it was a loss. On March 10, 1994, UAB played in the first round of the Great Midwest Tournament against Memphis. This tournament was held in Cincinnati, and UAB entered as the #3 seed with a 22-6 record. Their first round opponent was the #6 seed, Memphis, who was struggling along with a 12-15 record. UAB was a senior dominated team and looking to go far in the tournament. This would have been a reversal of fortunes for the Blazers, who had not won a conference tournament game since 1990. The Blazers started out poorly. The score was 4-0 against UAB before the Blazers were even able to get across half court, the result of two early turnovers as soon as the game started. Memphis had scored only 57 and 58 points in losses to the Blazers during the regular season, but in this tournament game, they had 47 points in the second half alone. UAB never led in the second half, but got the deficit down to four points with 7:44 left in the game. At that point, Cedric Henderson with the Tigers hit a three pointer and a foul away from the ball on David Vaughn which resulted in two free throws resulted in a five point play for Memphis. Carter Long cut the score to five with two three point shots and UAB had the ball. Robert Shannon was fouled, but missed both free throws with 3:57 to go. The Blazers could get no closer and Memphis won 91-86. Carter Long had 28 points and Robert Shannon had 26 points. Reginald Allen added 18 points. Gene Bartow would say in the post game press conference “It’s getting old”, referring to the string of first round losses he was going through. Memphis coach Larry Finch, who had played and coached under Bartow showed a lot of sympathy for his mentor, “I wish there were some other way. I hate it for him.” Fortunately, UAB’s record was strong enough for them to get an at large bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Place: Memphis
The Blazers have an overall record of 2-15 in Memphis. UAB is 2-12 against the Tigers in Memphis and 0-3 in conference tournaments. The Great Midwest Tournament was played in 1993 in Memphis and UAB lost in the first round to DePaul. The Conference USA Tournament has been played in Memphis in 1996 and in 2000. In 1996, UAB lost to South Florida in the first round and in 2000, the Blazers lost to Charlotte. Our two wins have come against Memphis in 1993 and 1999.
The Seed: #4
Since the beginning of Conference USA, the Blazers have had three byes in 1998, 1999 and 2004. We are 3-0 in our first games in years we have gotten a bye. However, UAB is 0-3 in the following games in the semifinals.
The Blazers have been the #4 seed twice since 1996. In 1998, UAB was the #4 seed in the tournament held in Cincinnati. The Blazers had a 10-6 record, and actually had the fifth best record in the conference. However, the conference rules at the time gave the top four seeds to the two teams at the top of the American Division and the two teams at the top of the National Division. UAB finished second to Memphis in the National Division, and poor Saint Louis, who finished third in the American Division with a 11-5 record had to play on the first day. Saint Louis won their opening round game and was the Blazers opponent the next day. Saint Louis was led by Larry Hughes, who had burned UAB for 30 points earlier in the year. However, UAB was on a scoring spree themselves, having point totals of 103, 104, 92, and 93 in their last four games. Early in the second half, UAB was down by 10 points, but led by Damon Cobb's three point shots, the Blazers battled back. With 1:02 left, UAB had a five point lead, but Larry Hughes hit a three pointer to cut the margin to two, 74-72. In the final minute, both teams missed seven straight free throws, four by Cedric Dixon in the final 10 seconds. The most important free throw miss however, came from Larry Hughes with no time left on the clock, as his miss sealed the victory for the Blazers 74-72. Although Hughes had 37 points and would set a tournament record for most points, he could not hit the two free throws when they counted, and UAB would advance to play #1 seed Cincinnati on their home court (UAB lost 100-85). Damon Cobb led UAB with 16 points, Cedric Dixon had 15 and Fred Williams had 14. This win over Saint Louis was the first ever win by a National Division team over an American Division team in the tournament.
The other time that UAB has been a #4 seed was last year when although the Blazers won a five way share of the regular season championship, tiebreakers gave them the #4 seed. Their first round matchup was against Charlotte, who had also won a share of the regular season championship, but was seeded #5 because of the tiebreakers. Charlotte had advanced after beating #12 seed Tulane by 30 points. The 49ers led at halftime by two points, but Mo Finley came out of the half and hit two straight three pointers, sparking the Blazers to a 16-2 run and giving UAB a 51-39 lead with 13:56 left. Finley, continued his hot shooting by scoring UAB's final 13 points of the game, including 6-6 from the free throw line and gave the Blazers a 77-66 win. Finley led the Blazers with 28 points. Brendan Plavich led Charlotte with 21 points, all three point shots.
