11-10-2007, 09:36 AM
Here we go again!
Today, Blazer fans mark the start of the 29th UAB basketball season. It is the beginning of UAB’s 12th year in CUSA and Mike Davis’s second season as UAB’s head basketball coach. In 29 years, UAB is 19-10 in opening games. Since entering Conference USA, the Blazers are 9-3 in opening games. The Blazers had won six straight season openers, but lost last year to Washington State to open the 2006-07 season.
This year’s schedule looks similar to some of the schedules that the early Blazers played in the first couple of years under Coach Bartow. Some of those early opponents appear on this year’s schedule. Teams like Georgia State, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville, Wichita State, Florida State and even Kentucky were among UAB’s first opponents. Therefore, many of the games I review for Today in Blazer History will take us back to the first days of Blazer Basketball, especially in the next couple of weeks. Let’s get going. Enjoy!
The Date
UAB has only played one game on November 10. That game was last year’s season opener against Washington State in the John Thompson Foundation Challenge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
UAB vs. Washington State 11/10/2006
Both teams entered the game with brand new coaches. Mike Davis debuted for UAB and Tony Bennett was taking over for his father, Dick Bennett at Washington State. The Cougars opened the game with a amazing display of accuracy as they hit seven of their first ten shots and took a commanding 17-3 lead. Washington State took a 17 point lead to halftime with a 39-22 lead. UAB hit only eight field goals in the first half and shot 28.6%.
The opening of the second half did not see much improvement for UAB as the Cougars pushed their lead to 24 points midway through the second half. UAB cut the lead to 12 points with two minutes to play, but the Cougars held on to win the season opener 71-60. UAB was led in scoring by Wen Mukubu who scored 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Paul Delaney added 14 points and Lawrence Kinnard had 11. Derrick Low for the Cougars blistered the Blazers for 28 points on 10-16 shooting.
Although at the time, Mike Davis was quoted as saying “We’re faster and more athletic than they are, but they played together”, Washington State turned out to be one of the better teams on UAB’s schedule during last season. The Cougars achieved a #9 ranking in the Associated Press and finished the season with a 26-8 record and a #3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Tony Bennett received the Naismith Coach of the Year award for 2006-2007. It was a big turnaround for the program which had been picked to finish last in the Pac-10 in a pre-season poll. Hopefully this is the turnaround year for Mike Davis and the Blazers.
The Opponent – Georgia State
The Blazers are 5-2 against today’s opponent, Georgia State. At one time, Georgia State was a conference mate of UAB. Georgia State was a member of the Sun Belt Conference when UAB first began playing basketball. The Panthers left the Sun Belt after the 1980-81 season and this is only the second time since then that UAB and Georgia State have met. The two teams played each other in Hawaii in December of 2000.
UAB vs. Georgia State December 14, 1978
The first meeting between these two teams occurred on December 14, 1978. Although UAB was only an associate member of the Sun Belt Conference in their inaugural year, this marked the first time that UAB played against a Sun Belt foe. The Blazers basketball program was about three weeks old and this was only UAB’s third home game. UAB entered the game 3-3 and Georgia State was 4-1. This game marked the first start for one of UAB’s all time great players. Freshman Oliver Robinson was tabbed for his first start, although it was at forward and not at shooting guard, the position he later played.
Four minutes into the game, the score was tied 10-10. However, the Blazers scored eight straight and got the first half lead to 14 points. Georgia State cut the lead to 47-41 at the half and cut the lead to three points early in the second half. The Blazers put the lead back up to eleven points two minutes later and Gene Bartow cleared the bench as UAB pushed the lead all the way to 26 points. With 46 seconds left in the game, Derrick Bentley hit two free throws to make the score 100-81. It marked the first time that UAB had scored 100 points in a game. Since then, the Blazers have surpassed the century mark 39 times. However, the Blazers have hit something of a dry spell, and have not topped 100 points since January 2, 2005 when UAB defeated Murray State 100-80.
UAB @ Georgia State December 15, 1979
One year later, UAB traveled to Atlanta to play Georgia State in the Omni. The Blazers had played the Panthers at the Georgia State Arena the previous season and this was UAB’s first game in the Omni. It was not Coach Bartow’s first game in the Omni. The last time Bartow had a team in the Omni was in 1977 when his UCLA team had beaten Tennessee103-89 in front of 16,000 fans. In this game, Bartow’s team scored 100 points as well, but instead of 16,000 screaming college basketball fans, there were only 570 people in attendance.
