05-25-2007, 11:31 PM
Here are the Today in Blazer History reports from March 2006
3/2/06 Memphis
Buzzer Beaters
The Date:
The Blazers are 3-4 on March 2. The first three games played on this date were games played in the Sun Belt Tournament. The Blazers defeated South Alabama in the 1st round of the 1984 tournament, lost to Old Dominion in the 2nd round in 1985, and lost again in 1991 to Old Dominion in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. The other games played are regular season games. UAB is 2-2 in those games. Surprisingly, we have only played one regular season game at home on this date and that was last year, when UAB defeated DePaul 81-80 in overtime.
One of the biggest comebacks ever made against UAB occurred on this date in 1985 in the semi finals of the Sun Belt Tournament, held in Hampton, Virginia. UAB entered the tournament as the second seed with a 11-3 conference record. Virginia Commonwealth was the #1 seed. The Blazers had defeated the Western Kentucky in their first tournament game by the score of 64-56. Now UAB faced Old Dominion, the third seed, in a hostile arena, since Hampton, Virginia was not far from Norfolk. UAB was firing on all cylinders throughout most of the game. They shot 57% from the field for the game and over 80% from the line. They led 37-24 at half time and even led by as much as 19 points midway through the second half. A spot in the championship game against Virginia Commonwealth seemed assured. A 19 point lead was seemingly safe in the days before the three point shot. But, something went horribly wrong. The Blazers saw Old Dominion chip away at the lead little by little until it was a game. The 9000+ pro-Old Dominion crowd got involved and cheered the Monarchs on. Old Dominion made the comeback and won the game 68-67. Steve Mitchell led the Blazers with 20 points. Mark Davis had 21 points for Old Dominion. Because of UAB’s 25-9 record and excellent out of conference record, they received an at large bid to the NCAA tournament.
On this date in 1995, the Blazers traveled to Dayton Ohio to take on the Dayton Flyers in the next to last Great Midwest regular season game that UAB would play. Dayton had been a late arrival to the Great Midwest Conference and was in the conference for only two years when it merged with the Metro Conference. Dayton was playing in its last Great Midwest regular season game and would go to the Atlantic 10 the next year. The Flyers were 0-10 and trying to win their first conference game of the year. UAB was 13-14 overall and desperately trying to avoid becoming the first UAB team to have a losing record. UAB started out slow and trailed 20-8 with 8:55 to go in the first half. The Blazers then went on a 18-4 run with 14 of the points coming from Anthony Thomas. Dayton had a four point lead and the ball with 1:29 left in the game. Cedric Dixon stole the ball at midcourt, drove to the basket for a lay up and was fouled. He made his free throw, cutting the lead to one point. Travis Harper tied the game with a free throw with 56 seconds to go. At the other end, Dayton shot, but missed. Travis Harper go the rebound and UAB had the ball for the last shot to win the game. Leonard Bush put up a shot with five or six seconds left on the clock, but missed. Rod Willie tipped and missed. Anthony Thomas tipped and missed, and Chad Jones tipped the ball in the basket, just as the buzzer sounded, giving the Blazers the win 57-55. It was the second straight game that UAB had won by tipping it in at the buzzer. They had defeated Cincinnati in Birmingham on a tip in at the buzzer the previous game. Anthony Thomas led the Blazers with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
The Opponent:
UAB is 9-21 against the Memphis Tigers. However, the Blazers are 7-5 against Memphis in Birmingham. UAB has won two of the last three home games against the Tigers.
On February 8, 1998, the Tigers traveled to Birmingham to take on the 18-8 Blazers. Memphis was 12-7 and 7-1 in CUSA play. The Blazers were 5-4 in conference play, but had lost four of its last five games. Memphis had won 6 of its last 7 games. This was a sloppy game for the Blazers. They had 15 turnovers in the first half and 23 for the game. However, they shot 53% from three point range to keep them in the game. The Tigers took a 9-8 early lead and Omar Sneed for the Tigers had seven of their nine points. However, Sneed did not score again until the second half. UAB took the lead less than five minutes into the game on a pair of Cedric Dixon free throws and never trailed again. The Blazers led by 6 or 8 points the entire second half, and pulled out to a 14 point lead before the Tigers made a couple of three point shots down the stretch. The Blazers won the game 88-77 before a late night (9pm CST) ESPN audience. Cedric Dixon finished the game with 22 points and Fred Williams had 21 for UAB.
On February 15, 2003, UAB traveled to Memphis in a key National Division game. It was Mike Anderson’s first game against the Memphis Tigers. The Blazers were 5-4 in the conference and one game behind Memphis at 6-3. More than 17,000 fans showed up at the Pyramid to watch the game. UAB had no answer for Antonio Burks who had a career high 27 points and 10 assists as Memphis won 90-74. Burks was 13 of 16 from the field. UAB stayed close early in the game as the Tiger big man, Chris Massie got in foul trouble. However, in the last eight minutes of the first half, the Tigers went on an 18-8 run, and coupled that with 17 unanswered points early in the second half. UAB could not get any closer than 13 points. The Tigers shot 59%, including 62.5% in the second half. Morris Finley led the Blazers with 18 points. DeMario Eddins scored 12 points, which allowed him to set a new record for most points by a freshman, breaking Damon Cobb’s record of 212 points. Richard Jones had 16 points off the bench.
The Tigers most recent trip to Birmingham came on January 22, 2005. The Tigers were 10-8 entering the game and 3-1 in CUSA play. UAB was 13-5, and 3-2. Attendance was a near sellout of 7979. Marvette McDonald, a Memphis native was playing his hometown team for the first time. He burned them in the second half with four three pointers, including a 25 footer. He had 14 points in the first half. The Blazers pressure defense forced Memphis into 14 first half turnovers. UAB led 45-34 at the half, although the Tigers were shooting 52.9% from the field. UAB pushed the lead out to 14 points in the second half. However, the Tigers rallied and took the lead 63-62 on two Darius Washington free throws with 5:39 to go. After that there were three ties and seven lead changes. UAB took a 71-70 lead when Ronell Taylor picked up a loose ball and scored an easy layup with 1:28 to go. Two Demario Eddins’ free throws made the score 73-70 with 17.6 seconds left and the Tigers with the ball. John Calipari called a timeout at 14 seconds and drew up a plan for Rodney Carney to take the tying three point shot. However, Jeremy Hunt got the first look and missed badly. Carney took his three and missed, then Alabama native Duane Erwin almost got the chance to be the hero in his home state, when his three pointer almost went in, but rimmed out as the buzzer sounded. UAB had won the game 73-70. It was redemption for the Blazers who had lost to Tulane the previous game on a last second three point shot. The Blazers had held on to win, although they had shot 26.3% in the second half and had been held to just one field goal in the final 10:30. However, they had hit 11 of their last 12 free throws to preserve the victory.
The Bench:
John Calipari is now 7-2 against UAB after their victory in Memphis earlier this year. Calipari and Anderson have faced each other three other times, prior to their careers at Memphis and UAB. In 1986-87, Mike Anderson was an assistant at Arkansas and John Calipari was an assistant at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh beat Arkansas by the score of 114-82. Calipari’s Massachusetts teams played Arkansas twice. In November, 1994, Arkansas played UMass in the Tip Off Classic and lost 104-80. That Arkansas team which was coming off a national championship went on to the Final Four. In March 1996, the two teams met again in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Calipari’s team won again 79-68.
3/4/06 Marshall
Planes, Trains and Bad Referees
Today in Blazer History honors Gary Sanders in his last home game by looking at games involving difficult road trips and bad referees.
