The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
NOTEBOOK: Balanced Scoring Continues For Blazers
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- UAB men's basketball coach Jerod Haase suggested on Thursday night that it wouldn't surprise him if his team put five players in double figures for the second consecutive game during Saturday's Conference USA game against Southern Miss. He added that it also wouldn't be surprising if some of the players scoring double figures were different from the five who hit that mark on Thursday night.
Turns out he was right on both counts. UAB did get five double figure scorers in Saturday's 78-68 win over Southern Miss and two of them were different.
Robert Brown (16 points), Hakeem Baxter (11) and Tosin Mehinti (11) all repeated their double figure scoring performance from Thursday night. This time, though, it was Tyler Madison (14) and C.J. Washington (10) joining them. On Thursday night, the other double figure scorers were Nick Norton and Chris Cokley.
It was the fifth time this season UAB had five double digit scorers in the same game and fourth time in past six games that the Blazers had at least four double figure scorers.
"It's just what everybody does," said Washington. "We've got a lot of scorers so every night it might be someone different. That's just our team, that's just how we share the ball."
That is really evident when you dig a little deeper and look at shot attempts. Brown had 11 shot attempts on Saturday but no one else had more than seven shots.
"I think it's difficult to scout and I think we have a lot of guys with the ability to shoot the basketball," Haase said of the shot distribution. "It's not something I strive for because at the end of the day, we're trying to get the guys playing to their strengths. If Tyler Madison can shoot 20 shots, I'm all for it if it's offensive rebound dunks every time. If it's Nick Norton shooting wide open 3s, I want him to shoot 20 times. It's more an issue of getting the shots we want (and) using their strengths but it is an awfully good thing to have a shot distribution like it is."
*Saturday's game got off to a strange start when UAB's Nick Norton opened the game shooting two free throws. Southern Miss was called for a technical foul for dunking in pregame warmups so Norton's free throws gave UAB a 2-0 lead before the clock started.
"That's a first," Haase said when asked if he'd ever seen that happen. "I tell you what, that's tough to do to step up and make two free throws before any of the clock has wound down. Nick did a nice job."
*Sophomore Tyler Madison reached double digits in points for the first time since scoring 11 points in back-to-back games against UCLA and Morehead State. However, he did much more than just score points in the win over Southern Miss. Madison added seven rebounds, including three on the offensive end, and helped set the tone on defense.
"We always need his energy," said Haase. "It's guy's roles and what we need from them, Tyler has to bring energy on the defensive end. One thing I think he can continue to get better at is the offensive rebounding. I think at San Antonio he had six offensive rebounds. That's something that was a big focus for him."
*UAB outrebounded a scrappy Southern Miss team, 38-35, with both teams collecting 16 offensive rebounds. UAB turned its offensive rebounds into 21 points while Southern Miss had just 12 second chance points.
Washington had a team-best eight rebounds while Mehinti and Madison each added seven rebounds. Mehinti also added three blocked shots, giving him eight this week.
