Feb. 19, 2008

UAB-Houston Game Notes | Gametracker | Listen Live

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team is ready for its biggest Conference USA matchup of the season when the Blazers take on the Houston Cougars on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Bartow Arena. The Blazers enter the contest one game behind second-place Houston in the latest Conference USA standings.

UAB (17-8. 7-3 C-USA) enters the game against Houston one game behind the Cougars for second place in the latest Conference USA standings following a 79-78 last second defeat to No. 1 Memphis last Saturday. Junior guard/forward Robert Vaden, who is battling a strained groin muscle, scored 27 points in the losing effort.

Vaden currently leads the Blazers in scoring, averaging 21.1 points a game which rank fourth in Conference USA. He also leads the team in three-point shooting (104-of-250, 41.6 percent) and minutes played (35.0).

Junior guard Channing Toney, who had to sit out during the first semester due to NCAA transfer rules, has played in nine contests and is collecting an average of 11.9 points and 4.0 rebounds. He is shooting 45.2 percent from three-point range (14-of-31), which leads the league in C-USA contests only.

Junior forward Lawrence Kinnard, who recorded his team-leading fourth double-double in the loss to the Tigers, is the team's third-leading scorer at 11.0 points a game, and also leads the team in rebounding with 6.8 boards per contest. Junior forward Reggie Huffman is second in rebounding (5.6 rpg) and fourth in scoring (6.8 ppg).

As a team, the Blazers lead the league in field goal percentage, hitting 46.5 percent from the floor, and rank second in three-point field goal percentage, connecting on 38.0 percent from beyond the arc. Additionally, UAB ranks second in the league in three-point field goal percentage defense (31.0 percent) and is third in scoring defense (64.4 ppg). The Blazers are outscoring their opponents by 8.9 points a game (73.3-64.4).

Head coach Mike Davis is in his second season at the helm of the UAB men's basketball program. Davis, who is in his eighth season as a head coach, boasts a career record of 147-103 (.588) and has made five postseason appearances, including the 2002 national championship game. He is now 32-24 (.571) at UAB.

Scouting Houston
Houston enters Wednesday night's contest with a 19-5 overall record and an 8-2 mark in league play following the 69-47 victory over SMU last Saturday night. The Cougars' two losses in conference play have come to Memphis (89-77 on Jan. 30 in Houston and 68-59 on Feb. 13 at Memphis). The Cougars are led on the season by senior guard Robert McKiver. The New Haven, Conn. native leads the team and ranks third in Conference USA with 21.2 points a game. He also leads the team in three-point shooting (97-of-251) and steals (44).
Senior guard Dion Dowell is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.2 ppg), while leading the team with 7.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Kelvin Lewis is third on the team with 8.2 ppg. The trio of McKiver (119-of-135 free throws), Dowell (40-of-45) and Lewis (32-of-37) are a combined 191-of-217 from the foul line (88.0 percent).
As a team, the Cougars rank among the league best in many categories including free throw percentage (1st - 76.7), steals (1st - 9.46), turnover margin (1st - +6.38) scoring offense (2nd - 77.6), scoring margin (+10.0).
Head coach Tom Penders is in his fourth season at the helm of the Houston program and has compiled a record of 76-44 (.633) during his tenure as head coach. He is in his 34th season in his head coaching career, and is 603-405 (.598) during his tenure.

UAB-Houston: The Series
UAB and Houston will face each other for the 18th time in series history on Wednesday night, with the Blazers holding a 13-4 advantage in the series history. Houston enters the contest having won the last meeting between the two teams, taking a 70-64 victory at Houston on Feb. 17, 2007. The win snapped a four-game win streak by UAB in the season series. The Blazers have won seven of the eight contests played between the two at Bartow Arena. The only time the Cougars have won in Birmingham came on Jan. 19, 2002 with an 80-71 victory.

