The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Hoops Takes On Murray State On Sunday
11/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team, looking for its first win of the 2011-12 season, will welcome unbeaten Murray State (3-0) to Bartow Arena for a Sunday afternoon showdown. The game is scheduled to tip at 3 p.m. CT.
GAME INFORMATION
Nov. 20, 2011 • 3 p.m. CT • Birmingham, Ala. • Bartow Arena (8,500)
UAB MBB Notes 
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RADIO (Flagship: WUHT 107.7 FM):
Blazer Sports Network
David Crane (play-by-play), Steve Mitchell (analyst) and Jon Gentile (engineer)
About UAB
• UAB dropped its season-opening contest last Wednesday, falling to Creighton, 70-60. The loss snapped a 38-game home win streak against non-conference opponents during the regular season. It was also the first time the Blazers have dropped a home opener since the 2001-02 season.
• Last season, the Blazers finished with a 22-9 record and a 12-4 mark in conference play as UAB captured its first outright regular season Conference USA championship in school history. As a result, the Blazers received an at-large berth to the 2011 NCAA Tournament, marking their first appearance in the "Big Dance" since the 2006 campaign and the 14th NCAA Tournament showing in program history.
• Senior forward Cameron Moore, the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year, led all players in the Creighton-UAB contest with 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots to go along with seven points in the losing effort.
• Moore is just the second Blazer to earn the preseason player of the year honor, joining former standout Robert Vaden, who was tabbed with the accolade prior to the start of the 2008-09 campaign.
• Junior forward Ovie Soko finished with 10 points and eight boards, while guards Jordan Swing and Jekore Tyler lead the Blazers with 14 points apiece.
• UAB head coach Mike Davis, the 2011 C-USA Coach of the Year, owns a record of 107-58 (.656) during his five seasons at UAB. He has a career mark of 222-137 (.622), as he begins his 12th season as a head coach at Indiana and UAB.
About Murray State
• Murray State comes into Sunday afternoon's contest sporting a perfect 3-0 record on the young season. Most recently, the Racers flew by Tennessee Temple, 83-41, on Thursday night.
• Four players come into the game averaging double figures, led by junior guard Isaiah Cannon's 16.3 ppg. Cannon also tops the squad with 14 assists and eight three-pointers on the year.
• Senior guard Donte Poole contributes 14.3 ppg, while senior forward Ivan Aska (13.3 ppg) and senior guard Jewaun Long (10.3 ppg) each average double-figure scoring. Aska also leads the Racers with 7.3 rebounds per contest.
• As a team, Murray State is outscoring the opposition by 26.7 points a game (79.7-53.0) and outrebounding foes, 33.3-29.7. The Racers have also played a style true to their nickname, entering Sunday's game with an average of 13.0 steals per game, while forcing opponents to turn the ball over an average of 23.3 times per game.
• Head coach Steve Prohm, a graduate of Alabama (1997), is in his first season at the helm of the Murray State program.
Moore Blocks Than Most
• Senior forward Cameron Moore didn't score many points on the offensive end of the floor, but made quite a defensive impact.
• Moore, the preseason conference player of the year, finished the contest with a career-high seven blocks to go along with 12 rebounds, including 11 defensive boards.
• Moore's seven blocks tied for the fifth-most swats in a game in school history. Alan Ogg holds the school record with 12 blocks in a contest.
• It was also the first time a Blazer finished with at least five blocks in a game since Soko swatted five vs. South Alabama (Nov. 23, 2010).
• With 71 blocked shots in his career, Moore now ranks ninth on the school's all-time block charts.
Non-Conference Home Streak Snapped
• With a 70-60 loss to Creighton on Wednesday, UAB snapped its 38-game regular-season home win streak against non-conference opponents.
• The last time UAB dropped a non-league regular-season game on its home floor was on Nov. 29, 2005 when UAB fell to Western Kentucky, 92-76.
• When factoring the home loss to North Carolina in the 2010 NIT quarterfinals, the Blazers have a combined home record of 34-2 against non-conference competition under head coach Mike Davis.
Getting Into The Swing Of Things
• After sitting out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules, sophomore Jordan Swing played his first regular-season contest in a year-and-a-half in UAB's season opener against Creighton.
• The Western Kentucky transfer and Birmingham, Ala. native led the Blazers with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor in the loss.
• He also had 12 points and five assists in the exhibition contest against AUM.
Mini-Recap From Last Game
• Doug McDermott scored 27 points to lead Creighton past UAB, 70-60, on Wednesday night.
• The Bluejays (3-0) trailed 48-44 in the second half before scoring six straight to take the lead on Austin Chatman's layup with 8:15 to play.
• The Blazers tied it on Jekore Tyler's jumper with 5:55 left, but they wouldn't lead the rest of the way.
