The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Basketball Releases 2004-05 Schedule
8/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 27, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's basketball team, coming off a Sweet 16 appearance and a final ranking of 23rd in the nation in 2003-04, are ready to face stiffer challenges and tougher competition as the Blazers embark on the 2004-05 campaign, according to the schedule released on Friday by UAB head coach Mike Anderson. The Blazers will face 13 teams who went to the postseason a year ago, including nine who appeared in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, and will appear on national television on five occassions. Among the highlights for the 2004-05 schedule will be a pair of teams from the Big XII. The team will be at home to take on Nebraska on Thursday, Dec. 2 in a game televised on ESPN2. The next week, the Blazers will again appear on ESPN2 when they travel to Stillwater, Okla. to take on Oklahoma State, a Final Four participant in last year's NCAA Tournament, on Friday, Dec. 10. UAB will also be on national television in home games against Memphis on Saturday, Jan. 22 and Louisville on Wednesday, Feb. 5 (ESPN2), as well as a road game at Cincinnati on Saturday, Feb. 19 (ESPN). Additional games on television are expected to be announced at a later date. "I think we have both a very difficult and attractive schedule from start to finish," said Anderson, entering his third season at the helm of the Blazers' program. "There's no question that we have upgraded our non-conference schedule, and hopefully, that will prepare us for an outstanding conference schedule against some excellent teams." The Blazers will compete in only one tournament during the season, the Rainbow Classic, in Honolulu, Hawaii. UAB will open the tournament against ACC foe Clemson on Dec. 21 and will play either Southern California or Indiana State on Dec. 22. Other teams competing in the Rainbow Classic include Georgetown, Hawaii, Long Beach State and Oral Roberts. The Blazers will open the 2004-05 regular season with a tough game in Bartow Arena against 2004 NCAA Tournament participant VCU on Saturday, Nov. 27. UAB will then close out the month of November with a home game against Louisiana Tech on Monday, Nov. 29. Other non-conference home games include Belmont (2004 NIT participant) (Dec. 15), Alabama A&M (Dec. 28) and Murray State (2004 NCAA Tournament participant) (Jan. 2). The Blazers road non-conference slate include Marshall (Dec. 4), Richmond (2004 NCAA Tournament participant) (Dec. 17), and South Alabama (Dec. 31). The Conference USA office released its 16-game league slate for each school this week, finalizing UAB's schedule for the 2004-05 season. The conference will remain a single-division format with each team playing a single game (home or away) against the other 13 teams. Each school will also play three games against designated "rivals" (home or away), as determined by the league office. For UAB, those C-USA "designated rivals" remain the same as last year: East Carolina, Tulane and USF. The Blazers open their C-USA schedule Wednesday, Jan. 5 against Southern Miss in Bartow Arena before playing their first away league contest against USF on Jan. 8 in Tampa, Fla. The 2005 Conference USA Tournament is scheduled for March 9-12 in Memphis, Tenn. "The schedule is extremely challenging to our players and coaches," said Anderson, "but I think it is one that they, along with our fans, will look forward to as we try to build on last year." The Blazers are coming off one of the most impressive seasons in recent memory as the team won the Conference USA regular-season championship, defeated the NCAA tournament's No. 1 overall seed in Kentucky en route to reaching the Sweet 16 for the third time in school history, and was ranked No. 23 in the final USA Today coaches poll.
