05-25-2007, 11:27 PM
Here are the Today in Blazer History reports from February 2006
2/4/06 @ Central Florida
Pollio’s Pity Party
The Date: 6-2
The Blazers are 6-2 on this date. We are 3-2 on the road on February 4. The first game on this date was in 1982, a win over Mississippi Valley State by the score of 102-77. The last game was a loss at Southern Miss in 2003 in double overtime, 82-80. Our last win on this date was in 1999 at Houston, 90-82.
Today in Blazer history marks the anniversary of the first ever game between Memphis and UAB. On this date in 1984, Gene Bartow returned to Memphis for the first time since leaving the job in 1974. Bartow and the Blazers traveled to Memphis to play a non-conference game for CBS national television. Memphis coach Dana Kirk said that CBS gave him several choices for a television game and he chose UAB because of Bartow’s Memphis connection. Bartow was quoted as saying that he would rather not have played Memphis because of the great feelings and friends he has in the Memphis area. However, the deal was too attractive for Bartow. UAB was to share in the TV money from the game and CBS promised UAB a national game the next year. Going into the game, UAB was 17-5, and 5-2 to lead the Sun Belt. The Tigers were ranked ninth in the country and had a record of 15-3. Amazingly, when the game began, the national TV audience saw a total of eight starters from Memphis for both teams gather around the mid court for the jump ball. Memphian natives McKinley Singleton, Steve Mitchell, Jerome Mincy, Archie Johnson and Jack Gordon played for UAB. Memphis had Phillip Haynes, Andre Turner and William Bedford. Keith Lee and Bobby Parks were from schools located near Memphis. The Commercial Appeal reported that of 24 players that dressed for the game, 12 of them were Memphians. Archie Johnson was quoted as saying “There’s nothing we didn’t know about each other’s games that we hadn’t seen in high school.” The Memphis newspapers said of the UAB players:
“It would be easy to say that this is a game where five guys snubbed by the home team are looking for revenge, like a street gang that has lost it’s turf and wants it back. It isn’t that simple. Mitchell decided early for UAB. Mincy was just looking ‘to get away for awhile and be on my own’. Singleton also decided quickly in UAB’s direction. Still, he said ‘there’s pride, sure. In a way, we’d like to show that maybe the better Memphis team was the one that left Memphis.’”
As the game began, Gene Bartow was sitting on win #400, having just reached the milestone 2 days earlier in a game at Jacksonville. A crowd of 11,200 gathered at the MidSouth Coliseum for the “high school reunion game”. A handmade banner at the end of the court welcomed Bartow, reading “Clean Gene. We still Love You…Go Tigers”. The game that ensued was a classic. The score was tied 13 times, including a 27-27 deadlock. UAB led by seven twice in the first half, but the Tigers kept coming back. In the second half, Memphis State went ahead 51-43 with 5:53 left. However, the Tigers went cold and would not score for another 10:46. In fact, the Tigers only managed three shots after that, but UAB stormed back on three long jumpers by Luellen Foster. The Tigers missed a chance to win the game in regulation when Andre Turner lost the ball out of bounds just before the horn sounded. The game was tied at the end of regulation 51-51. In those days before the shot clock, overtimes were often a very boring affair in which one team passed the ball until time to take the last shot. This is what happened in this game. In the five minute overtime, neither team was bold enough to attempt to score. There were only four shots taken, one by Memphis State and three by the Blazers. With 3:23 left, UAB decided to kill the clock, with Steve Mitchell controlling the ball by dribbling around the middle of the court until around 2:30 left in the game. At that point, Bobby Parks caught Mitchell unaware and stole the ball from him. The Tigers then held the ball until they called timeout with under a minute to go. Memphis State then threw the ball inside to the All American Keith Lee who went up for the basket, but was fouled by McKinley Singleton with six seconds on the clock. Keith Lee hit both free throws to go ahead 53-51. It was the first time Memphis had scored in 10:46. Steve Mitchell’s desperation 18 footer rimmed the bucket with one second left, and the Tigers won. McKinley Singleton led all scorers with 14 points, with Anthony Gordon and Luellen Foster contributing 10 apiece. Lee led Tiger scoring with 13 points. After the game, Bartow said, “Give credit where credit is due. We played a Top 10 team on their home floor and they’re a good team indeed….We battled and we feel like we played with a lot of class and dignity. But we never like to lose.”
On this date in 1988, the Blazers played a road game against conference rival, Virginia Commonwealth. UAB was struggling at 11-10 and was 3-3 in the Sun Belt. Coach Bartow told his team they needed to do two things – win a conference game on the road, which they had not done, and beat a nationally ranked team, a chance they would get the following Saturday night when undefeated and #3 ranked Brigham Young came to Birmingham. VCU, 13-5 and 4-2 in conference, had lost their previous game to George Mason and coach Mike Pollio had told reporters that “he felt sorry for UAB” because the Rams were due a good game. For the season, UAB was 2-8 on the road, and 0-6 on an opponent’s home court. Furthermore, the Blazers only had one win in seven tries in Richmond. Maybe Pollio thought he should feel sorry for UAB, but the Blazers had other thoughts. UAB scored the opening basket and led all the way. The Blazers led by 10 points at the half, and Larry Rembert hit the first three baskets of the second half. UAB led by as many as 20 points with 8:23 to go. VCU hit four three pointers in the final six minutes to make the score look closer, but they never threatened. The Blazers hit 24 of 26 free throws in the second half and won the game 76-64. Coach Bartow credited Dylan Howard’s defense of Phil Stinnie with the win. Howard held Stinnie (averaging 23.6 points a game) to just four points. On offense, UAB’s big men, Howard, Rembert and Reginald Turner contributed 34 points and 19 rebounds. Michael Charles led scorers with 28 points.
On this date in 1990, UAB traveled to Mobile to play South Alabama. The Blazers had only one two of the last five games verses South Alabama, but was hoping things would get better, now that Jeff Hodge and Junie Lewis had graduated. The two guards had totally dominated the Blazers in their time at South Alabama. UAB jumped out to a big 22-8 lead early. However, South Alabama hit three 3 pointers in the final 1:26 to go to the half only down by one 39-38. In the second half, the game was close, but the Jaguars pulled ahead 56-50 with 11:10 to go in the game. The hero for UAB in this game was Will DeVaughn, a transfer from Alabama. He played only one year for UAB. In this game, DeVaughn scored 6 of UAB’s next 10 points including the go-ahead basket the gave the Blazers the lead to stay at 62-60. The Blazers pushed their lead to five, but South Alabama hit a field goal with 39 seconds to go, cutting the lead to three. On the inbounds, Jack Kramer hit Barry Bearden sprinting down the court for an easy layup. The score was now 78-73 and free throws iced the win. UAB won 82-75. Barry Bearden hit 8 of 8 free throws down the stretch and led the Blazers with 14 points. Andy Kennedy had 13 points. UAB got scoring production from almost every player. Every player that played except defensive specialist, George Wilkerson, scored at least 8 points. UAB improved to 17-6 and 8-1 in Sun Belt play.
The Opponent:
This is the first meeting between Central Florida and UAB.
The Place:
UAB has played in almost every major city in the state of Florida: Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami, St. Petersburg, and Tallahassee. However, they have never played in Orlando.
The Bench:
Kirk Speraw has been the Central Florida coach since 1993. He was previously an assistant coach under Lon Kruger at Florida from 1990-1993. Interestingly, he served on the Florida staff with current South Florida coach Robert McCullum. Speraw has never coached against the Blazers.
Mike Anderson has never faced Speraw while at UAB. However, they faced each other twice from 1991-1993 when Anderson was assistant coach at Arkansas and Speraw was assistant coach at Florida. The two teams split the series.
2/8/06 @ UTEP
“Sonny and Hot”
The Date:
The Blazers are 5-2 on this date, losing our first game in 1979 at South Alabama and our last game in 2003 to Tulane. We are 1-1 in road games on this date.
On this date 20 years ago, UAB played a nationally televised game on NBC against South Carolina, a member of the Metro Conference at the time. It was the last regular season home game for Steve Mitchell, Jerome Mincy, Jack Gordon, and Archie Johnson. UAB had an early Senior Day that year because they closed out the season with three straight away games before an early Sun Belt Tournament. The Blazers had lost two straight games, and had dropped to 8-4 in the Sun Belt, which was good for 3rd place. These seniors which presided over some of the most successful years in Blazer history, had never won a regular season Sun Belt title. They did however, win a Great Alaskan Shootout championship and won 92 games in their career. South Carolina was 12-8 and coached by Bill Foster. The game opened with a 7-0 UAB run, sparked by Archie Johnson’s three point play. Archie was also responsible for a spectacular play in which he stole the ball at mid court and the 6’8” player dribbled in and dunked the ball, making the score 25-10. UAB led 40-22 at the half, despite Steve Mitchell playing on a sprained ankle. South Carolina scored the first four points of the second half, but UAB went on a 10-3 run and won the game going away. The margin was as high as 32 points before the seniors went to the bench. UAB won the game 83-54. Mincy was the leading scorer with 21 points. Archie Johnson had 15 points on 6 of 6 field goals and 3 of 3 free throws in only 20 minutes due to foul trouble. Mithcell had 14 points and 8 assists and Jack Gordon had four points.
Also on this date in 1990, the Blazers welcomed back to Birmingham an old friend at a new school. Sonny Smith had left Auburn for Virginia Commonwealth and was in town to play UAB. Smith had replaced Mike Pollio who said he had lost his coaching fire after a player had dropped dead in practice. VCU had lured Sonny Smith away from Auburn with the promise of a challenge and by doubling the salary that Auburn was paying him to $200,000. Sonny believed that “his luck had turned on him at Auburn” and was looking for a new challenge. In Richmond there was a big media blitz welcoming Sonny to town with the slogan: “VCU Basketball: Sonny and Hot” However, the forecast missed as Smith was struggling in his first year as head coach of the Rams. Entering the game, Virginia Commonwealth was 8-11 and 2-4 in conference. The Blazers had won earlier in Richmond by the score of 80-59. UAB meanwhile, was on their way to the first regular season league title since 1982. The Blazers were without leading scorer, Andy Kennedy who had scratched his cornea in practice. He wasn’t needed because UAB did everything right. A crowd of 8237 saw Barry Bearden and Jack Kramer hit seven of nine 3 pointers in the first half and UAB doubled up VCU at the half 46-23. In the second half, Alan Ogg had 17 points and 8 block shots and finished the game as the leading scorer. Sonny Smith earned his first technical as the Ram head coach in this game protesting a call. The Blazers led by as much as 34 points late in the game, but a couple of three pointers by the Rams late made the final score of 74-51 a little more respectable.
