Inconsistent OFFENSE Haunts UAB In Road Loss To High Point

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 16, 2024

A frustrating and sometimes downright ugly night of basketball came down to two possessions on Friday night inside the Qubein Arena on the campus of High Point University.

High Point took advantage of defensive breakdown and converted with a dunk on its final possession. UAB didn’t come close to converting, throwing up a pair of contested 3-point shot airballs, on its final possession, which allowed the Panthers to escape with a 68-65 non-conference victory over the Blazers.

“I just told our team, we need to reflect on what happened at the end and here's what happened at the end,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said on his postgame radio appearance on the Blazer Sports Network from Learfield. “We go and we're sitting in help, but they get a dunk. It's a one-point game and they get a dunk. And we can't get a (clean) shot off. It really is kind of epitomizes what I see most every day. We've got so much that we've got to get better at and I've got to get my guys to understand that.”

Not a bunch went right for the Blazers for most of Friday night’s game. UAB was frigid at the start but came back to trail by one point at halftime. UAB started the second half in similar fashion and trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half. But the Blazers kept competing and somehow trimmed the deficit to 66-65 after two free throws by Efrem “Butta” Johnson with 47 seconds left in the game.

High Point worked the clock down before guard D’Maurian Williams drove close to the basket. Yaxel Lendeborg came over to help on Williams, leaving Kimani Hamilton wide open underneath. Williams found Hamilton, who dunked the ball to give High Point a three-point lead with 24 seconds remaining. UAB hustled up the court and called a timeout with 21 seconds left to draw up a potential game-tying play.

“Well, I was trying to get Tyren Moore with a 5-1 ball screen,” Kennedy said. “He rejected it and went the other way, so that play's busted. And then, you know, we panicked a little bit. You can still go take a two. I thought Butta had a lane to the rim. We should have gone and taken a two, extended the game. We chose not to, and then I've got a timeout, but when I look up and there's about eight seconds to play, it's probably best to try to get one out of a broken floor.”

Johnson took the first 3-pointer with a defender up close to him. The short was considerably short and Lendeborg grabbed the rebound. Lendeborg dribbled quickly to the corner but didn’t have time to set himself and shot wildly toward the basket.

It was a frustrating end to a frustrating night, even though Johnson busted out of his early-season slump. Johnson led the way with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, 5-of-9 on 3-pointers and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. During the first three games, Johnson scored a total of 12 points and was 2-of-13 on 3-pointers. Lendeborg was the only other Blazer in double figures, even though he was ineffective in the first half. He finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds, an assist, two blocked shots and two steals.

High Point (4-0) outscored UAB, 36-16, in the paint and forced 14 UAB turnovers. The Blazers (2-2) shot 34.5 percent from the field and were 20 of 28 from the free throw line.