The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Louisville
Men's Basketball Falls To Louisville, 82-62
12/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2008
Final Stats UAB-Louisville box score (PDF)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Louisville's Terrence Williams had 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Samardo Samuels added 17 points and 11 boards to help No. 19 Louisville and its revamped lineup ease by UAB 82-62 on Saturday. The Blazers were led by Robert Vaden's 22 points, while Lawrence Kinnard finished with 19 points and eight boards in the loss.
"We let their pressure get to us and we made a lot of bad mistakes and turnovers," UAB head coach Mike Davis said. "Give credit to coach (Rick) Pitino and his staff. They made adjustments and their players stuck to the game plan. We need to come out in these contests and play with a purpose. Tonight, we didn't do that and it showed."
Earl Clark - who didn't start for the first time this season after Pitino chastised him for inconsistent play - had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists as the Cardinals (8-2) bounced back from a disappointing loss to Minnesota last week.
Vaden's 22 points marked the eighth time this season he has reached the 20-point plateau this season. Paul Delaney III added 16 points six steals and four assists for the Blazers.
Pitino promised changes after the Cardinals looked lost during a loss to the Golden Gophers, saying he felt his veterans needed to snap out of an early season funk. He benched Clark and senior guard Andre McGee and started freshman Jared Swopshire and sophomore Preston Knowles instead.
Vaden, who scored 33 points at Freedom Hall last year in a neutral site win over Kentucky, got off to another hot start. He knocked down three 3-pointers in the first seven minutes but eventually cooled as Louisville wore him down by throwing body after body at him.
Clark, Williams, McGee, Swopshire and Jerry Smith all got a turn at trying to slow Vaden down and it worked, eventually. Vaden hit three of his first four 3-pointers but made just one of his last eight.
UAB hung around for awhile before the Cardinals took control late in the first half against their former Conference USA rival. Samuels hit a layup to start a 10-2 run to end the half, a run that was capped by an emphatic dunk by Williams, who faked a 3-pointer then drove down the middle of the lane for the jam to help Louisville to a 37-28 lead at the break.
The Cardinals opened the second half with another 8-2 burst fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers Knowles and Williams to push Louisville's lead to 45-30.
UAB collected itself but could never get the stops necessary to get back in the game. Whenever the Blazers seemed poised to make a run, Louisville would come down and get a putback or a 3-pointer.
Delaney hit a nifty runner to pull UAB to 64-53 with 6:16 to go, but Samuels collected an offensive rebound and got fouled. He made the first free throw and missed the second. No biggie. Clark swooped in and grabbed the ball and threw in a layup to push it back to 14. Samuels dropped in a putback on Louisville's next possession and when Clark hit a jumper from the right elbow, Louisville led 71-56 and sent some of the fans inside the steamy arena heading for the exits.
Louisville held a 40-26 rebounding edge and had 16 second-chance points. UAB's woes at the free-throw line didn't help. UAB went just 3-of-11 at the line and turned it over 16 times, including five by Vaden.
The Blazers will not have much rest as they face another tough test on Tuesday night, when UAB takes on Butler at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT). The game is televised live on the Horizon League Network and will be also aired on the Blazers ISP Radio Network, WUHT 107.7 FM, with the pregame show beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT.
