Vasquez powers UAB To huge win over tulsa

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - January 4, 2025

The UAB men’s basketball team played what head coach Andy Kennedy said could have been their best defensive game of the season. And Alejandro Vasquez had a similar type of game that he put together in last season’s American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.

Put those two things together and the Blazers enjoyed an 83-51 AAC victory over Tulsa in a Saturday afternoon matinee at Bartow Arena.

It started with a defensive effort that limited Tulsa leading scorer Keaston Willis to four points and held the Golden Hurricane’s third leading scorer Tyshawn Archie to no points. Willis, who is second in the AAC with 41 3-pointers, and Archie were a combined 2 of 15 overall and missed all seven of their shots outside the arc. As a team, Tulsa shot 33.3 percent from the field, hit 4 of 19 3-pointers and turned the ball over 14 times. Yaxel Lendeborg had four of the Blazers’ seven blocked shots and UAB had seven steals.

“We just tried to make sure that we didn't let (Willis) get comfortable with his touches and our guys did a great job,” Kennedy said. “I thought we lost him one time and he just didn't have any rhythm and he missed it. So we were fortunate that it wasn't his night. I thought our guys did a really good job. (It was), by far, our best defensive performance of the year. Now that ceiling was pretty low, obviously, but by far our best 40 minutes. They were averaging around 75, 76, I think, coming in, to hold them to 51 points and about 33 percent clip was pretty impressive. I was proud of our guys and the effort they gave to the defensive team.”

Vasquez stood out on the offensive end. The 6-foot-4 senior made 10 of his season-high 20 shots, hitting 4 of 9 from 3-point range, and was 3 of 4 from the free throw line. He finished with 27 points, which was two points shy of his career high set in the championship game win over Temple last March. He also added two assists and two steals. At one point, in the first half, he was 4 of 5 on 3-pointers and he had 14 points as UAB took a 42-22 lead into halftime.

For Vasquez, it was his third consecutive game in double figures. Over that time, he is 19 of 39 from the field, 9 of 20 on 3-pointers and 12 of 13 from the free throw line.

“I feel like I was in a slump,” said Vasquez, who was 3 of 15 from 3 in the four games before beginning his hot streak. “I kind of got out of my slump. It took me a little while, but I’m definitely confident now. I mean, I just was thinking too much.”

On Saturday, the Blazers also got strong games from Christian Coleman (14 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot) and Ja’Borri McGhee (12 points, three assists, no turnovers, two 3-pointers). Lendeborg stuffed the box score with nine points, 11 rebounds and four assists to go along with the four blocked shots.

UAB rebounded nicely from losing a big halftime lead in a conference opening loss at North Texas. The Blazers remain at home for Tuesday’s AAC game against Tulane, which improved to 2-0 in conference play with a 92-63 win over UTSA on Saturday.