Jan. 30, 2007
SMU Game Notes
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team will embark on its longest home stretch of the 2006-07 campaign when it faces SMU on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. CT. The game begins a stretch with four of the Blazers' next five contests at home. The two teams are meeting for the fourth time in the series, with the Blazers holding a 2-1 advantage in the series history. Wednesday night's game marks the first-ever appearance by the Mustangs' men's hoops team in Birmingham.
Scouting SMU
SMU enters Wednesday night's contest sporting a 12-8 overall record on the season, and is 1-5 in C-USA play. The Mustangs have lost five of their last six contests, with the lone win coming in a 55-53 win over Tulane on Jan. 24. Most recently, SMU dropped a hard-fought 70-66 result to Tulsa last Saturday. The Mustangs enter their game against UAB with an 0-3 road record in league play.
The Mustangs are led on the year by senior forward Ike Ofoegbu. Ofoegbu leads the squad with 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest. Senior forward Devon Pearson is the only other player to average double figure scoring, with 10.2 points, while also adding 6.0 rebounds a game. Junior guard Jon Killen is the team-leader in assists, dishing out 5.3 helpers a game.
Head coach Matt Doherty is in his first year at the helm of the SMU basketball program., and has compiled a record of 102-79 (.564) while in seven seasons as a head coach.
Scouting UAB
UAB will enter its contest against SMU with an overall record of 11-9, and a 3-3 mark in league play. The Blazers enter the contest having won three of their last five contests, including a 58-42 victory over East Carolina in Greenville, N.C. last Saturday.
Junior guard Paul Delaney III, a two-time recipient of the Conference USA Player of the Week this season, leads the Blazers in points (17.0) and assists (5.4) per game, while also ranking third on the team with 5.0 boards a contest.
Along with Delaney, senior guard Wen Mukubu and sophomore forward Lawrence Kinnard are also threats on offense. Mukubu averages 14.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest, and averages 45.1 percent from beyond the arc. Kinnard ranks third on the team with 12.9 points per game, and also leads the team with 5.8 rebounds a game and an average of 46.2 percent from three-point range.
UAB head coach Mike Davis enters the game against the Mustangs with an overall record of 126-88 (.589) in his seventh season as a head coach, and is 11-9 (.550) in his first season at UAB.
A UAB Win Would:
• Improve UAB's record to 12-9 overall and 4-3 in Conference USA play.
• Earn the Blazers their third consecutive win and fourth win in five overall games against SMU.
• Mark the 127th win in coach Mike Davis' career (215 games).
Last Time Out
Wen Mukubu scored 15 points and Lawrence Kinnard added 14 to lift UAB past East Carolina 58-42. The Blazers had 16 assists on their 19 made baskets on the evening, en route to the 16-point win. Mukubu added seven assists and five rebounds while Kinnard had seven rebounds for UAB, which shot 75 percent (9-of-12) from the foul line. UAB led by as many as 18 points with 2:11 left in the game. East Carolina's largest lead was just one point with 18:13 left in the first half. Courtney Captain scored 13 points and Darrell Jenkins had 10 points and eight assists for the Pirates (5-14, 0-6), who shot just 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from 3-point range. With the game tied 7-all, UAB went on a 21-5 run to take a 16-point lead, 28-12, with 4:44 remaining before halftime. The Pirates were held to their lowest scoring half in over two years and trailed by 14 at halftime, 30-16. ECU cut the lead to as little as five points early in the second half, 37-32, However, UAB quickly rebuilt its double digit advantage, outscoring ECU 14-3 over the next seven minutes to lead by 16 points with 4:30 left, 51-35. Kinnard made two more threes during that stretch and finished 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
UAB-SMU A Year Ago
The Blazers won both contests against SMU last season, the first two meetings between the two teams in over 23 years, dating back to the 1983 campaign. UAB captured a 73-68 victory on Feb. 25 in Dallas, and followed that with a 69-55 win on March 9 in the Conference USA Tournament. The Blazers were led in the two games by guard Marvett McDonald's 25.0 ppg average in the two contests, including 39 points in the teams' first meeting. Lawrence Kinnard scored 12 points, while Paul Delaney III added 11 in the tournament matchup against the Mustangs last season.
Home Losses
When UAB dropped a 57-55 overtime decision to Southern Miss on Jan. 20, the Blazers had their 19-game home winning streak snapped. Over the recent years, it is usually not a good thing to play UAB when coming off a home defeat. Since the 2000-01 campaign, the Blazers boast a record of 15-3 when playing their very next home game, following a loss at Bartow Arena. Furthermore, in the 15 games they have won during that stretch, UAB is outscoring the opponents by 15.4 points a game. The last time a UAB team dropped back-to-back home games game was during the 2004-05 season, when it fell to Louisville (77-72) and East Carolina (67-64) on Feb. 5 and 16, respectively.
Holding Opponents Under 50 Points
For the first time since Dec. 20, 2005, a UAB team held its opponent to below 50 points, when the Blazers won at East Carolina, 58-42, last Saturday. In fact, it was the lowest point total scored by an opponent since beating Houston, 64-42, on Jan. 10, 2004. The Blazers have now won 15 straight games when holding their opponent to under 50 points, and boast an all-time mark of 29-2. The last time a UAB team lost when holding the opposition below 50 points occurred on Feb. 15, 1986, when the Blazers lost, 48-46, at South Alabama.
Dishing It Out
In UAB's 58-42 win last Saturday at East Carolina, the Blazers assisted on 84 percent of their made baskets, collecting 16 assists on 19 made field goals during the contest. It is the highest percentage of assists this season, topping the 71 percent set against Radford back on Nov. 11 (20 assists on 28 baskets). Furthermore, in its 11 wins this season, UAB is averaging an impressive 13.6 assists per contest. However, that number drops significantly to 8.3 assists per game in the Blazers' nine defeats this season. In fact, UAB has recorded 12 assists or more in eight games this season, winning all but one of those (12 assists at Wyoming in a 93-87 defeat).
Defending The Trey
The UAB perimeter defensive effort over its last nine games has been impressive. Over that span, the Blazers are allowing opponents to shoot just 27.6 percent (45-of-163) from three-point range.
In fact, a way to foretell an outcome to a contest is the way the Blazers are defending the three-point line. In UAB's 11 victories this season, the Blazers are allowing opponents to shoot 39.5 percent from the arc (66-of-224). However, opponents shoot nearly 40 percent (36.0 percent on 56-of-156) from beyond the arc in the Blazers' nine losses on the year.
Mo Better At Home
Senior guard Maurice Gibbs may be happier to return home more than any other of his teammates when his team takes the floor against SMU on Wednesday night. In the Blazers' seven home contests, the Carbondale, Ill. native is averaging 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 52.5 percent from the floor and 45.8 from beyond the arc this season. However, those numbers drop drastically in road contests. In UAB's 10 true road games on the year, Gibbs' contributions are nearly cut in half, falling to 4.8 points and 2.1 rebounds a game, while shooting 38.5 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from three-point range.
