Feb. 13, 2007

Rice Game Notes
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team concludes its three-game homestand, the longest of the season, when it takes on the Owls of Rice, on Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m. It marks the Blazers' third game in a six-day span. UAB fell to Memphis, 70-56, last Thursday and beat UTEP, 73-64, last Saturday. The radio broadcast can be heard on the Blazers ISP Sports Network, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:30 p.m. CT. Birmingham and Huntsville listeners can follow all the action on WYDE 101.1 FM. The broadcast can also be heard on WIQR 1410 AM in Montgomery/Prattville.

Rice and UAB have played on two previous occasions, with the Blazers winning both contests, including a 75-68 win at Rice last season (Jan. 16, 2006).

Scouting Rice
Rice enters Wednesday night's contest sporting a 13-10 overall record, and is 7-3 in C-USA play, which places it in a tie for second in the league. The Owls enter the game having won three consecutive games, including a 63-60 win over SMU last Saturday. The road win snapped a three-game losing streak away from home, and improved the Owls to 2-3 in league road contests.

The Owls are led on the year by senior guard Morris Almond, who is considered one of the top players in college basketball. The All-America candidate leads the league and ranks third in the country in scoring, averaging a whopping 27.8 ppg. He also leads the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg), three-point field goal percentage (46.8 percent) and free throw percentage (86.0 percent). He has made 191-of-222 foul shots on the season, both numbers of which lead the nation. Senior guard Lorenzo Williams averages 8.5 points and leads the team with 4.7 assists per game.

Head coach Willis Wilson is in his 15th year at the helm of the Rice basketball program. Wilson enters the game at UAB sporting a 213-213 (.500) overall record. He is currently the most tenured coach in Conference USA, and his 15 seasons is the longest tenure of any men's basketball coach in the 90-year history at Rice.

Scouting UAB
UAB will enter its contest against Rice with an overall record of 12-12, and a 4-6 mark in league play, good enough for eighth in the league standings. The Blazers have dropped five of their last seven contests; however, they snapped a three-game losing streak with a 73-64 defeat over UTEP 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 (16.4) and assists (5.3) 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 13.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest, while also shooting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc. Kinnard ranks third on the team with 12.7 points per game, and also leads the team with 6.0 rebounds a game.

UAB head coach Mike Davis enters the game against the Miners with an overall record of 127-91 (.583) in his seventh season as a head coach, and is 12-12 (.500) in his first season at UAB.

Last Time Out
Paul Delaney III scored 19 points and Lawrence Kinnard added 15 to lead UAB to a 73-64 victory over UTEP. Frank Holmes scored 13 points to round out the double digit scoring for UAB. He also grabbed 10 rebounds. The Blazers broke a three-game losing streak at home with the win. UAB had previously won 19 straight home games before the skid. Stefon Jackson scored 22 points to lead UTEP. Marvin Kilgore added 15 points for the Miners, who lost for the fifth time in six games. Holmes powered inside for 10 points to lead UAB to a 40-26 halftime lead. Kinnard scored four straight baskets early in the second half as the Blazers stretched their lead to 26 points at 54-28. The game tightened down the stretch as Jackson and Kilgore heated up for UTEP and sparked a late rally. A driving basket by Jackson pulled the Miners to within 68-60 with 1:21 left. UAB contributed to the UTEP comeback with poor shooting from the free throw line. The Blazers at one point made just 3 of 10 and were 12-of-30 for the game.

UAB-Rice A Year Ago
Marvett McDonald scored 22 points to lead UAB to a 75-68 victory over Rice on Jan. 16, 2006. It marked the first time the two teams played one another in over 25 years, when the Blazers won 78-60, on Dec. 29, 1980. Frank Holmes added 13 points and Wen Mukubu and Paul Delaney each had 10 for UAB. Morris Almond led Rice with 29 points before fouling out. J.R. Harrison added 14 points. Lorenzo Williams had six points and 11 assists. After Rice led by four at 11-7 with 15:06 to play, UAB reeled off a 14-1 run which included three unanswered three-pointers by McDonald to take control of the contest. The Blazers wound up with a 39-27 lead at the break, but led by as many as 15 in the first half. The Blazers had a 56 percent field goal performance from the field while holding Rice to 37 percent before the intermission. Both teams shot 46 percent from the field for the game.

