Ezewiro leads blazers past alcorn state
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - December 22, 2024
Bradley Ezewiro closed the non-conference portion of the UAB men’s basketball schedule with his best game in a Blazer uniform.
The 6-foot-9, 265-pound junior, who played at Georgetown, St. Louis and LSU before coming to UAB, was perfect on 14 shot attempts – four from the field and nine from the free throw line, in the Blazers 91-74 victory over Alcorn State on Sunday afternoon at Bartow Arena.
Tally up his production and Ezewiro had a season-high 19 points to go along with four rebounds and a blocked shot in 17 minutes and 30 seconds. He drew a game-high six fouls against Alcorn State players. He just missed a career-high, which he set last January when he scored 20 points for St. Louis in a game against Davidson. He also scored 19 points playing for Georgetown against Providence in the 2022-23 season. His most productive game at UAB came when he had 17 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Auburn Montgomery.
“We're his fourth school in four years,” said UAB head coach Andy Kennedy. “That’s a lot of moving boxes in his past. Kid looks like a brute, right? But he's got such a gentle spirit. It's the fourth time that he's had to learn new plays, new terminology, new expectations, new everything.”
Kennedy compared his progression to a year ago when Yaxel Lendeborg and Christian Coleman, who were coming from junior college, took some time to get accustomed to Division I basketball.
My hope is that he's, even though he's not a junior college kid, if you remember last year, our JUCO guys, especially Chris and Yax, started finding their form right around Christmas,” Kennedy said. “And then it helped them propel into being really good players in conference. My hope is that that's what Brad's going to do too. My hope is that that is his trajectory. Today was a great example of him being aggressive at the basket. I don't like the fact that he only had one defensive rebound. But he had pretty productive minutes in just under 18 for the game.”
Ezewiro admitted afterward that the adjustment to a new team hasn’t come easily.
“The first couple of games, I wasn't shooting the ball well, wasn't really defending the way I should have,” Ezewiro said. “But I just needed a game kind of to hang my hat on and just know that I can do it at this level with this team. You know, we have a really talented team, a lot of good frontcourt guys, a lot of good guards. So just trying to find your way every night and just try to find where you fit in every single day. I find joy in that finding what I can do for this team every single day.”
He was part of a balanced effort on Sunday with five players finishing in double digits and two more finishing with seven points. Coleman and Alejandro Vasquez finished with 15 points each. Coleman added four rebounds and four assists and Vasquez tied his season-best with three 3-pointers. Lendeborg flirted with a triple-double before finishing with 14 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Tony Toney had 11 points, three 3-pointers, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
UAB played without Greg Gordon, who missed his second consecutive game, and Makhi Myles due to illness.
UAB, which led by as many as 27 points, completes non-conference play with a 7-6 record. They have plenty of time to rest before beginning American Athletic Conference play on Dec. 31 at North Texas.
“I'm going to do a lot of things in excess - Christmas carols, cookies, maybe a Yuletide here and there,” Kennedy said. “And then we're gonna come back and we're gonna get to work. There's very few times during the season that you have a chance to hit the reset button. There's nothing you can do about these 13 (non-conference games), other than learn. It's not nearly what any of us expected, but what's done is done. Now, what can we do moving forward? The conference play gives us a reset.”