The Opponent:
UAB and Texas El Paso have played each other one time, back on December 29, 1987 in the championship game of the Sun Bowl tournament. UTEP was the host of the holiday tournament and was undefeated at home. They had an overall record of 9-2 and was coached by the legendary Don Haskins, who has been reborn to a new generation this year by the movie “Glory Road”. In 1987, future Hall of FamerHaskins had already been coach at Texas El Paso for 26 years and still had 12 years to go. By the time he retired in 1999, had won 719 games and had only had five losing season in 38 years. The Miners were led by future NBA All-Star guard, Tim Hardaway. Assistant coach for the Miners was another future Hall of Famer, Nate Archibald. Maybe one day this game will have three Hall of Famers when they induct Coach Gene Bartow to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Blazers had made it to the championship game by beating California in the first round, holding Cal to just 8 points in the first half. UTEP had advanced to the finals by beating Boston College. The Blazers stayed close in the game and was down five points, 28-23 with five minutes to go in the half. However, in the last five minutes of the half, UTEP went on a 13-4 run and took a 41-27 lead to the locker room. UAB had been called for 11 fouls to 4 fouls for the Miners in the first half. In the second half, the UAB guards led the Blazers to cut the lead to 6, 45-39 with 12:08 to go, but the Miners pulled away again. Once again, UAB cut the lead to six with 1:29 to go, but in the last minute and a half, UTEP outscored the Blazers 10-2, and won the game 72-58. Coach Bartow complained that his big men were not improving. Reginald Turner went 2 for 8, Larry Rembert 3 for 8 and Eddie Collins was 4 for 12. However, the UAB guards played well. Michael Charles had 22 points and was named to the All tournament team. Tim Hardaway had 12 points 7 assists and 4 steals and was named MVP of the tournament.
The Place:
UAB has played in two Sun Bowl tournaments in that west Texas town of El Paso. In 1987, they defeated California 64-50, and as described above, they lost to UTEP in the championship game 72-58. In Mike Anderson’s first year, the Blazers traveled back to El Paso to play in what is now called the SunClassic, and defeated Air Force69-59. You would have thought that UAB would have been matched up again with Texas El Paso in the championship game, but the Miners were upset by Columbia of all teams. The Blazers defeated Columbia 71-42 for what may have been the easiest holiday tournament championship that they have ever won. UAB is 3-1 in the city of El Paso.
The Bench:
UTEP is coached by Doc Sadler, who was hired in 2004 after Jason Rabedeaux gave up the unenviable task of following Don Haskins. Sadler graduated from Arkansas in 1982 and was an assistant coach under Eddie Sutton there from 1982-1985, when Nolan Richardson and Mike Anderson came to Arkansas. He has never coached against UAB.
Sadler has faced Mike Anderson once before during Anderson’s Arkansas years. During the 1987-88 season, Arkansas defeated Chicago State where Sadler was an assistant coach.
2/11/06 East Carolina
Jeff Hodge Part 3 – Revenge of the Blazers
All the great stories are told in threes. The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, and of course Star Wars to name a few. Today we wrap up the Jeff Hodge trilogy, the tragic story that hit the Blazers in the late 1980’s. Rated PG-13 for violence.
The Date:
UAB is 5-3 on February 11. At home on this date, we are 3-2. Our last win was in 2004 on the road over Southern Miss. Our last loss was at home in 1999 to Memphis.
The Blazers have had several opponents over the years that could truly be called rivals. In UAB’s first two years, South Alabama was probably the biggest rivalry. They were coached by Cliff Ellis and led by Terry Catledge. The two teams played four times and each one two. All the games were close. On January 10, 1980, the VCU rivalry began when JD Barnett put a hole in a blackboard at the BJCC and UAB won the game 67-65. Barnett and Bartow had a sideline confrontation and the rivalry was off to a rousing start. From 1983-1988, as the VCU rivalry was starting to simmer, UAB and Auburn began playing each other and many considered that game to be the game that was circled on the schedule. To be frank, UAB had begun to dominate the Sun Belt Conference and while everyone considered UAB to be a rival, the Blazers emotion wasn’’t affected that much by who they were playing. However, that changed when Jeff Hodge signed to play with South Alabama. During the 1987-88 season, UAB and South Alabama played three times and the Jags won all three. South Alabama hired Ronnie Arrow in 1988 and his team, led by Jeff Hodge and Junie Lewis beat the Blazers 114-84 in January of 1989. After four straight losses, the last by 30 points, Gene Bartow and the Blazers wanted revenge against the team down south. The Blazers were tired of Jeff Hodge telling reporters about how he wished UAB had recruited him after he dropping 30 points on UAB. Their chance at redemption came on this date in 1989 when Arrow brought his merry men to play in Bartow Arena for the first time. UAB had just moved their home games from the Civic Center to Bartow Arena and this game would be the very first sellout as 8459 fans filled the seats. This game would also be Jeff Hodge’s last game in his hometown. South Alabama jumped out to an 8-0 start and Jeff Hodge scored 12 of the first 15 points. UAB came back on three point shooting and went ahead 17-15. The lead changed seven times in the first half, and the Blazers took a 45-43 lead to the locker room. In the first half, Jeff Hodge was 6 of 8 for 14 points. However, he was playing defense on Andy Kennedy and had picked up two fouls. He would pick up his third foul and sit down with 17:17 left in the game. In the second half, UAB pushed the lead to nine points with 5:45 to go in the game. However, they were down by 6 with 2:19 to go, as the Jaguars got a pair of turnovers and scored seven straight points. South Alabama took the lead 91-90 with 29 seconds to go in the game. Reginald Turner gave the Blazers the lead six seconds later with two free throws. South Alabama brought the ball down and called timeout. Jeff Hodge checked in, playing with four fouls. Would he burn the Blazers yet again? With 15 seconds to go, he took a shot from right of the foul line, but missed. Jack Kramer for UAB got the rebound and was fouled. He missed the front end of the one and one with 6 seconds to go. Hodge missed the winning shot again and Dylan Howard was fouled on the rebound with two seconds to go. He made the first shot, but missed the second. Tempers flared on the rebound and five minutes went by before the officials stopped the shoving matches. When the smoke cleared, UAB had won 93-91 and had held Jeff Hodge to 26 points, which was lower than the usual 30 he scored against the Blazers. Andy Kennedy tied a scoring record with 34 points. Barry Bearden had 15 points and Reginald Turner had 13. Alan Ogg had 8 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, which gave him the Sun Belt record for most blocks in a season at 94.
Epilogue: I would like to say that the Blazers revenge was the end of the Jeff Hodge saga. Unfortunately, less than a month later, the two teams would meet again in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament. South Alabama beat UAB 103-84. Jeff Hodge would score 33 points and his team would win the Sun Belt tournament. A few weeks later, as UAB was preparing to start their journey to the NIT Final Four, South Alabama was matched up against Alabama in the first round. Gene Bartow sent Hodge a letter before the game reminding him that “Wimp didn’t recruit you either”. The rest is history as Hodge hit the winning shot against an Alabama team that had won the SEC tournament and included Robert Horry.
Note: I apologize to all who had to relive this tragedy. However, in looking at games played on dates for this year’s schedule, Jeff Hodge kept popping up. I decided to make him a big part of this year’s Today in Blazer History in hopes of exorcising this demon. I sometimes lay awake at night in fear that one day he will show up again as the head coach of a conference rival. God help us all.
The Opponent:
Back to our regular format.
We have a short history with East Carolina, having played our first game against the Pirates in 2002. The Blazers have played them five times and won four games. The only loss came last year at home by the score of 67-64.
UAB entered that game on a two game losing streak and still adjusting to life without Ronell Taylor, who was injured in the Louisville game eleven days earlier. East Carolina 7-16 and 2-9 in the CUSA and had not won a road game all year. The Blazers jumped out to a ten point lead in the first half on inside scoring by Marques Lewis. However, the Pirates adjusted by going to a zone, and UAB could not hit any outside shots. East Carolina made their comeback and tied the game at the half. In the second half, UAB again jumped out to a 10 point lead, but Marques Lewis got in foul trouble and eventually fouled out. East Carolina refused to go away and took a 2 point lead at 59-57 when Moussa Badiane hit six straight points. UAB tied the game at 59, but the Pirates took the lead again on a Corey Rouse basket with three minutes to go. Japhet McNeil for the Pirates hit two free throws with 4.3 seconds to go to give the Pirates a 67-64 lead. UAB had one last shot. They moved the ball down quickly and Richard Jones got off a three point shot that fell well short with no time off the clock. However, Jones was fouled on the play and was given three free throws with no time left. He would have to hit all three to send the game to overtime. Jones was two for two earlier in the game. He stepped to the free throw line with no one on the line and promptly missed the first shot. The game was over. Coach Anderson was obviously frustrated with Jones. When asked about the end of the game, he said “Some of our younger guys continue to grow up for us, and you'll see more and more of those guys. As I look at some of the playing time of some of the older guys and we're not getting it from some of the guys, especially during crunch time.” Marques Lewis was leading scorer for the Blazers with 17 points on 7 of 11 field goal shooting.
The Bench:
The new East Carolina coach is Ricky Stokes, replacing Bill Herrion. Stokes played a small part in one of UAB’s greatest games. He was a sophomore guard on the 1982 Virginia team that UAB defeated in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Elite Eight. Stokes went 1-3 for two points and three rebounds. UAB assistant Chris Giles also played in that game. He had 5 points and 6 rebounds. He has not faced UAB as a coach.
2/15/06 Tulane
Squeaky Come Home
The Date: 3-6
This is not a good day to be playing Tulane. UAB is 3-6 on this date. Fortunately, our three wins have been at home and our 6 losses have been on the road. The good news is we are playing at home today. Our last win was in 1997 over Southern Miss. Our last loss was in 2003 at Memphis.
