The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
26-6
WKU
18-15
Blazers Fall to WKU in C-USA Tournament Quarterfinals
3/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
USATSI Photo Gallery 
Box Score (PDF)
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB men’s basketball team’s Birmingham win streak came to a sudden and painful close Thursday afternoon when the top seed Blazers dropped an 88-77 decision to No. 8 seed Western Kentucky in the Conference USA Championship at Legacy Arena.
“These are the tough locker rooms and it’s hard to explain the level of disappointment,” said UAB head coach Jerod Haase, whose team won the C-USA Tournament title a year ago in the same building and carried a 28-game Birmingham win streak into Thursday’s game. “It’s also something that we need to handle and move on from here. The game itself was unlike what we played this year. I don’t know that there’s been a time at UAB when we were outrebounded the way we were (today).”
The final rebound tally was decidedly in Western Kentucky’s favor. The Hilltoppers outrebounded the Blazers, 50-28, and scored 17 second-chance points.
However, that was really just the start of what was a tough day for the Blazers. UAB shot just 39.7 percent from the field, including 7-of-32 from outside the 3-point stripe, and rarely stopped the Hilltoppers from getting good shots around the basket.
It was certainly an uncharacteristic outing from a UAB team that won the C-USA regular-season title by three games.
“So many times this year, we’ve been able to make that big shot, make the defensive play, blocked shot or whatever, and that didn’t happen tonight,” said Haase, whose team fell to 26-6.
Both teams scored with ease early in the game, with Chris Cokley scoring six quick points and William Lee canning a pair of 3-pointers midway through the opening half. But Western Kentucky started to separate a bit and eventually enjoyed a 39-28 lead at halftime.
UAB began the second half with a lot of energy. Nick Norton got the bucket for a layup to open the scoring, and Robert Brown followed a minute later with a three-point play to cut the deficit to 39-33.
In a sign of things to come, Western Kentucky (18-15) calmly responded with six consecutive points to regain the momentum.
“It’s been a year when we’ve been able to be that team that made the big shots,” Haase said. “Tonight it was certainly the exact opposite. Any time we had any kind of charge in us at all, very rarely could we string two or three plays in a row together. I certainly give them a lot of credit for making those plays and having the guts to do it.”
The Blazers trailed by as many as 21 points in the second half but never fully went away. The Blazers eventually trimmed the deficit to 10 points – at 81-71 – after Hakeem Baxter’s bucket with 1:20 left. But Western Kentucky pulled away to advance to Friday’s semifinals.
“We fought hard to the end,” said Norton, who had eight points, five assists and three steals. “We got down too large of a deficit to make up and couldn’t make plays down the stretch.”
UAB now waits to find out its postseason fate, but the sting of Thursday’s loss will not melt away easily.
“As a coach, I always want answers to know why; but sometimes it’s just not in the cards,” Haase said. “It wasn’t in the cards today.”
For more information on UAB men's basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB), on Instagram (@blazerhoops) or on Facebook (Facebook.com/UABMensBasketball). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UABAthletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uabathletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
