Nov. 11, 2009

UAB Hispanic College Classic Notes | Hispanic Classic Tournament Page

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB men's basketball team will open the 2009-10 regular season when it travels to Kent, Ohio to compete at the Hispanic College Fund Classic on Nov. 13-15 on the campus of Kent State University. The Blazers will open the event against Green Bay Phoenix on Friday (4 p.m. CT), followed by tournament host Kent State on Saturday (6 p.m. CT) and Samford on Sunday (1 p.m. CT).

The three men's basketball games will air on three different stations over the weekend. UAB's season-opener against Green Bay on Friday can be heard live WSPZ-AM 690. Saturday's matchup with tournament host Kent State will air on WWMM-FM 100.5 FM, while Sunday's finale against crosstown foe Samford will be heard on the flagship station for men's hoops, WUHT-FM 107.7. The pregame show for all three men's basketball contests will air 30 minutes prior to tipoff.

UAB is coming off a 22-12 overall record last season and an appearance in the 2009 National Invitation Tournament. In fact, over the last two seasons, the Blazers have racked up 45 victories and back-to-back NIT appearances. However, the Blazers lost seven letterwinners from last season's squad, six of which were seniors, and return just three players, while also welcoming eight newcomers to this year's team.

Leading the list of returnees will be senior forward Howard Crawford and junior point guard Aaron Johnson, the two lone returnees with starting experience. Crawford is the only senior on the team who has played all four years at UAB and has developed into a strong low-post player. Meanwhile, Davis feels Johnson is ready to take a leadership role this season.

There is also a plethora of new faces on this year's team, highlighted by three transfers who are expected to pay immediate dividends. A pair of senior transfers, who were cleared to play this season by the NCAA in mid-October, are George Drake (Vanderbilt) and Kenneth Cooper (Louisiana Tech). The duo has combined to play in over 170 college basketball games and is expected to make an immediate impact on this year's team. Another transfer, Elijah Millsap (Louisiana-Lafayette) has had a year to learn Davis' offense after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. Millsap is another player for whom Davis has high expectations.

Davis is going into his fourth season at the helm of the UAB men's basketball team. Now in his 10th season as a head coach, Davis boasts a record of 60-39 at UAB and a 175-118 overall record during his coaching tenure.

Scouting UAB's Opponents
The Blazers' first opponent in the event, Green Bay, is coming off a 22-11 overall record last season, including a 13-5 mark in Horizon League contests. The Phoenix welcome back six letterwinners and three starters from last year's team. Senior guard Troy Cotton is the team's leading returning scorer, after averaging 12.6 points per game a year ago. Junior guard Rahmon Fletcher averaged 11.6 points and a team-best 4.5 assists a game, while senior forward Randy Berry added 6.4 points and a team-high 5.4 rebounds per game last season. This marks the first time the two teams will square off on the hardwood.

Head coach Tod Kowalczyk enters his eighth season at the helm of the Phoenix in 2009-10 with an overall record of 114-99 (.535).

Tournament host Kent State will be UAB's second opponent of the season when the teams take to the floor on Saturday night. It will mark the first time that UAB and Kent State have done battle on the hardwood.

The Golden Flashes return eight lettewinners and two starters from last season's 19-15 team. KSU will be led by senior guard Chris Singletary who is the team's leading returning scorer at 12.1 points a game. Senior guard Tyree Evans averaged 11.7 ppg, while senior forward Anthony Simpson collected 6.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest in 2008-09.

Kent State head coach Geno Ford finished his first season at the helm of the Golden Flash men's basketball program, and owns a 70-47 (.598) overall record in four seasons as a head coach.

Samford, located 6.2 miles away from the UAB campus in Birmingham, Ala., will square off with UAB in the tournament's final day on Sunday. The Blazers and Bulldogs have played on three previous occasions, with UAB winning all three contests. This will mark the first time the two teams have squared off since 1983.

Samford boasts four returning starters, three of which averaged double-figure points, and seven returning letterwinners off last year's 16-16 team. Senior forward Brian Friday (12.5 ppg), senior guard Trey Montgomery (11.6 ppg) and junior guard Josh Davis (10.1 ppg) all averaged double-digits a year ago. Junior center Andy King added 8.8 points a game as a starter on last year's team.

Head coach Jimmy Tillette enters his 13th season at the helm of Samford's program. He owns an overall record of 195-161 (.548) during his head coaching tenure.

Quotables
Junior Guard Aaron Johnson
On the excitement of starting the season:
"We are really excited about this season. The players and the coaches come in and practice every day with an excitement that we haven't seen in a long time. Everybody is pumped up and ready to go on Friday."

On losing Vaden and Delaney III and what is his role in stepping up and filling the void:
"My role is still the same, to be a leader. This year they want me to be more active in the offense and shoot the ball a little more. But it's still the same thing, to be a leader on and off the floor, get my teammates the ball and to have high energy throughout the entire game."

On who the team can look to for scoring this season:
"We still have guys that can score and that we can give the ball to in key moments. Jamarr Sanders is a great scorer and he can find ways to score. Elijah Millsap is really going to surprise a lot of people this year. He is a great scorer and is really strong, athletic and can score in a lot of ways. Also Howard Crawford, if we get him the ball on the block and let him go to work on the posts, he can score too."

Senior Guard George Drake
On the season so far:
"It's been great. It's been great to be back in Birmingham because I'm from Calera, Ala. It's going to be a really exciting season this year."

On the team's chemistry so far:
"We do have a lot of new faces, but it's a good thing though because all of our guys really like each other and we get along well on and off the court. That will play a huge part in gelling quickly. It will be a really exciting season."

On being cleared to play the 2009-10 season:
"It was indescribable. I was overjoyed, just to know that I'll be coming back home and playing and that I won't have to sit out. I'm also very excited that my mom and dad can see me play and my friends."

UAB Head Coach Mike Davis

On the team chemistry so far this season:
"Well I like this team. There's a lot of uncertainty in the air about how well we're going to play just because of eight new players and losing the seniors that we had last year. We look forward to using this weekend to see where we are as a basketball team. We have worked hard and we're in great shape. The chemistry is good, now it's just a matter of us just trying to continue to get better every day. We have four games between Friday and Tuesday and from a depth standpoint we have nine or 10 guys that can play.

On playing Samford this weekend:
"Well the style of play that they use is difficult to play against early in the season. We aren't going to have any time to prepare for them since we play Friday and Saturday and then play them on Sunday. We're going to have to make some really big adjustments to play them on Sunday. Our first game is Friday; it's going to be a really good game. Green Bay is a well-coached team that looked really good on film. The guards are good and they can shoot the basketball. All three games are going to be tough for us."

On knowing what type of team this is going to be:
"We do not. That's the problem; we don't have a feel for them yet with eight new guys. During practice I get a feel for them and we had one exhibition game. During the exhibition game we had some guys that stepped up that really didn't play well in practice. We look for the guys that play well in practice to play well in games."

On the difficulty of coaching a young team:
"I think anytime you have new guys is tough because it's just a matter of them gelling together. But it's going to be a tough year for us from a coaching standpoint. We're going to have to work hard and we've done that. We've put a lot of work in this year with this basketball team and I think it will pay off in the long run. What we're trying to do is really be prepared for conference-play. I think that's going to be really important for us because our schedule is tough so we're going to try to focus on getting better, not whether we win or lose, just focus on getting better as a basketball team."