Blazers Find Edge In Second Half For Win Over SELA

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 10, 2024

Three games in seven days wasn’t enough for UAB men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy to figure out the Blazers identity as a team. Instead, just like the first two games, Kennedy left Bartow Arena shaking his head following an 82-72 win over Southeastern Louisiana in a non-conference game.

“What is our identity?” Kennedy said after his team improved to 2-1. “Could you write a column on our identity? I couldn’t write a column. What are we good at? Where are we with our strengths? Well, if we can be disruptive defensively, we can get people out in the open floor, we’re pretty good in the open floor. We're long and athletic. But to play that way, you have to play at maximum capacity. You can't play the way that this team is built to play in third gear. And yet, our guys want to play it in third gear. Why? Because they're human beings. And what do human beings want? They're always looking for the path of least resistance. And in basketball, I've got to get them past that. I really do. That's my responsibility.”

Sunday was a perfect example. UAB played without much purpose for a  long chunk of the first half. The Blazers led by five at the midway point of the first half. Southeastern Louisiana (1-1) then went on a 14-0 run to build a 30-21 lead with seven minutes remaining in the first half. UAB responded by outscoring the Lions by 10 in the final 6:35 to carry a 37-36 lead into halftime.

The late half surge did little to soothe Kennedy’s anger. And a big part of it was aimed toward UAB’s best player Yaxel Lendeborg, who had five points, four rebounds and two blocked shot at the break. He hit a 3-pointer but only attempted two shots from the field.

“I needed to be more assertive,” Kennedy said. “He didn't take a shot for the first seven minutes of the game. He's the preseason player of the year. He's a preseason All-American by some publications. Those guys need to be the Alphas. Again, that's part of the transformation of Yaxel. He played Division I basketball for the first time last year. You guys didn't even know who he was this time last year, right? He didn't really do anything to garner your attention. He evolved into a terrific player, a lot of expectation in this year. You've got to take the next step in your maturation. You've got to be the Alpha. You've got to be the guy that settles things down. Give me the ball. I'm going to put us where we need to be. And I was just trying to encourage him to do that.”

Lendeborg said Kennedy sent that message and much more in the halftime locker room.

“He came in there fired up,” Lendeborg said. “He talks about the word edge. He screamed at the top of his lungs like six times in a row. And that's just like, if you don't get into after that, then you're doing something wrong. Yeah, he came in with a lot of fire, and brought it into me and I put it out on the court.”

Lendeborg was a different player after halftime. His second half numbers included 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, 1 of 1 on 3-pointers and 2-of-2 from the line. He added four rebounds, an assist and a steal while playing all but one minute after halftime. He was also a big part of a surge that saw UAB turn the one-point halftime lead into an advantage that stretched to 19 points.

“To our guys' credit, second half, I thought we were tremendous,” Kennedy said.

Christian Coleman had his second career double-double with most of his production coming in the first half. Coleman finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Tony Toney, who Kennedy was the player of the game, had 11 points, including his first 3-pointer of the season, three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Greg Gordon had 10 points, five rebounds and an assist. UAB outscored the Lions in points in the paint (50-28), points off turnovers (18-10), second chance points (17-9), fast break points (29-5) and bench points (25-21).

UAB follows the busy week but doesn’t play again until next Friday’s visit to High Point, which won twice this week.