The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Battles Charlotte In Clash Of Streaking Teams
1/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB puts its school-record, 16-game home-court win streak on the line against Charlotte Wednesday night in Bartow Arena. The match up pits two of the five defending regular season co-champions in Conference USA against one another. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CT.
"They've got probably the most talented team of any team in this league," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "When you look at size and athletic ability, guys who can shoot the basketball ... this is another Bobby Lutz team that is very, very talented. They've won some big games and they are playing good basketball right now. I think their strength in their basketball team is probably our weakness - they rebound the ball extremely well and they shoot the basketball well. We've got our work cut our for us."
In addition to UAB's 16-straight wins at home, the Blazers (12-3) have won six straight on the season overall. Charlotte has won seven consecutive games, stands 10-2 on the year and is 5-0 on the road. UAB has won three straight from the 49ers, but Charlotte's last trip to Bartow Arena resulted in a 78-58 Blazer loss.
"If you're going to be in a position to content for a conference championship, you've got to take care of home," Anderson said. "Our fans have been outstanding ever since I've been here. They get our team going. At the same time, you're talking about a (Charlotte) team with a lot of veterans. You're talking about guys who have been through here. They've played here and they've won here. I'm sure they are going to come in with a lot of confidence knowing that in conference play, each game has it's own characteristic. I think it's going to be a tremendous game."
The Blazers are 2-0 in Conference USA play. They grabbed their first league road victory of the year Saturday at South Florida when Marques Lewis hit the game-winning free-throw with :03 on the clock, and the Blazers escaped with a 62-61 victory over the Bulls in Tampa, Fla. Ronell Taylor led UAB with 17 off the bench. The Blazers led, 42-31, at halftime and overcame a tough Bulls defense in the second half and 27-percent field goal shooting after halftime.
Charlotte last lost in triple-overtime to Alabama on Dec. 4. Rutgers is the only other team to beat Bobby Lutz's club this season. Curtis Withers, a preseason All-Conference USA selection, leads the 49ers with 15.1 points per game. He also averages 8.1 rebounds. Eddie Basden (14.4) and Brendan Plavich (12.8) also average double-figure scoring for Charlotte. The 49ers are coming off a 72-60 home win over East Carolina Saturday. They stand 1-0 in Conference USA play.
Donell Taylor, who scored a career-high 27 points against Southern Miss last week, leads UAB with a 16.4 point-per-game average. Ronell Taylor chips in with 13.4 and Demario Eddins averages 11.1 points per outing. UAB has won six straight contests overall and is 7-0 at home this year.
The game will air in the Carolinas on C-SET, a regional cable outlet, and on WYDE, 101.1 FM in Birmingham on the Blazer Sports Network.
UAB Men's Basketball Game Notes in PDF Format
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