The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
NOTEBOOK: Cokley Making The Difference For Blazer Frontcourt
1/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Chris Cokley didn’t play like a true freshman making his first run through Conference USA play on Saturday night in UAB’s 63-56 C-USA victory over Southern Miss at Reed Green Coliseum. That would be a surprise if Cokley hadn’t been doing that all along.
“He’s growing extremely fast,” Haase said. “These are all new experiences for him but he’s extremely coachable. He’s becoming more and more comfortable on the court. He’s progressing on both ends. There has been a long way to go for him. Now, having said that, there are still some glaring mistakes down the stretch, especially defensively that we will show him. But he has been a sponge. He’s trying to get better and the results are showing.”
Cokley scored 11 points on Saturday night, shooting 5-of-8 from the field, and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. He also had three turnovers and two steals. It was his third consecutive game with double figures in scoring.
*It wasn’t a great shooting night for UAB leading scorer Robert Brown. He made just 6-of-14 shots from the field but you have to look at his complete stat line to understand his contribution to the win. Brown had a team-high 15 points, partly thanks to 3-of-6 shooting from outside the 3-point arc, and also had seven assists, three rebounds, two steals and just one turnover. He hit a huge 3-pointer late in the second half and a big 12-footer with just under a minute left.
“I don’t feel like he’s forced shots, especially in the last couple of weeks here in conference,” Haase said. “I know his attitude is just ‘Do whatever the team needs me to do.’ If it’s not shooting, it’s get assists, get to the offensive boards and I think that attitude is starting to spread throughout the team as well.”
Brown said he’s carried that attitude throughout the season.
“Whatever they need me to do, whatever Coach asked me, I want to try to do for the team,” Brown said. “At the end of the day, all we want to do is win. Right now, whatever we’re doing, we’ll continue to do.”
*UAB had 17 assists on 20 made baskets in Saturday’s game. Nick Norton had four assists and Denzell Watts added three to complement Brown’s performance in that category. The Blazers also did better in the turnover category, turning it over five times in each half.
“We shared the basketball, which is a good sign moving forward,” Haase said. “We handled the ball better this game but a lot of that was the defensive philosophy of the last two teams.”
*The Blazers remained in a tie for third place behind C-USA co-leaders Western Kentucky and Louisiana Tech. The Blazers are tied with Old Dominion and UTEP. What’s most important for the Blazers is they are winning on the road, taking two of their first three road conference games.
“The last thing I told the guys, the freshmen especially, was ‘You have no idea how big this is to win on the road,’” Haase said. “It’s a great boost. We’ve talked a lot about our effort the last few weeks has to be habitual. We are building those habits. Going on the road and having an attitude that you can win is a habit as well. Hopefully that can carry on to the future.”