UAB-Houston: A Year Ago
Robert McKiver scored 18 points and Dion Dowell hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:23 left as Houston beat UAB 70-64 on Feb. 17, 2007 in Hofheinz Pavilion. Jamar Thorpe scored 16 points and Oliver Lafayette added 11 points for Houston, who beat UAB for the first time in five meetings. Wen Mukubu scored a game-high 24 points for the Blazers. Paul Delaney III scored 13 points and Frank Holmes added 10 points and nine rebounds. The Blazers led the entire way until Dowell's three pointer with just over two minutes remaining in the contest. UAB held a 12-point lead, 40-28, with 18 minutes left in regulation. However, the Cougars went on a 12-0 run to tie the game at 40-40 at the 12:14 mark. Dowell's go-ahead 3-pointer was his second from the same spot in as many possessions for the Cougars, giving Houston a 58-56 lead it would never relinquish. He finished with nine points, all on 3s. UAB led by eight at halftime after shooting 50 percent in the first half. But the Blazers shot just 31 percent in the second half, including hitting just 1-of-12 3-pointers.

Last Time Out
Chris Douglas-Roberts converted a three-point play with 6.5 seconds left, giving No. 1 Memphis a 79-78 win over UAB Saturday night and keeping the Tigers perfect. After Douglas-Roberts made his shot, the Blazers' Robert Vaden missed on an off-balance 3-point attempt and Lawrence Kinnard grabbed the long rebound. He heaved up a shot in the paint that went in, and officials promptly headed to the scorer's table to watch replays. They ruled with only a brief double-check that Kinnard didn't get the shot off in time. He already knew it. Joey Dorsey, the league's top rebounder, had just one point and two rebounds. Antonio Anderson added 27 points and four 3-pointers for the Tigers. He and Douglas-Roberts combined to make 22 shots, the rest of the team just six.The Tigers missed nine consecutive shots before Anderson's 3-pointer from the corner cut the deficit 77-73 with 1:22 left. After a UAB miss, Douglas-Roberts drilled a three with 38 seconds remaining to trim the deficit to one point. With 15 seconds left, Vaden then made one of two free throws to set up the final sequences. Douglas-Roberts spun and hit an 8-footer over Vaden, who fouled him. Memphis native Kinnard added 19 points and 11 boards for the Blazers, who shot 57 percent and made 20-of-22 free throws.The Tigers had trailed by two points at the half for the second straight game, and responded again.

Oh So Close
UAB nearly pulled off one of the biggest college basketball upsets this season when it played No. 1/1 Memphis. The Blazers held a 77-70 lead with 1:23 left. But the Tigers outscored UAB 9-1 during the final 83 seconds and pulled off an improbable 79-78 win. There were 13 lead changes and seven ties throughout the back-and-forth affair.
In UAB's eight losses this season, only one has come by double figures (68-58 defeat at USF on Dec. 8). In fact, the Blazers' eight losses have come by a combined 48 points, which equates to just 6.0 points per defeat. Furthermore, the Blazers now drop to 7-8 in games decided by 10 points or fewer.

Darth Vaden
Junior Robert Vaden is certainly making a push for All-America and Conference USA Player of the Year accolades by his performance on the court. He scored 27 points in the one-point loss to No. 1/1 Memphis last Saturday. He enters the Houston game leading the team in scoring average (21.1 ppg), three-point shooting (41.6 percent) and minutes per game (35.0). Furthermore, he ranks second in the nation and leads Conference USA in three-point field goals made per game (4.3). He also leads Conference USA in minutes played, ranks third in free throw percentage (85.7 percent) and three-point percentage and is fourth in scoring.

Layin' Down The Law
Junior forward Lawrence Kinnard had yet another great game for UAB in the 79-78 loss to No. 1 Memphis last Saturday. Kinnard recorded 19 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season which ranks tied for third among the league leaders. Over his last six contests, Kinnard ranks second on the team with 18.0 points and leads the squad with 7.8 rebounds per game. Furthermore, he has connected on 39-of-76 shots from the floor (51.3 percent) and 9-of-22 three-pointers (40.9 percent). During the stretch of games, Kinnard also recorded his first two 20-point games of the season. He tied his career high of 25 points in UAB's 88-81 win at UCF on Jan. 30. He also recorded 23 points in an 81-73 win over UTEP on Feb. 9.