On this date in 1986, the Blazers traveled to Mobile to take on South Alabama. The Jaguars were coached by former Samford coach Mike Hanks. Hanks had a unique situation in that no one who played for South Alabama the year before was playing in that season. He had a totally new team. South Alabama had lost six of their previous seven games. While at Samford, Hanks had played UAB and produced a low scoring game by slowing the game down. In this game against South Alabama, the low score was caused by poor shooting. UAB shot 29.8% and South Alabama shot 42%. The game was tied five times in the first half and the Jaguars led by four, 27-23 at the half, after UAB cut the lead down from seven with 5:09 to go. The Blazers tied the game in the second half at 29, but South Alabama scored 6 straight. UAB again battled back and the lead changed hands 8 times until South Alabama took the lead with 2:58 to go. The Blazers last field goal of the game came with 6:07 to go in the game and the Jaguars’ last field goal came with 4:21 to go. With 37 seconds to go and UAB down by two, South Alabama’s Rodney Butts was called for being out of bounds. He slammed the ball down and was called for a technical. Steve Mitchell tied the game at 46. UAB got the ball and had a chance to win. With 13 seconds left, James Ponder was fouled. Unfortunately, he missed the front end of a one and one, then made the mistake of fouling a South Alabama player at the other end. Stepping to the line for South Alabama was none other than freshman Jeff Hodge. In his very first game against UAB and with six seconds left on the clock, he calmly hit both free throws to give his team the win 48-46. He had ten points in the game. His future career against UAB has been well documented. Steve Mitchell led UAB with 15 points.
Also on this date in 1992, the Blazers faced Marquette. The two teams had played earlier in the year in Milwaukee and Marquette had won 66-54. The Blazers was 17-5 entering the game, but 2-4 in the Great Midwest. Marquette entered the game at 12-9 and 2-3 in the conference. Elbert Rogers was leading the Great Midwest in scoring 20-6. This game was homecoming for UAB and an almost sellout crowd of 8216 was there for this hard played defensive game. Assistant coach Murry Bartow attempted to motivate the players before the game by posting signs in the locker room such as “Great defense will get us where we want to go”, “Great defense means in your face pressure at all times”, “Great defense leads to great offense”. This was a game where great defense was played by both teams. Coach Gene Bartow called it “one of the most intense games of the year.” Stanley Jackson called it “one of the toughest games I’ve ever been in” UAB trailed 25-22 after at the half after a furious first half in which UAB shot 32% and Marquette shot 52.6%, but only got off 19 shots. The Warriors led by 5 early in the second half, but the Blazers took the lead at 35-34 on a two Elbert Rogers free throws. They pushed the lead out to 6, 40-34 on a 14-2 run. Marquette managed to cut it to two, 62-60 with 15 seconds to go, but Rogers sealed the victory with two free throws. UAB won the game 64-60. Elbert Rogers led the Blazers with 20 points, and prompted Marquette coach, Kevin O’Neill to say “I’ll enjoy playing here next year when Elbert Rogers is somewhere else.” Willie Chapman for UAB had 15 points and 8 rebounds. The game was won at the free throw line. UAB hit 20 of 29 free throws and Marquette hit 9 of 14. It was also the first time in 154 games that UAB did not hit a three point shot. Currently, the Blazers have hit a three point shot in every game since December 18, 1996 – 320 games.
The Opponent:
When the CUSA was revamped, the schedulers gave UAB a benefit in that we play Tulane at Bartow Arena again this year after playing them here last year as well. This is a good thing, because we have lost four straight games in New Orleans, winning last down there in 2001. The Blazers hold a slight 12-11 edge in the series with Tulane. However, Tulane has won five of the last seven games against UAB. UAB is 7-4 at Bartow Arena against the Green Wave.
UAB’s first game against Tulane occurred December 15, 1992 in a non conference game. The Green Wave was ranked #18 and had a record of 5-1 with the only loss to Indiana. The Blazers was 6-1 and had won sis straight. The game at Bartow Arena was televised nationally on ESPN. UAB led most of the game behind the shooting of Carter Long, who had 17 points in only 18 minutes of play. In the second half, Tulane made a comeback after UAB suffered through six straight unforced turnovers, and the Green Wave outscored UAB 13-4 to go up 55-54 with six minutes to go. Corey Jackson put the Blazers back on top with two free throws and UAB never trailed again. The final score was UAB 75 Tulane 69. Stanley Jackson led the Blazers with 19 points. Carter Long had 17 and Robert Shannon had 14.
In 1999, Tulane traveled to Bartow Arena for a CUSA game. UAB had won the game in New Orleans by ten points and was hoping for the sweep. The Blazers were 14-5 on the year and 5-1 in CUSA, leading the National Division. The struggling Green Wave was 7-7 and 1-4 in conference. The promotion in the pre bobblehead era was 25c hot dogs and all fans were encouraged to dress up in 1970’s attire. 5919 hot dog lovers showed up for the game. The game started with Tulane opening up a 16-2 run and Murry Bartow pulled all the starters four minutes into the game due to lethargic play. The bench sparked a run and UAB managed to get the lead down to five points. Eric Holmes hit a three pointer from the corner at the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to two going to the break. Momentum stayed with Tulane as the second half started. The Green Wave opened the half by hitting six of their first seven shots and the Blazers found themselves down by as many as 21 points in the second half. They could get no closer than 12 points with 3:46 to go. Tulane won the game 80-64. Fred Williams was the leading scorer with 17 points.
The Green Wave have given Blazer fans a lot of heartache over the years, both in football and basketball. One of the most disappointing losses occurred last year when UAB traveled to New Orleans on January 19, 2005. UAB was 13-5 and Tulane was 7-9. However, tiny Fogelman Arena has always been a difficult and that night was no exception. Marques Lewis sparked the Blazers to a 1 point lead at halftime, 31-30. Lewis had gone 3 for 3 at the line and from the field for nine first half points. However, Tulane opened up a 6-0 run in the second half and took a 60-52 lead with 8:43 to play. Tulane overcame 25 turnovers in the game by shooting 54.5%. Meanwhile the Blazers shot 37.3%. The Blazers made a comeback and took the lead 68-65 on a Donell Taylor jumper with 52 seconds remaining. Tulane’s freshman point guard Taylor Rochestie hit a three point shot over Demario Eddins with 31 seconds to go to tie the game. UAB had a chance to win the game in regulation, but the shot by Squeaky Johnson fell short. In overtime, UAB jumped out to a 71-68 lead, but Tulane tied the game at 71 with 2:24 left in overtime. The game was tied at 73 with 43.3 seconds to go and UAB worked the clock down. As the shot clock wound down, Squeaky Johnson took a shot that missed everything and UAB turned the ball over on a shot clock violation with 6.7 seconds left. Again, Rochestie performed late game heroics as he drove the length of the court, got past a UAB double team and found himself alone at the top of the key. He shot and hit his three point shot as the buzzer sounded. Tulane won the game 76-73 in overtime. The Blazers was led by Demario Eddins with 18 points. Squeaky Johnson played perhaps his poorest game as a Blazer in his hometown as he went 0-7 from the field and missed the game winner in regulation and overtime. In two trips to Fogelman Arena, Squeaky is 1-18. It is just as well that he does not have to play there again. The Blazers did get revenge later in the year when UAB defeated the Green Wave by 29 points in the friendly confines of Bartow Arena.
The Bench:
The Blazers are facing another first year coach in Tulane’s Dave Dickerson who was hired off of Gary Williams’s staff at Maryland. He has never faced the Blazers as a coach.
Also on the Tulane bench is assistant coach, Benjy Taylor who faced UAB one time as a player. Taylor played in 1989 for the Richmond Spiders. UAB defeated the Spiders that year in the NIT.
2/18/06 @ Southern Miss
Southern Miss – The Quiet Rivalry
The Date:
The Blazers are 5-4 on February 18. Most of the games played on this date have been on the road. We are 3-3 on the road on this date. UAB has won it’s last two games on this date, in 2003 against TCU and in 2004 against Cincinnati.
On this date in 1988, two bad teams got together and played a very good game. UAB traveled to Tampa to play South Florida with a 14-12 record and 5-5 in the Sun Belt. South Florida was worse with 5-17 overall and 3-8 in the conference. In this game, both teams shot well: UAB 57.9% and 56.6% for the Bulls. The game was close in the first half and the lead changed hands five times. In the second half, neither team missed a shot for the first six and a half minutes. The lead changed hands for the first 13 possessions. At the 13:31 point in the second half, Reginald Turner scored and gave UAB a 53-52 lead. Barry Bearden then stole the ball and his layup gave the Blazers a 3 point lead. The Bulls went back up by three, 66-63 with 7:25 left, but Dylan Howard’s free throws put the Blazers up 71-70 with 5:09 remaining. South Florida tied it at 75 with 2:50 left, but Turner scored to give UAB a 2 point lead and then Larry Rembert stole the ball and Michael Charles gave UAB a 4 point lead. With nine seconds left, Barry Bearden hit two free throws to ice the game for the Blazers. UAB won 83-79. Michael Charles led UAB with 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Barry Bearden played all 40 minutes without one turnover. Coach Bartow was amazed that UAB had played so well, “and we still had to fight for our lives.”
One year later, the Blazers traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to take on fellow Sun Belt member, the Jacksonville Dolphins. UAB was 14-8 overall and 8-4 in the Sun Belt. The Dolphins were 11-12 and 4-8 in conference. The Blazers had not lost to Jacksonville since 1980 but entered the game with two players out due to injury. UAB played six players, four of which played all 40 minutes. The Blazers led by seven in the first half, but the Dolphins came back to take a 46-44 lead to the locker room. In the first 8 minutes of the second half, Jacksonville, led by future Boston Celtic star, Dee Brown, outscored the Blazers 17-10. UAB pulled within three on an Andy Kennedy three pointer with 7:26 left, but Jacksonville went on a 14-0 scoring run after another Kennedy three at the 5:10 mark. UAB did not score another field goal until there was just 42 seconds to go, and the score was 94-75 Jacksonville. The Dolphins won the game 98-79, UAB’s worst loss ever to the Dolphins. Dee Brown had 26 points and 10 rebounds. Jacksonville had four players score over 20 points. Andy Kennedy led the Blazers with 20 points and Barry Bearden had 17. He was 4-4 from three point range in the first half, but only had one point in the second half. The interesting story came at the foul line, where the Blazers were a perfect 9-9 in free throws. However, Jacksonville was a perfect 20-20. Neither team missed a free throw all night, but UAB only had 8 fouls called in their favor all night.
