NCAAbbs

UAB vs. Cincinnati – February 26, 1995
On February 26, 1995, the seventh ranked Cincinnati Bearcats came to Bartow Arena, hoping for a win. Although Bob Huggins’ team was 17-9 and ranked #7, they had not won in Birmingham in three tries, despite having much better teams. The Blazers were the only team in the Great Midwest Conference to have a winning record over the Bearcats. UAB was on the verge of its first losing season with a 12-14 record coming into the game, and they needed to steal a few wins. This was the final home game, but for the only time in UAB history, there were no seniors to honor.

The 1994-95 season was an odd season, one that I think may have been Gene Bartow's greatest coaching job. No seniors, next to last in the conference, with a losing record, yet he owned wins in the conference over #1 Memphis, #2 Saint Louis, and #3 Dayton. On this date, he would add Cincinnati to that list. The Blazers did get help from Bob Huggins. Eight minutes into the game, Huggins picked up his second technical and was ejected from the game. Huggins claimed that his first technical came because he told official Ted Hillary "That's a terrible call". According to Huggins, he said "What's that for?" and he got his second technical. He watched on television as the game came to a dramatic end.

UAB had come from ten points down, and with 13 seconds to go, Leonard Bush stepped to the free throw line with the Blazers down by two points. He made his first free throw, but missed the second one. UAB's Travis Harper got the rebound but his shot would not fall and went out of bounds off Cincinnati with four seconds to go, and UAB down by one. Cedric Dixon got the inbounds pass and took a shot from the corner that missed everything. Travis Harper got the rebound, but his putback teetered off the rim. Big man and part time football player James Bristow grabbed the ball and jammed it home as the buzzer sounded, giving UAB the 64-63 win over the seventh ranked Bearcats.

Cedric Dixon led the Blazers with 22 points. Freshman DannyFortson led Cincinnati with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Huggins watching on a TV somewhere in the arena, claimed that Bristow's put back should not have counted because the ball was still in the cylinder, but no one would listen to him. His nightmare was not over with the end of the game either. As he made his way to the interview room, several Golden 100 fans outside the Golden 100 Room started yelling at him, and the Cincinnati Sports Information Director had to restrain Huggins from physically going after them. "They don't pay me enough money to have to take that" he complained. I guess the Golden 100 has some fight in them after all.

Some observations from this FN youngster:

1) Not much has changed considering the arena. Same scoreboards, bench areas, etc...and the Frozen 100 seats were just as empty back then as they are now!

Some observations from this FN youngster:

1) Not much has changed considering the arena. Same scoreboards, bench areas, etc...and the Frozen 100 seats were just as empty back then as they are now!

2) What station did "Prime" basketball come on? Never heard of that channel.

3) For the 30th anniversary, we should definitely bring back the sequined Golden Girls outfits. ILGG would bedazzle in his pants!

4) We went from having one of the crappiest logos in '95 to the best logo in college sports in '96. Seriously, WTF is a Big Gay Viking and an arrowhead shape that someone probably designed on a green screen Apple II back in 1981!!! Kudos to whoever created the Blaze/Dragon motif! I love the UAB traditional script found on the baseline, and I think that would be cool to put that in the end zones of Milo's Stadium! Also, our green was a lot more Marshalley back then than it is now. I'm glad that we've gone to the hunter/forest green--lot better color in my opinion. Pair it with white striping and numerals, and you have the perfect road uniform

5) Great Blazer win here! I would love to see more archived footage unearthed!