Streaks Come To An End
UAB had entered the Memphis game last Saturday sporting a 15-0 record when outrebounding an opponent and a 10-0 mark when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor in a contest. Both streaks came to a halt in the one-point defeat. Entering the contest, the Tigers had held opponents to 37 percent shooting and outrebounded foes by an average of over eight boards per game. However, the Blazers scorched Memphis' defense, connecting on 51.0 percent from the floor and outrebounding the Tigers 35-30. It was only the second time Memphis allowed a team to shoot over 50 percent in a game (53.6 vs. Austin Peay on 11/28) and the third time an opponent has outrebounded the Tigers this season. Furthermore, UAB's bench outscored Memphis reserves, 36-10, dropping the Blazers to 10-3 when the bench outscores their counterparts.

Record Crowd Sees UAB Nearly Knock Off No. 1 Memphis
When UAB took on No. 1/1 Memphis, there were a record number of fans who flocked to see the improbable nearly happen. The Blazers lost a heartbreaker, falling to Memphis 79-78. UAB's Lawrence Kinnard thought to have hit the game-winning basket as time expired, but the officials ruled the basket no good, giving the Tigers a win. In all, 9,392 fans came through the turnstiles, which topped the previous record of 9,354, set on Feb. 5, 2005 when UAB hosted Louisville. It was the sixth time that Bartow Arena topped out at over 9,000 fans, as the Blazers are now 3-3 when it occurs.

Tough At Home
This season, UAB has been a very tough team to play at Bartow Arena. Despite dropping a 79-78 decision to No. 1 Memphis last Saturday, the Blazers led the contest for all but 8 minutes and 54 seconds. However, despite leading the Tigers for the other 31 minutes and 6 seconds, UAB dropped its first home contest of the campaign (11-1). In the 12 games played at Bartow Arena, UAB has now trailed in only three games. The Blazers trailed Stetson (11/13) for a total of 7 minutes, 50 seconds and also fell behind to UTEP (2/9) for 2 minutes and 26 seconds. In all, UAB has trailed for a total of 19 minutes and 10 seconds out of a possible 480 minutes throughout the entire home slate. Furthermore, the Blazers have beaten opponents on their home floor by an average of 18.3 points a game (76.9-58.6).

Keep An Eye On These Two
When UAB faces Houston on Wednesday, the game will feature two of the top scorers in Conference USA. Houston's Robert McKiver enters the game third in the league with 21.2 ppg, while UAB's Robert Vaden is fourth at 21.1 ppg. Additionally, the two lead the league in three-pointers made and attempted, with Vaden (104-of-250) having a slight edge over McKiver (97-of-251) in threes made, three-point percentage (41.6-38.6) and three-pointers made per game (4.33-4.04).

Bench Preference
Junior Lawrence Kinnard is proving to be a bigger contributor when coming off the bench this season. Over his last six games, all of which he came off the bench, Kinnard has averaged 18.0 points and 7.8 rebounds. In fact, in his 10 non-starts this season, the Memphis, Tenn. native is averaging 15.3 ppg and 6.9 rpg, while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from three-point range. In his 15 starts, the 6-8 forward is contributing just 8.1 ppg, while shooting 35.0 percent from the floor and 27.7 percent from deep. Furthermore, seven of his top nine scoring games and two of his four double-doubles this season have come when he was not in the stating lineup.

Toney Makes A Difference
Junior guard Channing Toney continues to make a solid contribution since his return to the lineup. Toney, who was forced to sit the first half of the season due to NCAA transfer rules, collected his seventh straight double-figure scoring game with 10 points in the 79-78 defeat to No. 1 Memphis last Saturday. Since his return to the lineup, Toney is averaging 11.9 points and 4.0 rebounds a game in his nine games back. Furthermore, in the latest Conference USA stats (league games only), Toney is leading the league in three-point shooting (45.2 percent), while ranking fourth in free throw shooting (87.1 percent), while also ranking in 19th in scoring.

Free Throw Improvement
One of UAB's most noticeable statistics during conference play has been the improvement at the charity stripe. The Blazers have shot an impressive 78.4 percent from the line over the stretch of 10 conference games. That number ranks second in C-USA in league games only. Prior to league play, UAB was shooting only 63.7 percent from the foul line. However, since then the Blazers have improved to an average of 70.1 percent foul shooting as a team.