UAB Blazers Prepare HOST TULANE IN KEY AAC GAME

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - January 6, 2025

Fastbreak points should be a key for UAB in Tuesday night’s American Athletic Conference game against visiting Tulane.

The Blazers are at their best when they turn defensive stops into offensive opportunities. No team in the country has scored more fastbreak points than the the Blazers, who average 20.1 points per game on the break.

“I think we need points in the open floor,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy after his team outscored Tulsa, 20-12, in fastbreak points during a Blazer win on Saturday. “I think it's when we're at our best, but you can't do that if you're not getting stops. It's hard to fast break off against a set defense. So when we get stops, I think it allows us to get out of the open floor and make plays.”

The numbers suggest that UAB (8-7 overall, 1-1 AAC) should have a big advantage in that area during Tuesday’s game, which will tip off at 6:30 p.m. at Bartow Arena. The Green Wave averages 10.87 fastbreak points per game, which is tied for 152nd in the country. Tulane did win the fastbreak point category in a pair of AAC wins. The Green Wave outscored Charlotte, 12-4, on the break in the conference opener and had a commanding 28-8 advantage over UTSA on Saturday.

Figuring out what Kennedy calls an “unorthodox” style of Tulane employing a matchup zone for 40 minutes is perhaps a bigger concern. Tulane leads the conference and is 13th in the country in field goal defense with opponents shooting 37.9 from the field against the Green Wave. They limit opponents to 67.2 points per game, which is third best in the conference.

The Green Wave (8-7 overall, 2-0 AAC) has six players getting the bulk of the minutes. Kaleb Banks, Rowan Brumbaugh and Kam Williams each average more than 30 minutes per game. Those three also lead Tulane in scoring. Banks, who played two seasons at Indiana, has established himself as one of the top players in the conference with 18.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He can score in the paint and also has 25 3-pointers. Brumbaugh, a 6-foot-4 Georgetown transfer, averages 14.2 points and 4.9 points from his point guard position. Williams, a 6-foot-8 true freshman, averages 10.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and has a team-best 35 3-pointers.

Tulane gets just 15.4 points per game from its bench players, which is tied for 330th in the country. UAB gets 28.4 points per game from its bench players, which is 49th in the country. UAB had 35 bench points, with 27 of those points coming from Alejandro Vasquez, in Saturday’s AAC win over Tulsa.