The biggest game played on this date occurred in 2004 in what may have been Bob Huggins last trip to Bartow Arena. Huggins brought his 17th ranked Cincinnati Bearcats to Bartow Arena to play UAB. Both teams entered the contest with identical 8-2 conference records. The winner would be tied with Memphis for first place. Cincinnati had won seven straight games over the Blazers, but a record crowd of 9,312 showed up at Bartow to witness the clash. It was Bartow Arena’s first sellout since February 5, 2000 when the Blazers had lost to Cincinnati 93-80. The Bearcats took an early lead 8-0, but could not withstand UAB’s pressure defense and the Blazers went on a 20-5 run, holding Cincinnati to just two field goals in an 8:34 span. With 55 seconds left in the half, Donell Taylor’s three pointer gave UAB a 43-27 lead. In the second half, Cincinnati cut the lead to 62-55 with 6:40 left. They had made their comeback attempt at the free throw line where they had hit 14 consecutive foul shots and only one field goal in a six minute span. However, UAB was hitting their free throws as well, making 18 of 23 in the final 11 minutes. Demario Eddins scored nine of ten free throws in the second half. UAB forced 21 turnovers and committed ten as they upset the 21st ranked Bearcats, 80-69. Mike Anderson praised Squeaky Johnson as the MVP of the game, even though he did not score. He had five assists, four steals and drew several charges. “He was the best player on the floor,” Anderson said, “He got them into everything and never got rattled” UAB was led by Morris Finley with 13 points and Ronell Taylor with 12 points in just 17 minutes of play. The Blazers held Bearcat leading scorer, Tony Bobbitt scoreless, missing all four field goal attempts and fouling out at the 6:29 mark. Jason Maxiell led the Bearcats with 13 points.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 15-8 against Southern Mississippi. While UAB now has a 10-2 record against USM in Birmingham, the Blazers have a losing record in Hattiesburg at 4-6. UAB won its last game in Hattiesburg in 2004, but had lost the two games before that in 2002 and 2003.
The 2002 game in Hattiesburg, played on January 12, 2002 is the game that everyone was looking up in the record books after the Texas El Paso debacle earlier this year. Southern Miss defeated UAB 50-36. The 36 points was the lowest point total for the Blazers in UAB history. Only Mo Finley scored in double figures for the Blazers with 13 points, with six of those points coming early in the game on two three pointers. UAB only made five shots in the first half and trailed 28-16 at halftime. The Blazers shot 27% for the game. This horrible offensive showing followed four months after a 3-0 loss at Southern Miss in football.
As boring and low scoring as the 2002 game was, the 2003 game was the opposite. Exciting and high scoring but unfortunately, with the same result. It was Mike Anderson’s first trip to Hattiesburg as UAB’s head coach. The Blazers were 12-5 and 4-2 in CUSA play. The Golden Eagles were 9-9 and 2-5. UAB led by six points with less than two minutes to go, but Southern Miss tied the game with a three pointer by Jasper Jones with two seconds to go, sending the game to overtime. The Blazers jumped out to a four point lead in overtime and led 71-69 with one minute remaining. Again Southern Miss tied the game with 42 seconds to go and Eric Bush who was having a bad game with 4 of 14 field goal shooting, missed a potential game winner. The end of the second overtime found the score tied with 8.3 seconds to go and Richard Jones at the free throw line with two shots to put UAB ahead. Jones missed both free throws and Jasper Johnson hit a jumper at the buzzer to give Southern Miss the win 82-80. Morris Finley led the Blazers with 27 points and Gabe Kennedy had 20. The Blazers had just won a game in overtime against TCU, and it was the first back to back overtime games in UAB history. Neither of Jones’ free throws were close and he was visibly upset as he left the court. His team, as they were last year when he missed game-tying free throws with no time left in the loss to East Carolina, were quick to jump to his defense, saying the loss was not because of one play. Sidney Ball said “He had never been in that situation. The pressure is enormous.” I hope Richard Jones has a chance to win a big game for us before he leaves.
Another interesting point about the Southern Miss series is how close the games have been. In UAB’s last five wins, the margin has been 9.8 points. In Southern Miss’s last five wins, the margin has been 11.4 points. Southern Miss has won by the most points, 17 in 1998. UAB’s biggest margin of victory came January 19, 2000 when they won 73-57 by 16 points. In that game, UAB entered the game 9-5 and USM was 10-4. Murry Bartow had leading scorer Eric Holmes (13pts), coming off the bench and freshman Tony Johnson starting. Holmes was unhappy with the move. Bartow said that he is not in the doghouse, but Bartow wanted a boost off the bench. Midway through the first half, UAB had a 24-8 lead and a 16 point lead at halftime. They never trailed and won 75-57. USM shot 30.5% for the game. Holmes was leading scorer with 22 points.
The Place: Hattiesburg, MS
Hattiesburg is not an easy place to play. As stated earlier, UAB has only won four times in ten tries at Southern Miss. Mike Anderson is 1-1 in Hattiesburg.
The Bench:
Larry Eustacy is 0-2 against UAB, including the loss earlier this year. There is an Alabama connection on the bench: freshman guard Courtney Beasley of Bridgeton Academy in Huntsville.
2/25/06 @SMU
Gene, Wimp and Sonny – One Thinks He’s Smart, One Thinks He’s Funny, and Only One’s Known as Clean
The Date:
UAB has a losing record on February 25. We have won three games and lost five on this date. Worse yet, all five losses have come on the road and we are playing on the road today. UAB has lost its last two games on this date, to Lousiville in 1999 and to Tulane in 2004.
The Blazers biggest win came on this date in 1989. When Bartow Arena, known then as UAB Arena first opened in 1988, the original concept was to continue to play two or three “big” games at the BJCC. The first game since the move to the Arena came on February 25, 1989, when Auburn came to town. The game was originally scheduled for December but was moved to the middle of the conference schedule because of a tractor pull scheduled for the BJCC. It was UAB’s final home game of the year and a big night for the Bartow family as Gene Bartow was being inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame. Before the game, Paul Finebaum had created a stir with an article saying the game should be UAB-Alabama playing the game. He cited Wimp Sanderson’s arrogant attitude toward UAB and stated that Wimp was jealous of Bartow. Finebaum said that while Bartow was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Wimp was being honored with Wimp masks at Coleman Coliseum. Finebaum further stated that Dick Vitale had put Bartow on his All Frank Lloyd Wright team and had put Sanderson on his All Crybaby list. Vitale was also quoted as saying “the name-calling (Wimp), the accusations of cheating (Gene) and nasty rumors to continue to foul the atmosphere surrounding what could be a fine rivalry.”
Wimp had played down the UAB –Auburn game a week earlier. At the Birmingham Tip Off Club, he had defended his decision not to play UAB by stating that in state rivalries are not important. He had said “Just look at Auburn – UAB. If they draw more than 10,000, you can say they have a good rivalry.” A crowd of 13,756 disagreed with Wimp as they showed up for the game which was a 2:00 PM tip off. Obviously Gene and Wimp were not going to play each other, but Sonny Smith at Auburn would play UAB. However, it wasn’t totally altruistic. He had set up the UAB series hoping to make it a three way battle in Birmingham for recruits. With UAB and Alabama fighting over recruits, Sonny could sneak in and get a few recruits. Most Auburn fans did not like the series, because constantly getting beat by someone supposedly beneath you was not fun.
This game on this date was no contest. UAB entered the game 16-9 and Auburn was 9-15. UAB shot 57.5% from the field and 10 of 13 from three point range. UAB led the entire game and had a 49-34 lead at halftime. The only suspense was whether UAB would hit 100, which they did when JJ Smith for UAB hit two free throws with 58 seconds to go. The Blazers won 105-76 in front of 13,756, which was the smallest crowd at the time to have ever witnessed a UAB-Auburn game. Here’s a fun quote by Matt Geiger, who played for Auburn: “This is the lowest point of the season. We underestimated them. Coming out of the SEC, we didn’t think UAB would be as tough.” Keenan Carpenter, Auburn’s leading scorer said “They’re better than we thought, especially the big white guy.” That would be Alan Ogg. Reginald Turner’s 26 points made him UAB’s 6th Blazer to score over 1000 points in a career. After the game, Gene Bartow along with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ John Stallworth and Alabama’s Johnny Musso were inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame. One year later, Wimp Sanderson was inducted, probably because he cried loud enough that Bartow was in. Sonny Smith is still waiting.
The Opponent:
The Blazers and the SMU Mustangs have played once, a long time ago. On December 29, 1983, UAB and SMU faced off in the second round of the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii. UAB had advanced by beating Pacific. SMU advanced by upsetting Duke 78-76. UAB was off to a great start with an 11-1 record. SMU had a 10-2 record. SMU was led by the 7 footer, Jon Koncak. They were coached by the now infamous coach, Dave Bliss, who recently was fired from Baylor. In the first three minutes, UAB went 0-5 and turned the ball over three times. SMU jumped out to an 8-2 lead. UAB did not heat up in the first half, as they shot 12 of 41 in the first half, and McKinley Singleton had 6 of the 12 field goals. In the second half, Bliss had his team double-team Singleton. The rest of the Blazers offered no help. Jerome Mincy was 1-10, Tracy Foster was 0-4 and Steve Mitchell was 3-10. Only Archie Johnson offered help with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jon Koncak was 9 of 11 from the field with 18 points and 11 rebounds. SMU had the lead up to 20 points with 2:25 left, but UAB made a late surge to make the game look closer than it was. SMU won 77-63. It was UAB’s second loss of the season. McKinley Singleton finished with 16 points in the losing effort.
The Place:
Until today, UAB has never played a game in Dallas, Texas. They have played games in Houston, El Paso, Fort Worth, Lubbock and Arlington, but never in Dallas.
The Bench:
Jimmy Tubbs is in his second year as the Mustang coach. He was previously an assistant coach under Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma. He has never coached against UAB. However, he was an assistant at SMU from 1990 until 2002. During that time, he faced Arkansas when Mike Anderson was an assistant coach there on six occasions between 1990 and 1996. Mike’s team came out on top all six time.
