The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Travel To Memphis In Women's Basketball
2/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 22, 2012
Due to technical problems at Memphis, there will be no live video feed for tonight's game.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB women's basketball team plays the first of two consecutive road games Thursday with a 7 p.m. CT contest at Memphis in a matchup of two of the top three teams in Conference USA.
The third-place Blazers (18-7, 9-4 C-USA) are coming off a home loss to Marshall on Sunday, while second-place Memphis (20-6, 10-3 C-USA) defeated UCF on Sunday in its last time out.
GAME INFORMATION
UAB at Memphis
Thursday, Feb. 23 @ 7 p.m. CT
Memphis, Tenn. (Elma Roane Fieldhouse)
LIVE COVERAGE
Gametracker live stats and Memphis streaming video available at uabsports.com.
SERIES INFORMATION
• UAB trails 28-21 in the all-time series with Memphis. The 49 previous meetings with the Tigers are the second-most in UAB history behind only the 51 games between the Blazers and Southern Miss.
• The Blazers have held the upper hand recently, winning 10 of the past 13 meetings with Memphis, though the Tigers won the first meeting between the teams this season.
• UAB is 7-14 on the road against the Tigers but has won in five of its past six trips to Memphis.
• This year's first meeting came on Jan. 22 in Birmingham with Memphis winning, 70-59. Amber Jones led the Blazers with 20 points, while Brittany Carter had a game-high 22 for the Tigers.
ABOUT THE BLAZERS
UAB dropped a game behind Memphis into third place in the Conference USA standings with its 40-37 home loss to Marshall on Sunday. The Blazers, which play two of their final three regular-season games on the road, are 18-7 overall and 9-4 in conference play with two weeks left.
The Blazers continue to rank second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 47.8 points per game for the season. On the offensive end, UAB is looking to bounce back from a tough stretch in which it has averaged 42.0 points per game over its past three contests (two losses).
Amber Jones and Karisma Chapman scored 12 points each in the recent loss to Marshall and lead the Blazers in scoring for the season with averages of 13.6 and 13.2 points per game, respectively.
SCOUTING MEMPHIS
Memphis comes to Birmingham one game ahead of UAB for second place in the Conference USA standings. The Tigers are 20-6 overall (10-3 C-USA), having won nine of their past 11 outings after a 61-54 victory over UCF on Sunday.
The Tigers are the highest scoring team in C-USA at 69.9 points per game and the league's top shooting team at 41.3 percent. On the defensive end, Memphis surrenders an average of 56.5 points per night.
Jasmine Lee averages a double-double for Memphis and ranks in the top six in the league in scoring (14.5 ppg, 6th) and rebounding (10.0 rpg, 3rd). Preseason C-USA Player of the Year Brittany Carter also averages 14.5 points per game.
GETTING STARTED
• UAB (18-7, 9-4 C-USA) enters Sunday's game versus Marshall in third place in the conference standings, trailing only UTEP (12-0) and Memphis (10-3).
• UAB is the top team in Conference USA and second nationally in scoring defense, surrendering just 47.8 points per game for the season. The Blazers also rank 28th in the nation in blocks per game (5.0) and 34th in the country in field goal percentage defense (35.4 percent).
• The Blazers have three players in the top 10 of the C-USA rankings for 3-point shooting percentage: Kelsie Weynand (.343, 3rd), LaShaunda Pratt (.327, 7th) and Amber Jones (.324, 9th). Weynand is the league's second-best 3-point shooter in conference games at 41.9 percent.
• UAB has four players ranked among the top 12 in C-USA in blocks per game -- Meagan Brown (1.4, 6th), TaRonda Randall (1.2, 8th), Michaelea Kleist (1.0, 9th) and Karisma Chapman (1.0, T-12th).
• Senior center Meagan Brown moved into a tie for second place on UAB's all-time blocks list with four blocks in the Feb. 16 win over SMU. She now has 108 blocks for her career.
• The Blazers have a 16-2 record when holding opponents to fewer than 50 points, but those two losses have come in the past three games (41-9 at UCF and 40-37 to Marshall).