The Opponent: DePaul
UAB has played DePaul three times in conference tournaments in 1993, 1999 and 2004. We are 1-2 against the Blue Demons in conference post season. The 1999 and 2004 games have been covered in a previous Today in Blazer History report, so today let's look at the 1993 game.
This game in 1993 has a lot of similarities to this year's game. The Great Midwest Tournament was in Memphis, UAB was the #4 seed and DePaul was the #5 seed. UAB had finished the regular season with a 17-12 mark and DePaul was 15-14. However, the Blue Demons had beaten UAB twice that year. In the game, DePaul had built up a seven point lead with 2:01 to go in the game, but the Blazers went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 63 with 56 seconds to go. Tom Kleinschmidt for DePaul hit two free throws with 36 seconds left to give DePaul a two point lead. UAB was fouled on the next possession. Clarence Thrash hit one of two free throws with 20 seconds. Kleinschmidt then was fouled and he hit one of two free throws with 17 seconds to go, putting DePaul up by two again. Clarence Thrash had a chance to win the game when he rebounded a Stanley Jackson miss and was fouled with 3.6 seconds. Down by two, Thrash missed the first free throw. He missed the second free throw on purpose and UAB's Robert Shannon got the rebound. However as he went up as the buzzer sounded, his shot was blocked. DePaul won over UAB for the third time that season, 66-64. Robert Shannon led UAB with 20 points and Stanley Jackson had 19 points. Coach Gene Bartow said he was unsure if UAB would get an NIT bid. They did. Their next game.....Alabama.
The Bench:
Dave Leito is no longer undefeated against UAB after the last week of the regular season. He is now
2-1. Let's even the record today.
3/11/05 Semi Finals CUSA Tournament
The Date: 3/11/2005
Today marks a special non game related event. On this date, three years ago, Murry Bartow resigned as head coach of the Blazers. Murry was 103-83 in six seasons at the helm of the Blazers. He took UAB to two NIT tournaments and one NCAA tournament in his first three years, but in his last three years, he failed to make either tournament. He was 44-45 in his last three years. After the Blazers lost their first round CUSA tournament game against South Florida, Murry did not travel home with the team, giving some a hint of what was to come.
The Blazers are all even on this date at two wins, two losses. We have played in a Great Midwest Tournament, a CUSA tournament, a NIT tournament and a NCAA tournament on this date. Today, let's move beyond conference tournaments and look at the NIT and NCAA tournaments games on this date.
On this date in 1998, UAB opened postseason play in the National Invitational Tournament. The Blazers (20-11) were sent to play against the Missouri Tigers in Columbia, Missouri. Missouri was 14-1 at home that season and had a 17-14 record overall. This arena was the site of UAB’s first road game in the history of the program. In 1978, UAB had played on Missouri’s home court in the Show Me Classic. In this game, Missouri jumped out to a big lead early and led by 17 with 8:19 left in the first half. The Blazers woke up finally and came storming back to trail by four points at half time, 37-33. In the second half, there were seven lead changes and six ties. The Blazers went ahead to stay on a Damon Cobb three pointer at the 4:11 mark. UAB had hit six three point shots in the second half in their spirited comeback. The Blazers won 66-64, handing Missouri their second home loss of the year. Fred Williams led five Blazers with double figures. He had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Cedric Dixon had 19 points and Damon Cobb had 17. Torrey Ward had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Dwayne Brown added 12 points. The Blazers learned immediately that their next game would be in Minneapolis against Minnesota.
One year later on this date, the Blazers were in the NCAA Tournament as a #12 seed and sent to Denver, Colorado to play the #5 seed, Iowa. UAB was 20-11 and Iowa was 18-9. Iowa coach, Tom Davis had announced his retirement prior to the tournament, so the Hawkeyes had that additional motivation. UAB’s motivation was simply proving that they belonged in the tournament after Dick Vitale’s total meltdown on national TV when UAB was announced as a member of the 64 team field. Vitale was making the argument for California or Toledo over UAB and told CM Newton, the selection committee chairman that he couldn’t “see the logic” of putting the Blazers in the tournament. Newton told Vitale that UAB had played its way in with a win over DePaul in the semi-finals of the CUSA tournament. Both teams were senior dominated. Iowa had four senior starters and the Blazers had six seniors on the team: Damon Cobb, Fred Williams, DeWayne Brown, Willie Mitchell, Antonio Jackson, and Felix Okam. Iowa came out shooting the lights out from three point range. They made ten first half three point shots, and the Blazers could never keep up. Seven different Hawkeye players hit a three point shot. UAB never led in the game, yet the game never slipped away. Fred Williams was 6-7 from the field in the first half, and finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds. DeWayne Brown answered a Iowa double digit lead with seven straight points to pull within three points. Iowa pulled back out to nine points and Fred Williams and Damon Cobb hit two three pointers to get the game within a point. However, Iowa answered again and got the lead out to ten points with 3:43 to go in the second half. Iowa won the game 77-64. The Blazers played a strong game, and many felt they had proved their spot in the tournament was warranted.
