The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Seeks Win No. 20 With Visit To Houston
3/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2005
HOUSTON, Texas - UAB faces Houston in the final regular season contest of the 2004-05 season at 7 p.m. CT Saturday night at the Cougars' Hofheinz Pavilion. Both teams are tied for fifth in the Conference USA standings at 9-6 and the outcome will have major implications on where each team is seeded in next week's Kelly Tires Conference USA Tournament.
"Every game is important," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "This game is no different. We know we're going into a hostile environment against a very good opponent who has as much to gain out of this as we do. We are going to have to play well to win."
UAB can grab as high as the four seed in the tournament with a win. Houston can get as high as the fifth seed due to tie-breaker scenarios.
The Blazers (19-9, 9-6 C-USA) are seeking their 20th win and have revved up a three-game win streak highlighted by Wednesday night's 81-80 overtime victory over DePaul. Demario Eddins has scored 25 and 22 in each of his last two games while Donell Taylor is averaging 21.7 in his last three. Squeaky Johnson, who hit what proved to be the game-winner in overtime against DePaul, dished out nine assists in the effort while scoring 10 points.
"We did what we had to do to give ourselves a chance to win against a very good team," Anderson said. "I was very proud of our guys. We'll have to fight just as hard against Houston. They are athletic and quick and like to force teams to do things they don't want to do. We need to establish the tempo and play our brand of pressure defense and not get away from the things that have gotten us to this point."
UAB owns a 12-3 advantage in the all-time series against the Cougars, but lost the last time the teams met at Houston in the 2001-02 season.
Should the Blazers earn a victory, it would mark the 15th 20-win season in school history, which is comprised of just 26 seasons.
The Cougars lost, 76-55, at Marquette on Wednesday night after winning four straight. Andre Owens scored 27 points for Houston in the loss, including eight-of-14 shooting from three-point range. The Cougars hit 11-of-33 from downtown, but couldn't overcome a 43-22 advantage on the boards for Marquette and a 55.6 percent shooting night for the Golden Eagles.
Owens averages 17.7 points per game for Houston while Lanny Smith adds 14.4 points per contest.
At the end of Saturday night's play, the seeds and brackets will be set for next week's Conference USA Tournament. First round games are Wednesday with the top four seeds playing those winners in quarterfinal match-ups on Thursday.
The Houston game will air live on the Blazer Sports Network which can be found in Birmingham on WYDE, 101.1 FM.
UAB Men's Basketball Game Notes in PDF Format
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