2/4/06 @ Central Florida
Pollio’s Pity Party
The Date: 6-2
The Blazers are 6-2 on this date. We are 3-2 on the road on February 4. The first game on this date was in 1982, a win over Mississippi Valley State by the score of 102-77. The last game was a loss at Southern Miss in 2003 in double overtime, 82-80. Our last win on this date was in 1999 at Houston, 90-82.
Today in Blazer history marks the anniversary of the first ever game between Memphis and UAB. On this date in 1984, Gene Bartow returned to Memphis for the first time since leaving the job in 1974. Bartow and the Blazers traveled to Memphis to play a non-conference game for CBS national television. Memphis coach Dana Kirk said that CBS gave him several choices for a television game and he chose UAB because of Bartow’s Memphis connection. Bartow was quoted as saying that he would rather not have played Memphis because of the great feelings and friends he has in the Memphis area. However, the deal was too attractive for Bartow. UAB was to share in the TV money from the game and CBS promised UAB a national game the next year. Going into the game, UAB was 17-5, and 5-2 to lead the Sun Belt. The Tigers were ranked ninth in the country and had a record of 15-3. Amazingly, when the game began, the national TV audience saw a total of eight starters from Memphis for both teams gather around the mid court for the jump ball. Memphian natives McKinley Singleton, Steve Mitchell, Jerome Mincy, Archie Johnson and Jack Gordon played for UAB. Memphis had Phillip Haynes, Andre Turner and William Bedford. Keith Lee and Bobby Parks were from schools located near Memphis. The Commercial Appeal reported that of 24 players that dressed for the game, 12 of them were Memphians. Archie Johnson was quoted as saying “There’s nothing we didn’t know about each other’s games that we hadn’t seen in high school.” The Memphis newspapers said of the UAB players:
“It would be easy to say that this is a game where five guys snubbed by the home team are looking for revenge, like a street gang that has lost it’s turf and wants it back. It isn’t that simple. Mitchell decided early for UAB. Mincy was just looking ‘to get away for awhile and be on my own’. Singleton also decided quickly in UAB’s direction. Still, he said ‘there’s pride, sure. In a way, we’d like to show that maybe the better Memphis team was the one that left Memphis.’”
As the game began, Gene Bartow was sitting on win #400, having just reached the milestone 2 days earlier in a game at Jacksonville. A crowd of 11,200 gathered at the MidSouth Coliseum for the “high school reunion game”. A handmade banner at the end of the court welcomed Bartow, reading “Clean Gene. We still Love You…Go Tigers”. The game that ensued was a classic. The score was tied 13 times, including a 27-27 deadlock. UAB led by seven twice in the first half, but the Tigers kept coming back. In the second half, Memphis State went ahead 51-43 with 5:53 left. However, the Tigers went cold and would not score for another 10:46. In fact, the Tigers only managed three shots after that, but UAB stormed back on three long jumpers by Luellen Foster. The Tigers missed a chance to win the game in regulation when Andre Turner lost the ball out of bounds just before the horn sounded. The game was tied at the end of regulation 51-51. In those days before the shot clock, overtimes were often a very boring affair in which one team passed the ball until time to take the last shot. This is what happened in this game. In the five minute overtime, neither team was bold enough to attempt to score. There were only four shots taken, one by Memphis State and three by the Blazers. With 3:23 left, UAB decided to kill the clock, with Steve Mitchell controlling the ball by dribbling around the middle of the court until around 2:30 left in the game. At that point, Bobby Parks caught Mitchell unaware and stole the ball from him. The Tigers then held the ball until they called timeout with under a minute to go. Memphis State then threw the ball inside to the All American Keith Lee who went up for the basket, but was fouled by McKinley Singleton with six seconds on the clock. Keith Lee hit both free throws to go ahead 53-51. It was the first time Memphis had scored in 10:46. Steve Mitchell’s desperation 18 footer rimmed the bucket with one second left, and the Tigers won. McKinley Singleton led all scorers with 14 points, with Anthony Gordon and Luellen Foster contributing 10 apiece. Lee led Tiger scoring with 13 points. After the game, Bartow said, “Give credit where credit is due. We played a Top 10 team on their home floor and they’re a good team indeed….We battled and we feel like we played with a lot of class and dignity. But we never like to lose.”
On this date in 1988, the Blazers played a road game against conference rival, Virginia Commonwealth. UAB was struggling at 11-10 and was 3-3 in the Sun Belt. Coach Bartow told his team they needed to do two things – win a conference game on the road, which they had not done, and beat a nationally ranked team, a chance they would get the following Saturday night when undefeated and #3 ranked Brigham Young came to Birmingham. VCU, 13-5 and 4-2 in conference, had lost their previous game to George Mason and coach Mike Pollio had told reporters that “he felt sorry for UAB” because the Rams were due a good game. For the season, UAB was 2-8 on the road, and 0-6 on an opponent’s home court. Furthermore, the Blazers only had one win in seven tries in Richmond. Maybe Pollio thought he should feel sorry for UAB, but the Blazers had other thoughts. UAB scored the opening basket and led all the way. The Blazers led by 10 points at the half, and Larry Rembert hit the first three baskets of the second half. UAB led by as many as 20 points with 8:23 to go. VCU hit four three pointers in the final six minutes to make the score look closer, but they never threatened. The Blazers hit 24 of 26 free throws in the second half and won the game 76-64. Coach Bartow credited Dylan Howard’s defense of Phil Stinnie with the win. Howard held Stinnie (averaging 23.6 points a game) to just four points. On offense, UAB’s big men, Howard, Rembert and Reginald Turner contributed 34 points and 19 rebounds. Michael Charles led scorers with 28 points.
On this date in 1990, UAB traveled to Mobile to play South Alabama. The Blazers had only one two of the last five games verses South Alabama, but was hoping things would get better, now that Jeff Hodge and Junie Lewis had graduated. The two guards had totally dominated the Blazers in their time at South Alabama. UAB jumped out to a big 22-8 lead early. However, South Alabama hit three 3 pointers in the final 1:26 to go to the half only down by one 39-38. In the second half, the game was close, but the Jaguars pulled ahead 56-50 with 11:10 to go in the game. The hero for UAB in this game was Will DeVaughn, a transfer from Alabama. He played only one year for UAB. In this game, DeVaughn scored 6 of UAB’s next 10 points including the go-ahead basket the gave the Blazers the lead to stay at 62-60. The Blazers pushed their lead to five, but South Alabama hit a field goal with 39 seconds to go, cutting the lead to three. On the inbounds, Jack Kramer hit Barry Bearden sprinting down the court for an easy layup. The score was now 78-73 and free throws iced the win. UAB won 82-75. Barry Bearden hit 8 of 8 free throws down the stretch and led the Blazers with 14 points. Andy Kennedy had 13 points. UAB got scoring production from almost every player. Every player that played except defensive specialist, George Wilkerson, scored at least 8 points. UAB improved to 17-6 and 8-1 in Sun Belt play.
The Opponent:
This is the first meeting between Central Florida and UAB.
The Place:
UAB has played in almost every major city in the state of Florida: Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami, St. Petersburg, and Tallahassee. However, they have never played in Orlando.
The Bench:
Kirk Speraw has been the Central Florida coach since 1993. He was previously an assistant coach under Lon Kruger at Florida from 1990-1993. Interestingly, he served on the Florida staff with current South Florida coach Robert McCullum. Speraw has never coached against the Blazers.
Mike Anderson has never faced Speraw while at UAB. However, they faced each other twice from 1991-1993 when Anderson was assistant coach at Arkansas and Speraw was assistant coach at Florida. The two teams split the series.
2/8/06 @ UTEP
“Sonny and Hot”
The Date:
The Blazers are 5-2 on this date, losing our first game in 1979 at South Alabama and our last game in 2003 to Tulane. We are 1-1 in road games on this date.
On this date 20 years ago, UAB played a nationally televised game on NBC against South Carolina, a member of the Metro Conference at the time. It was the last regular season home game for Steve Mitchell, Jerome Mincy, Jack Gordon, and Archie Johnson. UAB had an early Senior Day that year because they closed out the season with three straight away games before an early Sun Belt Tournament. The Blazers had lost two straight games, and had dropped to 8-4 in the Sun Belt, which was good for 3rd place. These seniors which presided over some of the most successful years in Blazer history, had never won a regular season Sun Belt title. They did however, win a Great Alaskan Shootout championship and won 92 games in their career. South Carolina was 12-8 and coached by Bill Foster. The game opened with a 7-0 UAB run, sparked by Archie Johnson’s three point play. Archie was also responsible for a spectacular play in which he stole the ball at mid court and the 6’8” player dribbled in and dunked the ball, making the score 25-10. UAB led 40-22 at the half, despite Steve Mitchell playing on a sprained ankle. South Carolina scored the first four points of the second half, but UAB went on a 10-3 run and won the game going away. The margin was as high as 32 points before the seniors went to the bench. UAB won the game 83-54. Mincy was the leading scorer with 21 points. Archie Johnson had 15 points on 6 of 6 field goals and 3 of 3 free throws in only 20 minutes due to foul trouble. Mithcell had 14 points and 8 assists and Jack Gordon had four points.
Also on this date in 1990, the Blazers welcomed back to Birmingham an old friend at a new school. Sonny Smith had left Auburn for Virginia Commonwealth and was in town to play UAB. Smith had replaced Mike Pollio who said he had lost his coaching fire after a player had dropped dead in practice. VCU had lured Sonny Smith away from Auburn with the promise of a challenge and by doubling the salary that Auburn was paying him to $200,000. Sonny believed that “his luck had turned on him at Auburn” and was looking for a new challenge. In Richmond there was a big media blitz welcoming Sonny to town with the slogan: “VCU Basketball: Sonny and Hot” However, the forecast missed as Smith was struggling in his first year as head coach of the Rams. Entering the game, Virginia Commonwealth was 8-11 and 2-4 in conference. The Blazers had won earlier in Richmond by the score of 80-59. UAB meanwhile, was on their way to the first regular season league title since 1982. The Blazers were without leading scorer, Andy Kennedy who had scratched his cornea in practice. He wasn’t needed because UAB did everything right. A crowd of 8237 saw Barry Bearden and Jack Kramer hit seven of nine 3 pointers in the first half and UAB doubled up VCU at the half 46-23. In the second half, Alan Ogg had 17 points and 8 block shots and finished the game as the leading scorer. Sonny Smith earned his first technical as the Ram head coach in this game protesting a call. The Blazers led by as much as 34 points late in the game, but a couple of three pointers by the Rams late made the final score of 74-51 a little more respectable.
