UCF at UAB (Senior Night)

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LAST TIME OUT: UAB beat SMU 74-69 on Saturday; UCF lost 76-67 to Memphis on Saturday

PROJECTED STARTERS

UAB

G - Quincy Taylor (Jr., 6'0, 180), 3.6 ppg, 2.8 apg

G - Robert Williams (Jr., 6'4, 210), 8.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg

F - Jordan Swing (Jr., 6'6, 200), 14.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.8 apg

F - Rod Rucker (Jr., 6'5, 220), 14.4 ppg, 8.2 rpg

F - Preston Purifoy (Jr., 6'5, 220), 7.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg

UCF

G - Isaiah Sykes (Jr., 6-5, 215), 15.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4.6 apg

G - Daiquan Walker (Fr., 6-2, 180), 3.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg

G - Calvin Newell (Jr., 6-1, 180), 11.2 ppg, 2.5 apg

F - Kasey Wilson (So., 6-7, 225), 8.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg

F - Keith Clanton (Sr., 6-9, 250), 14.9 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.6 apg

THE BUZZ: UAB will honor three seniors in tonight's game, and all three have different stories.

There's Alexander Scotland-Williamson, the Mike Davis signee who never has developed into a reliable post player but has been a great team presence in Jerod Haase's first year.

There's Karl Moton, who walked on under Haase and Davis at different times.

There's Terence Jones, who was part of Haase's first signing class, which included Rod Rucker and Fahro Alihodzic.

"I want to make sure (Senior Day is) a big part of what we're doing here now at UAB now and in the future as well," Haase said. "I want the seniors to go out on a great note. One of the biggest things, I want to make sure the other guys on the team are aware of that and playing as well as we possibly can.

"I will say that these seniors will make it on the court. The biggest thing is to make sure we're honoring the seniors, make sure they have a good response and make them feel like they're an important part of the program because they are."

Moton has barely played but walk-ons find their biggest roles come in practice.

"Karl (is) a walk-on and basically thankful to be on the team and would probably do anything I'd say and enjoy every part of it," Haase said.

Scotland-Williamson, listed at 6-foot-9 and 235 pounds, has played 106 minutes this year, scoring 0.8 points per game.

"It hasn't been the easiest thing in the world," Haase said. "He hasn't played a ton of minutes but his attitude has been phenomenal from day one. To say I appreciate that is a huge understatement. Because I really appreciate him and his attitude."

Jones began the year as the team's starting point guard. Now, he's coming off the bench and scoring 8.9 points per game after graduating from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and playing this year as a grad student transfer.

"We have a great relationship and he was able to do some things that he wasn't able to do at his other school, play at a level, do things like play at North Carolina and some of these big time games and be in a position to try and have a great finish to his senior year," Haase said.

"All three of these guys, I have great relationships with. At the same time, they mean a lot to this team and mean a lot to UAB."

 

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UAB on a roll, but Blazers face tough end to regular season







UAB's basketball team is on a roll heading into the final week of the regular season, but the Blazers face two of Conference USA's best teams to close it out.

It starts with Wednesday's 6 p.m. home game against UCF, which is televised by CSS, and ends with Saturday's 11 a.m. game against Memphis, also televised by CSS.

Memphis (25-4, 14-0 Conference USA) clinched the regular season title a while back. UCF (19-10, 8-6) has a talented roster, led by point guard Isaiah Sykes and forward Keith Clanton, but is ineligible for postseason play because of NCAA sanctions.

UAB (15-14, 7-7) opened its conference schedule on Jan. 9 at UCF, losing 64-48 in a game where the Blazers missed all 23 3-point attempts. That was in the midst of a six-game losing streak.

Now, UAB has won four straight, and six of its last seven.

"I do think we're a much improved team from back in January," UAB head coach Jerod Haase said. "I think our shot selection is better. The biggest thing when we look at it is the guys are playing with a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose with what we're doing.


UAB head coach Jerod Haase meets the media on March 5
"(That's) a long way of saying that we're playing hard. We're a good team, but we're not good enough to win basketball games unless we're playing extremely hard."

Conference USA seeds teams 1-12, and doesn't recognize divisions in basketball like it does in football. However, scheduling is such that teams play schools in their "football" division twice and in the other division once.

So far, the East has shown its power, as Memphis, Southern Miss, UCF, East Carolina, Marshall and UAB have gone a collective 27-7 against teams from the West - Tulsa, UTEP, Tulane, Houston, SMU and Rice. UAB is 2-6 inside its division and 5-1 against teams from the West. Take away Marshall's 2-4 cross-division record, and the East is that much stronger with a 25-3 record.

UAB is likely going to battle Tulsa for the fifth seed and final bye in the conference tournament, to be held next week in Tulsa. UAB faces UCF and Memphis this week, while Tulsa hosts bottom-feeders SMU and Rice. UAB and Tulsa are currently 7-7, but Tulsa is 0-6 against the "East" including a home loss to UAB on Feb. 6.

Rebounding will play a big role in Wednesday's game. UCF's Clanton (8.6 rebounds per game) and Sykes (7.3 rpg) are big board crashers, though Knights forward Tristan Spurlock (11.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg) will be out this week with a neck injury.

UAB has won the rebounding battle in its last six games and are at plus-45 in the rebounding margin during that stretch.


UAB outrebounded UCF 46-45 in the first meeting. UCF started hot, but has dropped four of its last six games.

"Rebounding is such a key to this team," Haase said. "We are deficient height-wise, especially in our frontcourt. The emphasis on rebounding has been really good. We're getting good production from our guards. (The three guard spots) have been really productive and that helps our big guys as well.

"Limiting them to one shot is a real key. If other teams get second or third shots, we don't have the size to really stop them and we're kind of defenseless at that point."

UAB forward Rod Rucker leads the team at 14.4 ppg and 8.2 rpg. Rucker won the Conference USA Player of the Week award last week. Jordan Swing is scoring 14.1

 

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UAB -4.0 looks good.