The Date:
The Blazers are 4-3 on March 4. Only two games on this date has been regular season games. Unfortunately they were both losses: in 1995 at Cincinnati and in 2000, an ugly loss at Charlotte, 61-37. The other games were played in conference tournaments. Four of the tournament games were played in Birmingham and we are 3-1 in those games.
Today is also the last game of the regular season. Mike Anderson is 2-1 in final games of the regular season, with his only loss being a home game to Memphis in his first season.
On this date in 1983, the 1983 Sun Belt Conference Tournament opened in Birmingham. UAB was the third seed with a 9-5 conference record. Their first round opponent was North Carolina Charlotte, ranked 6th with a 5-9 record. The Blazers entered the game, having lost two of its last three games. The UAB-UNCC game was the last game of the night. Probably the biggest upset in Sun Belt Tournament history had occurred earlier in the day when an 0-14 Jacksonville team upset top ranked Old Dominion, who was 12-2 in conference play. Second seeded Virginia Commonwealth had barely survived a scare from Western Kentucky and won 57-55. Charlotte was also vying for the upset in the nightcap game against the home standing Blazers. UAB built up a 15 point first half lead, but lost the lead in the second half. With 2 ½ minutes to go, UAB found themselves down by three points. At that point, Cliff Pruitt hit a field goal and was fouled. He tied the game with the free throw. On Charlotte’s inbound pass, Marvin Ray Johnson stole the ball and slammed the ball into the basket, bringing the crowd of 10,234 to their feet. The Blazers were now up by two. Melvin Johnson for Charlotte tied the game with two free throws at 63 with 1:23 left and UAB worked the ball down for the last shot. Freshman Steve Mitchell was 3-10 from the field, but his third basket came with six seconds left to win the game. Charlotte’s three point attempt at the buzzer rolled off the rim and UAB was advancing to the second round. Cliff Pruitt’s free throw that tied the game was UAB’s only free throw of the second half and they were only two of five in the first half. Meanwhile, North Carolina Charlotte went to the line 32 times, hitting 25 of them. Melvin Johnson for the 49ers finished with 27 points. Cliff Pruitt led UAB with 20 points and 10 rebounds. With UAB’s 16-13 record entering the tournament, they needed to win it all to make the NCAA tournament. The Blazers went on to beat VCU and South Florida to earn the automatic bid to the Big Dance.
On this date in 1989, the Blazers traveled to Charlotte to play in the 1989 Sun Belt Tournament. UAB was the 4th seed and was facing Old Dominion, the 5th seed in the opening round. Andy Kennedy had lost his starting position because he had missed the plane flight to Charlotte. Apparently, his electricity had gone out during the night and his alarm did not go off. He missed the 7:00am flight to Charlotte and had to find alternate transportation. Meanwhile, the plane was having trouble getting to Charlotte as well. After a 1 ½ layover in Atlanta, the flight was about to leave when it was announced that the baggage handlers had walked off the job due to an impending strike. It took another hour to get the baggage loaded. You think you are cramped when waiting long periods on a plane. Imagine Alan Ogg trapped on a plane for an hour. Finally the plane got off the ground, but the Blazers had missed their scheduled practice time and had to practice at a later time. Kennedy did not make that practice as well because he also was having trouble getting to Charlotte due to the strike. Gene Bartow didn’t seem too concerned. He said “I won’t start him, but if he is playing well, he will get his usual 25 to 30 minutes.” This was the third matchup of the season against Old Dominion. UAB won the first game 101-89 and lost the second game 92-77. The Blazers started out well, jumping out to a 20-9 lead with 10;25 left in the first half. After a Tom Young timeout, ODU came back and carried a 41-37 lead to halftime. In the second half, the Monarchs jumped to a nine point lead with 11:08 to go. The Blazers then scored 10 straight points to take a 62-61 lead with 7:37 to go. With the score tied at 73 with 38 seconds to go, UAB worked it down for Reginald Turner to take the winning shot. Six nights earlier, the Blazers had lost on this Charlotte court to North Carolina Charlotte when Turner’s shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer. In this game, Turner made up for that miss. He scored with four seconds to go, giving UAB a 75-73 lead. Old Dominion inbounded the ball and Barry Bearden tipped the pass at half court. However, it bounced into the hands of ODU’s Darrin McDonald. His three point shot was an airball, but Chris Gatlin got the rebound and laid it in at the buzzer sending the game to overtime. All this happened in four seconds? In overtime, the lead changed hands eleven times. UAB got a break at the 41 second mark when the Monarchs were called for walking. The Blazers worked the clock down to six seconds and Bearden once again got it to Reginald Turner who shot from just outside the lane. The ball bounced twice and fell through the hoop with four seconds left. Old Dominion’s desperation shot at midcourt came after the buzzer sounded. The Blazers had won 89-87 in overtime. Turner led UAB with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Chris Gatlin scored a tournament record 36 points and career high 17 rebounds. Andy Kennedy did not start, but ended up playing 41 minutes, partially because his replacement, Jack Kramer turned his ankle in the first two minutes of the game. Kennedy only scored 8 points. The Blazers would lose in the next round to Jeff Hodge and his South Alabama team (Note: this is the last Jeff Hodge reference of the year). They missed the NCAA tournament in 1989, but would advance to the NIT final four.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 2-1 against Marshall, including the win in Huntington earlier this year. Interestingly, our two wins have come at their place and their one win came at Bartow Arena. Even though, we looked at this game earlier this year, it bears a second glance.
On December 30, 2003, a team that would finish the year 12-17, the Marshall Thundering Herd came to Birmingham and surprised the Blazers. The game was tied 66-66 when UAB’s Gabe Kennedy missed a short shot and the rebound fell out of bounds to Marshall with 15.4 seconds remaining in the game. Marshall’s Tre Whitted was almost tied up, but called a timeout with two seconds left. Marshall took the ball out of bounds, and got it to the Herd's Mark Patton on the left side of the foul lane. As he turned toward the basket, a foul was called. It appeared to many that the foul happened after time ran out, but the referees, in an effort to welcome Marshall to CUSA put 0.40 seconds on the clock. After a UAB timeout, Patton hit both free throws to win the game. UAB was led in scoring by Gabe Kennedy with 20 points. Coach Anderson was quoted as saying that the Blazers were "a half step behind all night”
All of our games with Marshall have been close. They won by two. The Blazers won by three last year in Huntington, and this year by 12. However, that 12 points difference was the result of late free throws by UAB and the game was much closer throughout the game. Marshall has played UAB tough in each game.
The Bench:
Ron Jirsa, coach at Marshall is 1-2 against the Blazers as a head coach. He was given his first coaching job by JD Barnett at VCU. He was a graduate assistant at Virginia Commonwealth in 1984-1985. That season, VCU and UAB each won one game. Jirsa was a member of the coaching staff that left VCU for Tulsa in 1985 to replace Nolan Richardson and Mike Anderson. That staff also included Tubby Smith. Jirsa was an assistant under Tubby Smith from 1991-1994. They played UAB in 1991 and Tulsa won. Jirsa’s overall coaching record against UAB is 3-2.
3/9/06 CUSA Tournament
SMU Redux
The Date:
The Blazers have only played one game on this date. That game was the first round of the 1995 Great Midwest Tournament, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. UAB was unfortunate enough to draw the home team, Marquette in the first round. UAB was the #6 seed out of seven teams. The Blazers were 14-15 and needed two wins to avoid their first losing season in its history. Marquette, who had beaten UAB twice that year, was the #3 seed and came into the tournament on a four game win streak. UAB led for 13 minutes of the second half, but with seven minutes to go in the game, Marquette went on a 20-5 run after Rod Willie of UAB missed a free throw. UAB would not score again until 46 seconds were left in the game. UAB shot a miserable 25% for the game including 1 of 11 from beyond the three point arc. Marquette won 55-46, and UAB had their first losing season in history with a record of 14-16. It was Gene Bartow’s first losing season since his one season at Illinois in 1974-75 when his team went 8-18. It was only his 3rd losing season in his storied career which began in 1961. It was probably the lowest point of Bartow’s tenure at UAB.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 1-1 against SMU after beating the Mustangs in Dallas earlier this year. UAB lost to SMU in the Rainbow Classic in 1983. A previous edition of Today in Blazer History discussed this game. Since there is no other history involving SMU, the previous game report will be repeated. Call it the tournament reruns.