The Opponent:
UAB and Texas El Paso have played each other one time, back on December 29, 1987 in the championship game of the Sun Bowl tournament. UTEP was the host of the holiday tournament and was undefeated at home. They had an overall record of 9-2 and was coached by the legendary Don Haskins, who has been reborn to a new generation this year by the movie “Glory Road”. In 1987, future Hall of FamerHaskins had already been coach at Texas El Paso for 26 years and still had 12 years to go. By the time he retired in 1999, had won 719 games and had only had five losing season in 38 years. The Miners were led by future NBA All-Star guard, Tim Hardaway. Assistant coach for the Miners was another future Hall of Famer, Nate Archibald. Maybe one day this game will have three Hall of Famers when they induct Coach Gene Bartow to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Blazers had made it to the championship game by beating California in the first round, holding Cal to just 8 points in the first half. UTEP had advanced to the finals by beating Boston College. The Blazers stayed close in the game and was down five points, 28-23 with five minutes to go in the half. However, in the last five minutes of the half, UTEP went on a 13-4 run and took a 41-27 lead to the locker room. UAB had been called for 11 fouls to 4 fouls for the Miners in the first half. In the second half, the UAB guards led the Blazers to cut the lead to 6, 45-39 with 12:08 to go, but the Miners pulled away again. Once again, UAB cut the lead to six with 1:29 to go, but in the last minute and a half, UTEP outscored the Blazers 10-2, and won the game 72-58. Coach Bartow complained that his big men were not improving. Reginald Turner went 2 for 8, Larry Rembert 3 for 8 and Eddie Collins was 4 for 12. However, the UAB guards played well. Michael Charles had 22 points and was named to the All tournament team. Tim Hardaway had 12 points 7 assists and 4 steals and was named MVP of the tournament.
The Place:
UAB has played in two Sun Bowl tournaments in that west Texas town of El Paso. In 1987, they defeated California 64-50, and as described above, they lost to UTEP in the championship game 72-58. In Mike Anderson’s first year, the Blazers traveled back to El Paso to play in what is now called the SunClassic, and defeated Air Force69-59. You would have thought that UAB would have been matched up again with Texas El Paso in the championship game, but the Miners were upset by Columbia of all teams. The Blazers defeated Columbia 71-42 for what may have been the easiest holiday tournament championship that they have ever won. UAB is 3-1 in the city of El Paso.
The Bench:
UTEP is coached by Doc Sadler, who was hired in 2004 after Jason Rabedeaux gave up the unenviable task of following Don Haskins. Sadler graduated from Arkansas in 1982 and was an assistant coach under Eddie Sutton there from 1982-1985, when Nolan Richardson and Mike Anderson came to Arkansas. He has never coached against UAB.
Sadler has faced Mike Anderson once before during Anderson’s Arkansas years. During the 1987-88 season, Arkansas defeated Chicago State where Sadler was an assistant coach.
2/11/06 East Carolina
Jeff Hodge Part 3 – Revenge of the Blazers
All the great stories are told in threes. The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, and of course Star Wars to name a few. Today we wrap up the Jeff Hodge trilogy, the tragic story that hit the Blazers in the late 1980’s. Rated PG-13 for violence.
The Date:
UAB is 5-3 on February 11. At home on this date, we are 3-2. Our last win was in 2004 on the road over Southern Miss. Our last loss was at home in 1999 to Memphis.
The Blazers have had several opponents over the years that could truly be called rivals. In UAB’s first two years, South Alabama was probably the biggest rivalry. They were coached by Cliff Ellis and led by Terry Catledge. The two teams played four times and each one two. All the games were close. On January 10, 1980, the VCU rivalry began when JD Barnett put a hole in a blackboard at the BJCC and UAB won the game 67-65. Barnett and Bartow had a sideline confrontation and the rivalry was off to a rousing start. From 1983-1988, as the VCU rivalry was starting to simmer, UAB and Auburn began playing each other and many considered that game to be the game that was circled on the schedule. To be frank, UAB had begun to dominate the Sun Belt Conference and while everyone considered UAB to be a rival, the Blazers emotion wasn’’t affected that much by who they were playing. However, that changed when Jeff Hodge signed to play with South Alabama. During the 1987-88 season, UAB and South Alabama played three times and the Jags won all three. South Alabama hired Ronnie Arrow in 1988 and his team, led by Jeff Hodge and Junie Lewis beat the Blazers 114-84 in January of 1989. After four straight losses, the last by 30 points, Gene Bartow and the Blazers wanted revenge against the team down south. The Blazers were tired of Jeff Hodge telling reporters about how he wished UAB had recruited him after he dropping 30 points on UAB. Their chance at redemption came on this date in 1989 when Arrow brought his merry men to play in Bartow Arena for the first time. UAB had just moved their home games from the Civic Center to Bartow Arena and this game would be the very first sellout as 8459 fans filled the seats. This game would also be Jeff Hodge’s last game in his hometown. South Alabama jumped out to an 8-0 start and Jeff Hodge scored 12 of the first 15 points. UAB came back on three point shooting and went ahead 17-15. The lead changed seven times in the first half, and the Blazers took a 45-43 lead to the locker room. In the first half, Jeff Hodge was 6 of 8 for 14 points. However, he was playing defense on Andy Kennedy and had picked up two fouls. He would pick up his third foul and sit down with 17:17 left in the game. In the second half, UAB pushed the lead to nine points with 5:45 to go in the game. However, they were down by 6 with 2:19 to go, as the Jaguars got a pair of turnovers and scored seven straight points. South Alabama took the lead 91-90 with 29 seconds to go in the game. Reginald Turner gave the Blazers the lead six seconds later with two free throws. South Alabama brought the ball down and called timeout. Jeff Hodge checked in, playing with four fouls. Would he burn the Blazers yet again? With 15 seconds to go, he took a shot from right of the foul line, but missed. Jack Kramer for UAB got the rebound and was fouled. He missed the front end of the one and one with 6 seconds to go. Hodge missed the winning shot again and Dylan Howard was fouled on the rebound with two seconds to go. He made the first shot, but missed the second. Tempers flared on the rebound and five minutes went by before the officials stopped the shoving matches. When the smoke cleared, UAB had won 93-91 and had held Jeff Hodge to 26 points, which was lower than the usual 30 he scored against the Blazers. Andy Kennedy tied a scoring record with 34 points. Barry Bearden had 15 points and Reginald Turner had 13. Alan Ogg had 8 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, which gave him the Sun Belt record for most blocks in a season at 94.
Epilogue: I would like to say that the Blazers revenge was the end of the Jeff Hodge saga. Unfortunately, less than a month later, the two teams would meet again in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament. South Alabama beat UAB 103-84. Jeff Hodge would score 33 points and his team would win the Sun Belt tournament. A few weeks later, as UAB was preparing to start their journey to the NIT Final Four, South Alabama was matched up against Alabama in the first round. Gene Bartow sent Hodge a letter before the game reminding him that “Wimp didn’t recruit you either”. The rest is history as Hodge hit the winning shot against an Alabama team that had won the SEC tournament and included Robert Horry.
Note: I apologize to all who had to relive this tragedy. However, in looking at games played on dates for this year’s schedule, Jeff Hodge kept popping up. I decided to make him a big part of this year’s Today in Blazer History in hopes of exorcising this demon. I sometimes lay awake at night in fear that one day he will show up again as the head coach of a conference rival. God help us all.
The Opponent:
Back to our regular format.
We have a short history with East Carolina, having played our first game against the Pirates in 2002. The Blazers have played them five times and won four games. The only loss came last year at home by the score of 67-64.
UAB entered that game on a two game losing streak and still adjusting to life without Ronell Taylor, who was injured in the Louisville game eleven days earlier. East Carolina 7-16 and 2-9 in the CUSA and had not won a road game all year. The Blazers jumped out to a ten point lead in the first half on inside scoring by Marques Lewis. However, the Pirates adjusted by going to a zone, and UAB could not hit any outside shots. East Carolina made their comeback and tied the game at the half. In the second half, UAB again jumped out to a 10 point lead, but Marques Lewis got in foul trouble and eventually fouled out. East Carolina refused to go away and took a 2 point lead at 59-57 when Moussa Badiane hit six straight points. UAB tied the game at 59, but the Pirates took the lead again on a Corey Rouse basket with three minutes to go. Japhet McNeil for the Pirates hit two free throws with 4.3 seconds to go to give the Pirates a 67-64 lead. UAB had one last shot. They moved the ball down quickly and Richard Jones got off a three point shot that fell well short with no time off the clock. However, Jones was fouled on the play and was given three free throws with no time left. He would have to hit all three to send the game to overtime. Jones was two for two earlier in the game. He stepped to the free throw line with no one on the line and promptly missed the first shot. The game was over. Coach Anderson was obviously frustrated with Jones. When asked about the end of the game, he said “Some of our younger guys continue to grow up for us, and you'll see more and more of those guys. As I look at some of the playing time of some of the older guys and we're not getting it from some of the guys, especially during crunch time.” Marques Lewis was leading scorer for the Blazers with 17 points on 7 of 11 field goal shooting.
The Bench:
The new East Carolina coach is Ricky Stokes, replacing Bill Herrion. Stokes played a small part in one of UAB’s greatest games. He was a sophomore guard on the 1982 Virginia team that UAB defeated in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Elite Eight. Stokes went 1-3 for two points and three rebounds. UAB assistant Chris Giles also played in that game. He had 5 points and 6 rebounds. He has not faced UAB as a coach.
2/15/06 Tulane
Squeaky Come Home
The Date: 3-6
This is not a good day to be playing Tulane. UAB is 3-6 on this date. Fortunately, our three wins have been at home and our 6 losses have been on the road. The good news is we are playing at home today. Our last win was in 1997 over Southern Miss. Our last loss was in 2003 at Memphis.
