The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
NOTEBOOK: Blazers Grind Past Jackson State For Second Win
11/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- UAB head coach Jerod Haase credited Jackson State’s changing defense with disrupting his team’s offensive flow during Sunday’s 58-50 win for the Blazers. But, in the long run, that might not be such a bad thing.
“I’ll give credit to their team and their staff for some of it as well, in terms of their changing defenses,” Haase said after his team shot 35.3 percent from the field. “They’re 1-2-2, they’re (different) zone, they’re man, they play man different ways. I’ll give them a lot of credit for how they did things. It did keep us on our heels.”
That’s where the silver lining shows up.
“Truthfully, this game is going to pay dividends for us as time goes, to be able to adjust through a game and how to act in those kind of situations,” Haase said. “But during the game today, it was extremely frustrating.”
UAB had its lowest assist total of the young season – dishing out a total of 10 with only three players contributing. Nick Norton had five assists, Hakeem Baxter had four assists and Tosin Mehinti dished out the other assist.
*UAB forced 27 turnovers on Sunday. It was the most turnovers forced by the Blazers since Radford turned the ball over 27 times on Nov. 11, 2006. UAB scored 29 points off the turnovers in the win over Jackson State.
The Blazers had 14 steals on Sunday, marking the most by the team since matching that total on Jan. 4, 2014 in a win over Newberry College. Norton led the way with five steals and seven of the 10 Blazers who played contributed at least one steal.
*Free throw shooting was a major problem in Thursday night’s overtime loss to South Florida. On Sunday, though, the Blazers were successful at the free throw line.
UAB made 17-of-21 free throws, which is 81 percent shooting, overall and made 10-of-11 in the second half.
*Freshman William Lee scored his first points in his second appearance as a Blazer. The 6-foot-9 Lee, who was slowed by a knee injury, hit a 15-foot jumper with 16:04 left in the second half for his first points. He added two free throws later in the half. He also chipped in two rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal in 14 minutes.
*UAB improved to 28-5 under Haase when leading at halftime. The Blazers led, 27-21, at intermission on Sunday.