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 Venue:
Until last year, UAB had never won a conference tournament game in Memphis. They had lost in the first round in the Great Midwest Tournament in Memphis in 1993 and in the first rounds of the CUSA Tournament in Memphis in 1996 and 2000. In 2005, the 4th seeded Blazers beat Depaul in the first game and lost to Louisville in the semi finals. Therefore, UAB is 1-4 in conference tournaments in Memphis. With a championship this week, we can even the record.
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.
An interesting fact. Mike Anderson has the highest winning percentage of CUSA tournament games among active CUSA coaches. Actually, Anderson Calipari and Penders are the only three active coaches who have ever coached in a CUSA tournament prior to this year. Anderson is 4-3, Calipari is 5-5 and Penders is 0-1. All the rest of the coaches are either first year coaches or new to the conference, with the exception of Larry Eustachy, whose Southern Miss team did not qualify last year for the tournament.
3/10/06 CUSA Tournament
The Glory Road to Greatness Starts Today
The Date:
The Blazers are 1-1 on this date. On this date, UAB lost to Memphis in the first round of the Great Midwest tournament. The last time UAB played on this date was last year in the CUSA quarterfinals.
On this date in 2005, UAB entered the CUSA tournament in Memphis with a bye as the #4 seed. Their opponent was DePaul who UAB had defeated in overtime nine days earlier. UAB opened the game missing 9 of their first 11 shots. DePaul had jumped out to a 24-13 lead with four minutes left in the half. However, the half closed with UAB making an 11-2 run and cutting the halftime deficit to two points. In the second half, DePaul held down their turnovers despite the troublesome defense by the Blazers and had built the lead back to ten points with nine minutes left to play. The Blazers battled back and a three point shot by Demario Eddins at the 1:28 point gave the Blazers their first lead of the game at 56-55. DePaul tied the game on a free throw and had the ball working to take the winning shot, when Drake Diener was called for walking with 28 seconds left in the game. It looked as if there would be yet another overtime in this series as the Blazers got the ball. However, Demario Eddins got the ball in the corner and hit a three point shot with .8 seconds left on the clock, and UAB won the game 59-56. Eddins and Donell Taylor each had 11 points to lead the Blazers.
The Opponent:
UAB is 0-2 against Texas El Paso. Everyone is already aware of the horrible game played earlier this season, so I will not report on it. Instead, let’s look again at the only other game UAB has played against Texas El Paso, played in 1987.
The two teams met 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 Famer Haskins 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 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 is 1-0 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.
3/11/06 CUSA Tournament
Memories of Murry, Memphis and Missouri
The Date:
Before we talk about games played on this date, I have to highlight a very important non game related historical moment. On this date in 2002, 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. This paved the way for the Fastest 40 Minutes of Basketball as Herman Frazier made the one great decision in his term as Athletic Director, when he hired Mike Anderson.
Now onto the games. The Blazers are 2-3 in games played on March 11. On this date, we have played in two CUSA Tournaments, a Great Midwest tournament, an NIT tournament and an NCAA tournament game.
Since there is all this talk about Anderson to Missouri, let’s look at a game played on this date in 1998 when UAB traveled to Missouri to play in the first round of the NIT. UAB was 20-11 and Missouri was 17-14. The Blazers was playing without Willie Mitchell who had a broken toe. The Missouri Tigers were 14-1 in the Hearnes Center. The score was tied at 10 with 15:13 left in the first but the Tigers outscored UAB 21-4 including a 16-0 run. Missouri led 28-12 with 8:19 to go in the first half. The Blazers got back in the game by working the ball inside. Fred Williams had 12 points in the first half, including 8 points in the final seven minutes of the first half. Missouri’s lead was down to four by halftime, 37-33. In the second half, there were six ties and seven lead changes, but UAB went ahead to stay on a Damon Cobb three pointer with 4:11 left. The Blazers had gone 0-5 on three pointers in the first half, but hit six treys in the second half. UAB pulled away to win the game 93-86. UAB was led by Fred Williams with 23 points and Cedric Dixon with 19 points. Damon Cobb had 17. The victory was Murry Bartow’s only NIT or NCAA win. The Blazers would lose in the next round of the NIT to Minnesota.
On this date in 1999, UAB made it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years. The Blazers were made 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 an 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:
Even though they have been in the same conference since 1991, UAB and Memphis have only met once in a conference tournament. In 1994, UAB entered the Great Midwest Conference Tournament in Cincinnati 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 Bench
After the lost to the Blazers last week, John Calipari is now 7-3 against UAB. These two coaches have met in post season before at their previous schools. In 1996, Arkansas and UMass met in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in Atlanta. Calipari’s UMass team won the game 79-68.
3/17/06 NCAA Tournament
Giant Killers
Today’s fun NCAA trivia fact. Impress your friends with this nugget. The Blazers have 9 NCAA wins in their history. Chris Giles has been a part of the team in every win. He was a player on the team that won four NCAA games in 1981 and 1982. He was a graduate assistant for the team that won two NCAA games in 1985 and 1986, and he has been an assistant coach on the Mike Anderson teams that have won three games in 2004 and 2005. We have never won an NCAA tournament game without Chris Giles.
The Date:
The Blazers are 2-2 on St. Patricks Day. All four games played today have been NCAA Tournament games. UAB has been the lower seed, wearing green in three of the games. Only against Memphis in 1985 did the Blazers lose while wearing green. In 1994, the Blazers were the 7 seed and wore white in their loss to George Washington.
The very first game played on this date occurred in 1982 and is one of the games usually mentioned in the top three when listing greatest Blazer victories. . 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.
And now let’s look at the last game played on this date. Last year, the Blazers was the 11th seed and playing the 6th seed, LSU Tigers. Many so-called experts were picking LSU as the dark horse who would go far in the tournament. The Tigers had gone from 13-8 to 20-9 and were a hot team entering the tournament. The two teams had met the previous season in the Sugar Bowl tournament. LSU won that game 78-62 because of a rebounding advantage of 49-28 and poor shooting (39%a) by UAB. The NCAA game would be different. UAB was the team wearing green, playing on St. Patrick’s Day in a land (Boise, ID) known for potatoes. How could the oddsmakers have missed it? All week, John Brady and the LSU players talked about being alert and handling UAB’s press. In the game however, they were lethargic, made lazy passes and brought the ball down court without a sense of urgency. “They thought we were going to come out kind of weak and just let them do what they wanted.” Donell Taylor was quoted after the game. “We got in their grill and they were kicking the ball off their feet and passing it off each other’s knees” Sophomore guard for LSU, Tack Minor had seven turnovers, five in the first half. UAB trailed 10-4 three minutes into the game, but the Blazers went on a 7-0 run and then later a 12-0 run. Marvett McDonald hit two three pointers in that stretch. The Blazers led 41-29 at the half. UAB started the second half with a 14-1 run and led 61-35 with 12:23 to play. It was at that point, that anyone watching the game on TV outside the Birmingham or Louisiana viewing markets got to see a different game as CBS cut away from the blowout. The Blazers won the game easily 82-68 and would move to the second round against Arizona. John Brady, was quite shaken by the loss. Reports indicated that he was overheard after the game walking down the hallway with two assistant coaches, dropping the F bomb about every third word.