The Opponent: Louisville
If it is an year ending in an odd number, and the CUSA tournament, apparently UAB and Louisville are destined to play each other. We have met each other in the 1999, 2001, 2003 and now 2005 CUSA tournaments. UAB is 1-2 in the previous three tournaments. We all remember the 2003 tournament when UAB made the great run and almost beat Louisville in the finals, so lets look at the other two tournament games.
In the 1999 CUSA tournament in Birmingham, Alabama, the Blazers had defeated DePaul in the quarterfinals and was now facing Louisville in the semifinals. Sound familiar? It was the first time UAB had faced the Cardinals at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center since 1982 when they had met as a part of the NCAA Elite Eight, with the winner going to the Final Four. Louisville won that contest, so in 1999, UAB was seeking a spot in the championship game in their home town. Louisville had beaten UAB by 31 points 10 days earlier at Freedom Hall. In this game, The Blazers were the #3 seed and Louisville was the #2 seed. UAB was cold to start the game, going 0-10 on three point shots in the first half. UAB did not score the final eight minutes of the first half. During this time, Louisville built up an 11 point lead and stayed ahead the entire time. The Cardinals won 77-68. UAB shot 2 of 20 from three point range for the game and 34% from the field. Eric Holmes was 1 for 9 on three pointers. Fred Williams and Willie Mitchell led the Blazers with 17 points. However, UAB’s performance in the CUSA tournament earned them a bid to the NCAA tournament, their first in five years. Unfortunately, as we learned earlier, they lost the first round game to Iowa.
Better results occured in 2001 when UAB played Louisville in the first round of the CUSA tournament. The tournament was played at Freedom Hall. It was a strange situation for the Cardinals, as they were playing at home, but because they were the lower seed, they sat on the visitors bench and wore the dark uniforms. Denny Crum, coaching his last game went to the wrong bench, out of habit. For the second time in nine days, UAB knocked off Louisville by double digits in Freedom Hall. The Blazers shot 55% from the field, and Louisville shot 31%. UAB led 27-23 at the half. The Cards pulled to within seven when they trailed 51-44, but a subsequent 7-0 UAB run put the game away. The Blazers won 74-61, and moved to the second round against Cincinnati. LeAndrew Bass led UAB with 16 points, while four other UAB players scored in double-figures: Will Campbell had 13, while David Walker, Eric Batchelor and P.J. Arnold all had 10. Louisville would end the season 12-18, while the Blazers, with a record of 16-13, saw their season live one more day.
The Bench:
Rick Pitino has still never lost to UAB. He is 4-0 against the Blazers while he has been Louisville's coach. He also upset the Blazers in the 1987 NCAA tournament when he was coach at Providence. This may be the Blazers last chance to hang a defeat on Pitino.
3/17/05 NCAA Tournament First Round
The Date:
UAB has played three games on St. Patricks Day, March 17. We have won one game and lost two. All three games were NCAA tournament games. Today, we will only look at two games. The third game, in case you are wondering was a 1994 NCAA Tournament loss to George Washington in the first round.
The first game played on this date that we will focus on was perhaps the biggest win in school history. On this date, the basketball world once again turned toward the state of Alabama as Gene Bartow and his UAB Blazers played the role of giant killer. UAB, led by Oliver Robinson, Chris Giles and others, had earned a spot in the Sweet 16 one week earlier by beating defending national champion, Indiana. The regional finals of the NCAA was being held in Birmingham, and the four teams present was Louisville, Minnesota, UAB, the Cinderella, and the heavy favorite, #3 ranked Virginia, led by Player of the Year, 7’1” Ralph Sampson. The Blazers would play #1 seed Virginia, who had a 30-3 record. The game was close throughout, as the Blazers strategy was to double and triple team Sampson to deny him the ball. Virginia led 37 to 33 at the half, but UAB battled back and had built the lead to 57-52 with 6:54 to go in the game when Oliver Robinson got to shoot free throws as a result of Virginia coach Terry Holland getting a technical while protesting a call with the referee. The Blazer combo of Donnie Speer, Norman Anchrum and Chris Giles were very effective in shutting Ralph Sampson down. He went 11:40 in the second half without scoring. He was quoted afterward as saying “I had trouble getting the ball. I got a lot of elbows in my back and also a shot in my side…it was a normal game.” The Blazers’ final field goal occurred with 7:18 to go in the game. However, they would hit 14 of 18 free throws down the stretch to secure the win. UAB won the game 68-66, in what I consider to be their greatest victory ever. They had just defeated the #1 seed, they had defeated the third ranked team in the country and they had defeated probably the best player in the country. They had defeated a team that had 30 wins against only three losses. And best of all, they were one game away from the Final Four in only their fourth year of existence.
