Head Coach Rob Ehsan directs players in Friday night’s game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Bartow Arena. Photo from UABsports.comJack Ryan - Staff Writerjackryan@uab.edu
The UAB men’s basketball team defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 86-66 in the first game of the regular season on Friday, Nov. 11.
Friday night’s win extended the team’s home court win streak to 26 games, which is the fifth longest win streak in the NCAA. It also marked the first time UAB has started a season 1-0 since 2013, and first year Head Coach Rob Ehsan’s first career win.
The UAB offense was lead by senior guard Tyler Madison. Madison totaled 16 points, shooting 5-6 from the field and 6-9 from the free throw line.
“Having this team around makes it easier for me,” Madison said. “With people like Dirk, Chris and HaHa, I can go in and do the dirty work.”
Madison will be an integral part of the team going forward, according to Ehsan.
“He shot nine free throws tonight, but he shot a whole lot more two years ago and that is because of his high energy,” Ehsan said. “He’s around the rim, he gets loose balls and rebounds. I mean 16 [points] and 7 [rebounds] in 15 minutes, I’m not surprised. He has just been playing like that in practice. He worked incredibly hard.”
Affectionately known as the defenders of “Blockingham,” the Blazers’ defense picked up right where they left off last season, during which they averaged 6.16 blocks per game. On Friday, they bested that mark with nine blocks in the game.
“The Mayor of Blockingham” William Lee had six blocks, three better than his 2.97 blocks per game last year.
UAB also unveiled its new up-tempo press defense for a good portion of the game. There were a couple of types used by UAB on Friday: the first being a full court zone defense used to keep the ball towards the side of the court, and the second a trap defense used to keep two defenders on one ball handler.
In the offseason, Ehsan mentioned that the team was working on these styles of defense, which aim to increase turnovers and chances for quick points.
“This is something we have been practicing a lot. We want to press and get some turnovers,” said senior guard Dirk Williams.
UAB wound up with 10 steals in the game, leading to 22 points off turnovers and 16 fast break points.
With around eight minutes left in the first half, junior starting point guard Nick Norton came down on the floor while going for a steal, immediately clutching his right knee. As of Saturday night, a spokesperson for the team confirmed to AL.com that Norton is out for the remainder of the season with an ACL injury.
“It was hard to see him go down,” Williams said. “Coach tried to tell us not to back up and get down and we just wanted to play hard for him.”
Earlier this week, Ehsan announced that Denzel Watts would be taking a redshirt season, but will Norton’s injury, Watts’ status has become unclear.
“We will be looking into all options on how to deal with this,” Ehsan said.
Friday’s game against Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Monday’s game against Furman were part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, the culminating event of which will be a tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. UAB will play Kansas on Monday, Nov. 21 and depending on that outcome of that game, will go on to play Georgia or George Washington.
The next home game will be against in-state rival Troy on Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in Bartow Arena.