The Opponent:
Just about every Blazer fan knows about UAB’s history against Kentucky. 2-1 overall, 2-0 in the NCAA tournament. Here’s a recap of all three.
On December 20, 1980, the Blazers played in Rupp Arena in the Kentucky Invitational Tournament. UAB had defeated Idaho State in the opening round and now faced the home team, Kentucky Wildcats, coached by Joe B. Hall. Until UAB played Kansas in St. Louis in the Sweet 16 in 2004, this game was the record for most people to ever watch a UAB game. A mostly Kentucky home crowd of 23, 835 was there to see their Wildcats whip up on this newly formed team from Birmingham. Kentucky was ranked second in the nation at the time. This game was much closer than Kentucky fans would have liked. UAB lost the game 61-53 after leading at halftime 28-27. Sam Bowie led the Wildcats with 25 points on 10-19 shooting and 12 rebounds. Oliver Robinson shot poorly (6-24), but led the Blazers in scoring with 12 points. Norman Anchrum had 11 points in the loss.
The two teams would meet again on March 15, 1981 at the end of the season in the NCAA tournament in the slightly less hostile Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. The Blazers had just won its first ever NCAA tournament game over Western Kentucky. Few people in the country gave the Blazers much of a chance in their next game against Kentucky, who was 22-5 and led by the Twin Towers, 6’10” Sam Bowie and 6’11” Melvin Turpin. However, the Blazer players were excited about getting a second shot at Kentucky and knew they could beat the Wildcats because of how close the game had been in December The Blazers had lost by eight points on Kentucky’s home court before 24,000 Wildcat fans. Gene Bartow made a big gamble and it paid off. He decided to let Kentucky have the outside shot, knowing that Kentucky was not good shooting from outside. The key was to key on Sam Bowie. Bowie came into the game averaging 15 points and 12 rebounds and had scored 25 points in the game earlier against UAB. In this game with two, sometimes three defenders, he had eight points and four rebounds and fouled out of the game. Kentucky led by as much as seven points in the first half, but scored only two points the rest of the half, and led by one point at halftime. UAB went ahead with 17:11 minutes to go 35-33 on a jumper by Donnie Speer. Kentucky never led again. The hero of the game was Glenn Marcus. When Kentucky was fouling trying to get back in the game, Marcus was 12 of 15 from the free throw line, including eleven in a row down the stretch. UAB won the game 69-62. The Blazers became the first team from Alabama to win two NCAA games in one year. The sweet part was they did it in Tuscaloosa. The Blazers were led by Oliver Robinson with 18 points. Glenn Marcus had 14 points and Donnie Speer had 13 points. Chris Giles gained a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, which was better what the “Twin Towers” did with a combined 10 points and nine rebounds. The Blazers had upset the great Kentucky Wildcats, #8 in the country and one of the storied programs in college basketball.
Twenty three years passed before the two teams met again. By 2004, Gene Bartow was a consultant to the Memphis Grizzlies, Joe B. Hall had a morning radio show with Denny Crum in Kentucky, Oliver Robinson was a state representative and Sam Bowie was the answer to the trivia question: Who was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan in the NBA draft. In the 2004 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky was not just a #1 seed, but the highest seed overall. UAB had won a share of the CUSA conference regular season and was the #9 seed. The Blazers had advanced by beating Washington in a great game 102-100. It was David and Goliath all over again. In the first half, the mostly blue-clad crowd at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio were stunned as UAB put it to the Wildcats. The halftime result was Kentucky’s biggest deficit of the season, 42-33. In the second half, fate seemed to shine in UAB’s favor when the Taylor twins made the play of the year. Ronell Taylor stole an Antwain Barbour pass to stop a 2 on 1 Kentucky break, and then threw the ball two-handed, over his head 50 feet to his brother, Donell, for an amazing dunk. From that point on, anyone not wearing blue was rooting for the underdog. However, Kentucky made their inevitable second half run and it appeared that the #1 seed would make the second half comeback to win the game. A Gerald Fitch three pointer gave Kentucky its biggest lead 69-63 and the Wildcates still held a four point lead in the final two minutes. Momentum changed when Kentucky rebounded a Demario Eddins pass under the basket. At that point, Squeaky Johnson stole the ball and passed to Eddins for a layup. Kentucky turned the ball over again, one of five turnovers in the final five minutes and Mo Finley hit a three pointer to put the Blazers up by one, 72-71. Over the next minute and a half, the lead changed hands three times as Kentucky scored, Gabe Kennedy scored and Kentucky answered. With 29 seconds to go, Kentucky led 75-74. After a UAB timeout, the Blazers brought the ball down worked the ball between Johnson and Finley. Mo Finley got the final shot. Kentucky’s Chuck Hayes lunged out, and Finley gave him a head fake which sent Hayes flying past. Finley then launched an 18 footer which hit nothing but net, giving the Blazers a 76-75 lead. But Kentucky had one last chance. Gerald Fitch got a really good look at the basket from twenty feet away, because of a missed defensive assignment by Squeaky Johnson. “That was the longest shot I ever witnessed” Squeaky admitted after the game. The ball bounced off the rim, and Kentucky’s Chuck Hayes tipped the ball back toward the bucket as the horn sounded. The tip missed, and the Blazers were celebrating. Cinderella was back in Birmingham. Mo Finley was UAB’s leading scorer with 17 points. Gabe Kennedy and Donell Taylor each had 13 points. Gerald Fitch had 17 points for Kentucky.
The Location:
The Blazers have played in Philadelphia twice. Both were regular season games and both were low scoring losses by the Blazers.
On December 4, 1993, the Blazers traveled to the City of Brotherly Love to take on Temple. Temple was ranked #8 in the nation and the game was nationally televised. The game was a low scoring game in which both teams played great defense. The Blazers stayed close the entire game, and had a chance to tie the game on the last shot. Corey Jackson’s three pointer bounced off the rim, and UAB lost 55-52. Robert Shannon had 20 points to lead the Blazers. Despite the loss, UAB was surging and would go 9-1 in December of that year.
On December 22, 2001, UAB returned to Philadelphia to play Lasalle. Oddly enough, the Blazers had just played Lasalle one month earlier in a tournament in Puerto Rico. UAB lost the first game on the neutral court and hoped to get revenge. It wasn’t to be however, as Lasalle beat the Blazers again 56-53.
The Bench
Tubby Smith has faced UAB many times throughout his career. For seven years, from 1979-1986, Smith was an assistant to JD Barnett at VCU when the great Sun Belt wars between the Rams and Blazers were raging. During those years, UAB was 8-11 against VCU. After JD Barnett left VCU, Smith became an assistant coach to George Felton at South Carolina. In 1988, UAB lost to South Carolina, with Tubby sitting on the bench as an assistant. In 1991, Tubby Smith got his first head coaching job at Tulsa and one of his first games was against UAB. The Blazers handed him one of his first losses as a head coach. He would not see UAB again until 2004 when the Blazers won again in the NCAA tournament. Overall, as an assistant and head coach, Tubby Smith is 12-10 against the Blazers.
The Kentucky bench also has several familiar faces to UAB fans. Sitting next to Tubby is none other than former Alabama head coach, David Hobbs. He was also an assistant coach at VCU during the JD Barnett days. His Alabama team lost in the NIT to the Blazers in 1993. Sitting next to Hobbs is Scott Rigot, who was a former assistant coach at UAB under Murry Bartow from 1996 to 1999. He left UAB after some type of conflict with Murry in which Murry accused him of being disloyal. No details were ever made public . How can we not dislike this coaching staff? A former VCU assistant, a former Alabama coach and a coach who was accused of disloyalty at UAB.
