BIRMINGHAM – The UAB men’s basketball team (16-2, 9-1 C-USA) visits Louisiana Tech (15-6, 8-4 C-USA) for a pair of games in Ruston. Friday’s game will tipoff at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday’s matchup will start at 3 p.m. Both contests will be broadcast on Stadium.
UAB OFF TO ITS BEST START
For the fourth time in the 43-year history of the program, UAB has started out 16-2 overall. The last time was in 2009-10. UAB did it twice times under Coach Gene Bartow: 1985-86 and 1993-94. Only the 2009-10 team had an 18-2 record.
UAB is off to its best conference start since the formation of C-USA in 1995-96. In addition to this season’s squad being 9-1, the 2015-16 team also started off 9-1, en route to being 11-1 in league play.
AMONG THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY
Through games played Feb. 10, UAB is tied for eighth in the country with 16 wins. The Blazers are also eighth in the NCAA with a winning percentage of .889.
UAB RECEIVING VOTES IN BOTH POLLS
For the first time since Jan. 25, 2016, UAB received votes in both the Associated Press Poll and Coaches Poll. The Blazers also moved up two spots in the Mid-Major Madness Poll to No. 16. Additionally, the Blazers have been in Ken Pom’s Top 100 for two straight months for the first time since 2009-10. The last time UAB was ranked in the AP Poll was Jan. 26, 2010 when the 17-2 Blazers were No. 25 in the nation.
UAB LATELY
The Blazers lead the West Division by two games over North Texas (6-2) and LA Tech (8-4) heading into this weekend’s contests. UAB has won six straight games, its longest winning streak since chalking up 14 in a row from Dec. 1, 2015 to Jan. 23, 2016.
LA TECH LATELY
The Bulldogs are coming off a split at North Texas. Reigning C-USA Freshman of the Week Kenneth Lofton, Jr. averaged 11.5 points and 12.0 rebounds in the series.
UAB AND LA TECH HISTORY
The series goes back to 1988 when UAB hosted LA Tech in the UAB Classic. The Blazers defeated the Bulldogs 97-80, paced by Andy Kennedy‘s game-high 27 points. Kennedy was named tournament MVP. That Bulldog team featured a pair of NBA Draft picks in Randy White, the 8th overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft and PJ Brown, the 29th overall selection. Brown, who played in the NBA for 15 seasons, won a title with the Boston Celtics in 2008.
The teams met three additional times before the Bulldogs joined Conference USA in 2013-14 – all UAB victories. LA Tech holds a 6-3 edge in C-USA regular season games and the teams have split the two games they have matched up in the C-USA Championship.
The Blazers are look for their first-ever victory in Ruston as the Bulldogs have won all four contests played at the Thomas Assembly Center.
COMMON OPPONENTS
UAB and LA Tech have seven common opponents this season: Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Southern Louisiana UTEP and UTSA.
D-ING UP
In addition to being third in the nation in scoring defense (58.8), the Blazers are third in turnover margin (6.3), ninth in FG% defense (38.5) and 11th in scoring margin (+16.5).
UP NEXT
UAB has added Rust College to the schedule. The game will be played on Feb. 16 at Bartow Arena with a tipoff time of 6 p.m. and will be streamed through CUSA.TV. This is a subscription-based service that offers a variety of packages. Click here to register a new account.
The Blazers remain at home to face Old Dominion on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20. Tipoff times will be 6:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively. Both games will air on Stadium.
RADIO
Blazer men’s basketball games are set to air on 100.5 ESPN JOX 2 with David Crane and Murry Bartow on the call.
In addition, Crane will host Blazer Sportsline every Tuesday during Conference USA play. The show takes place live from Iron City Grill in downtown Birmingham and features men’s basketball head coach Andy Kennedy and women’s basketball head coach Randy Norton.
The nine-episode show, airs from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Blazer Sportsline can be heard on 100.5 ESPN JOX 2 and fans will be encouraged to tweet questions to @BlazersLIMGC.
Fans may also follow the Blazers this season by downloading the free TuneIn Radio app, online through Blazers All-Access at UABSports.com, or on the UAB Gameday mobile app.
