The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Travels To Take On Southern Miss On Wednesday Night
2/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2010
UAB-Southern Miss Game Notes | Gametracker | Watch
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. to square off against longtime rival Southern Miss on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. CT. The Blazers and Golden Eagles will meet for the second time this season, as UAB captured a 57-56 win on a last second jumper by Aaron Johnson on Jan. 20 in Bartow Arena.
UAB enters the contest at Southern Miss sporting an overall record of 19-5 on the season. The Blazers dropped to 7-3 in Conference USA play when they fell to Marshall, 81-74, last Saturday in Bartow Arena. It marked the third loss in UAB's last four games. Senior forward Howard Crawford paced five players in double figures with 16 points, while junior guard Elijah Millsap collected 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in the losing effort.
The Blazers continue to be led by Millsap, who leads the team in scoring (16.0 ppg), rebounding (9.4 rpg), steals (1.9 spg) and free throws made (118) and attempted (167). He also leads C-USA in double-doubles (12) and in rebounding and is fifth in scoring. The Louisiana-Lafayette transfer has led the Blazers in scoring and/or rebounding in 19 of their 24 games this season.
Crawford is second on the team with 12.2 points per contest, while junior guard Jamarr Sanders adds 11.1 ppg and leads the team in three-pointers made (51) and attempted (135). Junior guard Aaron Johnson is the fourth UAB player to average double figures with 10.4 points and leads the team in assists (4.5).
As a team, the Blazers are shooting 42.5 percent from the floor and 31.4 percent from beyond the arc this year. UAB also boasts a +5.7 advantage on the boards (36.7-31.0). Furthermore, the Blazers hold the opposition to 62.0 points a game, which is second in C-USA and ranks 39th nationally (as of 2/7), and have held 17 of their 24 opponents to 65 points or below.
Head coach Mike Davis is in his fourth season at the helm of the UAB basketball program and his 10th season as a head coach. He boasts a record of 79-44 (.642) at UAB and a 194-123 (.612) mark overall. He now owns a record of 37-21 (.638) in Conference USA play.
Southern Miss enters Wednesday night's matchup on a hot streak, collecting five wins over its last six games to improve to 15-9 overall and 5-5 in conference play. The Golden Eagles' most recent victory came in a 66-50 home win over Rice on Saturday night. Junior forward Gary Flowers led all scorers with a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds in the victory.
Flowers leads his team in both scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg) entering the contest against UAB. He also averaged a team-best 2.0 blocks per contest. He is the only Golden Eagle to average double-figure scoring.
Freshman Maurice Bolden is second on the team with 9.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest, while sophomore guard Angelo Johnson contributes 9.5 points per contest and leads the team with 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals on the season.
As a team, Southern Miss leads Conference USA in scoring defense, allowing teams to score only 59.5 points a game. In fact, the Golden Eagles have not allowed a team to score over 60 points in a contest in C-USA play. The last time it occurred came when Southern Miss gave up 65 points in an 81-65 victory vs. Cal State Bakersfield in its final non-conference game of the season. Additionally, the Golden Eagles lead the conference in three-point field goal percentage, allowing the opposition to make just 28.9 percent of their three-point attempts.
Southern Miss shoots 42.6 percent from the floor and 32.4 percent from three-point range. The Golden Eagles outscore the opposition by an average of 6.1 points a game (65.6-59.5), Futhermore, USM averages a league-best 72.3 percent from the charity stripe and ranks second in C-USA in rebounding margin at +7.0.
Head coach Larry Eustachy is in his sixth season at Southern Miss and in his 18th season as a head coach. During his coaching tenure with the Golden Eagles, Eustachy has a record of 90-99 (.476) during his time at the helm of the USM men's basketball program. He is 350-234 (.599) during his 19 seasons as a head coach.
Quotables
UAB Junior Guard Aaron Johnson
On the loss to Marshall:
"They always play hard and come out with a lot of energy and fire. We don't want the loss Saturday to Marshall to affect us at all, we just want to win. Fatigue played a huge part in the loss to Marshall because we had to come back from so many points [down]."
On UAB's recent struggles:
"It's no question that we are not getting to the ball, not moving to the help side and not helping out the next teammate at the right time. We are also making a lot of defensive mistakes that we didn't make earlier in the year. I have no idea why we are not focusing. We score a lot of points, but we are not stopping anybody something we should get back to. We need to come out with the effort we had at the beginning of the year and the intensity we can play with so that we can make it to the tournament because hardly anyone on the team has made the tournament."