Georgia State led for most of the first half. Keith McCord for UAB, who had 28 points in an upset win over Washington State the previous game, was called for three fouls in the first 5 ½ minutes and received his fourth foul in the first minute of the second half. He played only eight minutes and fouled out with eight minutes to go in the game. Without the Blazer’s leading scorer, Georgia State led 28-23 with 8:40 left in the first half. At that point, Stan Scales hit two free throws to spark a 28-0 run and UAB never trailed again. The Blazers led 50-42 at the half and had a 25 point lead at 78-53 with 8:28 to go. UAB went on to win 100-73. Five Blazers scored in double figures, led by Larry Spicer with 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half. Raymond Gause had 16 points, George Jones had 14, Greg Leet had 13 and Glenn Marcus had 12.
The Place
Today, UAB returns to one of the first venues that the Blazers ever played in. During UAB’s first year, the road schedule took the team to Missouri, then to Oxford, Mississippi and then to the Georgia State Sports Arena to play Georgia State. Until today, all other games in Atlanta have been played at the Omni, which was demolished in 1997.
The Sports Arena was built in 1973 and seats 5500. It was renovated in 2003 and named for former coach Lefty Driesell. Interestingly, the court is located on the third floor and the locker rooms are on the second floor.
UAB is 3-3 in the city of Atlanta. The Blazers are 2-1 against Georgia State in Atlanta.. In 1981, UAB beat Southern Miss and lost to Georgia in the Omni as a part of the Cotton States Classic.
UAB vs. UCLA – March 16, 1990
The last time UAB played in Atlanta was 17 years ago in the 1990 NCAA tournament. Coach Bartow’s first game in the Omni was as the UCLA coach. In his last game in the Omni, he was coaching the Blazers against his old team, UCLA. UAB entered the game as the ten seed and was 22-8. UCLA was coached by Jim Harrick and was the seven seed with a 20-10 record. Although UAB jumped out to a 13-2 lead, they went cold and UCLA led 30-27 at the half. UAB could not regain the lead because of poor shooting from their guards. Barry Bearden, Jack Kramer and Andy Kennedy combined for 9 of 35 from the field and 5 of 23 from three point line, despite being one of the top three point shooting team in the country. UCLA beat its old coach by the score of 68-56 to advance in the tournament.
Atlanta is Blazer Home to…
Throughout UAB history, there are several UAB players who played high school in the Atlanta area. On this year’s team, there is Paul Delaney from Chamblee High School and newcomer Channing Toney, whose played in Snellville, Georgia at Brookwood High School. Former Blazers from the Atlanta area are Derrick Broom (2002-2006) from Cartersville, Robert Shannon (1992-1994) from Jackson, Clarence Thrash (1991-94) from Atlanta, James Ponder (1983-1987) from College Park and Russell Foster (1980-81) from Hapeville, Georgia.
Two players from Atlanta appear on UAB’s 1000 point club. James Ponder is the 10th all time leading scorer with 1363 points and Robert Shannon is 16th with 1110 points. Paul Delaney needs 162 points to become the third Atlanta area player to join the 1000 point club.
The Bench
Georgia State is coached by former Mississippi coach, Rod Barnes. Although Barnes has never faced UAB, he did play under former UAB assistant coach Lee Hunt at Ole Miss in the mid 1980’s and he was replaced by former UAB player, Andy Kennedy.
One member of Barnes’ staff at Georgia State coached against UAB just last year. Assistant coach William Small was an assistant coach to Dave Dickerson last year at Tulane. He went 1-1 against the Blazers.
Also on the Panther bench is Eugene Harris, who coached under Cliff Ellis at South Alabama, Clemson and Auburn. In matchups against UAB, Harris is 3-7 as an assistant coach. Harris was also an assistant coach under Mark Gottfried for one year at Alabama.
The Georgia State team features two players who are from the Birmingham area. We won’t see transfer Trey Hampton play because he is sitting out his transfer year after leaving Mississippi to play for Rod Barnes. He played his high school basketball at Hoover High School. Also on the team is sophomore Norman Mitchell, who played high school ball at Midfield High School.