3/2/06 Memphis
Buzzer Beaters
The Date:
The Blazers are 3-4 on March 2. The first three games played on this date were games played in the Sun Belt Tournament. The Blazers defeated South Alabama in the 1st round of the 1984 tournament, lost to Old Dominion in the 2nd round in 1985, and lost again in 1991 to Old Dominion in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. The other games played are regular season games. UAB is 2-2 in those games. Surprisingly, we have only played one regular season game at home on this date and that was last year, when UAB defeated DePaul 81-80 in overtime.
One of the biggest comebacks ever made against UAB occurred on this date in 1985 in the semi finals of the Sun Belt Tournament, held in Hampton, Virginia. UAB entered the tournament as the second seed with a 11-3 conference record. Virginia Commonwealth was the #1 seed. The Blazers had defeated the Western Kentucky in their first tournament game by the score of 64-56. Now UAB faced Old Dominion, the third seed, in a hostile arena, since Hampton, Virginia was not far from Norfolk. UAB was firing on all cylinders throughout most of the game. They shot 57% from the field for the game and over 80% from the line. They led 37-24 at half time and even led by as much as 19 points midway through the second half. A spot in the championship game against Virginia Commonwealth seemed assured. A 19 point lead was seemingly safe in the days before the three point shot. But, something went horribly wrong. The Blazers saw Old Dominion chip away at the lead little by little until it was a game. The 9000+ pro-Old Dominion crowd got involved and cheered the Monarchs on. Old Dominion made the comeback and won the game 68-67. Steve Mitchell led the Blazers with 20 points. Mark Davis had 21 points for Old Dominion. Because of UAB’s 25-9 record and excellent out of conference record, they received an at large bid to the NCAA tournament.
On this date in 1995, the Blazers traveled to Dayton Ohio to take on the Dayton Flyers in the next to last Great Midwest regular season game that UAB would play. Dayton had been a late arrival to the Great Midwest Conference and was in the conference for only two years when it merged with the Metro Conference. Dayton was playing in its last Great Midwest regular season game and would go to the Atlantic 10 the next year. The Flyers were 0-10 and trying to win their first conference game of the year. UAB was 13-14 overall and desperately trying to avoid becoming the first UAB team to have a losing record. UAB started out slow and trailed 20-8 with 8:55 to go in the first half. The Blazers then went on a 18-4 run with 14 of the points coming from Anthony Thomas. Dayton had a four point lead and the ball with 1:29 left in the game. Cedric Dixon stole the ball at midcourt, drove to the basket for a lay up and was fouled. He made his free throw, cutting the lead to one point. Travis Harper tied the game with a free throw with 56 seconds to go. At the other end, Dayton shot, but missed. Travis Harper go the rebound and UAB had the ball for the last shot to win the game. Leonard Bush put up a shot with five or six seconds left on the clock, but missed. Rod Willie tipped and missed. Anthony Thomas tipped and missed, and Chad Jones tipped the ball in the basket, just as the buzzer sounded, giving the Blazers the win 57-55. It was the second straight game that UAB had won by tipping it in at the buzzer. They had defeated Cincinnati in Birmingham on a tip in at the buzzer the previous game. Anthony Thomas led the Blazers with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
The Opponent:
UAB is 9-21 against the Memphis Tigers. However, the Blazers are 7-5 against Memphis in Birmingham. UAB has won two of the last three home games against the Tigers.
On February 8, 1998, the Tigers traveled to Birmingham to take on the 18-8 Blazers. Memphis was 12-7 and 7-1 in CUSA play. The Blazers were 5-4 in conference play, but had lost four of its last five games. Memphis had won 6 of its last 7 games. This was a sloppy game for the Blazers. They had 15 turnovers in the first half and 23 for the game. However, they shot 53% from three point range to keep them in the game. The Tigers took a 9-8 early lead and Omar Sneed for the Tigers had seven of their nine points. However, Sneed did not score again until the second half. UAB took the lead less than five minutes into the game on a pair of Cedric Dixon free throws and never trailed again. The Blazers led by 6 or 8 points the entire second half, and pulled out to a 14 point lead before the Tigers made a couple of three point shots down the stretch. The Blazers won the game 88-77 before a late night (9pm CST) ESPN audience. Cedric Dixon finished the game with 22 points and Fred Williams had 21 for UAB.
On February 15, 2003, UAB traveled to Memphis in a key National Division game. It was Mike Anderson’s first game against the Memphis Tigers. The Blazers were 5-4 in the conference and one game behind Memphis at 6-3. More than 17,000 fans showed up at the Pyramid to watch the game. UAB had no answer for Antonio Burks who had a career high 27 points and 10 assists as Memphis won 90-74. Burks was 13 of 16 from the field. UAB stayed close early in the game as the Tiger big man, Chris Massie got in foul trouble. However, in the last eight minutes of the first half, the Tigers went on an 18-8 run, and coupled that with 17 unanswered points early in the second half. UAB could not get any closer than 13 points. The Tigers shot 59%, including 62.5% in the second half. Morris Finley led the Blazers with 18 points. DeMario Eddins scored 12 points, which allowed him to set a new record for most points by a freshman, breaking Damon Cobb’s record of 212 points. Richard Jones had 16 points off the bench.
The Tigers most recent trip to Birmingham came on January 22, 2005. The Tigers were 10-8 entering the game and 3-1 in CUSA play. UAB was 13-5, and 3-2. Attendance was a near sellout of 7979. Marvette McDonald, a Memphis native was playing his hometown team for the first time. He burned them in the second half with four three pointers, including a 25 footer. He had 14 points in the first half. The Blazers pressure defense forced Memphis into 14 first half turnovers. UAB led 45-34 at the half, although the Tigers were shooting 52.9% from the field. UAB pushed the lead out to 14 points in the second half. However, the Tigers rallied and took the lead 63-62 on two Darius Washington free throws with 5:39 to go. After that there were three ties and seven lead changes. UAB took a 71-70 lead when Ronell Taylor picked up a loose ball and scored an easy layup with 1:28 to go. Two Demario Eddins’ free throws made the score 73-70 with 17.6 seconds left and the Tigers with the ball. John Calipari called a timeout at 14 seconds and drew up a plan for Rodney Carney to take the tying three point shot. However, Jeremy Hunt got the first look and missed badly. Carney took his three and missed, then Alabama native Duane Erwin almost got the chance to be the hero in his home state, when his three pointer almost went in, but rimmed out as the buzzer sounded. UAB had won the game 73-70. It was redemption for the Blazers who had lost to Tulane the previous game on a last second three point shot. The Blazers had held on to win, although they had shot 26.3% in the second half and had been held to just one field goal in the final 10:30. However, they had hit 11 of their last 12 free throws to preserve the victory.
The Bench:
John Calipari is now 7-2 against UAB after their victory in Memphis earlier this year. Calipari and Anderson have faced each other three other times, prior to their careers at Memphis and UAB. In 1986-87, Mike Anderson was an assistant at Arkansas and John Calipari was an assistant at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh beat Arkansas by the score of 114-82. Calipari’s Massachusetts teams played Arkansas twice. In November, 1994, Arkansas played UMass in the Tip Off Classic and lost 104-80. That Arkansas team which was coming off a national championship went on to the Final Four. In March 1996, the two teams met again in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Calipari’s team won again 79-68.
3/4/06 Marshall
Planes, Trains and Bad Referees
Today in Blazer History honors Gary Sanders in his last home game by looking at games involving difficult road trips and bad referees.
The Date:
The Blazers are 4-3 on March 4. Only two games on this date has been regular season games. Unfortunately they were both losses: in 1995 at Cincinnati and in 2000, an ugly loss at Charlotte, 61-37. The other games were played in conference tournaments. Four of the tournament games were played in Birmingham and we are 3-1 in those games.
