Lendeborg, Coleman bring Balance In Win over North Texas
Photo courtesy of UAB Athletics and Ken Shepherd
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 4, 2025
The question was posed to UAB’s Yaxel Lendeborg in the moments following a 64-61 slugfest victory over North Texas in a crucial nationally televised American Athletic Conference game on Monday night at Bartow Arena.
Does UAB win the game without the contribution of Christian Coleman?
“No,” Lendeborg said without hesitation. “I'm a big believer in whenever Chris goes good, we have a good game. The presence that he brings, the action that he brings, the energy, everything, is good for us. I'm really happy whenever Chris does good.”
On a night when nothing came easy on the offensive end, Coleman had 13 points, hitting 6-of-9 from the floor and 1-of-2 from the free throw line, to join Lendeborg (17 points) and Alejandro Vasquez (10 points) in double digits. He had eight rebounds, two blocked shots, one steal and one assist. He handled part of the assignment of battling Moulaye Sissoko, particularly after Lendeborg drew his second foul late in the first half, and helped limit the North Texas big man to two points over the final 29 minutes. He made plays that didn’t show up in the box score. Most of all, he turned things around after three consecutive subpar games.
“Yeah, I always talk to him about it,” Lendeborg said of Coleman’s response following his recent struggles. “He talks to me as well like he did today. He just felt like the devil was on him. So we had a little praying moment about it, to let him know that God is with us, and God is always going to be on his shoulder no matter what. After that moment, I feel like he started to believe a little bit more in himself. Today was a breakout game and I felt like next game he’s going to be even more.”
Coleman had some important defensive plays down the stretch. But the final defensive stop came largely because of Ja’Borri McGhee. UAB was clinging to the three-point lead after Lendeborg hit a pair of free throws with 9.5 seconds remaining. North Texas (16-6 overall, 7-3 AAC) inbounded the ball and raced quickly up the court. Jasper Floyd got the ball on the left wing with McGhee guarding him closely. Floyd couldn’t shake free but had no options when looking to pass the ball. With the clock running down, Floyd threw the ball toward the basket but it sailed long and UAB (15-8 overall, 8-2 AAC) moved into sole possession of second place in The American standings.
“It’s just big to protect home court,” said Kennedy, whose team won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 11-3 at Bartow Arena this season. “We didn't do a great job of that in the non-league we're undefeated (at home) so far in league play. I thought we had a good crowd and I thought it would have been a little better if it wasn't a little later tip but anytime you got a chance to play on the national platform, we were a standalone game, really one of four college basketball games on (Monday night). A lot of people were viewing that typically don't see us. It wasn't a typical game for us, we're probably you know about 20 points under our average as it relates to points. But I thought we showed a lot of pride in making the plays needed to be made to beat a quality team.”
Lendeborg had his 15th double-double, which is tied for third best in the country. In addition to the 17 points, he had 13 rebounds, three assists, three steals, a blocked shot and three turnovers. He said afterward that he was still less than 100 percent because of an illness. Vasquez had 10 points, but was just 4-of-16 from the field and missed all five of his 3-pointers. UAB narrowly topped North Texas in points off turnovers (17-16), rebounds (31-29), offensive rebounds (12-8), second chance points (14-11), points in the paint (42-38), fastbreak points (11-7) and free throws (10-of-13 to 7-of-11).
The two teams split the regular seasons series. UAB, which won three times in the past six days,has an weeklong break before playing at East Carolina on Feb. 11.