The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Basketball Travels to TCU
1/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2002
Game 21 January 29, 2002, 7:05 p.m. CST UAB (9-11, 2-5) vs. TCU (11-10, 1-6) Daniel-Meyers Arena / Fort Worth, Texas
RADIO Blazer Sports Radio Network WAPI-AM 1070 in Birmingham Garry Sanders, Play by Play Matt Coulter, Color Analyst John Gentile, Producer/Host
TELEVISION None
SERIES Tied 1-1
LAST MEETING TCU 85, UAB 62 March 12, 1997 (NIT) Fort Worth, Texas
OFFICIALS Tom Harrington, John Higgins, Dan Chrisman
NEXT UAB GAME Feb. 5 South Florida 6:30 C
UAB BLAZERS UAB is 9-11 overall and 2-5 in C-USA Play. The Blazers are in fifth place in the C-USA's National Division. The Blazers defeated Tulane 80-63 in their last game. UAB is 7-3 in Bartow Arena and 8-3 in Birmingham this season.
The Blazers are third in the league in 3-point percentage, making 37.3 percent from behind the arc. They are second 3-pointers made, hitting 7.75 a game.
Will Campbell leads the team in rebounding, averaging 8.2 per game and is tied for second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.9 points a contest. He has recorded double-doubles the last two games. Mo Finley is also scoring 11.9 points per game. Point guard Eric Bush is in the top five in the league in assists, with 5.1 a game and steals, averaging 2.1. P.J. Arnold is third in the league in 3-pointers made with 49. He is fifth in 3-point percentage, making 42.6 percent. Arnold leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.1 points.
Head Coach Murry Bartow's next win will be his 100th. He is in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach with a record of 99-77 (.563). He has taken UAB to three post-season appearances, including an NCAA appearance in 1999.
TCU The Horned Frogs are 11-10 overall and 1-6 in their first year in Conference USA. They are tied for sixth in the National Division. TCU got its first C-USA win 75-61 against Southern Miss this past Saturday night.
TCU plays an up-tempo style of basketball. They lead the league in scoring, averaging 87.9 points per game. However, they are allowing 82.6 points per contest, last in C-USA.
Guard Junior Blount leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.8 points per game. He is scoring 20 points a contest in conference games. Freshman Corey Santee is second on the team in scoring, averaging 15 points per game. He is averaging 6.1 assists per game. Senior forward Bingo Merriex is scoring 12.6 points per game. Forward Jamal Brown leads the team in rebounding with 10.4 and is scoring 11.6 a game.
Head coach Billy Tubbs is in his eighth and final year at TCU. He has a 151-90 record with the Horned Frogs. Tubbs is 590-292 in his 28th year as a collegiate head coach. He was head coach at Southwestern, Lamar and Oklahoma and took the Sooners to the NCAA Championship game in 1988. Tubbs took TCU to the NCAA Tournament in 1998.
LAST TIME OUT UAB 80, Tulane 63 UAB returned to friendly Bartow Arena and took an easy 80-63 win over Tulane. The win broke a four-game losing streak. Will Campbell scored a career-high 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. It was the third straight game Campbell had scored a career high and his second straight double-double. Campbell made 10-of-15 shots from the field. UAB jumped out early on the Green Wave, leading by as much as 24 points in the first half, 37-13. The Blazers shot 61 percent from the field in the first half. Campbell made all six of his first half shot attempts. The Blazers led 47-28 at the half. Tulane did cut the margin to 12 at 58-46 with 10:44 remaining in the game, but UAB scored the next two baskets to push the lead back to 16. Tulane came into the game second in the league in field goal percentage, but the Blazers held the Green Wave to just 40 percent shooting for the game. Linton Johnson and Brandon Spann each scored 18 for the Green Wave and were the only players in double figures. UAB's Eric Batchelor scored 16 points, 14 in the first half. He was 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
THE TCU SERIES The two teams are tied 1-1. UAB won the first meeting 69-62 in the UNLV Holiday Classic in 1985. TCU won 85-62 in the first round of the 1997 NIT.