• After a 20-15 record a year ago, UAB has an 18-7 mark so far in 2011-12. Two more wins would give the Blazers consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since 1999-2000 (21-13) and 2000-01 (20-11).
• Dating back to last season, UAB has won 22 of its past 29 games and 29 of its past 40 contests.
• The Blazers have forced 106 more turnovers than their opponents this year and are out-scoring opponents in points of turnovers by more than five per game (17.4-12.3).
• UAB's trio of junior guard Amber Jones (13.6 ppg), sophomore forward Karisma Chapman (13.2 ppg) and senior guard LaShaunda Pratt (10.9 ppg) has accounted for 67.6 percent of the Blazers' scoring with 929 of the team's 1,375 points on the year.
• Junior guard Amber Jones became the 25th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points with her 11-point effort Jan. 26 at Tulsa. Jones now has 1,084 career points and is just the 13th Blazer ever to reach the 1,000-point mark before her senior season.
• UAB put an eight-game winning streak together from Nov. 25-Dec. 30. It was UAB's longest winning streak in 17 years and just the sixth streak of at least eight games in program history.
TOP-NOTCH START
UAB is now 18-7, but its 17-5 record through 22 games matched the best start in program history, joining the 1991-92 and 1993-94 teams. The 1991-92 squad went on to a 23-5 start before finishing with a 24-8 record and a WNIT appearance. The 1993-94 group also went on to start 23-5 before finishing 23-6 and playing in the NCAA tournament.
UAB's 8-2 league start this year tied for the best in its C-USA history with the 1995-96 and 2006-07 teams. The Blazers are now 9-4 in league play.
NO. 2 SCORING DEFENSE
UAB's scoring defense average continues to rank as the second best in the country. The Blazers have surrendered just 47.8 points per contest and trail only Connecticut (45.3) in the latest NCAA statistics.
UAB has held 18 of its 25 opponents to 47 points or fewer and kept four -- Western Kentucky, Hampton, Clemson and East Carolina -- below 40 points. The 36 points scored Nov. 26 by Western Kentucky and Dec. 30 by Clemson matched the fewest allowed by the Blazers since the 1994-95 season.
RECORD-BREAKING DEFENSIVE PACE
UAB is on pace to shatter its own school and Conference USA records for scoring defense by a large margin. Last season, the Blazers set school and league marks by allowing just 55.3 points per game, good for 25th-best in the nation. Their 56.1 points allowed per game in conference play also set a C-USA record.
This year, UAB is allowing only 47.8 points per game (second in the nation), and the Blazers have allowed their 13 conference opponents an average of 47.8 points per contest, as well.
SECOND-HALF WOES
In UAB's past three games, two of which were losses, the Blazers' offense has performed well in the first half before going cold in the second half. Here is a look at UAB's half-by-half shooting numbers and point totals over that stretch:
Opponent 1st Half FG Pct. Points 2nd Half FG Pct. Points
UCF 10-22 45.5% 28 4-27 14.8% 11
SMU 14-24 58.3% 31 5-24 20.8% 19
Marshall 9-30 30.0% 25 4-23 17.4% 12
Totals 33-76 43.4% 28 avg. 13-74 17.6% 14 avg.
RARE LOSSES
In UAB's last two losses, the Blazers have only allowed a combined 81 points, but they have only scored a combined 76 points. UAB suffered a 41-39 loss Feb. 12 at UCF and dropped a 40-37 decision Sunday against Marshall.
The 40 points and 41 points allowed are the fewest the Blazers have surrendered in a losing effort in program history. The previous low came in the 1986-87 season when the Blazers allowed just 44 points in a 44-43 loss to UAH.
Additionally, the 77 combined points in the Marshall game are the lowest total ever for a UAB contest, while the 80 combined points in the UCF game are the third-fewest in program history.
REBOUNDING IS KEY
Until Sunday's defeat to Marshall, rebounding had been telling the story of UAB's conference losses. The Blazers dropped a 40-37 decision to the Herd despite holding a 42-34 advantage on the boards.