We go from one of the greatest wins in our history to what Gene Bartow called one of the worst losses in his illustrious career: the 1985 NCAA second round game in Houston, Texas, played on this date against Bartow's old team, the Memphis State Tigers. UAB had beaten Michigan State, led by Scott Skiles in the first round. The second round game was against the fourth ranked Memphis State 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. Memphis State coach, Dana Kirk vigorously protested the call. Referee 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 school 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 Place: Boise Idaho
Idaho is one of the 10 states that UAB has never played a game in. After tonight, there will be only nine: Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington. We have played Idaho State twice, but both games were in neutral states. We have never played any other school from the state of Idaho.
The Opponent: LSU
We have only played LSU once in the 2003-04 season. That game was played December 27, 2003 in the Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans. LSU fans could barely concentrate on this game in anticipation of the upcoming Sugar Bowl football game in which the Tigers were playing for the national championship. This game was a coming out party for LSU freshman Brandon Bass, whose previous game high was 15 points. He had 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Blazers. Also making an impact was freshman point guard Tack Minor, who came off the bench to score 11 first half points. His driving layup with around 13 minutes to go in the first half, put the Tigers up over UAB for good. He later hit a three pointer, scooped up a loose ball for a layup and hit a bank shot to finish the half 4 for 4 from the field. The Blazers trailed by 10 points at halftime, but made a comeback early in the half. LSU failed to score on its first four possessions, and the Blazers whittled down the lead to two, 50-48 with 15 minutes to go in the half. Ronell Taylor scored 10 of his 22 points in the five minute span to start the second half. Unfortunately, LSU then started a 9-0 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes and never looked back. During that run, the Blazers had nine consecutive scoreless possessions. The Tigers won 78-62 to improve their record to 8-0. The Blazers dropped to 6-3. UAB was led by Ronell Taylor with 22 points and seven rebounds. Gabe Kennedy had 13 points and Sidney Ball had 12 points. Mike Anderson said the turning point of the game was Gabe Kennedy getting into foul trouble, but another key factor was that this first game that Mo Finley had played after separating his shoulder. He played 17 minutes and scored four points on 2-10 shooting. The Blazers woes would continue as they lost their next game at home to Marshall.
The Bench:
John Brady is 1-0 against UAB as a head coach, as a result of LSU's win last year. In January 1992, he travelled to UAB Arena as an assistant coach under Tim Floyd at the University of New Orleans. He was also an assistant coach under Bob Boyd at Mississippi State and coached against UAB in 1982 and 1983. UAB won all three of those games.
Another UAB connection. Assistant coach Nikita Johnson has a strong connection to Scott Edgar, UAB's assistant. Johnson was Edgar's assistant coach when Edgar was head coach at Murray State and at Duquesne from 1993-1998.
3/19/05 NCAA Tournament Second Round
The Date:
UAB has played three games on March 19: two NCAA tournament games and an NIT tournament game. We are 2-1 on this date. After today, we will have played on March 19 the last three years. In 2003, we played Louisiana Lafayette in the NIT, and last year we played Washington in the NCAA tournament.
