The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Basketball Team Takes On Troy Tuesday Night
11/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2009
UAB-Troy Game Notes | Gametracker | Watch
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team will return to action when it takes on instate foe Troy on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Bartow Arena. The contest marks the third time the two teams have met on the hardwood, with all three meetings occurring over the past two seasons.
UAB is in the midst of a season-long six-game homestand, which began last Saturday with a 72-56 win over Georgia. The victory stretched the Blazers' win streak to three games, as they improved to 4-1 overall. Senior forward Howard Crawford led three scorers in double figures with a career-high 21 points on the night - 17 of which came during the second half. Junior guard Jamarr Sanders also set his career high with 16 points, while junior Elijah Millsap added 14 points and a team-high six rebounds in the win.
Millsap leads UAB in scoring (16.4 ppg), rebounding (7.8 rpg) and free throws made (25) and attempted (36) entering Tuesday's game. The Louisiana-Lafayette transfer has led the Blazers in either scoring and/or rebounding in a contest in four of their five games this season.
Crawford is the only other Blazer to average double figures, collecting 14.8 points per contest, and leads the team from beyond the arc, connecting on 5-of-7 three-pointers on the year (.714). Junior guard Aaron Johnson adds 8.8 points and leads the team in assists (3.4) and steals (2.0) per game.
As a team, the Blazers are shooting 43.8 percent from the floor and 40.5 percent from beyond the arc on the year. UAB also boasts a +2.8 advantage on the boards (34.4-31.6).
UAB head coach Mike Davis is now in his fourth season at the helm of the Blazers' basketball program and his 10th season as a head coach. He boasts a record of 64-40 (.615) at UAB and a 179-119 (.601) record overall.
Troy comes into Tuesday night's contest sporting a 2-1 overall record, following an 80-58 loss at Florida on Friday night. Richard Delk was the only Trojan to reach double-figure scoring, collecting 15 points in the losing effort.
Troy boasts five players who average double figures on the year, led by guard Brandon Hazzard's 17.7 points a game. Guard Michael Vogler is second on the team with 13.3 ppg and leads his squad in assists per game (6.0), collecting 18 assists and just five turnovers on the campaign.
Forward Yamene Coleman averages 11.3 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per contest. Delk (10.7 ppg) and Vernon Taylor (10.0 ppg) also average double-figure scoring.
As a team, the Trojans are shooting 48.6 percent from the floor - a main reason why Troy is outscoring the competition by 16.7 points a game (89.3-72.7).
Head coach Don Maestri is in his 29th season at Troy. He owns an overall record of 455-327 (.582).
UAB-Troy The Series
UAB and Troy are playing for third time in series history with all three games occurring over the past two seasons. The Blazers own a 2-0 lead in the series by sweeping the Trojans in a pair of games during the 2008-09 season. UAB opened last year with an 87-66 win at Troy (11/15), followed by a 73-68 victory in Bartow Arena (12/20).
Winning The Turnover Battle
UAB has been winning the battle of the turnovers so far this season. The Blazers have turned the ball over under 10 times in three of their first five contests this season, winning each of those three contests. During head coach Mike Davis' four seasons, the Blazers have recorded fewer than 10 turnovers in a game 20 times, owning a 15-5 record when achieving the feat.
Coming Out Of His Shell
Senior Howard Crawford had a career night when the Blazers defeated Georgia, 72-56, last Saturday night. The Eutaw, Ala. native scored a career-best 21 points, 17 of which came in the second half, en route to the 16-point win. Additionally, the 6-8 forward set new career marks in field goals made (9) and attempted (15) and three-pointers made (3) and attempted (3).
Over the Blazers' first five contests, Crawford is averaging 14.8 points per contest. After collecting an average of 2.8 points and 1.2 rebounds a game over his first two seasons in a UAB uniform, Crawford had a career year in 2008-09. He averaged 7.9 points and 3.5 rebounds a game, which makes him the team's top returning scorer and rebounder from last season. Additionally, Crawford shot 52 percent from the floor last year on his way to achieving career highs in nearly every offensive category.