In UAB's three previous C-USA losses, the team was out-rebounded by an average of 41.7 to 27.0. UAB was out-rebounded, 39-18, in a 52-41 loss at Tulane (Jan. 19), faced a 45-29 rebounding disparity in a 70-59 home defeat to Memphis (Jan. 22) and a 41-34 deficit in a 41-39 loss at UCF (Feb. 12).
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS
UAB has forced a high number of turnovers this year and been able to cash them in for points on the other end. The Blazers have out-scored their opponents 435-308 for the season in points off turnovers. That is an average differential of more than five points per game (17.4-12.3).
The Blazers have scored more than 20 points off turnovers in a game eight times this season, including a season-best 30 points off turnovers in the win over Houston (1/15). In four of its seven losses, UAB has scored 11 points or fewer off turnovers.
JONES JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB
With 11 points Jan. 26 against Tulsa, junior guard Amber Jones surpassed the 1,000-point milestone for her career. She enters Thursday's contest at Memphis with 1,084 career points.
Jones became the 25th 1,000-point scorer in program history and the 13th to accomplish the feat before her senior season.
Until Jones passed the mark, former Blazer Amanda Peterson was the most recent UAB player to reach 1,000 points, surpassing the mark last season in her senior campaign.
FROSH SENSATION NOW SUPER SOPH
Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman is continuing to develop after a 2010-11 season in which she was a C-USA All-Freshman Team selection. Chapman is averaging 13.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. She logged her third career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds at UNCG (12/6).
Last year, Chapman finished the season with 10 double-digit scoring performances in the last 17 games to close her rookie campaign with a scoring average of 8.0 points per game. This year, Chapman has reached double-figure scoring 20 times in the Blazers' 25 contests.
WEYNAND EMERGING
Kelsie Weynand has developed into more of a scoring threat for UAB recently. The JUCO transfer set back-to-back season-highs with 10 points at Marshall (2/5) and 11 against East Carolina (2/9). She is scoring 7.5 points per game over her past four contests after averaging 3.8 over her first 17 appearances.
Weynand now ranks second in C-USA in 3-point percentage in league games only at 41.9 percent. She has knocked down 11 of 20 shots in her past four games, including 8 of 16 from beyond the arc.
BLOCK PARTY
The second-best shot-blocking team in Conference USA, the Blazers are swatting 5.0 shots per game (ranked 28th in the nation) and 5.1 per game through 13 conference contests. UAB is more than a block and a half per game ahead of school-record pace (3.4 per game in 1998-99). Last year's team is second in school annals with 3.3 blocks per contest.
Four Blazers rank in the top 12 in C-USA in blocks per game: Meagan Brown (1.4, 6th), TaRonda Randall (1.2, 8th), Michaelea Kleist (1.0, 9th) and Karisma Chapman (1.0, T-12th).
UAB set a single-game school record with 12 blocked shots in the Jan. 12 win over UCF. The Blazers topped the previous best mark of 11, set in last season's home victory over Tulsa (2/10/11).
BROWN'S BLOCKS
With four blocked shots Feb. 16 against SMU, senior center Meagan Brown moved into a tie for second place on UAB's all-time list with 108 for her career. She tied Mary Morning (1993-97) and now trails only Deanna Jackson (1998-2002), who finished her Blazer career with 125. Brown, who already owns the single-season school record after swatting 49 shots last season, now owns 34 blocks in her senior campaign.
JONES PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
Junior guard Amber Jones continues to be one of the top scoring threats for UAB, ranking first on the team with an average of 13.6 points per game. She has led UAB in scoring 12 times, including Dec. 6 at UNCG when she erupted for a career-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Jones returned as UAB's top scorer this season after averaging 12.5 points per game last year as a sophomore.
JONES IMPROVING 3-POINT PCT.
Amber Jones has shown improvement from 3-point range this season. She entered her junior year with 72 treys over her first two seasons but was just a 27.7 percent shooter from beyond the arc for her career.
This season, Jones' 3-point percentage has risen to 32.4 (35-for-108), which ranks ninth in Conference USA.
PRATT FROM LONG RANGE
LaShaunda Pratt ranks second in Conference USA with 2.0 made 3-pointers per game and seventh in 3-point percentage (.327). More than half of Pratt's field goal attempts this season (150 of 275) have come from behind the 3-point line.
