Arkansas State Beats Blazers Behind 36-Point Swing
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - December 16, 2024
The best 20 minutes of the season for the UAB men’s basketball team was followed by an excruciating 25 minutes. Put the first half, second half and overtime together and you get a hard-to-explain 98-89 UAB loss to Arkansas State at Bartow Arena.
On the scoreboard, UAB led 53-28 after the first half. Arkansas State won the second half, 56-31, and the Red Wolves outscored the Blazers, 14-5, in the five-minute overtime. According to Arkansas State sports information, it was the largest comeback win in Division I since 2018 and the Red Wolves became the sixth team in Division I history to win after trailing by 25 points or more.
“I've been doing this a long time, man, I don’t know if I've ever been a part of anything like that,” said UAB head coach Andy Kennedy, whose team fell to 5-6 in non-conference play. “It’s a tale of two halves. I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but it's the same issues, man. Unless those issues get fixed, the season's gonna go right in the ditch. There's no edge. We’re just not as resilient, man. It's a reflection of leadership, it starts with me. Very, very disappointed.”
The first half was a thing of beauty for the Blazers, who outscored Arkansas, 42-13, over the final 15 minutes before halftime. During that time, UAB hit 47.2 percent of their shots from the field, made 7-of-18 3-pointers, had 13 dunks or layups and had 12 assists with five turnovers. On the defensive end, UAB limited Arkansas State to 30.3 shooting from the field, including just 1 of 13 on 3-pointers, and forced 11 turnovers. A big part of the success on the defensive end came because of the 1-3-1 defense.
“First half, we were schematically able to get into (the 1-3-1) and it bothered them some,” Kennedy said. “Second half, we didn't score, so you can't get into it on the misses. And then we've had five days, really, where we've been preparing for Arkansas State. (They run) kind of a ghost screen. The guy comes up, like he's going to set a screen, and he just slips it. We were (supposed to be) switching all of that. We just decided not to. (Guys said) I didn't hear him. We just allowed them to get downhill. They crushed us on points in the paint, they crushed us on (points off turnovers). All the areas that we were winning, handily in the first half, hence the 25-point lead, they dominated in the second half. And then it comes down to can you make a play – whether it be an offensive play or defensive play. They made them all down the stretch.”
UAB shot just 37.5 percent in the second half, and made only 2-of-10 3-pointers. Arkansas State shot 59.5 percent from the field in the second half and was 6-of-11 on 3-pointers. A large chunk of the second half production for Arkansas State came from Taryn Todd and Kobe Julien, who combined for 34 points and five 3-pointers in the second half.
Arkansas State (9-3) took its first second half lead with 4:54 left in the game. They never trailed again. UAB tied the game at 84 on a Yaxel Lendeborg dunk with 8.5 seconds left in regulation and forced overtime with a defensive stop. Arkansas State opened the scoring in overtime on a Julien 3-pointer. UAB’s final points came on Tyren Moore’s sixth 3-pointer of the game with 1:22 left in overtime. Arkansas State scored the game’s final seven points.
Lendeborg and Moore each scored 22 points. Lendeborg added 12 rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots and a steal. Moore added three rebounds, three steals and three assists. Efrem “Butta Johnson and Ja’Borri McGhee each added 10 points with McGhee adding three rebounds, four assists and two steals.
UAB closes out non-conference play next week with home games against Alabama A&M on Wednesday and Alcorn State on Sunday.