The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Sullivan Shines in Breakout Game at Troy
11/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Irvine:
His progression as a college basketball player largely took place behind the closed doors of practice. On Thursday, UAB sophomore Lewis Sullivan finally stepped into the spotlight on game night.
Most importantly, thanks to that, the Blazers took an important step forward as a team.
“I knew we always had depth at the guard spot, but we now have four bigs we can throw in the rotation,” said UAB guard Robert Brown. “To be able to have another big come in and not only compete on the offensive end but defend, rebound, guard, that’s a tremendous step for our team.”
It’s been well documented what Sullivan did on Thursday night in the 79-63 victory at Troy. Nearly every game story from Thursday featured the 6-foot-7, 222-pound sophomore from Hazel Green, Ala., on a night where he set career highs with 22 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes. It came on a night when the first three players in UAB’s big man rotation were whistled for three fouls in the first half.
“I just had to come in and play my role and stick to my role,” Sullivan said.
He did this by beating the Troy inside players down the floor and muscling the smaller Trojan players when he got the ball down low. Sullivan not only made all six of his shot attempts from inside the paint, but made 10-of-11 free throws during his five trips to the line.
It wasn’t a surprise to anyone inside the UAB program or to Troy head coach Phil Cunningham.
“The interesting thing is we recruited him as a wing,” Cunningham said. “He’s having to play the power forward spot for them. He’s just so quick and athletic. He’s long (and) he’s skilled. He’s a tough matchup.”
The toughest thing for Sullivan during his first college season was finding a spot on the floor. The 2013-14 Alabama Class 6A Player of the Year at Hazel Green High School largely sat and watched four other true freshmen get quality minutes for a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Sullivan played in 25 games, averaging 8.4 minutes per game, with his only double digit scoring coming when he tallied 13 points in a loss to UCLA during the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in November.
“It’s very difficult, I just kept my head and kept grinding,” said Sullivan.
That grind carried throughout the summer when Sullivan transformed his body with the help of strength and conditioning coach Cory Schlesinger. Sullivan’s roster weight was 195 pounds as a freshman. This season, he’s checking in at 222 pounds.
Sullivan learned how to use that extra weight battling in off-season pickup games and practice sessions with Chris Cokley, William Lee and Tosin Mehinti.
“It’s motivation every day,” Sullivan said. “We always go against each other every day in practice. Coaches make it really competitive. Some days I have bad days, some days I have good days, some days I have mediocre days. I just always have to push through it. Coach always says to make the next play better than the last play.”
Brown said he sees a key difference in Sullivan.
“I don’t want to blow his head up too much, but from freshman Lew to this Lew, I think the biggest jump he made was mental,” Brown said. “He plays pretty much the same, it’s just he’s been more comfortable in the offense and the game’s slowed down for him.”
That didn’t show as much in the first two games, when he played a combined 19 minutes and contributed six points and two rebounds. But it definitely showed on Thursday night.
“I do think Lewis is kind of a free spirit, fun loving guy,” Haase said. “He seems to always be on an even keel and usually in a good mood. He always really plays hard. Having success in a game like this will certainly help his confidence. I didn’t think it was down before this but I certainly think it gives him something to fall back on or remember in the future.”
However, Sullivan won’t spend too much time recalling his best game as a college player.
“It helped my confidence a lot but every game is not going to be the same,” Sullivan said. “I might not always have a big game but I can keep playing hard.”
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