Today is also the last game of the regular season. Mike Anderson is 2-1 in final games of the regular season, with his only loss being a home game to Memphis in his first season.
On this date in 1983, the 1983 Sun Belt Conference Tournament opened in Birmingham. UAB was the third seed with a 9-5 conference record. Their first round opponent was North Carolina Charlotte, ranked 6th with a 5-9 record. The Blazers entered the game, having lost two of its last three games. The UAB-UNCC game was the last game of the night. Probably the biggest upset in Sun Belt Tournament history had occurred earlier in the day when an 0-14 Jacksonville team upset top ranked Old Dominion, who was 12-2 in conference play. Second seeded Virginia Commonwealth had barely survived a scare from Western Kentucky and won 57-55. Charlotte was also vying for the upset in the nightcap game against the home standing Blazers. UAB built up a 15 point first half lead, but lost the lead in the second half. With 2 ½ minutes to go, UAB found themselves down by three points. At that point, Cliff Pruitt hit a field goal and was fouled. He tied the game with the free throw. On Charlotte’s inbound pass, Marvin Ray Johnson stole the ball and slammed the ball into the basket, bringing the crowd of 10,234 to their feet. The Blazers were now up by two. Melvin Johnson for Charlotte tied the game with two free throws at 63 with 1:23 left and UAB worked the ball down for the last shot. Freshman Steve Mitchell was 3-10 from the field, but his third basket came with six seconds left to win the game. Charlotte’s three point attempt at the buzzer rolled off the rim and UAB was advancing to the second round. Cliff Pruitt’s free throw that tied the game was UAB’s only free throw of the second half and they were only two of five in the first half. Meanwhile, North Carolina Charlotte went to the line 32 times, hitting 25 of them. Melvin Johnson for the 49ers finished with 27 points. Cliff Pruitt led UAB with 20 points and 10 rebounds. With UAB’s 16-13 record entering the tournament, they needed to win it all to make the NCAA tournament. The Blazers went on to beat VCU and South Florida to earn the automatic bid to the Big Dance.
On this date in 1989, the Blazers traveled to Charlotte to play in the 1989 Sun Belt Tournament. UAB was the 4th seed and was facing Old Dominion, the 5th seed in the opening round. Andy Kennedy had lost his starting position because he had missed the plane flight to Charlotte. Apparently, his electricity had gone out during the night and his alarm did not go off. He missed the 7:00am flight to Charlotte and had to find alternate transportation. Meanwhile, the plane was having trouble getting to Charlotte as well. After a 1 ½ layover in Atlanta, the flight was about to leave when it was announced that the baggage handlers had walked off the job due to an impending strike. It took another hour to get the baggage loaded. You think you are cramped when waiting long periods on a plane. Imagine Alan Ogg trapped on a plane for an hour. Finally the plane got off the ground, but the Blazers had missed their scheduled practice time and had to practice at a later time. Kennedy did not make that practice as well because he also was having trouble getting to Charlotte due to the strike. Gene Bartow didn’t seem too concerned. He said “I won’t start him, but if he is playing well, he will get his usual 25 to 30 minutes.” This was the third matchup of the season against Old Dominion. UAB won the first game 101-89 and lost the second game 92-77. The Blazers started out well, jumping out to a 20-9 lead with 10;25 left in the first half. After a Tom Young timeout, ODU came back and carried a 41-37 lead to halftime. In the second half, the Monarchs jumped to a nine point lead with 11:08 to go. The Blazers then scored 10 straight points to take a 62-61 lead with 7:37 to go. With the score tied at 73 with 38 seconds to go, UAB worked it down for Reginald Turner to take the winning shot. Six nights earlier, the Blazers had lost on this Charlotte court to North Carolina Charlotte when Turner’s shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer. In this game, Turner made up for that miss. He scored with four seconds to go, giving UAB a 75-73 lead. Old Dominion inbounded the ball and Barry Bearden tipped the pass at half court. However, it bounced into the hands of ODU’s Darrin McDonald. His three point shot was an airball, but Chris Gatlin got the rebound and laid it in at the buzzer sending the game to overtime. All this happened in four seconds? In overtime, the lead changed hands eleven times. UAB got a break at the 41 second mark when the Monarchs were called for walking. The Blazers worked the clock down to six seconds and Bearden once again got it to Reginald Turner who shot from just outside the lane. The ball bounced twice and fell through the hoop with four seconds left. Old Dominion’s desperation shot at midcourt came after the buzzer sounded. The Blazers had won 89-87 in overtime. Turner led UAB with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Chris Gatlin scored a tournament record 36 points and career high 17 rebounds. Andy Kennedy did not start, but ended up playing 41 minutes, partially because his replacement, Jack Kramer turned his ankle in the first two minutes of the game. Kennedy only scored 8 points. The Blazers would lose in the next round to Jeff Hodge and his South Alabama team (Note: this is the last Jeff Hodge reference of the year). They missed the NCAA tournament in 1989, but would advance to the NIT final four.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 2-1 against Marshall, including the win in Huntington earlier this year. Interestingly, our two wins have come at their place and their one win came at Bartow Arena. Even though, we looked at this game earlier this year, it bears a second glance.
On December 30, 2003, a team that would finish the year 12-17, the Marshall Thundering Herd came to Birmingham and surprised the Blazers. The game was tied 66-66 when UAB’s Gabe Kennedy missed a short shot and the rebound fell out of bounds to Marshall with 15.4 seconds remaining in the game. Marshall’s Tre Whitted was almost tied up, but called a timeout with two seconds left. Marshall took the ball out of bounds, and got it to the Herd's Mark Patton on the left side of the foul lane. As he turned toward the basket, a foul was called. It appeared to many that the foul happened after time ran out, but the referees, in an effort to welcome Marshall to CUSA put 0.40 seconds on the clock. After a UAB timeout, Patton hit both free throws to win the game. UAB was led in scoring by Gabe Kennedy with 20 points. Coach Anderson was quoted as saying that the Blazers were "a half step behind all night”
All of our games with Marshall have been close. They won by two. The Blazers won by three last year in Huntington, and this year by 12. However, that 12 points difference was the result of late free throws by UAB and the game was much closer throughout the game. Marshall has played UAB tough in each game.
The Bench:
Ron Jirsa, coach at Marshall is 1-2 against the Blazers as a head coach. He was given his first coaching job by JD Barnett at VCU. He was a graduate assistant at Virginia Commonwealth in 1984-1985. That season, VCU and UAB each won one game. Jirsa was a member of the coaching staff that left VCU for Tulsa in 1985 to replace Nolan Richardson and Mike Anderson. That staff also included Tubby Smith. Jirsa was an assistant under Tubby Smith from 1991-1994. They played UAB in 1991 and Tulsa won. Jirsa’s overall coaching record against UAB is 3-2.
3/9/06 CUSA Tournament
SMU Redux
The Date:
The Blazers have only played one game on this date. That game was the first round of the 1995 Great Midwest Tournament, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. UAB was unfortunate enough to draw the home team, Marquette in the first round. UAB was the #6 seed out of seven teams. The Blazers were 14-15 and needed two wins to avoid their first losing season in its history. Marquette, who had beaten UAB twice that year, was the #3 seed and came into the tournament on a four game win streak. UAB led for 13 minutes of the second half, but with seven minutes to go in the game, Marquette went on a 20-5 run after Rod Willie of UAB missed a free throw. UAB would not score again until 46 seconds were left in the game. UAB shot a miserable 25% for the game including 1 of 11 from beyond the three point arc. Marquette won 55-46, and UAB had their first losing season in history with a record of 14-16. It was Gene Bartow’s first losing season since his one season at Illinois in 1974-75 when his team went 8-18. It was only his 3rd losing season in his storied career which began in 1961. It was probably the lowest point of Bartow’s tenure at UAB.
