The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Men's Basketball Travels Across Texas To Face UTSA
1/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
GAME DETAILS:
UAB (10-11, 6-2 C-USA) at UTSA (10-9, 4-4 C-USA)
2 p.m. CT | Convocation Center (2,650) | San Antonio, Texas
| Watch (live stream) | Listen | Game Notes
Radio: WUHT-FM 107.7
SAN ANTONIO, Texas ---- Sitting at third place in the Conference USA standings, the UAB men's basketball team travels to UTSA on Saturday for a 2 p.m. CT game against the Roadrunners.
Saturday's game will not be televised. Fans can listen to the contest on the Blazer IMG Sports Network with David Crane (play-by-play) on the call. Fans can watch a live stream of the game here: http://www.goutsa.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=13100
For more information on the UAB men's basketball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter @UAB_MBB. For more on all Blazer sports teams, follow @UABAthletics.
Series Information
Overall: UAB leads, 1-0
In Birmingham: UAB leads, 1-0
In San Antonio: Never met
Neutral Sites: Never met
Current Streak: UAB, 1-0
Last Meeting: UAB won, 78-65, 1/16/14
UAB vs. UTSA Quick Hits
Third Place: Sitting at third place in the Conference USA standings, UAB finds itself just a game back of first-place teams LA Tech and Western Kentucky midway through the C-USA season. Three teams (Old Dominion, UTEP and Middle Tennessee) all sit a game behind the Blazers in fourth place in the standings.
More On The Series: UAB and UTSA meet for just the second time in school history and for the first time in San Antonio. The Blazers won last year's meeting between the two teams in Birmingham, 78-65. In that game, the Blazers had 23 assists, turned the ball over just nine times and blocked 13 UTSA shots in the win.
Win Streak Snapped: The Blazers saw their three-game win streak snapped at UTEP on Thursday. UAB led for 33:48, while UTEP led for just 3:51. The Miners made the difference by going to the free-throw line 33 times, compared to just five UAB free-throw attempts. The Blazers committed 25 fouls in the game, while UTEP was whistled for just nine total team fouls in the 71-69 Miner win. UAB hit four 3-pointers in the final 38 seconds and had a good look from William Lee at the buzzer that would have given UAB the win.
Shooting Blazers: UAB enters Saturday's game as one of the top shooting teams in Conference USA. The Blazers rank first in free-throw percentage (81.6 percent), first in 3-point field goal percentage (41.7 percent) and second in field-goal percentage (48.3 percent) in Conference USA games only.
Free-Throw Line Dominance: In the last three games, the Blazers have hit a blistering 87.3 percent (48-of-55) at the free-throw line. UAB, which is tied with Rice as the top free-throw shooting team in Conference USA this season at 73.2 percent for the year, is shooting 85.7 percent (36-of-42) at the free-throw line in the last two minutes of Conference USA games.
What Can Brown Do For You: UAB junior guard Robert Brown has led the Blazers in scoring a team-high 14 times and has scored in double figures in 13-straight games this season. Brown, who leads the Blazers with 13.6 points per game, is coming off a 16-point performance vs. UTEP on Thursday.
UAB Notebook
UAB Has It Turned Around In Conference USA Play
» UAB suffered through a brutal non-conference slate that featured matchups against four ranked teams and an LSU squad that is one of the top teams in the Southeastern Conference. The Blazers finished non-conference play at 4-9 overall, but have turned it around in league action with road wins at Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss and home wins against a tough Charlotte team and previously ranked Old Dominion squad, among other notable wins.
» UAB's only two losses have come on the road against the C-USA preseason top two picks -- LA Tech and UTEP. The Blazers lost both those games by a combined five points after building leads in both contests. In fact, UAB led for a combined 51:20 against those two teams.
Blazer Freshmen Making An Impact, Getting Attention
» UAB has earned Conference USA Freshman of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks. Chris Cokley won the honor on Jan. 16 after he scored 11 points against LA Tech and 11 points vs. Southern Miss in consecutive games. UAB guard Nick Norton earned the distinction this week following a 26-point effort against Charlotte last Thursday.
» Three of UAB's top five scorers in Conference USA play are freshmen, with Norton's 9.1 ppg against league opponents leading the way. Cokley scores 8.6 points per game, while freshman forward William Lee averages 7.1 ppg and a team-high 6.3 rebounds per contest in C-USA action.
UAB Frontcourt One Of Best In C-USA
» UAB's frontcourt has solidified itself as one of the top frontcourts in Conference USA. The Blazers rank second in blocked shots (5.3 per game), with Tosin Mehinti (ranks third with 2.0 per game) and William Lee (ranks seventh with 1.2 per game) each in the top-10 in C-USA in blocked shots. In league games only, UAB ranks third in rebound margin with a +3.7 advantage against conference teams.
Mehinti Moving Up Career Blocks Chart
» Blazer sophomore forward Tosin Mehinti is currently No. 10 on UAB's all-time career blocks chart with 78 in his career. He currently leads the Blazers with 43 blocks this season, which ranks No. 9 in a single-season for an individual player at UAB.
Norton Running The Point
» Freshman point guard Nick Norton has had a strong start to his Blazer career through the first 21 regular season games. The Bloomington, Ill., native is third in Conference USA in assist-to-turnover ratio with 78 total assists and just 35 turnovers this season. He is also UAB's best 3-point shooter, hitting 33-of-80 (41.3 percent) from behind the arc.
Mr. Efficient Chris Cokley
» UAB freshman Chris Cokley, who is third on the team in scoring during Conference USA play with 8.6 points per game, has averaged just 14.6 minutes per contest in league action. Cokley is making the most of his time in the game, hitting 30-of-44 field goals (68.2 percent) during the last seven outings, which is the top mark in Conference USA in league games only.
UAB Winning At The Free-Throw Line
» UAB is currently tied for first in Conference USA in free-throw percentage. The Blazers have hit 303-of-414 (73.2 percent) free-throw shots this season. UAB has hit 87.3 percent of its free throws in the last three games and has hit 81.6 percent against conference foes. In the final minute of C-USA games, UAB is shooting 85.7 percent (36-of-42) from the line, led by guard Hakeem Baxter's perfect 14-for-14 mark from the free-throw stripe in the final two minutes of C-USA play.
» UAB has the top two free-throw shooters in league games only, with Tyler Madison's 17-of-18 (94.4 percent) mark and Hakeem Baxter's 23-of-25 (92.0 percent) clip from the stripe in C-USA games.