On his leadership role:
"I try to play hard all the time so they can feed off my energy because I feel as if I'm the leader and I need to be on my A game at all times. We need to get back to having fun because that's what basketball is all about."
UAB Head Coach Mike Davis
On struggling defensively against Marshall:
"We are just not playing well defensively and part of that story is that it's been us coming from behind most games. We have been giving up a lot of points such as 81 to Marshall and that simply cannot happen. We have been scoring a lot the last three games, however, when giving up 70 or more we are 0-5. We would like to keep the games in the 60s."
On UAB's performance in conference games:
"We just haven't gotten it done in conference play. We just can't continue to get down by double digits and try to come back.
"I think our guys thought we were going to win no matter what. The problem is that when we lost to UTEP it disarmed us a bit, we lost a home game then we went to Memphis. We come and play Marshall and that's a winnable game for us, and we just felt like we were going to come back. Hopefully our guys understand now that we just have to do better."
On the challenge of road games:
"The challenges are going to be tough, but we have to step up and think that we should win. We've won four conference games on the road so far this year and we just have to go win some road games."
On the importance of winning at this point in the season:
"It's not the end of the world, but it's getting close. We're looking over the edge a little bit. But I don't want to put a panic on our guys. So we're just going to focus on getting better and playing well. Southern Miss has only lost one home game this year and that was to Memphis. It's going to be a challenge for us."
UAB vs. Southern Miss: The Series
UAB and Southern Miss will meet for the 33rd time in series history and the second time this season on Wednesday night. The Blazers own a 21-11 advantage over the Golden Eagles in the all-time series, including taking a 57-56 decision at Bartow Arena on Jan. 20. It marked the fourth straight UAB victory and the fifth win over the last six meetings between the two rivals. The Golden Eagles own an 8-6 advantage in Reed Green Coliseum. However, UAB won the last time it traveled to Hattiesburg, Miss., taking a 66-49 victory on Feb. 7, 2009. Mike Davis enters the contest owning a 5-3 record in eight previous matchups against the Golden Eagles.
UAB-Southern Miss Earlier This Season
Aaron Johnson hit a jump shot with 6 seconds left to give UAB a 57-56 win over Southern Mississippi on Jan. 20 in Bartow Arena.
UAB trailed by as many as 14 points, 36-22, with 15:06 remaining in the contest. The Blazers fought back and cut the lead to 42-40 at the 8:41 mark. However, the Golden Eagles went on a 9-2 run to stretch the lead back to nine points, 51-42, with 4:42 remaining.
The Blazers trailed 53-47 with 2:30 left before going on an 8-2 run to tie it. Jamarr Sanders, who already had a 3-pointer during the spurt, capped it on a 3 with 1:10 left to knot it at 55-55.
R.L. Horton hit his first free throw to put the Golden Eagles ahead by one, but missed his second. Junior guard Elijah Millsap came down with the rebound with 32 seconds left, and the Blazers called a timeout with 19 seconds to go, setting up Johnson's shot.
Johnson finished the contest with 12 points and five assists. Millsap scored 14 points for the Blazers, while Sanders had 13. The UAB starting five scored all 57 points on the night.
Gary Flowers had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
Last Time Out
Tyler Wilkerson scored a career-high 28 points and had 10 rebounds as Marshall defeated UAB 81-74 on Saturday night.
The Thundering Herd opened the second half with a 16-6 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 45-32, with 12:56 remaining. Dago Pena had eight points during the run, including a pair of 3-pointers.
A 23-11 run by the Blazers cut the lead to 56-55 with 7:08 remaining, but Marshall responded with an 8-1 run, capped by a Wilkerson field goal.
The teams combined for 44 fouls and 66 free throws, with Marshall making 30 of 36, including 13-for-15 by Wilkerson.
Howard Crawford scored 16 points and Aaron Johnson collected 14 points and six assists to lead five UAB players in double figures.
Breaking Down The Previous Game
Below are some notes in regards to the previous game:
• UAB allowed Marshall to score 81 points, which was the first time this season the Blazers have allowed an opponent to score over 80 points.
• The Blazers dropped to 1-5 this year when allowing a team to score over 70 points in a game this year.
• Marshall's victory at Bartow Arena was the first time it has beaten UAB in Birmingham since joining Conference USA. It was also just the second victory by the Herd in Bartow, with the only other road win coming on Dec. 30, 2003.