The Opponent:
The Blazers are 1-1 against SMU after beating the Mustangs in Dallas earlier this year. UAB lost to SMU in the Rainbow Classic in 1983. A previous edition of Today in Blazer History discussed this game. Since there is no other history involving SMU, the previous game report will be repeated. Call it the tournament reruns.
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 Venue:
Until last year, UAB had never won a conference tournament game in Memphis. They had lost in the first round in the Great Midwest Tournament in Memphis in 1993 and in the first rounds of the CUSA Tournament in Memphis in 1996 and 2000. In 2005, the 4th seeded Blazers beat Depaul in the first game and lost to Louisville in the semi finals. Therefore, UAB is 1-4 in conference tournaments in Memphis. With a championship this week, we can even the record.
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.
An interesting fact. Mike Anderson has the highest winning percentage of CUSA tournament games among active CUSA coaches. Actually, Anderson Calipari and Penders are the only three active coaches who have ever coached in a CUSA tournament prior to this year. Anderson is 4-3, Calipari is 5-5 and Penders is 0-1. All the rest of the coaches are either first year coaches or new to the conference, with the exception of Larry Eustachy, whose Southern Miss team did not qualify last year for the tournament.
3/10/06 CUSA Tournament
The Glory Road to Greatness Starts Today
The Date:
The Blazers are 1-1 on this date. On this date, UAB lost to Memphis in the first round of the Great Midwest tournament. The last time UAB played on this date was last year in the CUSA quarterfinals.
On this date in 2005, UAB entered the CUSA tournament in Memphis with a bye as the #4 seed. Their opponent was DePaul who UAB had defeated in overtime nine days earlier. UAB opened the game missing 9 of their first 11 shots. DePaul had jumped out to a 24-13 lead with four minutes left in the half. However, the half closed with UAB making an 11-2 run and cutting the halftime deficit to two points. In the second half, DePaul held down their turnovers despite the troublesome defense by the Blazers and had built the lead back to ten points with nine minutes left to play. The Blazers battled back and a three point shot by Demario Eddins at the 1:28 point gave the Blazers their first lead of the game at 56-55. DePaul tied the game on a free throw and had the ball working to take the winning shot, when Drake Diener was called for walking with 28 seconds left in the game. It looked as if there would be yet another overtime in this series as the Blazers got the ball. However, Demario Eddins got the ball in the corner and hit a three point shot with .8 seconds left on the clock, and UAB won the game 59-56. Eddins and Donell Taylor each had 11 points to lead the Blazers.
The Opponent:
UAB is 0-2 against Texas El Paso. Everyone is already aware of the horrible game played earlier this season, so I will not report on it. Instead, let’s look again at the only other game UAB has played against Texas El Paso, played in 1987.
The two teams met 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 Famer Haskins 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 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 is 1-0 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.
3/11/06 CUSA Tournament
Memories of Murry, Memphis and Missouri
The Date:
Before we talk about games played on this date, I have to highlight a very important non game related historical moment. On this date in 2002, 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. This paved the way for the Fastest 40 Minutes of Basketball as Herman Frazier made the one great decision in his term as Athletic Director, when he hired Mike Anderson.
Now onto the games. The Blazers are 2-3 in games played on March 11. On this date, we have played in two CUSA Tournaments, a Great Midwest tournament, an NIT tournament and an NCAA tournament game.
Since there is all this talk about Anderson to Missouri, let’s look at a game played on this date in 1998 when UAB traveled to Missouri to play in the first round of the NIT. UAB was 20-11 and Missouri was 17-14. The Blazers was playing without Willie Mitchell who had a broken toe. The Missouri Tigers were 14-1 in the Hearnes Center. The score was tied at 10 with 15:13 left in the first but the Tigers outscored UAB 21-4 including a 16-0 run. Missouri led 28-12 with 8:19 to go in the first half. The Blazers got back in the game by working the ball inside. Fred Williams had 12 points in the first half, including 8 points in the final seven minutes of the first half. Missouri’s lead was down to four by halftime, 37-33. In the second half, there were six ties and seven lead changes, but UAB went ahead to stay on a Damon Cobb three pointer with 4:11 left. The Blazers had gone 0-5 on three pointers in the first half, but hit six treys in the second half. UAB pulled away to win the game 93-86. UAB was led by Fred Williams with 23 points and Cedric Dixon with 19 points. Damon Cobb had 17. The victory was Murry Bartow’s only NIT or NCAA win. The Blazers would lose in the next round of the NIT to Minnesota.
On this date in 1999, UAB made it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years. The Blazers were made 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 an 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:
Even though they have been in the same conference since 1991, UAB and Memphis have only met once in a conference tournament. In 1994, UAB entered the Great Midwest Conference Tournament in Cincinnati 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 Bench
After the lost to the Blazers last week, John Calipari is now 7-3 against UAB. These two coaches have met in post season before at their previous schools. In 1996, Arkansas and UMass met in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in Atlanta. Calipari’s UMass team won the game 79-68.
3/17/06 NCAA Tournament
Giant Killers
Today’s fun NCAA trivia fact. Impress your friends with this nugget. The Blazers have 9 NCAA wins in their history. Chris Giles has been a part of the team in every win. He was a player on the team that won four NCAA games in 1981 and 1982. He was a graduate assistant for the team that won two NCAA games in 1985 and 1986, and he has been an assistant coach on the Mike Anderson teams that have won three games in 2004 and 2005. We have never won an NCAA tournament game without Chris Giles.
The Date:
The Blazers are 2-2 on St. Patricks Day. All four games played today have been NCAA Tournament games. UAB has been the lower seed, wearing green in three of the games. Only against Memphis in 1985 did the Blazers lose while wearing green. In 1994, the Blazers were the 7 seed and wore white in their loss to George Washington.
The very first game played on this date occurred in 1982 and is one of the games usually mentioned in the top three when listing greatest Blazer victories. . 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.
And now let’s look at the last game played on this date. Last year, the Blazers was the 11th seed and playing the 6th seed, LSU Tigers. Many so-called experts were picking LSU as the dark horse who would go far in the tournament. The Tigers had gone from 13-8 to 20-9 and were a hot team entering the tournament. The two teams had met the previous season in the Sugar Bowl tournament. LSU won that game 78-62 because of a rebounding advantage of 49-28 and poor shooting (39%a) by UAB. The NCAA game would be different. UAB was the team wearing green, playing on St. Patrick’s Day in a land (Boise, ID) known for potatoes. How could the oddsmakers have missed it? All week, John Brady and the LSU players talked about being alert and handling UAB’s press. In the game however, they were lethargic, made lazy passes and brought the ball down court without a sense of urgency. “They thought we were going to come out kind of weak and just let them do what they wanted.” Donell Taylor was quoted after the game. “We got in their grill and they were kicking the ball off their feet and passing it off each other’s knees” Sophomore guard for LSU, Tack Minor had seven turnovers, five in the first half. UAB trailed 10-4 three minutes into the game, but the Blazers went on a 7-0 run and then later a 12-0 run. Marvett McDonald hit two three pointers in that stretch. The Blazers led 41-29 at the half. UAB started the second half with a 14-1 run and led 61-35 with 12:23 to play. It was at that point, that anyone watching the game on TV outside the Birmingham or Louisiana viewing markets got to see a different game as CBS cut away from the blowout. The Blazers won the game easily 82-68 and would move to the second round against Arizona. John Brady, was quite shaken by the loss. Reports indicated that he was overheard after the game walking down the hallway with two assistant coaches, dropping the F bomb about every third word.
