The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Emerging Powers Collide Tuesday in Birmingham
12/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
UAB head coach Jerod Haase received the exclamation point he was looking for when putting together his team’s non-conference schedule this season.
He wanted a proven team to come to Bartow Arena. He wanted a challenge that would help transition the Blazers into Conference USA play. He wanted a memorable ending to the non-conference schedule.
Mission accomplished, according to Haase.
“I like what we did this year in having a non-Division I right before Christmas, where we can go into Christmas break with a good feeling,” said Haase, whose team beat Hiwassee, 116-43, before breaking to celebrate the holidays. “We are going to come back from Christmas with a worker’s mentality. I wanted a high level game going into conference so we’re fully prepared at the ultimate level.”
Stephen F. Austin fits the bill in a game that will tip off at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday on ASN.
“They have a culture around their program, style of play and a winning culture,” Haase said. “Around college basketball circles, the level of respect for what they’ve done is off the charts.”
Prior to this season, the Lumberjacks have won at least 23 games in seven of the previous eight seasons. Former Stephen F. Austin head coach Danny Kaspar was 246-141 in 13 seasons and led his team to the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
“People don’t know we’re the second winningest program in the state of Texas, only behind the University of Texas, since the year 2000,” said Lumberjacks head coach Brad Underwood. “We’re not out playing guarantee games either.”
Underwood is taking the program to a higher level. The former assistant under Frank Martin at Kansas State and South Carolina led the Lumberjacks to a 61-8 record and a pair NCAA Tournament appearances in his first two seasons at the school. His first team finished 32-3, including a 29-game winning streak, and, as a No. 12 seed, beat No. 5 seed VCU, 77-75, in a NCAA Tournament second round game. The Lumberjacks were bounced from the tournament after a 77-60 loss to UCLA. Last season, the Lumberjacks finished 29-5 after losing to No. 5 seed Utah, 57-50, in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve been very successful with really good kids, high character kids and skilled kids,” Underwood said. “We’ve built our program on toughness and execution. It’s something we try to instill on a daily basis. Knock on wood, it’s been very successful for us.”
Stephen F. Austin returned four starters, as well as top reserve Clide Geffrard, and two other lettermen from last season’s team. The Lumberjacks are 7-4 with road losses at Baylor, Northern Iowa and Arizona State. The leader is clearly 6-foot-4 senior swingman Thomas Walkup, who was the Southland Conference Player of the Year as a junior. This season, he is averaging 15.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
“Thomas is a guy that is kind of a jack at all trades,” Underwood said. “He’s a consummate student-athlete. The guy has two degrees, he’s a self-made player, a guy who had no recruitment out of high school and he’s made himself. He’s probably the hardest working guy I’ve been around and I’ve been around some guys who get after it. This kid is special. His leadership, his every day work ethic is second to none. To say we build around him, that’s probably an understatement but it’s done more in a program sense than just an X and O sense.”
Haase and his team will get a first-hand glimpse on Tuesday in the first of a home-and-home series for a pair of programs that were having trouble filling out the schedule. UAB’s coaching staff jumped at the chance to play the Lumberjacks, largely because of the program’s RPI, which was an average of 50 over the latest three-year average. Last season, the Lumberjacks finished the season with a RPI of 29.
“There isn’t another top 30 team in the country that would start a series here in Bartow Arena,” said UAB associate head coach Jeff Wulbrun, who does most of the scheduling legwork for the program.
Scheduling was equally – or perhaps even more difficult – for Underwood and his program.
“If I did not play non-Division I schools, I would not have had a home schedule,” Underwood said. “I finished my schedule the last week of September this year and the only way I did that was to play non-Division I schools to get a home schedule. Our season ticket sales were up 400 percent. The support we’re getting is incredible, yet I didn’t have a home schedule for them to watch at the time.”
On Tuesday, though, the scheduling difficulties won’t be an issue. Instead, a pair of outstanding programs will get together in an entertaining non-conference finale for both teams. Both head coaches hope to enter conference play with momentum.
Haase said that help from the UAB faithful will go a long way toward helping the Blazers.
“It’s always nice to have a great atmosphere, but with a team as good as Stephen F. Austin, a home court advantage could absolutely be the difference in a game,” Haase said “If we can get a big crowd, an enthusiastic crowd, that will certainly give our team a huge shot in the arm.”
The Conference USA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are set to return to Birmingham for the second consecutive year, marking the third time the Blazers will host the event. The men's tournament, as well as the women's semifinals and championship, will be played at Legacy Arena in downtown Birmingham, while the women's first round and quarterfinal action will take place at UAB's Bartow Arena.
UAB ticket mini plans are now on sale and in high demand. The Conference USA Season Pass is available for $119 in the lower level, (a savings of over $60) and only $79 in the upper level, ($56 off the regular price). The Blazer Basketball Holiday 4 Pack includes four single game tickets, four Pepsi products and four orders of popcorn for only $49. Drink and popcorn vouchers are only good for games in which tickets were purchased.
For more information on UAB men's basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB), on Instagram (@blazerhoops) or on Facebook (Facebook.com/UABMensBasketball). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UABAthletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uabathletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