On this date in 1986, the Blazers traveled to Mobile to take on South Alabama. The Jaguars were coached by former Samford coach Mike Hanks. Hanks had a unique situation in that no one who played for South Alabama the year before was playing in that season. He had a totally new team. South Alabama had lost six of their previous seven games. While at Samford, Hanks had played UAB and produced a low scoring game by slowing the game down. In this game against South Alabama, the low score was caused by poor shooting. UAB shot 29.8% and South Alabama shot 42%. The game was tied five times in the first half and the Jaguars led by four, 27-23 at the half, after UAB cut the lead down from seven with 5:09 to go. The Blazers tied the game in the second half at 29, but South Alabama scored 6 straight. UAB again battled back and the lead changed hands 8 times until South Alabama took the lead with 2:58 to go. The Blazers last field goal of the game came with 6:07 to go in the game and the Jaguars’ last field goal came with 4:21 to go. With 37 seconds to go and UAB down by two, South Alabama’s Rodney Butts was called for being out of bounds. He slammed the ball down and was called for a technical. Steve Mitchell tied the game at 46. UAB got the ball and had a chance to win. With 13 seconds left, James Ponder was fouled. Unfortunately, he missed the front end of a one and one, then made the mistake of fouling a South Alabama player at the other end. Stepping to the line for South Alabama was none other than freshman Jeff Hodge. In his very first game against UAB and with six seconds left on the clock, he calmly hit both free throws to give his team the win 48-46. He had ten points in the game. His future career against UAB has been well documented. Steve Mitchell led UAB with 15 points.
Also on this date in 1992, the Blazers faced Marquette. The two teams had played earlier in the year in Milwaukee and Marquette had won 66-54. The Blazers was 17-5 entering the game, but 2-4 in the Great Midwest. Marquette entered the game at 12-9 and 2-3 in the conference. Elbert Rogers was leading the Great Midwest in scoring 20-6. This game was homecoming for UAB and an almost sellout crowd of 8216 was there for this hard played defensive game. Assistant coach Murry Bartow attempted to motivate the players before the game by posting signs in the locker room such as “Great defense will get us where we want to go”, “Great defense means in your face pressure at all times”, “Great defense leads to great offense”. This was a game where great defense was played by both teams. Coach Gene Bartow called it “one of the most intense games of the year.” Stanley Jackson called it “one of the toughest games I’ve ever been in” UAB trailed 25-22 after at the half after a furious first half in which UAB shot 32% and Marquette shot 52.6%, but only got off 19 shots. The Warriors led by 5 early in the second half, but the Blazers took the lead at 35-34 on a two Elbert Rogers free throws. They pushed the lead out to 6, 40-34 on a 14-2 run. Marquette managed to cut it to two, 62-60 with 15 seconds to go, but Rogers sealed the victory with two free throws. UAB won the game 64-60. Elbert Rogers led the Blazers with 20 points, and prompted Marquette coach, Kevin O’Neill to say “I’ll enjoy playing here next year when Elbert Rogers is somewhere else.” Willie Chapman for UAB had 15 points and 8 rebounds. The game was won at the free throw line. UAB hit 20 of 29 free throws and Marquette hit 9 of 14. It was also the first time in 154 games that UAB did not hit a three point shot. Currently, the Blazers have hit a three point shot in every game since December 18, 1996 – 320 games.
The Opponent:
When the CUSA was revamped, the schedulers gave UAB a benefit in that we play Tulane at Bartow Arena again this year after playing them here last year as well. This is a good thing, because we have lost four straight games in New Orleans, winning last down there in 2001. The Blazers hold a slight 12-11 edge in the series with Tulane. However, Tulane has won five of the last seven games against UAB. UAB is 7-4 at Bartow Arena against the Green Wave.
UAB’s first game against Tulane occurred December 15, 1992 in a non conference game. The Green Wave was ranked #18 and had a record of 5-1 with the only loss to Indiana. The Blazers was 6-1 and had won sis straight. The game at Bartow Arena was televised nationally on ESPN. UAB led most of the game behind the shooting of Carter Long, who had 17 points in only 18 minutes of play. In the second half, Tulane made a comeback after UAB suffered through six straight unforced turnovers, and the Green Wave outscored UAB 13-4 to go up 55-54 with six minutes to go. Corey Jackson put the Blazers back on top with two free throws and UAB never trailed again. The final score was UAB 75 Tulane 69. Stanley Jackson led the Blazers with 19 points. Carter Long had 17 and Robert Shannon had 14.
In 1999, Tulane traveled to Bartow Arena for a CUSA game. UAB had won the game in New Orleans by ten points and was hoping for the sweep. The Blazers were 14-5 on the year and 5-1 in CUSA, leading the National Division. The struggling Green Wave was 7-7 and 1-4 in conference. The promotion in the pre bobblehead era was 25c hot dogs and all fans were encouraged to dress up in 1970’s attire. 5919 hot dog lovers showed up for the game. The game started with Tulane opening up a 16-2 run and Murry Bartow pulled all the starters four minutes into the game due to lethargic play. The bench sparked a run and UAB managed to get the lead down to five points. Eric Holmes hit a three pointer from the corner at the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to two going to the break. Momentum stayed with Tulane as the second half started. The Green Wave opened the half by hitting six of their first seven shots and the Blazers found themselves down by as many as 21 points in the second half. They could get no closer than 12 points with 3:46 to go. Tulane won the game 80-64. Fred Williams was the leading scorer with 17 points.
The Green Wave have given Blazer fans a lot of heartache over the years, both in football and basketball. One of the most disappointing losses occurred last year when UAB traveled to New Orleans on January 19, 2005. UAB was 13-5 and Tulane was 7-9. However, tiny Fogelman Arena has always been a difficult and that night was no exception. Marques Lewis sparked the Blazers to a 1 point lead at halftime, 31-30. Lewis had gone 3 for 3 at the line and from the field for nine first half points. However, Tulane opened up a 6-0 run in the second half and took a 60-52 lead with 8:43 to play. Tulane overcame 25 turnovers in the game by shooting 54.5%. Meanwhile the Blazers shot 37.3%. The Blazers made a comeback and took the lead 68-65 on a Donell Taylor jumper with 52 seconds remaining. Tulane’s freshman point guard Taylor Rochestie hit a three point shot over Demario Eddins with 31 seconds to go to tie the game. UAB had a chance to win the game in regulation, but the shot by Squeaky Johnson fell short. In overtime, UAB jumped out to a 71-68 lead, but Tulane tied the game at 71 with 2:24 left in overtime. The game was tied at 73 with 43.3 seconds to go and UAB worked the clock down. As the shot clock wound down, Squeaky Johnson took a shot that missed everything and UAB turned the ball over on a shot clock violation with 6.7 seconds left. Again, Rochestie performed late game heroics as he drove the length of the court, got past a UAB double team and found himself alone at the top of the key. He shot and hit his three point shot as the buzzer sounded. Tulane won the game 76-73 in overtime. The Blazers was led by Demario Eddins with 18 points. Squeaky Johnson played perhaps his poorest game as a Blazer in his hometown as he went 0-7 from the field and missed the game winner in regulation and overtime. In two trips to Fogelman Arena, Squeaky is 1-18. It is just as well that he does not have to play there again. The Blazers did get revenge later in the year when UAB defeated the Green Wave by 29 points in the friendly confines of Bartow Arena.
The Bench:
The Blazers are facing another first year coach in Tulane’s Dave Dickerson who was hired off of Gary Williams’s staff at Maryland. He has never faced the Blazers as a coach.
Also on the Tulane bench is assistant coach, Benjy Taylor who faced UAB one time as a player. Taylor played in 1989 for the Richmond Spiders. UAB defeated the Spiders that year in the NIT.
2/18/06 @ Southern Miss
Southern Miss – The Quiet Rivalry
The Date:
The Blazers are 5-4 on February 18. Most of the games played on this date have been on the road. We are 3-3 on the road on this date. UAB has won it’s last two games on this date, in 2003 against TCU and in 2004 against Cincinnati.
On this date in 1988, two bad teams got together and played a very good game. UAB traveled to Tampa to play South Florida with a 14-12 record and 5-5 in the Sun Belt. South Florida was worse with 5-17 overall and 3-8 in the conference. In this game, both teams shot well: UAB 57.9% and 56.6% for the Bulls. The game was close in the first half and the lead changed hands five times. In the second half, neither team missed a shot for the first six and a half minutes. The lead changed hands for the first 13 possessions. At the 13:31 point in the second half, Reginald Turner scored and gave UAB a 53-52 lead. Barry Bearden then stole the ball and his layup gave the Blazers a 3 point lead. The Bulls went back up by three, 66-63 with 7:25 left, but Dylan Howard’s free throws put the Blazers up 71-70 with 5:09 remaining. South Florida tied it at 75 with 2:50 left, but Turner scored to give UAB a 2 point lead and then Larry Rembert stole the ball and Michael Charles gave UAB a 4 point lead. With nine seconds left, Barry Bearden hit two free throws to ice the game for the Blazers. UAB won 83-79. Michael Charles led UAB with 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Barry Bearden played all 40 minutes without one turnover. Coach Bartow was amazed that UAB had played so well, “and we still had to fight for our lives.”
One year later, the Blazers traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to take on fellow Sun Belt member, the Jacksonville Dolphins. UAB was 14-8 overall and 8-4 in the Sun Belt. The Dolphins were 11-12 and 4-8 in conference. The Blazers had not lost to Jacksonville since 1980 but entered the game with two players out due to injury. UAB played six players, four of which played all 40 minutes. The Blazers led by seven in the first half, but the Dolphins came back to take a 46-44 lead to the locker room. In the first 8 minutes of the second half, Jacksonville, led by future Boston Celtic star, Dee Brown, outscored the Blazers 17-10. UAB pulled within three on an Andy Kennedy three pointer with 7:26 left, but Jacksonville went on a 14-0 scoring run after another Kennedy three at the 5:10 mark. UAB did not score another field goal until there was just 42 seconds to go, and the score was 94-75 Jacksonville. The Dolphins won the game 98-79, UAB’s worst loss ever to the Dolphins. Dee Brown had 26 points and 10 rebounds. Jacksonville had four players score over 20 points. Andy Kennedy led the Blazers with 20 points and Barry Bearden had 17. He was 4-4 from three point range in the first half, but only had one point in the second half. The interesting story came at the foul line, where the Blazers were a perfect 9-9 in free throws. However, Jacksonville was a perfect 20-20. Neither team missed a free throw all night, but UAB only had 8 fouls called in their favor all night.
