Blazers Dominant in Victory over Mississippi College

Sunday, November 26

Bartow Arena

3:00 PM

UAB

4-3

Mississippi College

2-2

Mississippi College

UAB

Blazers Dominant in Victory over Mississippi College

11/26/2017 5:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – UAB head coach Robert Ehsan didn't schedule Mississippi College to serve as a confidence bridge between a trip to the Cayman Islands Classic and next Thursday's Gene Bartow Classic showdown with Memphis. That's just the way it worked out.

So, after three tough games in the Cayman Islands, the Blazers came home and ran away with a wire-to-wire 90-53 victory over Mississippi College. Now, they can take the good taste of a lopsided win, even if it was against a team from a lower division, into preparation for Thursday.

"It wasn't strategic, from a scheduling standpoint, it's just how it played out," Ehsan said. "I think it's good anytime that William Lee can see the ball go in the basket. I thought that was a positive. Lewis Sullivan scored 17. Guys feel better about themselves when they score points. I told them, whether we were playing or practicing today, we had to get better. I thought there were some things that we showed, especially early, that we got a little bit better on."

The start was certainly impressive for the Blazers. UAB (4-3) scored the first 10 points of the game and built a lead that eventually stretched to 41-11 with 5:33 left in the half. The Blazers didn't stop there and had a 52-16 lead at halftime.

It was a first half domination on both ends of the floor. UAB hit 19-of-31 shots from the field, which is 61 percent, and outscored Mississippi College, 24-8, in the paint. The Blazers limited the Choctaws (2-2) to 24.1 percent from the field and forced 11 turnovers in the first half.

"It was a big confidence booster," Lee said. "Down in the Cayman Islands, we left with a nasty taste in our mouth. We were focused on this game to get that confidence back and just to keep getting better."

In the second half, though, the Blazers weren't nearly as sharp as in the first half. At one point, after a few defensive mistakes, Ehsan called a timeout to stress his displeasure with his players, particularly with their defense on Choctaw guard Antonio Johnson, who had 19 points and four 3-pointers.

"Well I was really just challenging them to be more consistent and challenging them to play to our level," Ehsan said. "Johnson hit a couple of tough shots, but we needed to get back to just being consistent with our play. It doesn't matter the score, play hard as we can every play, continue to get better every single possession."

UAB responded to push the lead back out and finished strong.

Lee led the way as the Blazers put five players in double digits. Lee had 18 points, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and a steal. Sullivan had seven rebounds to go with his 17 points. Zack Bryant had 14 points and four assists, Chris Cokley had 13 points and Nate Darling had 10 points and five rebounds.

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