• Tyler and Jordan Swing led UAB with 14 points apiece, while Ovie Soko added 10 points
UAB Basketball Begins 34th Season
• The UAB men's basketball team has tipped off its 34th season with the 2011-12 campaign.
• The Blazers have been one of the more successful programs on the national scene. UAB boasts an overall record of 665-385 (.634) and has earned postseason berths in the NCAA Tournament (14) or NIT (11) in 25 of its 33 years in program history.
• UAB has made eight postseason appearances over the past nine years, including four NCAA Tournaments (2004, 2005, 2006, 2011) and four NITs (2003, 2008, 2009, 2010).
• The Blazers made a Sweet 16 appearance in 2004 after defeating the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, Kentucky, marking the third Sweet 16 appearance in school history.
• UAB has averaged over 20 wins per season (20.1) and has recorded 21 20-win seasons.
Home Sweet Home
• UAB's Bartow Arena has always been a tough place for opponents to play, but that has been even more true over the past five seasons. Over that time, the Blazers have been nearly unbeatable, compiling a record of 54-9 (.857) at home.
• During head coach Mike Davis' six seasons at UAB, the Blazers own a home mark of 63-13 (.829). Furthermore, Davis owns a record of 34-2 (.947) in non-conference games played at Bartow Arena.
• The Blazers own an overall record of 277-60 (.824) in their 23rd season of use on their home floor
Beating Final Four Teams
• In each of the last two seasons, UAB has accomplished a feat not many teams can claim. The Blazers have been victorious over an NCAA Final Four team in each year, defeating Butler during the 2009-10 season (67-57 on Dec. 22, 2009) and VCU during the 2010-11 campaign (68-65 on Dec. 21, 2010), winning with both contests at Bartow Arena.
• UAB is one of only five teams in the nation that has defeated a Final Four team in each of the last two seasons. Also joining the Blazers in the accomplishment are North Carolina (defeated Michigan State in 2009 and Kentucky in 2010), Pitt (defeated West Virginia in 2009 and UConn in 2010), Notre Dame (defeated West Virginia in 2009 and UConn in 2010) and Syracuse (defeated West Virginia in 2009 and UConn in 2010).
One Of The Winningest Programs Since 2002-03
• Dating back to the 2002-03 campaign, UAB ranks as one of the winningest programs in the nation.
• Over that nine-year span, the Blazers have totalled 196 victories (averages out to 21.8 wins per season). That number ranks 26th in the country in terms of total victories.
• Kansas tops the list with 267, followed by Duke (263), Memphis (258), North Carolina (244) and Pittsburgh (244).
• The Tigers and the Blazers are the only two Conference USA teams to appear on the top-50 list of teams.
Blazers Will Need To Make Up For Key Personnel Losses
• Despite returning seven letterwinners from last season's NCAA Tournament team, UAB head coach Mike Davis and his staff will have to replace a pair of departed senior leaders in point guard Aaron Johnson and shooting guard Jamarr Sanders.
• Both Johnson and Sanders were first-team all-conference performers in 2010-11, with Johnson also earning the Conference USA Player of the Year award.
• Combined, the duo averaged 29.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 9.6 assists per contest a year ago. That equates to approximately 43 percent of the scoring, 21 percent of the rebounding and 71 percent of the assists of UAB's total output last season.
Four-Year Success Story
• UAB head coach Mike Davis has led UAB to one of the program's best four-year stretches in terms of number of wins in school history.
• From the 2007-08 season through the 2010-11 campaiogn, the Blazers compiled a record of 92-41 (.692). It ranks second in program history in terms of wins over a four-year period. The school record for wins in a four-year stretch is 94, set during the 1983-87 seasons.
• Over the four seasons, the Blazers had at least 20 wins overall and 11 wins in C-USA play in each campaign. UAB also recorded 20 regular-season wins for a fourth straight season, marking the first time in school history it has achieved that feat.
• Recently graduated Blazer Aaron Johnson was the only Blazer associated with all 92 victories over the four-year stretch, which ranks as the second-most wins by a single-player in school history. Former UAB great Archie Johnson, who played from 1983-87, leads all UAB players with 94 victories during his four-year career at UAB.
• With 34 true road wins since 2007, Davis has led the Blazers to the most road victories of any four-year stretch in school history. He is also the first coach to record at least 11 wins in conference play in four consecutive years.
Three-Point Streak Still Going
• The Blazers continue to enjoy much success from behind the arc. So much so, that UAB has made at least one three-pointer in 494 consecutive games.
• The last time the Blazers played a game without a trey was on Dec. 18, 1996, against Chattanooga. UNLV currently holds the NCAA mark with a three-pointer made in 806 consecutive games. The Runnin' Rebels have hit at least one three-pointer in every game since the NCAA adopted the three-point line in 1986.