MURRY BARTOW VS. TULANE Murry Bartow 0-1 against the Horned Frogs. TCU won 85-62 in the first round of the NIT in 1997. It was Bartow's first year as head coach of the Blazers.
ON THE ROAD The road has been a very unkind place to the Blazers this season. UAB is 1-8 away from Birmingham. It is 0-6 on the opposition's home court. The Blazers were 1-2 on the neutral courts at the Paradise Jam Tournament. UAB is currently in a stretch of five of seven games on the road.
STARTING A NEW STREAK Either UAB or TCU will have a two-game win streak after this game. Both broke losing streaks this past Saturday. UAB broke a four-game streak with its 80-63 win over Tulane. TCU broke a six-game streak by beating Southern Miss 75-61 in Fort Worth.
CELEBRATING 100? UAB's next win will be the 100th in the career of Blazer head coach Murry Bartow. He has averaged 18 wins a year in his first five seasons as head coach of the Blazers. He and his dad, Gene Bartow, have combined to win 746 games. They are the only two coaches UAB has had in its 24 years. The two have combined for 464 wins at UAB.
ANOTHER BIG BARTOW WIN UAB is 7-3 in Bartow Arena this year. All but one of those wins has been by double figures. The Blazers have a +12.5 scoring margin in Bartow Arena. The biggest win was a 102-61 decision over Alcorn State. The Blazers also beat Bradley by 32 points, 82-50.
THREE BLAZERS OUT Junior forward Sidney Ball, sophomore center Tom Frericks and junior guard Tony Johnson are all out for the season. Frericks had surgery for a groin injury. Tony Johnson had surgery on his broken foot. Ball is suffering from a stress fracture in is back and has been fitted for a brace. All three will receive a medical redshirt.
ANOTHER YEAR OF INJURIES Unfortunately UAB is following a similar injury path like last season. This year with the three players out for the season, the Blazers have lost 60 player games to injury. Last year Myron Ransom and Mo Finley each missed the season, for a total of 62 team games. In addition the team lost a total of 23 other player games due to illness or injury. The biggest loss was Sidney Ball for 11 games. Tony Johnson missed eight games, David Walker two and LeAndrew Bass one. That is 145 player games lost the past two seasons.
CLOSE LOSSES With a break or a basket here or there, UAB might be well above .500. UAB's first six losses were by a total of 22 points. Against Marquette the Blazers trailed by just four-points in the final minute. They had appeared to cut the margin to two-points, but a foul call erased a basket. If UAB had gone just 3-4 in the seven close defeats it would be 12-8 at this moment. In five of the losses UAB had the ball with a chance to tie or win in the final 20 seconds of the game.
SHOOTING THREES UAB is second in C-USA, averaging 7.75 per game. The Blazers are third in 3-point percentage, making 37.3 percent of their long-range shots. P.J. Arnold has led the Blazers, making 49 treys, third in the league. He is seventh in three-point percentage, making 42.6 percent. Mo Finley is seventh in 3-pointers made with 43, 2.15 per game.
CAMPBELL DOMINATING Senior center Will Campbell has been dominating the last few games. He recorded his second straight double-double and fifth of the season with 27 points and 15 rebounds against Tulane. He has set new career highs in scoring in each of the last three games. Campbell scored 19 against Houston, 20, with 15 rebounds, against Memphis and then the 27 versus Tulane. Campbell has made 64 percent of his shots from the field the last four games. He is shooting 54 percent for the season. Campbell is ninth in the league in rebounding, averaging 8.2 per game. He needs to average eight rebounds per game the remainder of the season to become the 10th player in UAB history to reach the 500-rebound level. Campbell has scored in double figures in 15 of the last 18 games. Last year he was named the C-USA Player of the Week (Feb. 4, 2001) and posted a school-record tying 20 rebounds against Houston (Jan. 31, 2001), marking only the seventh time in league history that a player has notched at least that many in a contest.
