UTSA Uses Hot Shooting to Defeat UAB

Saturday, January 27

Bartow Arena

7:00 PM

UAB

14-8, 5-4

UTSA

11-11, 4-5

UTSA

UAB

UTSA Uses Hot Shooting to Defeat UAB

1/27/2018 9:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – UAB's second loss inside Bartow Arena this season came three points at a time. UTSA made 15 3-pointers, shooting 53.6 from outside the stripe, in an 82-70 Conference USA victory over the Blazers on Saturday night.

Six different players hit at least one 3-pointer for the Roadrunners with three UTSA players connecting on four apiece. UTSA was 10^th in C-USA, during conference play, in 3-point shooting percentage coming into the game. The Roadrunners hit 32.4 percent on 3-pointers in the eight conference games prior to Saturday night.

"They haven't shot the ball in conference well, percentage wise, especially recently," said UAB head coach Robert Ehsan. "A team that has seven or eight shooters, I think it was a night they got hot and they got hot early. Some of the guys came off the bench and made a three, that haven't made a three. It's contagious when you see your teammates making them."

UTSA's hot shooting also affected UAB (14-8 overall, 5-4 C-USA) on the other end. UAB didn't shoot terribly overall – hitting 47.4 percent from the field – but the Blazers weren't nearly as efficient as Ehsan wanted.

"I thought offensively we were trying to make the hero play, especially in that first half," Ehsan said. "We got down 10, got down 12, we were taking some quick ones instead of being patient. They packed it on us all night, in a zone, (and) tried to dare us to shoot from outside. We were taking the first good look we got, instead of the second or third one."

UTSA scored quickly off the opening tip and led for 39 minutes and 40 seconds. The Roadrunners hit seven 3-pointers in the first 13 minutes, including six UTSA baskets in a row at one point. UTSA's lead peaked at 42-24 with 2:19 left in the half. Chris Cokley scored the final basket of the half to trim the deficit to 42-26 at halftime.

Cokley was the lone Blazer to have success in the first half. He scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.

The most energy that UAB played with all night came early in the second half. William Lee opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and made two free throws on the next possession. Cokley came up with a pair of inside baskets, Zack Bryant drove to the basket for a layup and Lee hit a turnaround 8-footer. Put all that together and UAB had a 13-5 run that trimmed the deficit to 47-39 with 16:55 left.

That run energized a Bartow Arena that didn't have much to cheer for before that point.

UTSA calmly answered with a five-point spurt that included a long Jhivvan Jackson 3-pointer. UAB never got the lead back below single digits.

"After that stretch, I thought we had some open looks from three-point range and they didn't go down," said Ehsan, whose team was 5-of-20 from the field. "I told the guys, as this game goes on, you're going to get open 3s, but you have to step up with confidence. We didn't make shots that we needed, to keep the run going."

Cokley had a team-high 20 points but he only had four rebounds. Bryant had 15 points, Lee finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, three blocked shots and a steal. Nick Norton had six assists.

"You can't do both," Ehsan said. "If they're going to make 15 3s, then we're going to have to be really good offensively to win. One of the two is going to have to give."

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