02-17-2007, 10:15 AM
The Elusive Regular Season Championship
The Date:
UAB is 3-2 in games played on February 17. The Blazers have won their last three games on this date, but have not played this date since 1997. UAB is 2-1 on the road on this date.
One of the myths about UAB’s early history, particularly in the Sun Belt Conference is how dominant the Blazers were over hapless conference foes. The reality is that UAB made headlines in December, was good, but not dominant in January and February, and really turned it on in March. The Blazers have won the regular season championship only four times in their history, three in the Sun Belt and once in CUSA. Two of the regular season championships were shared with someone else, in 1981 and in 2004. Only 1982 and 1990 saw the Blazers win the regular season championship outright. There have been several years when the Blazers just missed. Today, we will look at two of those games.
UAB vs. South Alabama – February 17, 1980
The first game played on February 17 was at home in 1980 against Sun Belt leader South Alabama. It was UAB’s first season as a full member of the Sun Belt Conference and they were one game out of first place, behind league-leading South Alabama. The Jaguars were 11-2 and the Blazers were 12-3 and this last conference game of the year was for the regular season championship. A win by the Blazers would put them in a first place tie for the lead, but would give them the #1 seed by virtue of UAB winning in Mobile. This game started at 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon, but because of odd Sun Belt Conference scheduling, the Blazers had just played the night before against New Orleans.
UAB trailed throughout most of the second half and pulled to within one point with 5:20 to go. The free throw line was UAB’s biggest enemy in this game. Two straight trips down the court, Keith McCord was fouled and missed the front end of a one and one. At 2:36, UAB was trailing by three points and Oliver Robinson missed two free throws. Finally in the final minute, Robinson hit a jumper giving UAB a one point lead with seven seconds to go. South Alabama’s Herb Andrews drove the length of the court and hit a basket at the top of the key. Glenn Marcus had backed off, not wanting to foul him, allowing him to score the winning basket. South Alabama won 66-65. The crowd of 8,352 sat there for a long time in stunned silence.
South Alabama would win the Sun Belt regular season championship and UAB would finish tied for second. Oliver Robinson led the Blazers with 16 points. Larry Spicer had 13 points.
UAB @ Virginia Commonwealth – February 17, 1983
On this date in 1983, the Blazers faced another challenge to win their regular season conference championship. This time it was at Virginia Commonwealth, where the Blazers had had very little success. Both teams were 8-2 heading into the game and on strong winning streaks. UAB had won seven of eight games and VCU was on a ten game winning streak. UAB wanted to avenge a loss in Birmingham earlier in the season in which VCU came from 18 points down to win by two points. In this game, VCU went ahead at the 8:37 mark of the second half and did not relinquish the lead. They hit 22 free throws in a row and won 80-68. Cliff Pruitt led the Blazers with a career high 27 points. Although Lex Drum had scored 20 points in the previous game, he was held to one field goal and three rebounds in this game. VCU would tie Old Dominion for the regular season championship and UAB would finish third.
The Opponent:
UAB is 14-3 against Houston and has won the last five games in the series. The last game that was lost to the Cougars was Murry Bartow’s last regular season game on March 2, 2002, by the score of 76-72. The Blazers won the first eight games in the series, but that streak came to an end on January 10, 2001.
UAB @ Houston - January 10, 2001
UAB entered the game 8-5 and had never lost to the Cougars. Houston was 3-10 and was 1-8 in their last nine games. UAB was a fairly high scoring team, thanks to the production of PJ Arnold and Eric Batchelor. Houston’s coach, Ray McCullum was to try to slow down the game in order to give them a chance at winning. The task would be tough, because this was a bad shooting Houston team, who had only shot over 40% from the field, twice in the season.
The Blazers helped McCullum’s strategy by not playing well themselves. In the first half, UAB went over 10 munutes without scoring and had zero offensive rebounds in the first half. In the previous game, UAB had 20 offensive rebounds, but only four for this game.
Murry’s halftime talk did not inspire the Blazers to play better. They went over five minutes without scoring in the second half. As a testament to how bad Houston was, the Blazers still had a chance to win, despite not scoring a basket for 15 minutes of the game.
As the game wound down, Houston had three turnovers in a 26 second period and allowed the Blazers to close a nine point deficit to 63-60 with 30 seconds left in the game. As usual, Murry Bartow turned to Leandrew Bass to be the hero. Bass drove toward the basket and was called for a charging foul, ending the Blazers’ final chance. After the game, Bass said it was a “cheap foul” and that “we got screwed a little bit”. Houston won their first game over the Blazers by the score of 67-65. Eric Batchelor led the Blazers with 19 points.
