The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Basketball Team Begins Two-Game Road Trip
2/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2003
Men's Basketball Contact: Aaron Jordan
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's basketball team (13-7, 5-4 C-USA) begins a two-game road trip this weekend when it battles with Conference USA National Division leader Memphis (15-5, 6-3) on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m.
The Tigers enter Saturday night's contest one game ahead of the Blazers for first place of the National Division standings. The Tigers have been on a bit of a hot streak as of late, winning four straight contests and five of their last six. Most recently, Memphis defeated Tulane by a score of 58-57 on Thursday night. Senior Chris Massie led the Tigers with 16 points and 12 boards in the victory. The Tigers currently stand at 11-2 at home in The Pyramid with the lone losses coming to Austin Peay and South Florida.
UAB will be looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 8 and Jan. 11 when the Blazers defeated South Florida and Houston. The Blazers are coming off a 85-67 win over South Florida on Wednesday night. Senior Eric Bush led the team with 15 points, while Cedric Davis came off the bench to score 12 points and pull down a game-high eight rebounds. The Blazers are led by Mo Finley who averages 17.6 points per game. Demario Eddins (10.4) and Gabe Kennedy (10.1) each average double figures as well.
Tonight's game marks the 26th meeting between the two rivals. The Tigers own a 17-8 (.680) advantage in the series, the best record by any opponent against the Blazers. The Tigers have won three of the last four games and five of the last seven. However, UAB won the last contest between the two schools, defeating Memphis 64-46 in Bartow Arena. Only once has the Blazers won back-to-back games in the series' history. That happened on Feb. 8, 1998 and Jan. 2, 1999. The series has had three overtimes, with Memphis winning all three. That is the most overtimes in any series in UAB school history.
The game can be heard live on 1070 WAPI-AM, with the pregame show beginning at 6:30 p.m. Gary Sanders will handle play-by-play, Matt Coulter will be the color analyst and Jon Gentile will produce the broadcast. The postgame show will follow immediately after the game. The game will also be televised back to Birmingham on CSS.