The Opponent:
Just about every Blazer fan knows about UAB’s history against Kentucky. 2-1 overall, 2-0 in the NCAA tournament. Here’s a recap of all three.
On December 20, 1980, the Blazers played in Rupp Arena in the Kentucky Invitational Tournament. UAB had defeated Idaho State in the opening round and now faced the home team, Kentucky Wildcats, coached by Joe B. Hall. Until UAB played Kansas in St. Louis in the Sweet 16 in 2004, this game was the record for most people to ever watch a UAB game. A mostly Kentucky home crowd of 23, 835 was there to see their Wildcats whip up on this newly formed team from Birmingham. Kentucky was ranked second in the nation at the time. This game was much closer than Kentucky fans would have liked. UAB lost the game 61-53 after leading at halftime 28-27. Sam Bowie led the Wildcats with 25 points on 10-19 shooting and 12 rebounds. Oliver Robinson shot poorly (6-24), but led the Blazers in scoring with 12 points. Norman Anchrum had 11 points in the loss.
The two teams would meet again on March 15, 1981 at the end of the season in the NCAA tournament in the slightly less hostile Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. The Blazers had just won its first ever NCAA tournament game over Western Kentucky. Few people in the country gave the Blazers much of a chance in their next game against Kentucky, who was 22-5 and led by the Twin Towers, 6’10” Sam Bowie and 6’11” Melvin Turpin. However, the Blazer players were excited about getting a second shot at Kentucky and knew they could beat the Wildcats because of how close the game had been in December The Blazers had lost by eight points on Kentucky’s home court before 24,000 Wildcat fans. Gene Bartow made a big gamble and it paid off. He decided to let Kentucky have the outside shot, knowing that Kentucky was not good shooting from outside. The key was to key on Sam Bowie. Bowie came into the game averaging 15 points and 12 rebounds and had scored 25 points in the game earlier against UAB. In this game with two, sometimes three defenders, he had eight points and four rebounds and fouled out of the game. Kentucky led by as much as seven points in the first half, but scored only two points the rest of the half, and led by one point at halftime. UAB went ahead with 17:11 minutes to go 35-33 on a jumper by Donnie Speer. Kentucky never led again. The hero of the game was Glenn Marcus. When Kentucky was fouling trying to get back in the game, Marcus was 12 of 15 from the free throw line, including eleven in a row down the stretch. UAB won the game 69-62. The Blazers became the first team from Alabama to win two NCAA games in one year. The sweet part was they did it in Tuscaloosa. The Blazers were led by Oliver Robinson with 18 points. Glenn Marcus had 14 points and Donnie Speer had 13 points. Chris Giles gained a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, which was better what the “Twin Towers” did with a combined 10 points and nine rebounds. The Blazers had upset the great Kentucky Wildcats, #8 in the country and one of the storied programs in college basketball.
Twenty three years passed before the two teams met again. By 2004, Gene Bartow was a consultant to the Memphis Grizzlies, Joe B. Hall had a morning radio show with Denny Crum in Kentucky, Oliver Robinson was a state representative and Sam Bowie was the answer to the trivia question: Who was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan in the NBA draft. In the 2004 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky was not just a #1 seed, but the highest seed overall. UAB had won a share of the CUSA conference regular season and was the #9 seed. The Blazers had advanced by beating Washington in a great game 102-100. It was David and Goliath all over again. In the first half, the mostly blue-clad crowd at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio were stunned as UAB put it to the Wildcats. The halftime result was Kentucky’s biggest deficit of the season, 42-33. In the second half, fate seemed to shine in UAB’s favor when the Taylor twins made the play of the year. Ronell Taylor stole an Antwain Barbour pass to stop a 2 on 1 Kentucky break, and then threw the ball two-handed, over his head 50 feet to his brother, Donell, for an amazing dunk. From that point on, anyone not wearing blue was rooting for the underdog. However, Kentucky made their inevitable second half run and it appeared that the #1 seed would make the second half comeback to win the game. A Gerald Fitch three pointer gave Kentucky its biggest lead 69-63 and the Wildcates still held a four point lead in the final two minutes. Momentum changed when Kentucky rebounded a Demario Eddins pass under the basket. At that point, Squeaky Johnson stole the ball and passed to Eddins for a layup. Kentucky turned the ball over again, one of five turnovers in the final five minutes and Mo Finley hit a three pointer to put the Blazers up by one, 72-71. Over the next minute and a half, the lead changed hands three times as Kentucky scored, Gabe Kennedy scored and Kentucky answered. With 29 seconds to go, Kentucky led 75-74. After a UAB timeout, the Blazers brought the ball down worked the ball between Johnson and Finley. Mo Finley got the final shot. Kentucky’s Chuck Hayes lunged out, and Finley gave him a head fake which sent Hayes flying past. Finley then launched an 18 footer which hit nothing but net, giving the Blazers a 76-75 lead. But Kentucky had one last chance. Gerald Fitch got a really good look at the basket from twenty feet away, because of a missed defensive assignment by Squeaky Johnson. “That was the longest shot I ever witnessed” Squeaky admitted after the game. The ball bounced off the rim, and Kentucky’s Chuck Hayes tipped the ball back toward the bucket as the horn sounded. The tip missed, and the Blazers were celebrating. Cinderella was back in Birmingham. Mo Finley was UAB’s leading scorer with 17 points. Gabe Kennedy and Donell Taylor each had 13 points. Gerald Fitch had 17 points for Kentucky.
The Location:
The Blazers have played in Philadelphia twice. Both were regular season games and both were low scoring losses by the Blazers.
On December 4, 1993, the Blazers traveled to the City of Brotherly Love to take on Temple. Temple was ranked #8 in the nation and the game was nationally televised. The game was a low scoring game in which both teams played great defense. The Blazers stayed close the entire game, and had a chance to tie the game on the last shot. Corey Jackson’s three pointer bounced off the rim, and UAB lost 55-52. Robert Shannon had 20 points to lead the Blazers. Despite the loss, UAB was surging and would go 9-1 in December of that year.
On December 22, 2001, UAB returned to Philadelphia to play Lasalle. Oddly enough, the Blazers had just played Lasalle one month earlier in a tournament in Puerto Rico. UAB lost the first game on the neutral court and hoped to get revenge. It wasn’t to be however, as Lasalle beat the Blazers again 56-53.
The Bench
Tubby Smith has faced UAB many times throughout his career. For seven years, from 1979-1986, Smith was an assistant to JD Barnett at VCU when the great Sun Belt wars between the Rams and Blazers were raging. During those years, UAB was 8-11 against VCU. After JD Barnett left VCU, Smith became an assistant coach to George Felton at South Carolina. In 1988, UAB lost to South Carolina, with Tubby sitting on the bench as an assistant. In 1991, Tubby Smith got his first head coaching job at Tulsa and one of his first games was against UAB. The Blazers handed him one of his first losses as a head coach. He would not see UAB again until 2004 when the Blazers won again in the NCAA tournament. Overall, as an assistant and head coach, Tubby Smith is 12-10 against the Blazers.
The Kentucky bench also has several familiar faces to UAB fans. Sitting next to Tubby is none other than former Alabama head coach, David Hobbs. He was also an assistant coach at VCU during the JD Barnett days. His Alabama team lost in the NIT to the Blazers in 1993. Sitting next to Hobbs is Scott Rigot, who was a former assistant coach at UAB under Murry Bartow from 1996 to 1999. He left UAB after some type of conflict with Murry in which Murry accused him of being disloyal. No details were ever made public . How can we not dislike this coaching staff? A former VCU assistant, a former Alabama coach and a coach who was accused of disloyalty at UAB.