The first game played on this date came in 1982 in the NCAA tournament. In only the fourth year of existence, the Blazers were one game away from the Final Four, and the game was on their home court at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. After upsetting #3 ranked Virginia in the round of 16, the Blazers took on the 20th ranked Louisville Cardinals, which was the #3 seed. The winner headed to New Orleans as a member of the Final Four. Gene Bartow had the opportunity to be the only coach at the time to ever take three different schools to the Final Four. Louisville had defeated Minnesota to earn the right to play the Blazers. Their coach, Denny Crum had been hospitalized the week before because of kidney stone problem, and during the Minnesota game, had his doctor on the bench in case there was a problem. The BJCC was filled to capacity with 16,754 as the listed attendance. The key to this game was bench play. Louisville had it and we didn’t. The Louisville bench outscored the UAB bench 31-6. The Card bench hit 11 of 13 shots from the field, while the Blazers bench hit 2 of 7. Louisville was ahead 62-60 with 3:02 left on two free throws made by Charles Jones who lead all Louisville scorers with 19 points off the bench. With 1:15 left, he pulled down a rebound and was fouled again. He hit two more free throws, and made the score 72-64, effectively putting the game away. The final score was 75-68 Louisville, but it was hard for any Blazer fan to be upset when you see how far they had come in four short years. Oliver Robinson led the Blazers with 20 points. He was named the Mideast Region Most Outstanding Player.
After playing a game on March 19 in 1982, we waited until 2003 before we played another game on this date. That game was the NIT first round game against Louisiana Lafayette played at Bartow Arena. UAB was riding high after their amazing run through the Conference USA tournament. Their three wins in the tournament had earned them a bid in the NIT, something that had seemed unlikely just a couple of weeks earlier. The Blazers were awarded a home game against Louisiana-Lafayette, who were 20-9 entering the NIT. This was a bruising hard fought game, in which neither team really deserved to lose. The game was even delayed for about ten minutes as one of the Raging Cajuns fell hard to the floor when attempting a dunk with 3:17 left in the game, and UAB up 73-71. He was taken away on a stretcher. A foul was called and La-La tied the game at 73. However, Eric Bush hit a 3-pointer followed by a 2-point jump shot to give UAB a 78-73 lead. The Cajuns pulled to within 80-79 in the final minute, but another jumper by Bush gave UAB an 82-79 lead with 10.7 seconds left. The game appeared to be in hand, when Brandon Tobias was called for a technical with 2.8 seconds to go in the game, as he and another player scrambled for a loose ball. ULL would get two free throws and the ball with enough time to score. They made only one of two free throws, making the score 82-80. They inbounded the ball and tried to get it inside, but it was batted away. The Blazers had won a very tough game, and their season would live at least one more game. Gabe Kennedy led the Blazers with 19 points and Mo Finley had 17 points.
On this date last year, UAB was excited to make a return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999. Their first round game was Washington, who had entered the tournament at 19-11 getting hot at the end of the season and ending Stanford's 26 game winning streak. The Huskies got an idea of what kind of game they were involved in when the Blazers jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the first seven minutes. During the run, six different Blazers scored. UAB held a single digit lead for most of the first half as the teams traded baskets. A three pointer and layup by Nate Robinson on consecutive Washington possessions allowed the Huskies to tie the game at 43 points. He added a three pointer minutes later that put Washington on top. Washington went to the break with a 53-51 lead. UAB opened up the second half with a 16-1 run that gave UAB a 72-61 lead with 12:03 to go. However, Washington would not go away and cut the lead to 90-89 with 1:53 to go. It was at this point that DeMario Eddins and Nate Robinson were involved in the play that probably decided who won this high scoring game. UAB led 94-91 with 38 seconds to go. Nate Robinson drove down the lane and scored. However, the basket was waved off as DeMario Eddins drew a charge on Robinson and UAB maintained its three point lead. "I let the ball go, and the dude kind of stood there in front of me and I was going forward," Robinson said. "It's tough. I take full responsibility because that changed the game." Eddins took over in the last minute. In addition to the charge he took, he hit two free throws with 16.2 seconds left and blocked a shot giving UAB their first NCAA tournament victory since 1986. UAB won the game by the score 102-100, the first time a UAB opponent had ever scored 100 points and lost to UAB. Eddins scored a career high 26 points and was 13 of 15 from the free throw line. Mo Finley had 20 points. Nate Robinson scored 27 points for Washington.
The Opponent: Arizona
UAB has never played Arizona. We haven't even played a team from the state of Arizona. We are 4-5 verses the Pac 10. Our last win was against Washington in the 2004 NCAA tournament and our last loss was against Southern Cal, earlier this year.
The Bench:
Because UAB has never played Arizona, Lute Olson has never coached against UAB. He has coached at Arizona for 22 years, only five years less than UAB has played basketball. Prior to Arizona, he was a head coach at Iowa for nine years, and did not face the Blazers then either.
However, Lute Olson and Mike Anderson have met before. In 1994, Arizona and Arkansas squared off in the semi finals of the Final Four. Mike Anderson was an associate head coach on the Arkansas team that defeated the Wildcats 91-82. Arkansas would defeat Duke in the next game to become the 1994 National Champions.