One Of Only Three
Junior guard Paul Delaney III is quickly becoming one of the elite players in college basketball. Entering the Rice game, Delaney is one of only three players in Division I nationally to average over 15 points, five rebounds and five assists per game. Delaney joins the trio of Marist's Jared Jordan (18.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 8.6 apg) and Albany's Jamar Wilson (18.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 5.0 apg).

Hot Shooting
One of the reasons for the Blazers' 73-64 triumph over UTEP last Saturday was the way they shot the ball from the floor. UAB connected on 53.8 percent of its field goals in the contest (22-of-65), which marked the fifth time this season the Blazers have hit over 50 percent of their shots in a game. UAB improved to 4-1 on the year when connecting on at least half of its field goals in a game, with the lone loss coming at Wyoming on Nov. 18. In fact, the Blazers have an outstanding record of 37-2 since the 2001-02 campaign when shooting 50 percent or better from the floor in a contest.

Holmes Sweet Holmes
Junior forward Frank Holmes has been a force to reckon with recently. For the first time in his career, the Somerville, Tenn. native recorded back-to-back double-double games, with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Memphis, followed by 13 points and 10 boards against UTEP. In fact, Holmes has been one of the better players in the league over his last five contests. Over that stretch, Holmes is averaging 9.0 points and 6.6 rebounds a game, while also shooting a torrid 73.1 percent from the floor (19-of-26).

Wearing Down?
UAB enters its game against Rice having lost five of its last seven contests. A reason for the recent skid may be found when looking at the number of minutes the returning players are logging. All but one (Frank Holmes) have more than exceeded the total minutes played in the 31 games a season ago, through only 24 games this season. Below is a breakdown of each returning players total minutes and minutes per game average from all of last year through the UTEP game this year: Season Total Min. MPG
Paul Delaney III: 2005-06: 676 21.8
2006-07: 904 37.7
Wen Mukubu: 2005-06: 672 21.7
2006-07: 838 34.9
Lawrence Kinnard: 2005-06: 471 18.1
2006-07: 825 34.4
Maurice Gibbs: 2005-06: 217 7.2
2006-07: 497 21.6
Frank Holmes: 2005-06: 622 20.1
2006-07: 467 19.5

Defending Well
The UAB defensive effort during C-USA games has been impressive. Over that span, the Blazers are allowing league opponents to shoot just 30.8 percent (60-of-195) from three-point range, and holding the opposition to 63.3 points a game. The statistics rank second in both categories in C-USA in league games only.

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 12 victories this season, the Blazers are allowing opponents to shoot 29.3 percent from the arc (71-of-242). However, opponents shoot nearly 40 percent (36.5 percent on 81-of-222) from beyond the arc in the Blazers' 12 losses on the year.

Long Range Bombers
Entering the game against Rice, the Blazers will have to hit more shots from beyond the arc than what they have averaged in conference play. UAB is averaging just 27.7 percent from beyond the arc in league games. However, that wasn't the problem for most of the season. Entering the game against the Owls, UAB ranks fifth in the league in all contests with an average of 34.6 percent from three-point range. In fact, UAB is the lone team in Conference USA to have three players shooting 39.0 percent or better from three-point territory. Sophomore Lawrence Kinnard leads the team by hitting 42.1 percent of his three-point attempts, which rank fifth in the league. Senior Wen Mukubu averages 41.7 percent, ranking seventh, while senior Maurice Gibbs is at 39.4 percent, ranking 10th in the conference.

Free Throw Woes
For as good as the Blazers are shooting the ball from deep, the achilles heel of this year's squad comes at the free throw line. Against UTEP, UAB hit just 12-of-30 free throws, which allowed the Miners to cut a 26-point deficit to under 10 when time expired. In fact, UAB is connecting on just 60.8 percent from the charity stripe this season. Even worse, the Blazers free throw percentage has dipped to 55.6 percent in league contests. It is conceivable to say that the Blazers have lost several of their games directly due to a lack of converting free throws. UAB is 5-8 on the season when failing to connect on at least 60 percent of its free throws, but improves to 5-1 when shooting over 70 percent at the charity stripe.