Today, Blazer fans mark the start of the 29th UAB basketball season. It is the beginning of UAB’s 12th year in CUSA and Mike Davis’s second season as UAB’s head basketball coach. In 29 years, UAB is 19-10 in opening games. Since entering Conference USA, the Blazers are 9-3 in opening games. The Blazers had won six straight season openers, but lost last year to Washington State to open the 2006-07 season.
This year’s schedule looks similar to some of the schedules that the early Blazers played in the first couple of years under Coach Bartow. Some of those early opponents appear on this year’s schedule. Teams like Georgia State, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville, Wichita State, Florida State and even Kentucky were among UAB’s first opponents. Therefore, many of the games I review for Today in Blazer History will take us back to the first days of Blazer Basketball, especially in the next couple of weeks. Let’s get going. Enjoy!
The Date
UAB has only played one game on November 10. That game was last year’s season opener against Washington State in the John Thompson Foundation Challenge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
UAB vs. Washington State 11/10/2006
Both teams entered the game with brand new coaches. Mike Davis debuted for UAB and Tony Bennett was taking over for his father, Dick Bennett at Washington State. The Cougars opened the game with a amazing display of accuracy as they hit seven of their first ten shots and took a commanding 17-3 lead. Washington State took a 17 point lead to halftime with a 39-22 lead. UAB hit only eight field goals in the first half and shot 28.6%.
The opening of the second half did not see much improvement for UAB as the Cougars pushed their lead to 24 points midway through the second half. UAB cut the lead to 12 points with two minutes to play, but the Cougars held on to win the season opener 71-60. UAB was led in scoring by Wen Mukubu who scored 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Paul Delaney added 14 points and Lawrence Kinnard had 11. Derrick Low for the Cougars blistered the Blazers for 28 points on 10-16 shooting.
Although at the time, Mike Davis was quoted as saying “We’re faster and more athletic than they are, but they played together”, Washington State turned out to be one of the better teams on UAB’s schedule during last season. The Cougars achieved a #9 ranking in the Associated Press and finished the season with a 26-8 record and a #3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Tony Bennett received the Naismith Coach of the Year award for 2006-2007. It was a big turnaround for the program which had been picked to finish last in the Pac-10 in a pre-season poll. Hopefully this is the turnaround year for Mike Davis and the Blazers.
The Opponent – Georgia State
The Blazers are 5-2 against today’s opponent, Georgia State. At one time, Georgia State was a conference mate of UAB. Georgia State was a member of the Sun Belt Conference when UAB first began playing basketball. The Panthers left the Sun Belt after the 1980-81 season and this is only the second time since then that UAB and Georgia State have met. The two teams played each other in Hawaii in December of 2000.
UAB vs. Georgia State December 14, 1978
The first meeting between these two teams occurred on December 14, 1978. Although UAB was only an associate member of the Sun Belt Conference in their inaugural year, this marked the first time that UAB played against a Sun Belt foe. The Blazers basketball program was about three weeks old and this was only UAB’s third home game. UAB entered the game 3-3 and Georgia State was 4-1. This game marked the first start for one of UAB’s all time great players. Freshman Oliver Robinson was tabbed for his first start, although it was at forward and not at shooting guard, the position he later played.
Four minutes into the game, the score was tied 10-10. However, the Blazers scored eight straight and got the first half lead to 14 points. Georgia State cut the lead to 47-41 at the half and cut the lead to three points early in the second half. The Blazers put the lead back up to eleven points two minutes later and Gene Bartow cleared the bench as UAB pushed the lead all the way to 26 points. With 46 seconds left in the game, Derrick Bentley hit two free throws to make the score 100-81. It marked the first time that UAB had scored 100 points in a game. Since then, the Blazers have surpassed the century mark 39 times. However, the Blazers have hit something of a dry spell, and have not topped 100 points since January 2, 2005 when UAB defeated Murray State 100-80.
UAB @ Georgia State December 15, 1979
One year later, UAB traveled to Atlanta to play Georgia State in the Omni. The Blazers had played the Panthers at the Georgia State Arena the previous season and this was UAB’s first game in the Omni. It was not Coach Bartow’s first game in the Omni. The last time Bartow had a team in the Omni was in 1977 when his UCLA team had beaten Tennessee103-89 in front of 16,000 fans. In this game, Bartow’s team scored 100 points as well, but instead of 16,000 screaming college basketball fans, there were only 570 people in attendance.