Pratt has hit at least three treys in nine games this season. She hit five 3-pointers on her way to a career-best 24 points earlier this season at McNeese State (11/19) and topped that at UNCG (12/6) when she hit a career-best six 3-pointers in just seven attempts.
KLEIST'S CONTRIBUTIONS
Junior forward Michaelea Kleist, who came off the bench for the first three games, has now started 22 contests in a row.
Kleist, a transfer from Volunteer State CC, has proven to be a defensive presence and one of the team's top rebounders. She ranks second on the team in rebounds with 5.5 per game and third in blocks with 1.0 per outing. Kleist's five blocked shots against UNCG (12/6) are the most by a UAB player this season.
GOOD GUARD PLAY
UAB's trio of primary ballhandlers -- Khalilah Watson, Amber Jones and LaShaunda Pratt -- has combined for a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (187 assists, 178 turnovers) this year.
Jones (70 assists, 65 turnovers) and Watson (75 assists, 55 turnovers) have both made strides this year after posting more turnovers than assists a season ago. Watson ranks third in C-USA in assist to turnover ratio (1.4 to 1), while Jones ranks fifth in league games only (1.3 to 1).
DOING DAMAGE FROM DOWNTOWN
UAB averages 5.5 3-pointers per game to rank first in C-USA. The Blazers also lead the league in 3-point attempts with 19.3 per game. UAB knocked down 13 in a single contest against UNCG (12/6), including six by LaShaunda Pratt. Three Blazers rank in the top 10 in the league in 3-point percentage: Kelsie Weynand (.343, 3rd), Pratt (.327, 7th) and Amber Jones (.324, 9th).
Last season, UAB topped C-USA in 3-pointers per game, as well. The Blazers averaged a league-leading 6.2 treys per contest, knocking down 216 for the season, the second-most in UAB history and just three shy of the 2006-07 school-record total of 219. Graduated guard Amanda Peterson set a school and C-USA record with 103 treys a year ago.
FORCING TURNOVERS
UAB has created 106 more turnovers than its opponents (489-383) this year. Last year, the team forced 115 more turnovers than they committed (644-529).
After forcing double-digit turnovers in all 35 games last season, UAB has caused at least 10 turnovers in every game this year, including 28 against East Tennessee State (11/18) and Morehead State (11/30).
The Blazers have currently forced their opponents into double-digit turnovers in 149 straight games. The last time a UAB opponent turned the ball over fewer than 10 times was Hartford (eight) on Nov. 23, 2007.
EARNING SECOND CHANCES
Through 25 games this season, UAB has snagged 359 offensive rebounds (14.8 per game) compared to 283 (11.3 per game) for its opponents. The Blazers have posted double-digit offensive boards in every game but three and reached 20 offensive boards five times -- 23 against Southern Miss (1/29) and Alabama A&M (12/15), 22 at Clemson (12/30), 21 against Marshall (2/19) and 20 at McNeese State (11/19).
Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman leads the team in offensive rebounds, having snagged 61 of her 126 boards on the offensive end.
GETTING MORE SHOTS
UAB's prowess at forcing turnovers and grabbing offensive rebounds has led to more scoring opportunities for the Blazers. Through 25 games, UAB has attempted 183 more shots (1,370-1,187) than its opponents for an average of 7.3 more attempts per game. In conference play, the Blazers are attempting 5.0 more shots per game than their opponents.
TAKING CARE OF THE BASKETBALL
UAB has been the league's best at taking care of the basketball. The Blazers were ranked in the top 10 in the nation in fewest turnovers per game early this season. They currently lead C-USA in fewest giveaways and rank 54th nationally at 15.3 per game.
UAB recorded 10 or fewer turnovers four times in its first six games of the season, including just six in the season opener against Chattanooga (11/11) and seven against Western Kentucky (11/26).
The six turnovers against Chattanooga were the second-fewest by a UAB team in Audra Smith's eight-year tenure at the school and the fewest for the Blazers since they gave the ball away just five times against Tulsa on Feb. 12, 2009.
