The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
2-2
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Kansas
3-1
Blazers Fall to No. 5 Kansas
11/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2016
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Quotes
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A rough start was ultimately too difficult to overcome for the UAB men's basketball team in Monday night's 83-63 loss to No. 5 ranked Kansas in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
"I think the first six or seven minutes the environment overwhelmed us," UAB head coach Robert Ehsan said during his postgame radio appearance with David Crane. "They were more comfortable, especially offensively. We struggled to make shots, we turned it over, we just couldn't get a rhythm going. When we did, we actually did a heckuva job of fighting back."
Turnovers and frigid shooting hurt UAB (2-2 overall) early as the Blazers fell into holes of 17-0 and 25-3. However, the Blazers responded like a veteran team is expected to respond. Back-to-back inside buckets by Chris Cokley and Tyler Madison sparked a 15-2 run that covered a six-minute span and turned a 25-5 deficit into a 27-20 Kansas lead. The run concluded with back-to-back 3-pointers by Dirk Williams.
UAB pulled within 33-28 late in the half following Deion Lavender's follow dunk on a fast break. Kansas was able to build the lead back to 11 points before Lavender's runner at the buzzer made it 39-30 at halftime.
The Blazers had trouble getting started again in the second half as Kansas used a 9-0 spurt to take a 48-30 with less than four minutes elapsed off the second half clock.
"We were fired up coming out of halftime (and) going into halftime but we weren't able to match them the first four minutes," Ehsan said. "We were just playing catchup the whole second half."
The Blazers certainly didn't quit. In fact, the Blazers weathered the early second half storm and strung together their own 8-0 run to pull back to within 10 points. Tosin Mehinti bring the run with a dunk after a nice pass from Madison, Williams followed with a 3-pointer from the left corner and Madison drove to the basket for another bucket. Mehinti had the final point of the run with a free throw that cut the deficit to 48-38 with 12:46 remaining.
However, that was the closest that UAB came following halftime. Kansas answered every UAB challenge in the final 15 minutes and came away with the win.
Despite the loss, the Blazers received excellent efforts off the bench from Madison and Mehinti. Once again, Madison proved to be a sparkplug for the Blazers in both halves. He had 7 of the team's first 10 points and finished the night with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes.
"We're going to need that spark," Ehsan said of Madison. "He's kind of one of our energy, emotional leaders. He's playing like a senior, who wants to be out there."
Mehinti was the Blazers' most effective big man on Monday night. He had 10 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes.
UAB faces a quick turnaround with the next game scheduled on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. against George Washington in the consolation game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. George Washington lost to Georgia on Monday night.
"The good news is we get to suit it up again in about 20 hours," Ehsan said. "I told the team, in these situations, we're going to have a lot of energy and fight in us against a really good GW team."
