Lendeborg dominant in record setting performance against East Carolina
By Steve Irvine
FORT WORTH, TEXAS - March 15, 2025
Andy Kennedy wanted at least 15 shots from Yaxel Lendeborg in Friday night’s American Athletic Conference quarterfinal game against East Carolina. He got that with one to spare. Kennedy also got a lot more from his star player. What he got was a historical performance from the 6-foot-9 senior in the 94-77 victory over East Carolina in the final quarterfinal of the night at Dickies Arena.
We’ll begin with the numbers. Lendeborg had 30 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists, five steals, four blocked shots and no turnovers while playing the entire 40 minutes. He became the second player in AAC history to compile at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in a conference tournament and is the only player in AAC Tournament and UAB school history to prove a 30-point, 20-rebound effort. He also tied the AAC Tournament record for single game rebounds.
It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime performance from a player capable of doing it again.
“He did a great job of just dominating the game,” said Kennedy, whose team won the 2024 AAC Tournament on this same floor and now advances to play North Texas on Saturday at 4 p.m. “Look at his stat line. Incredible, incredible performance. He started leading us and as a result, the floor started shrinking and we were having angles to make plays. So really proud of my guys to get No. 1 in our journey to repeat.”
As usual, as Kennedy said, it all began with Lendeborg.
“Well, it's do or die,” Kennedy said. “You need your all-league players to play like all-league players. He was the (AAC) Preseason Player of the Year for a reason, because of what he had done throughout the course of last season. And I think he really made improvements throughout the course of this year. People are guarding him differently and that took a little bit of an adjustment because it's a new role for him. But I was really proud that he came out and played assertive. I talk about it all the time. Play with force, do everything with authority, and I thought he certainly did that tonight.”
But he also shared the basketball, as witnessed by being just two assists short of reaching the elusive triple-double he’s been chasing all year.
“I enjoy doing that,” Lendeborg said. “I watch a lot of big guards play and the way they facilitate the ball, and that's one of my favorite things to do. So whenever I can get one of my teammates open, I would always do that first. But Coach here wants me to go score first, so I'm still trying to adjust to that. But today was a good example for me to see what I can do when I get the ball that much.”
It was Lendeborg who sparked a turnaround after a sluggish few minutes. Once he got going, though, the Blazers got going and put together one of their better first halves of the season. The Blazers (21-11 overall) led, 49-33, at halftime and it didn’t really feel that close. Tony Toney hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half and Christian Coleman gave UAB a spark with nine first-half points. And Lendeborg flirted with a first half triple-double as he finished the initial 20 minutes with 14 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
“It's always motivation to come out and play against a team that you lost to,” said Toney, a fifth-year senior who had his first career double-double. “Just coming out with that pop that we didn't have in the first game and continue to do what we know how to do.”
In that first meeting, ECU’s CJ Walker had 29 points. On Friday, he quietly had 10 points and two rebounds. That was a big factor in the game but the Blazers had trouble stopping RJ Felton, who scored 31 points and hit five 3-pointers. Felton also led the way as the Pirates (19-14 overall) chipped away at the lead and trimmed the deficit to as low as seven points in the final minutes.
“I just thought we were losing our focus,” Kennedy said. “Thankfully we were able to get the stops. Then we had about a three-possession stretch where we got stops that led to baskets for us, which, obviously, got us the margin that I was looking for.”
UAB outrebounded the Pirates, 43-29, overall and 13-7 on the offensive glass. The Blazers won points in the paint (46-30), second chance points (14-6) points off turnovers (10-4) and bench points (18-14). UAB had 22 assists and six turnovers and made 19-of-22 free throws. Lendeborg, Coleman (13 points), Alejandro Vasquez (12 points), Toney (11 points) and Ja’Borri McGhee (10 points) all reached double digit scoring.
With the win, UAB extends a streak of winning at least one game in the conference tournament. The last time the Blazers suffered a first game defeat came in 2016 when Jerod Haase’s regular season championship team lost to Western Kentucky in their first game of a tournament played at the BJCC. Kennedy, who has taken his team into the championship game the past three seasons, improved to 10-2 in AAC Tournament games. Afterward, ECU head coach Michael Schwartz said UAB is capable of even more.
“UAB, I said it in the press conference yesterday after the game, I think that's an NCAA-caliber tournament team,” Schwartz said. “I think they have a -- he's the Player of the Year in this league, along with (Memphis guard) PJ Haggerty. I mean, that performance today, for them to go out and do that and him to play like that, again, that's up there with some of the best, sitting there as a coach, that I've been a part of coaching against. I mean, he was dynamic.”
Friday’s quarterfinal scores
Memphis 83, Wichita State 80
Tulane 83, FAU 76
North Texas, Tulsa
UAB 94, ECU 77
Saturday’s semifinal games
Memphis vs. Tulane, 2 p.m.
UAB vs. North Texas, 4 p.m.