The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Middle Tennessee
NOTEBOOK: We Are The Champions! Blazers Win C-USA Title
3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Cutting down the nets in Legacy Arena at the BJCC was part of the plan that UAB head coach Jerod Haase formulated for his team long before the season began.
"Obviously, from start to finish, I would say we matured more than any team I've been around," said Haase after his team beat Middle Tennessee, 73-60, in the title game of the Conference USA Championship on Saturday afternoon. "We went on a foreign tour (to Spain) this year and it was part of a plan. The Atlantis tournament and non-conference schedule was part of a plan. I would rather have more success in the non-conference schedule but it was part of the plan. Having the tournament here in Birmingham was part of the plan."
UAB didn't win a game in a loaded Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament and won just four of 13 non-conference overall games. But things started to click once the C-USA regular season started and the Blazers won six of their first seven conference games. The Blazers struggled at the end of the regular season, losing four of the final seven games but all six of their C-USA losses were still in question on the final regular season possession.
"As we know, a lot of times, good plans kind of go haywire once in a while but this was one time when the plan worked," Haase said.
UAB put another part of the plan to work on Saturday.
"Someone came and worked with our team during the offseason and one thing they said was `You do not rise to the occasion. You fall back on your habits,'" Haase said. "I told the guys tonight before the game `We have built good habits and tonight we're going to fall back on those habits.' It's not something where Robert magically gets 22 points and William Lee does a great job."
*Junior Robert Brown was UAB's leader on both ends of the floor all season so it's no surprise that he led the Blazers to the C-USA Tournament championship.
Brown, a 6-foot-5 junior, had a team-high 22 points in Saturday's championship game. He provided the game-winning jumper in the final seconds of Thursday's win over Western Kentucky and had big plays on both ends of the floor in Friday's overtime win over Louisiana Tech. He played 108 of the team's 125 minutes during the tournament.
"He was fantastic," Haase said. "I thought there was a lot of consistency. He didn't play perfect the last couple games, he played well but not perfect. He made some silly turnovers, a couple of defensive errors and he didn't hang his head. It was more of an attitude of `I'm going to do better next time.' I thought his demeanor throughout (Saturday's) game was one that was very aggressive, very confident and he was not scared to make mistakes. I think that's what big time players do."
Brown, a third team All-C-USA selection, was honored as the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
*UAB point guards Nick Norton and Denzell Watts had another solid game.
Watts had eight points, three assists, one rebound, one steal and no turnovers in 13 minutes. Norton had three points, six assists, one rebound and two turnovers in 25 minutes. Both were also strong on defense.
"They've been fantastic and they complement each other well," Haase said. "Both do a good job of valuing the basketball. They complement each other when they're going in and out for each other but when they're play together I really like what they do as well."
*UAB is the only team to have played in all 20 C-USA Tournaments. Saturday marked the first time they've won the tournament championship and the Blazers became the ninth different team to win the title. The only other No. 4 seed to win the title was Memphis in 2011.
*An alley-oop dunk by Tyler Madison, which came after a nice pass from Denzell Watts, was honored as the No.7 play on ESPN's Sportscenter on Saturday night.