• The Herd scored 52 second half points. It was the second most points that UAB has allowed in a half this season, trailing the 54 points that Memphis scored in an 85-75 win over the Blazers on Feb. 3.
Mr. Double-Double
After collecting his 12th double-double of the season when UAB lost to Marshall on Saturday (13 points and 12 rebounds), junior guard Elijah Millsap is on pace to etch his name in the UAB record books for double-doubles in a single season. Through UAB's 24 games, Millsap leads Conference USA with 12 double-doubles, which ranks him in sole possession for fourth overall on the school's all-time list for double-doubles in a season. On the year, he is averaging a near double-double with 16.0 points and 9.4 rebounds per contest. Below is a breakdown of the most double-doubles in a single season and where Millsap currently ranks on that list.
Player Year Double-Doubles
Lawrence Kinnard 2008-09 13
Carlos Williams 1995-96 13
Carlos Williams 1996-97 13
Elijah Millsap 2009-10 12
Jerome Mincy 1985-86 11
Reginald Turner 1988-89 10
Will Campbell 2001-02 9
Feeling More Comfortable On The Road
Prior to UAB's two previous road games, junior guard Jamarr Sanders was having a tough time away from Bartow Arena. In his previous 10 road contests (away and neutral site games), Sanders averaged just 7.6 points and 4.8 rebounds a game, while shooting 34.2 percent from the floor and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc. However, in UAB's last two road contests at Memphis (2/3) and at Rice (2/6), the Montgomery, Ala. native is averaging 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game, while shooting 47.8 percent from the floor and 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from three-point range.
Sanders has been consistently steady at the friendly confines of Bartow Arena this season. In the Blazers' 12 home games, Sanders' averages improve to 13.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest, while he shoots 43.1 percent from the floor and 38.9 percent from three-point range.
Little General
Junior point guard Aaron Johnson had his best offensive game in a UAB uniform when the Blazers defeated Rice, 76-65, on Feb. 6. Not only did Johnson establish a new career best with 28 points in the victory, but he also established new personal bests in field goals made (7), three-point field goals made (3), free throws made (11), free throws attempted (13) and minutes played (40).
In fact, Johnson's overall offensive productivity has improved tremendously so far this season. Last year, the Chicago, Ill. native averaged just 3.6 points a contest and only had one double-figure scoring game. Through 24 games this year, Johnson is averaging 10.4 ppg. Furthermore, with 11 double-digit outings this season, Johnson has smashed his career total of double-digit scoring games entering the season of five (2007-09).
Approaching 20-Win Plateau
At 19-5 on the year, the Blazers are just one win shy of reaching the 20-win plateau for the year. UAB has recorded 19 20-win seasons in the 31 years that the men's basketball program has been in existence. Additionally, coming into the year the Blazers had recorded two straight 20-win seasons and reached the milestone in six of the past seven seasons. Even more impressive is the fact that if UAB reaches 20 wins in the regular season, it will mark only the second time in school history that a UAB team will have reached 20 wins in three consecutive years during regular-season play. The feat was also accomplished during the 1983-86 seasons.
A Rare Feat
For just the fifth time this season, UAB lost the rebounding battle when it was outrebounded by Rice, 36-27, in the 76-65 Blazer victory on Feb. 6. The nine-rebound disadvantage marked a season-high in terms of the Blazers being outrebounded by their opponent in a contest. However, that may not be such a bad thing. UAB has won all five contests this season when losing the battle of the boards.
Ruling The Boards
One of the strengths of this year's UAB team has been on the boards. UAB's board work this season has been a big reason why it has won 19 of its 24 games. The Blazers have only been out-rebounded in five of 24 games on the year. UAB boasts a 5.7 average advantage on the boards during the campaign (36.7-31.0).
Entering Wednesday's contest, UAB is third in C-USA in rebounding defense and rebounding margin and fifth in rebounding offense. Furthermore, the Blazers are tied for second in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 12.7 a contest.
Defensive Dominance
A calling card for this year's UAB squad has been its defensive prowess. The Blazers held Tulsa, one of C-USA's top offensive teams, to just 55 points when the two squads clashed on Jan. 26, which marked the 13th time this season UAB has held the opposition to under 60 points in a contest. In fact, in 24 contests on the year, UAB has now held 17 foes to 65 points or less. As a result, the Blazers are holding teams to 62.0 points a game, which ranks second in Conference USA.
