The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
7-6
Miles College
2-9
Lee, Cokley Power UAB Past Miles College
12/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2016
Photo Gallery 
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Quotes | Postgame Notes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB men's basketball team didn't completely erase the bad taste of a non-conference loss at Texas. But the Blazers did find a way to take some much needed momentum, as well as a good feeling, into Conference USA play with a 98-66 triumph over Miles College on a Wednesday at Bartow Arena.
A big reason for the success was the way the Blazers handled the practice sessions since returning from the Christmas break.
"I think they came back from Christmas with a good mindset to where we're going to get after it," said UAB head coach Robert Ehsan. "There was no hanging their head. A lot of these guys are older so they know and they were not happy with how they performed (at Texas). They needed this to define what is going to be their role. Offensively, we've been kind of too jumbled."
On Wednesday, the offense hummed along at a brisk pace. Four players scored in double figures, with Chris Cokley leading the way with 21 points, and all nine Blazers who played score at least three points. What was more impressive, though, was the Blazers dished out a season-best 29 assists on 36 made baskets. Point guard Deion Lavender had 11 of the assists and only turned the ball over once.
Lavender said one of the reason for the high number of assists was that the Blazers hit 57.1 percent from the field overall and 55 percent from outside the 3-point line. Overall, UAB was 36-of-63 from the field and 11-of-20 on 3-pointers.
"I think we've struggled hitting shots in non-conference, before we went on break," Lavender said. "We had some guys step up and hit shots tonight. I think it was a combination of us finding guys and guys hitting shots."
The Blazers (7-6) showed early in the game that it was going to be a better game on the offensive end. William Lee and Dirk Williams each had a pair of 3-pointers in the first eight minutes and the Blazers made five of their first six 3-point attempts overall. The 3-pointers from Lee and Dirk Williams were part of an 18-0 run that turned a 6-3 deficit into a 21-6 UAB lead with 11:58 left in the half.
"We've got a role and we did our role to the best of our ability," said Lee, whose 18 points and 10 rebounds marked the first double-double of the season for a UAB player. "We knocked down open shots, moved the ball and shared it on the offensive end."
Freshman Javien Williams scored the final six UAB points of the half, including an offensive rebound turned into a left-handed layup with the clock running down, to give the Blazers a 46-26 halftime advantage.
UAB came out a bit sluggish after halftime, allowing a 9-2 Miles run, before Cokley took over on offense. Cokley had nearly as many fouls (3) as he did points (4) in the first half but was the dominant offensive player on the floor during the first 10 minutes of the second half. Cokley had 17 second half points, including 12 UAB points in a row before he fouled out of the game with just over 10 minutes remaining.
"We are totally different," Ehsan said of his team when Cokley is performing well on the offensive end. "I've been showing Chris clips of his freshman year to last year to even this year of when he plays with energy and makes plays and dunks the ball. It goes back to how we feed off of him. We need him in the game more, we need him to be productive when he's in there."
The Blazers, who were 15-of-15 from the free throw line, also didn't miss a beat after he left and they finished off the impressive victory. By the end, Cokley and Lee were joined in double figures by Dirk Williams (17 points) and Javien Williams (14 points). Hakeem Baxter had just three points but he had a very productive game with seven assists, seven rebounds and no turnovers.
"We kind of look at it as we're in a new season," said Lavender as the Blazers now look forward to the C-USA opener at Middle Tennessee on Sunday. "We're going into conference play, we're 0-0 right now. So this is our chance to get our feet back under us and figure out what we need to do moving forward from this point on."
For more information on UAB men's basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB), Instagram (@blazerhoops) and Snapchat (@UAB_MBB).
