The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Men's Basketball Wraps Exhibition Games Monday Night
11/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team's final preseason tune-up exhibition game takes place Monday night at Bartow Arena. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. as the Blazers battle traveling exhibition team VASDA USA. UAB is coming off a 77-64 exhibition victory over nearby NCAA Division II school Montevallo last Thursday.
"We saw some good things, but still have plenty to work on," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "We want 40-minutes of Blazer basketball and we haven't seen that so far. Our first game is less than two weeks away, so we need to get out there and turn it up."
Richard Jones paced UAB in Thursday's win over Montevallo. The junior from Oklahoma City, Okla., was five-of-seven from the floor and scored 12 points for the Blazers while Marques Lewis and Donell Taylor each scored 10. UAB was out-rebounded 45-33 in the contest, but forced 26 turnovers for the Falcons while committing just 15.
VASDA is a traveling exhibition team which is made up of former college athletes. The group has several different rosters which vary from game to game. In VADSA's 110-69 loss at East Tennessee State Saturday night, former Richmond standout Marcus Robinson led the way with 16 points, while Reggie Brown (Middle Tennessee State) and Ron Lewis (Mars Hill College) both had 13. VASDA has also lost to Murray State (100-83) and Tennessee Tech (99-89), among others.
UAB next opens the regular season against 2004 NCAA Tournament participant Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday, Nov. 27. The Rams are coming off a 23-8 season which ended with a 79-78 opening round NCAA Tourney loss to Wake Forest, and are coached by former Duke standout Jeff Capel. Game time for the VCU opener is set for 7:30 p.m. CT.
