The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
2023-24 Men's Basketball Roster
Gaines, Eric
Jersey Number 4
Eric Gaines
- Position:
- Guard
- Prev School:
- LSU
- Height:
- 6-2
- Weight:
- 165
- Class:
- Junior
- Hometown:
- Lithonia, Ga.
- High School:
- Lithonia
Bio
Second-Year Sophomore Season at UAB (2022-23)*
- Honorable Mention All-Conference USA
- Conference USA Preseason All-Conference Team
- Appeared in 39 games, making 29 starts
- Led the Blazers with 168 assists, tied for 10th in program history for a single season
- Averaged 11.5 points and 4.3 assists per game
- Made an impact on the defensive end with 72 steals and 25 blocks
- Scored a career-high 22 points at Louisiana Tech (1/12/23)
- Recorded a pair of points-assists double-doubles vs. Presbyterian (11/16/23) and vs. Middle Tennessee (2/11/23)
- Made SportsCenter’s Top Ten Plays twice during the season with highlight reel dunks
- Played in all 34 games with eight starts
- Averaged 9.0 points, 3.3 rebounds. 2.9 assists and 2.1 steals
- Recorded 14 games scoring in double figures, including five straight – at Tennessee 10 (1/22/22), Texas A&M 16 (1/26/22), at TCU 14 (1/29/22), Ole Miss 16 (2/1/22), at Vandy 14 (2/5/22)
- The two 16-point games were his college career highs
- Registered 16 career double figure scoring games
- Helped lead the Tigers to their NCAA top steals average with 70 total steals (Third in the SEC, 11th in the nation)
- His steals average also ranked third in the league and 29th in the NCAA
- Tallied 12 games of three steals or more, highlighted by five vs. Liberty (11/15/21)
- Logged seven games of five assists or more, highlighted by seven vs. ULM (11/9/21) and six vs. McNeese (11/18/21), vs. Lipscomb (12/22/21) and at TCU (1/29/22)
- Recorded four games of six rebounds
- Made 96-of-121 free throws (79.3%), ranking 12th in the SEC in free-throw percentage
- Averaged 26.8 minutes per game
- In the NCAA Tournament game with Iowa State (3/18/22), he posted his 100th career steal, making him the 38th player since steals became an official NCAA statistic to record 100 steals
- His 70 steals for a season ranked tied for 14th all-time at LSU
- Played in all 29 games, averaging 2.5 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.2 rebounds a game
- Two games of 10 points against SEC teams
- Scored 10 when filling in for the injured Cameron Thomas at Ole Miss (1/9/21)
- Against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament (3/13/21), hit 3-of-7 field goals with a trey and three free throws to go with five rebounds, an assist and a block
- Had five rebounds as well to go with four steals in the quarterfinal game against Ole Miss (3/12/21)
- Played 10 minutes in each of the NCAA Tournament games
- Started the Nicholls State game (12/26/20), playing 15 minutes
- Eight games with two or more assists, topped by the four at Kentucky (1/23/21) and four against Auburn (2/20/21)
- Made 5 three-pointers during the season and was 32-of-44 at the charity stripe (72.7%).
- Four-star recruit ranked No. 88 in the 247sports.com rankings and No. 11 combo guard in the country
- Averaged 18.6 points, 4.0 assists and 2.7 steals for Lithonia as a senior, making 56 percent of his field goal attempts overall and 44 percent from three-point range
- Lithonia was 26-4 under coach Wallace Corker
- Atlanta Journal Constitution All-Metro DeKalb County POY
- First Team AJC 5A All-State
- Georgia Coaches Association 5A North Player of the Year
- First Team AJC Atlanta All-Metro (DeKalb County).
- Nickname is “DaReal1”
- Born on Jan. 19, 2001, in New Jersey
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Wednesday, September 03
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