Roundup: Thursday, December 19th
Both basketball teams win a game and Colin Daniel is named AAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Last night: defeated Alabama A&M in Bartow, 96-67
Coming off one of the most frustrating losses in program history, a home game against Arkansas State in which they blew a 27-point lead, UAB got back on track by drubbing Alabama A&M 96-67. The Blazers move to 16-0 all-time against the Bulldogs, their best mark against any opponent, and 68-0 against the SWAC. Only nine of those games have been within single digits.
The Blazers grabbed an early lead and never looked back — KenPom graded the blowout one of the 150 most dominant games of the 2024-2025 season so far. Forward Christian Coleman turned in a career effort, scoring 12 of UAB’s first 17 points and finishing the night with a career-high 25. In the preview, I wrote: “The Bulldogs can swat shots at the rim, but their lack of skill makes their overall interior defense weak.” This was proven to be the case, as the Bulldogs recorded eight blocks (three more than UAB) but couldn’t contain the more skilled Coleman, who also grabbed 11 rebounds.
Kennedy referenced this dynamic in his postgame interview: “We felt like felt like we had an advantage with [Coleman’s] athleticism. They're big, but they're a little more lumbersome, so we were just trying to put him in space. I think seven big offensive rebounds is what really got him going. In the first half he had five offensive rebounds that led to at least eight, maybe ten points for him.”
This skill advantage was further evidenced by the effectiveness of the Blazers’ zone. As demonstrated at the beginning of the Southern Miss game, the 1-3-1 is a weapon that can overwhelm less athletic teams, and it was deployed to great success last night.
“I felt the 1-3-1 was effective early,” Kennedy said. “We turned them over six times in that in the first half, [they] end up with 18 turnovers.”
The Blazers’ dominance allowed Makhi Myles, Will Shaver, Marquis Hargrove, and Ryan Donohoo to see playing time. None scored save Hargrove, who made the only three-pointer he attempted, but Myles had an otherwise productive outing, logging 12 minutes, four rebounds, and a block.
UAB moves to 6-6 on the season with the win. They will take on Alcorn State — another SWAC opponent — on Sunday afternoon in Bartow. The Blazers moved from 147th in KenPom to 142nd, a number that ranks sixth in the AAC.
Notes:
A nice angle of Jaborri McGhee’s backboard alley-oop to Tony Toney.
The Banner’s recap of the game.
Yaxel Lendeborg played a season-low 18 minutes, nursing a bruised foot.
Greg Gordon missed the game with sickness.
Class of 2027 prospect TJ Byrd, a small forward out of Paul W. Bryant High School in Tuscaloosa, attended the game last night on an “unofficial visit.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Last night: defeated New Orleans in Bartow, 66-60
The women’s team strung together its second consecutive win last night, pulling out a hotly-contested victory 66-60 over the New Orleans Privateers of the Southland Conference. Super-senior Maddie Walsh posted 21 points on nearly 60% shooting, newcomer Journey Armstead turned in one of the finest games of her young career, finishing with 13 points and six assists, and forward Sara Bershers scored 11. Forward Jade Weathersby put up a workmanlike statline of zero points and nine rebounds.
The outcome was in question until the final moments of the game. The Privateers jumped on the Blazers early and led for most of the first half. A Rayne Tucker layup gave UAB a 34-33 advantage going into the locker room, an advantage Walsh would help extend in the third quarter, but New Orleans erased its deficit in the final period. Courtesy of center Nora Francois, the visitors stormed ahead with less than 90 seconds left on the game clock, taking a 60-59 lead.
It was then Walsh took over. Moments after Francois put New Orleans in front, the UAB guard caught the defense sleeping, reclaiming the lead with a cutting layup. The Privateers went back to Francois in the post, but Walsh stripped her, leading to an Armstead layup on the other end. Another defensive stop allowed UAB to run out the clock and escape with a win.
With the victory, the Blazers improve to 7-3, giving them the second-best record in the AAC. Analytics repository Barttorvik remains unimpressed, ranking UAB the 158th-best team in the nation and the fourth-worst team in the conference. Part of that is strength of schedule — although two of the Blazers’s losses came against Auburn and Clemson, they also dropped an ugly game to Jacksonville State and have no wins against Torvik top-200 teams. The women’s team also has a similar problem to the men’s team in that they’re offense-dominant, ranking just 238th in defense and forcing turnovers at a bottom-60 rate.
UAB will take on one of their hardest tests of the season tomorrow when they go on the road to face Torvik #137 Illinois State.
BASEBALL
The AAC baseball preseason poll and preseason All-Conference team, as voted on by the league’s coaches, were released yesterday. UAB received 27 votes and was picked to finish 8th/10.
The only UAB player selected to the preseason All-Conference team was junior pitcher Colin Daniel, who was named AAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year. According to UAB’s release, Daniel “is the first Blazer to be named to the Preseason All-Conference team since Christian Hall in 2023 and the first Blazer pitcher with Preseason All-Conference honors since Alex Luna in 2015.”
Daniel, a Corner native, has seen massive development since arriving in Birmingham in 2022. During his freshman season, Daniel posted a 9.26 ERA in 11.2 innings; just one year later, he cut his ERA to 3.13 while increasing his workload by 720%, becoming the Blazers’ most reliable starting pitcher.
FOOTBALL
Steve Irvine released a list of every UAB signee and transfer portal target.
Former UAB WR/PR Kam Shanks, now an Arkansas Razorback, was named a Sporting News First Team All-American punt returner yesterday.
Former UAB OL Delano Townsend has committed to Ole Miss.
Former UAB S Adrian Maddox visited Louisville yesterday and is visiting Nebraska tomorrow. On3 predicts Maddox will commit to Nebraska.
Former UAB LB Everett Roussaw is visiting Memphis today.
North Louisiana sports talk radio host Sean Fox reports that former UAB head coach Bryant Vincent is a “main target” for the open Jacksonville State job.