Heating Up Beyond The Arc
The Blazers opened the season having trouble connecting from deep, but that has changed over their last three contests. After opening the year by connecting on just 9-of-26 (.346) from three-point range, UAB has hit 23-of-53 (.434) threes over its last three contests.
Second-Half Team?
In each of the five contests this season, UAB has outscored its opponents over the final 20 minutes of a contest. In four of their five games on the year, the Blazers have trailed or been tied at halftime only to come back and either take the lead or win the game. Below is a breakdown of UAB's second half compared to its opponents.
1st half (Avg) 2nd half (Avg.)
UAB 147 (29.4) 200 (40.0)
Opp. 154 (30.8) 144 (28.8)
Diff. -7 (-1.4) +56 (+12.2)
UAB Health System Presents The Gene Bartow Classic
When the Blazers take on East Tennessee State at 7 p.m. at Bartow Arena Friday, Dec. 4, it is expected to be a special day for UAB athletics. On behalf of the UAB Health System, UAB will honor legendary coach Gene Bartow throughout the contest. Gene's son and former UAB coach, Murry Bartow, will bring his ETSU team to Birmingham to be a part of the fesitivities. Gene Bartow was recently enshrined to the College Basketball Hall of Fame (Nov. 22) and is known as the "Founding Father" of UAB athletics.
A Rare Feat
Junior guard Elijah Millsap has made an exciting debut in the Green and Gold. Over UAB's first five contests, the Grambling, La. native has accounted for two double-doubles with 22 points and 11 rebounds against Green Bay (11/13) and 18 points and 11 rebounds against Jacksonville State (11/17). Millsap became the first UAB rookie to record two double-doubles through his first four games in a Blazer uniform in nearly 15 years. The last person to accomplish the feat was former great Carlos Williams, who recorded a pair of double-doubles in his first season at UAB in the opening four contests of the 1994-95 season.
Quotables
Senior forward Howard Crawford
On the learning about the team's potential:
"Yea it's fun because you don't know what you're going to get every night. Because there are so many new players, it's exciting to see what new things they can bring to the table. We are improving every night."
On his current role on the team:
"I'm a much bigger part of the team. I am one of the seniors on the team and a leader along with Aaron Johnson and Elijah Millsap. I think we play the key roles of the team; everybody feeds off our energy every game. If we bring it every night we have a chance to win."
On defeating Georgia:
"It's good for the program and good for Conference USA to show what we can do against an SEC team. A lot of people are saying we're a weak conference but I think a lot of teams in our conference come out and play hard every night. We'd be capable of beating any team any night."
On Troy:
"We're going to watch film today. From last year we know that they have all juniors and seniors, they don't have any younger players, so they're a very experienced team."
UAB head coach Mike Davis
On defeating Georgia:
"Well we knew that the way our schedule was set up, bringing them here at home would be a good opportunity for us to get a win. Their big guy is really good. I think they're a really good team and that they can play with anybody.
"I thought our defense was good. We just have to get better; we have a long way to go. I think we may have surprised some people when they saw us play for the first time. This is a rebuilding year, but it's not a rebuilding year from the standpoint that we're going to be a bad basketball team. We're not anywhere near where we want to be or where we need to be, but our performance is definitely improving. What we can't have is a letdown or setback; we have to continue to get better everyday."
On the team's progression in the first five games:
"We're a better team this year than last year's team. We're a better team; we don't go off on our own a lot like last year's team. Last year's team it was all individual talent. With this group they seem to take care of the basketball better, share the ball better and we can coach them better. "
We're averaging right now less than 10 turnovers per game. We have less than 50 turnovers in five games which tells you a lot about them listening to what we're saying.
On Troy's experienced players:
"It's unbelievable. They're probably the oldest team in the country. I've never seen a team that doesn't have any freshman or sophomores on their team; they're all juniors and seniors. It's an amazing group, so it's going to be a challenge for us."