Houston would win three of the next four games over the next year. Since then, the Blazers have won five straight. Let’s continue the streak today.
The Place:
The Blazers are 6-2 against Houston in Houston and 1-0 against Rice in Houston. UAB also has a tournament history in Houston. In 1984, the Blazers defeated a Scott Skiles led Michigan State team 70-68. They would lose a heartbreaker the next round to Memphis State in overtime, 67-66. The following year, the Blazers were invited to play in the Preseason NIT tournament, with the first two rounds played in Houston. UAB defeated Texas A&M 71-68, but lost by 12 to Duke in the next round, 66-54. Overall, the Blazers are 9-4 in the city of Houston. .
UAB @ Houston March 5, 2005
UAB’s last game against Houston in Houston was played March 5, 2005 . It was the last game of the regular season and UAB entered the game 19-9. Houston was 17-12. Both teams were 9-7 in conference and were jockeying for seeds in the upcoming CUSA tournament. Marvette McDonald was expected to miss the game, because his mother had died a day earlier. Coach Anderson had given him the opportunity to miss the game to be with his family. However, he told the coach that the team was his family as well, and he wanted to play. Attendance was 6420, which was the largest Houston crowd of the year.
UAB trailed 37-35 at halftime. A 10-0 run by Houston to start the second half put the Blazers down by 12 points. UAB battled back and a dunk by Ernest Little with 12:20 left cut the lead to two points, 49-47. Houston pushed the lead up to eight points with 9:48 to play, but a McDonald three pointer and a Paul Delaney layup cut the lead back to three with 8:23 to play in the game. Houston pushed the lead back to eight, but Demario Eddins scored six points on an 8-0 Blazer run to tie the game at 64 with 2:24 on the clock. Two free throws by Houston put the Cougars up by two. At the 1:29 mark, Marvett McDonald, playing with emotion over his mother’s death hit a three pointer that gave UAB’s its first lead since 8:20 left in the first half. McDonald scored four free throws in the final 18 seconds and had the final seven points of the game to give UAB the win, 71-66. The win secured UAB’s 20th win of the season and the #4 seed and a bye in the CUSA tournament.
The Bench:
Tom Penders has been head coach at more schools than any other Division I coach. He has coached at Tufts College, Columbia, Rhode Island, Texas, George Washington, and now Houston. He is 0-2 against the Blazers and has passed out during 50% of his games against UAB.
The Date:
UAB is 3-2 in games played on February 17. The Blazers have won their last three games on this date, but have not played this date since 1997. UAB is 2-1 on the road on this date.
One of the myths about UAB’s early history, particularly in the Sun Belt Conference is how dominant the Blazers were over hapless conference foes. The reality is that UAB made headlines in December, was good, but not dominant in January and February, and really turned it on in March. The Blazers have won the regular season championship only four times in their history, three in the Sun Belt and once in CUSA. Two of the regular season championships were shared with someone else, in 1981 and in 2004. Only 1982 and 1990 saw the Blazers win the regular season championship outright. There have been several years when the Blazers just missed. Today, we will look at two of those games.
UAB vs. South Alabama – February 17, 1980
The first game played on February 17 was at home in 1980 against Sun Belt leader South Alabama. It was UAB’s first season as a full member of the Sun Belt Conference and they were one game out of first place, behind league-leading South Alabama. The Jaguars were 11-2 and the Blazers were 12-3 and this last conference game of the year was for the regular season championship. A win by the Blazers would put them in a first place tie for the lead, but would give them the #1 seed by virtue of UAB winning in Mobile. This game started at 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon, but because of odd Sun Belt Conference scheduling, the Blazers had just played the night before against New Orleans.
UAB trailed throughout most of the second half and pulled to within one point with 5:20 to go. The free throw line was UAB’s biggest enemy in this game. Two straight trips down the court, Keith McCord was fouled and missed the front end of a one and one. At 2:36, UAB was trailing by three points and Oliver Robinson missed two free throws. Finally in the final minute, Robinson hit a jumper giving UAB a one point lead with seven seconds to go. South Alabama’s Herb Andrews drove the length of the court and hit a basket at the top of the key. Glenn Marcus had backed off, not wanting to foul him, allowing him to score the winning basket. South Alabama won 66-65. The crowd of 8,352 sat there for a long time in stunned silence.
South Alabama would win the Sun Belt regular season championship and UAB would finish tied for second. Oliver Robinson led the Blazers with 16 points. Larry Spicer had 13 points.