Georgia State led for most of the first half. Keith McCord for UAB, who had 28 points in an upset win over Washington State the previous game, was called for three fouls in the first 5 ½ minutes and received his fourth foul in the first minute of the second half. He played only eight minutes and fouled out with eight minutes to go in the game. Without the Blazer’s leading scorer, Georgia State led 28-23 with 8:40 left in the first half. At that point, Stan Scales hit two free throws to spark a 28-0 run and UAB never trailed again. The Blazers led 50-42 at the half and had a 25 point lead at 78-53 with 8:28 to go. UAB went on to win 100-73. Five Blazers scored in double figures, led by Larry Spicer with 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half. Raymond Gause had 16 points, George Jones had 14, Greg Leet had 13 and Glenn Marcus had 12.
The Place
Today, UAB returns to one of the first venues that the Blazers ever played in. During UAB’s first year, the road schedule took the team to Missouri, then to Oxford, Mississippi and then to the Georgia State Sports Arena to play Georgia State. Until today, all other games in Atlanta have been played at the Omni, which was demolished in 1997.
The Sports Arena was built in 1973 and seats 5500. It was renovated in 2003 and named for former coach Lefty Driesell. Interestingly, the court is located on the third floor and the locker rooms are on the second floor.
UAB is 3-3 in the city of Atlanta. The Blazers are 2-1 against Georgia State in Atlanta.. In 1981, UAB beat Southern Miss and lost to Georgia in the Omni as a part of the Cotton States Classic.
UAB vs. UCLA – March 16, 1990
The last time UAB played in Atlanta was 17 years ago in the 1990 NCAA tournament. Coach Bartow’s first game in the Omni was as the UCLA coach. In his last game in the Omni, he was coaching the Blazers against his old team, UCLA. UAB entered the game as the ten seed and was 22-8. UCLA was coached by Jim Harrick and was the seven seed with a 20-10 record. Although UAB jumped out to a 13-2 lead, they went cold and UCLA led 30-27 at the half. UAB could not regain the lead because of poor shooting from their guards. Barry Bearden, Jack Kramer and Andy Kennedy combined for 9 of 35 from the field and 5 of 23 from three point line, despite being one of the top three point shooting team in the country. UCLA beat its old coach by the score of 68-56 to advance in the tournament.
Atlanta is Blazer Home to…
Throughout UAB history, there are several UAB players who played high school in the Atlanta area. On this year’s team, there is Paul Delaney from Chamblee High School and newcomer Channing Toney, whose played in Snellville, Georgia at Brookwood High School. Former Blazers from the Atlanta area are Derrick Broom (2002-2006) from Cartersville, Robert Shannon (1992-1994) from Jackson, Clarence Thrash (1991-94) from Atlanta, James Ponder (1983-1987) from College Park and Russell Foster (1980-81) from Hapeville, Georgia.
Two players from Atlanta appear on UAB’s 1000 point club. James Ponder is the 10th all time leading scorer with 1363 points and Robert Shannon is 16th with 1110 points. Paul Delaney needs 162 points to become the third Atlanta area player to join the 1000 point club.
The Bench
Georgia State is coached by former Mississippi coach, Rod Barnes. Although Barnes has never faced UAB, he did play under former UAB assistant coach Lee Hunt at Ole Miss in the mid 1980’s and he was replaced by former UAB player, Andy Kennedy.
One member of Barnes’ staff at Georgia State coached against UAB just last year. Assistant coach William Small was an assistant coach to Dave Dickerson last year at Tulane. He went 1-1 against the Blazers.
Also on the Panther bench is Eugene Harris, who coached under Cliff Ellis at South Alabama, Clemson and Auburn. In matchups against UAB, Harris is 3-7 as an assistant coach. Harris was also an assistant coach under Mark Gottfried for one year at Alabama.
The Georgia State team features two players who are from the Birmingham area. We won’t see transfer Trey Hampton play because he is sitting out his transfer year after leaving Mississippi to play for Rod Barnes. He played his high school basketball at Hoover High School. Also on the team is sophomore Norman Mitchell, who played high school ball at Midfield High School.
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