The biggest game played on this date occurred in 2004 in what may have been Bob Huggins last trip to Bartow Arena. Huggins brought his 17th ranked Cincinnati Bearcats to Bartow Arena to play UAB. Both teams entered the contest with identical 8-2 conference records. The winner would be tied with Memphis for first place. Cincinnati had won seven straight games over the Blazers, but a record crowd of 9,312 showed up at Bartow to witness the clash. It was Bartow Arena’s first sellout since February 5, 2000 when the Blazers had lost to Cincinnati 93-80. The Bearcats took an early lead 8-0, but could not withstand UAB’s pressure defense and the Blazers went on a 20-5 run, holding Cincinnati to just two field goals in an 8:34 span. With 55 seconds left in the half, Donell Taylor’s three pointer gave UAB a 43-27 lead. In the second half, Cincinnati cut the lead to 62-55 with 6:40 left. They had made their comeback attempt at the free throw line where they had hit 14 consecutive foul shots and only one field goal in a six minute span. However, UAB was hitting their free throws as well, making 18 of 23 in the final 11 minutes. Demario Eddins scored nine of ten free throws in the second half. UAB forced 21 turnovers and committed ten as they upset the 21st ranked Bearcats, 80-69. Mike Anderson praised Squeaky Johnson as the MVP of the game, even though he did not score. He had five assists, four steals and drew several charges. “He was the best player on the floor,” Anderson said, “He got them into everything and never got rattled” UAB was led by Morris Finley with 13 points and Ronell Taylor with 12 points in just 17 minutes of play. The Blazers held Bearcat leading scorer, Tony Bobbitt scoreless, missing all four field goal attempts and fouling out at the 6:29 mark. Jason Maxiell led the Bearcats with 13 points.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 15-8 against Southern Mississippi. While UAB now has a 10-2 record against USM in Birmingham, the Blazers have a losing record in Hattiesburg at 4-6. UAB won its last game in Hattiesburg in 2004, but had lost the two games before that in 2002 and 2003.
The 2002 game in Hattiesburg, played on January 12, 2002 is the game that everyone was looking up in the record books after the Texas El Paso debacle earlier this year. Southern Miss defeated UAB 50-36. The 36 points was the lowest point total for the Blazers in UAB history. Only Mo Finley scored in double figures for the Blazers with 13 points, with six of those points coming early in the game on two three pointers. UAB only made five shots in the first half and trailed 28-16 at halftime. The Blazers shot 27% for the game. This horrible offensive showing followed four months after a 3-0 loss at Southern Miss in football.
As boring and low scoring as the 2002 game was, the 2003 game was the opposite. Exciting and high scoring but unfortunately, with the same result. It was Mike Anderson’s first trip to Hattiesburg as UAB’s head coach. The Blazers were 12-5 and 4-2 in CUSA play. The Golden Eagles were 9-9 and 2-5. UAB led by six points with less than two minutes to go, but Southern Miss tied the game with a three pointer by Jasper Jones with two seconds to go, sending the game to overtime. The Blazers jumped out to a four point lead in overtime and led 71-69 with one minute remaining. Again Southern Miss tied the game with 42 seconds to go and Eric Bush who was having a bad game with 4 of 14 field goal shooting, missed a potential game winner. The end of the second overtime found the score tied with 8.3 seconds to go and Richard Jones at the free throw line with two shots to put UAB ahead. Jones missed both free throws and Jasper Johnson hit a jumper at the buzzer to give Southern Miss the win 82-80. Morris Finley led the Blazers with 27 points and Gabe Kennedy had 20. The Blazers had just won a game in overtime against TCU, and it was the first back to back overtime games in UAB history. Neither of Jones’ free throws were close and he was visibly upset as he left the court. His team, as they were last year when he missed game-tying free throws with no time left in the loss to East Carolina, were quick to jump to his defense, saying the loss was not because of one play. Sidney Ball said “He had never been in that situation. The pressure is enormous.” I hope Richard Jones has a chance to win a big game for us before he leaves.
Another interesting point about the Southern Miss series is how close the games have been. In UAB’s last five wins, the margin has been 9.8 points. In Southern Miss’s last five wins, the margin has been 11.4 points. Southern Miss has won by the most points, 17 in 1998. UAB’s biggest margin of victory came January 19, 2000 when they won 73-57 by 16 points. In that game, UAB entered the game 9-5 and USM was 10-4. Murry Bartow had leading scorer Eric Holmes (13pts), coming off the bench and freshman Tony Johnson starting. Holmes was unhappy with the move. Bartow said that he is not in the doghouse, but Bartow wanted a boost off the bench. Midway through the first half, UAB had a 24-8 lead and a 16 point lead at halftime. They never trailed and won 75-57. USM shot 30.5% for the game. Holmes was leading scorer with 22 points.
The Place: Hattiesburg, MS
Hattiesburg is not an easy place to play. As stated earlier, UAB has only won four times in ten tries at Southern Miss. Mike Anderson is 1-1 in Hattiesburg.
The Bench:
Larry Eustacy is 0-2 against UAB, including the loss earlier this year. There is an Alabama connection on the bench: freshman guard Courtney Beasley of Bridgeton Academy in Huntsville.
2/25/06 @SMU
Gene, Wimp and Sonny – One Thinks He’s Smart, One Thinks He’s Funny, and Only One’s Known as Clean
The Date:
UAB has a losing record on February 25. We have won three games and lost five on this date. Worse yet, all five losses have come on the road and we are playing on the road today. UAB has lost its last two games on this date, to Lousiville in 1999 and to Tulane in 2004.
The Blazers biggest win came on this date in 1989. When Bartow Arena, known then as UAB Arena first opened in 1988, the original concept was to continue to play two or three “big” games at the BJCC. The first game since the move to the Arena came on February 25, 1989, when Auburn came to town. The game was originally scheduled for December but was moved to the middle of the conference schedule because of a tractor pull scheduled for the BJCC. It was UAB’s final home game of the year and a big night for the Bartow family as Gene Bartow was being inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame. Before the game, Paul Finebaum had created a stir with an article saying the game should be UAB-Alabama playing the game. He cited Wimp Sanderson’s arrogant attitude toward UAB and stated that Wimp was jealous of Bartow. Finebaum said that while Bartow was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Wimp was being honored with Wimp masks at Coleman Coliseum. Finebaum further stated that Dick Vitale had put Bartow on his All Frank Lloyd Wright team and had put Sanderson on his All Crybaby list. Vitale was also quoted as saying “the name-calling (Wimp), the accusations of cheating (Gene) and nasty rumors to continue to foul the atmosphere surrounding what could be a fine rivalry.”
Wimp had played down the UAB –Auburn game a week earlier. At the Birmingham Tip Off Club, he had defended his decision not to play UAB by stating that in state rivalries are not important. He had said “Just look at Auburn – UAB. If they draw more than 10,000, you can say they have a good rivalry.” A crowd of 13,756 disagreed with Wimp as they showed up for the game which was a 2:00 PM tip off. Obviously Gene and Wimp were not going to play each other, but Sonny Smith at Auburn would play UAB. However, it wasn’t totally altruistic. He had set up the UAB series hoping to make it a three way battle in Birmingham for recruits. With UAB and Alabama fighting over recruits, Sonny could sneak in and get a few recruits. Most Auburn fans did not like the series, because constantly getting beat by someone supposedly beneath you was not fun.
This game on this date was no contest. UAB entered the game 16-9 and Auburn was 9-15. UAB shot 57.5% from the field and 10 of 13 from three point range. UAB led the entire game and had a 49-34 lead at halftime. The only suspense was whether UAB would hit 100, which they did when JJ Smith for UAB hit two free throws with 58 seconds to go. The Blazers won 105-76 in front of 13,756, which was the smallest crowd at the time to have ever witnessed a UAB-Auburn game. Here’s a fun quote by Matt Geiger, who played for Auburn: “This is the lowest point of the season. We underestimated them. Coming out of the SEC, we didn’t think UAB would be as tough.” Keenan Carpenter, Auburn’s leading scorer said “They’re better than we thought, especially the big white guy.” That would be Alan Ogg. Reginald Turner’s 26 points made him UAB’s 6th Blazer to score over 1000 points in a career. After the game, Gene Bartow along with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ John Stallworth and Alabama’s Johnny Musso were inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame. One year later, Wimp Sanderson was inducted, probably because he cried loud enough that Bartow was in. Sonny Smith is still waiting.
The Opponent:
The Blazers and the SMU Mustangs have played once, a long time ago. On December 29, 1983, UAB and SMU faced off in the second round of the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii. UAB had advanced by beating Pacific. SMU advanced by upsetting Duke 78-76. UAB was off to a great start with an 11-1 record. SMU had a 10-2 record. SMU was led by the 7 footer, Jon Koncak. They were coached by the now infamous coach, Dave Bliss, who recently was fired from Baylor. In the first three minutes, UAB went 0-5 and turned the ball over three times. SMU jumped out to an 8-2 lead. UAB did not heat up in the first half, as they shot 12 of 41 in the first half, and McKinley Singleton had 6 of the 12 field goals. In the second half, Bliss had his team double-team Singleton. The rest of the Blazers offered no help. Jerome Mincy was 1-10, Tracy Foster was 0-4 and Steve Mitchell was 3-10. Only Archie Johnson offered help with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jon Koncak was 9 of 11 from the field with 18 points and 11 rebounds. SMU had the lead up to 20 points with 2:25 left, but UAB made a late surge to make the game look closer than it was. SMU won 77-63. It was UAB’s second loss of the season. McKinley Singleton finished with 16 points in the losing effort.
The Place:
Until today, UAB has never played a game in Dallas, Texas. They have played games in Houston, El Paso, Fort Worth, Lubbock and Arlington, but never in Dallas.
The Bench:
Jimmy Tubbs is in his second year as the Mustang coach. He was previously an assistant coach under Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma. He has never coached against UAB. However, he was an assistant at SMU from 1990 until 2002. During that time, he faced Arkansas when Mike Anderson was an assistant coach there on six occasions between 1990 and 1996. Mike’s team came out on top all six time.