new uab guard tyren moore looks to follow in jelly walker’s footsteps

APRIL 15, 2024 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

By Steve Irvine

At 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, with the ability to score from long distance, Tyren Moore looks like a certain former UAB basketball player. And, you can rest assured that what Jordan “Jelly” Walker did on the court during his final two college seasons was part of Andy Kennedy’s spiel while recruiting Moore to UAB.

“First, Coach AK has an elite resume in terms of sending guards like me through to the next level and just preparing them for life after basketball,” Moore said. “I came down there and the coaching staff really showed love. I liked the campus. It just felt like home, as soon as I stepped down there in Birmingham.”

Moore said Jelly’s accomplishments were prominently display during his recruitment.

“They definitely showed me some comparisons there in terms of tapes and highlights and stuff,” said Moore, who played the past two seasons at Georgia Southern. “I definitely liked what I saw, for sure.”

Moore officially signed on Monday, joining fellow transfer portal addition Greg Demani Gordon, formerly of Iona, in joining the Blazers.

Technically, Moore is not a carbon copy of Walker, even though they are similar size and both can score from long range. As a combo guard, Moore is capable of scoring in bunches but also looks to get his teammates involved. In two seasons at Georgia Southern, he played in 65 games with 40 starts. Overall, he averaged 13.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists pe game with 132 2-pointers.

Moore had a breakout performance this past season. He averaged 17 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He was 73 of 180 (40.6 percent) on 3-pointers and 96 of 111 (86.5 percent) from the free throw line. He scored in double digits in 24 of 32 games, including a season-high 36 points in a season-ending loss to Appalachian State in a Sun Belt Tournament semifinal game. He scored at least 30 points in five games.

He decided to leave following the season.

“I was looking for a place to showcase myself on a bigger stage, to try to maximize my future potential, in terms of opportunities and things like that,” Moore said of his decision.

Before he got there, though, his career was shaped by where he started in college. Moore, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, earned all-state honors at Male High in Louisville. He began his college career at Moberly Area Community College in Moberly, Missouri.

“It’s a small town,” Moore said of Moberly, which has a population on around 13,000. “You could probably throw a football through the town (in) five yards. It was definitely tough at first. I was questioning it, but I stayed the course and it was the best for me.”

He averaged right at 13 points with 122 3-pointers over two seasons. More importantly, he set himself up for the future.

“Junior college, I think, is the reason that I’m here today,” Moore said. “It really gave me the grit and the toughness that I carry with me every day and everywhere I go. I feel like junior college really has a big impact on transfers that go to the D1 level. They have a different level of grit and toughness.”

He’ll use that approach to fit with the newcomers into a core group of UAB returnees that helped the Blazers return to the NCAA Tournament this past season. 

“That’s what gets me going, to think about what we can do next year with the guys coming back,” Moore said. “I watched a lot of film what they had going on last year. I was liking what I saw. They play really hard, they play really fast. I think we have the opportunity for some special things.”