UAB @ Virginia Commonwealth – February 17, 1983
On this date in 1983, the Blazers faced another challenge to win their regular season conference championship. This time it was at Virginia Commonwealth, where the Blazers had had very little success. Both teams were 8-2 heading into the game and on strong winning streaks. UAB had won seven of eight games and VCU was on a ten game winning streak. UAB wanted to avenge a loss in Birmingham earlier in the season in which VCU came from 18 points down to win by two points. In this game, VCU went ahead at the 8:37 mark of the second half and did not relinquish the lead. They hit 22 free throws in a row and won 80-68. Cliff Pruitt led the Blazers with a career high 27 points. Although Lex Drum had scored 20 points in the previous game, he was held to one field goal and three rebounds in this game. VCU would tie Old Dominion for the regular season championship and UAB would finish third.
The Opponent:
UAB is 14-3 against Houston and has won the last five games in the series. The last game that was lost to the Cougars was Murry Bartow’s last regular season game on March 2, 2002, by the score of 76-72. The Blazers won the first eight games in the series, but that streak came to an end on January 10, 2001.
UAB @ Houston - January 10, 2001
UAB entered the game 8-5 and had never lost to the Cougars. Houston was 3-10 and was 1-8 in their last nine games. UAB was a fairly high scoring team, thanks to the production of PJ Arnold and Eric Batchelor. Houston’s coach, Ray McCullum was to try to slow down the game in order to give them a chance at winning. The task would be tough, because this was a bad shooting Houston team, who had only shot over 40% from the field, twice in the season.
The Blazers helped McCullum’s strategy by not playing well themselves. In the first half, UAB went over 10 munutes without scoring and had zero offensive rebounds in the first half. In the previous game, UAB had 20 offensive rebounds, but only four for this game.
Murry’s halftime talk did not inspire the Blazers to play better. They went over five minutes without scoring in the second half. As a testament to how bad Houston was, the Blazers still had a chance to win, despite not scoring a basket for 15 minutes of the game.
As the game wound down, Houston had three turnovers in a 26 second period and allowed the Blazers to close a nine point deficit to 63-60 with 30 seconds left in the game. As usual, Murry Bartow turned to Leandrew Bass to be the hero. Bass drove toward the basket and was called for a charging foul, ending the Blazers’ final chance. After the game, Bass said it was a “cheap foul” and that “we got screwed a little bit”. Houston won their first game over the Blazers by the score of 67-65. Eric Batchelor led the Blazers with 19 points.
Houston would win three of the next four games over the next year. Since then, the Blazers have won five straight. Let’s continue the streak today.
The Place:
The Blazers are 6-2 against Houston in Houston and 1-0 against Rice in Houston. UAB also has a tournament history in Houston. In 1984, the Blazers defeated a Scott Skiles led Michigan State team 70-68. They would lose a heartbreaker the next round to Memphis State in overtime, 67-66. The following year, the Blazers were invited to play in the Preseason NIT tournament, with the first two rounds played in Houston. UAB defeated Texas A&M 71-68, but lost by 12 to Duke in the next round, 66-54. Overall, the Blazers are 9-4 in the city of Houston. .
UAB @ Houston March 5, 2005
UAB’s last game against Houston in Houston was played March 5, 2005 . It was the last game of the regular season and UAB entered the game 19-9. Houston was 17-12. Both teams were 9-7 in conference and were jockeying for seeds in the upcoming CUSA tournament. Marvette McDonald was expected to miss the game, because his mother had died a day earlier. Coach Anderson had given him the opportunity to miss the game to be with his family. However, he told the coach that the team was his family as well, and he wanted to play. Attendance was 6420, which was the largest Houston crowd of the year.
UAB trailed 37-35 at halftime. A 10-0 run by Houston to start the second half put the Blazers down by 12 points. UAB battled back and a dunk by Ernest Little with 12:20 left cut the lead to two points, 49-47. Houston pushed the lead up to eight points with 9:48 to play, but a McDonald three pointer and a Paul Delaney layup cut the lead back to three with 8:23 to play in the game. Houston pushed the lead back to eight, but Demario Eddins scored six points on an 8-0 Blazer run to tie the game at 64 with 2:24 on the clock. Two free throws by Houston put the Cougars up by two. At the 1:29 mark, Marvett McDonald, playing with emotion over his mother’s death hit a three pointer that gave UAB’s its first lead since 8:20 left in the first half. McDonald scored four free throws in the final 18 seconds and had the final seven points of the game to give UAB the win, 71-66. The win secured UAB’s 20th win of the season and the #4 seed and a bye in the CUSA tournament.
The Bench:
Tom Penders has been head coach at more schools than any other Division I coach. He has coached at Tufts College, Columbia, Rhode Island, Texas, George Washington, and now Houston. He is 0-2 against the Blazers and has passed out during 50% of his games against UAB.