UAB Falls To UC Irvine In NIT Quarterfinals
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 27, 2025
UAB’s long road through the NIT bracket came to a heartbreaking end on Wednesday night in Southern California. A team who has spent one day at home in the past 16 days saw the long journey conclude with an 81-77 overtime loss to top seed UC Irvine in a NIT quarterfinal game at the Bren Events Center.
The Anteaters, who won their 31st game of the season, moves on to play North Texas in the NIT semifinals on Tuesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. UAB finishes a season with one of its most painful losses during a rollercoaster season that didn’t meet preseason expectations.
Yaxel Lendeborg put this team on his shoulders from the time the season tipped off. In the final minutes of the season, however, he fell short. His opportunity to score the go-ahead points in the final seconds of regulation ended with a traveling call. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1 situation late in overtime and couldn’t finish on a pair of shots deep in the paint in the final seconds of overtime of what may have been his final game in a UAB uniform.
“Just left too many plays on the floor,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said during his postgame radio visit with David Crane on Blazers Sports Network from Learfield. “You know, you dance with who brought you. And we were trying to ride 3 (Lendeborg) as hard as we could. Maybe the burden of the season took its toll down the stretch, we weren't able to make any plays. I'm disappointed for the guys because I know they wanted to continue to play. But you gotta earn your way to a final four of anything. You've gotta earn that and tonight again, we left too many plays on the floor.”
The Blazers (24-13) found a way to lead for most of the first half and early part of the second half, largely thanks to the play of Christian Coleman. By halftime, Coleman had 15 points and eight rebounds as UAB carried a 36-31 into the second half. At the end of the game, he had 21 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and a block. Lendeborg finished the night with 13 points, 17 rebounds, a steal and four turnovers.
“Offensively, I thought (Coleman) made some plays,” Kennedy said. “He took 18 shots. I can't get Yax to shoot 18 balls. Chris shoots 18 balls. I thought he was active. They hurt us inside. It was a pretty good matchup. Our two guys go for 34 points and 31 rebounds. Their two guys (Devin Tillis and Bent Leuchten) go for 40 points and 21 rebounds. And at the end, they got the best out of us.”
It also hurt UAB that the Blazer guards didn’t provide consistent outside shooting to relieve the inside pressure. UAB hit 4-of-20 3-pointers with only one of those coming after halftime. Tyren Moore had a pair of 3-pointers but both came early in the game.
“It's been bad,” Kennedy said of his team’s outside shooting “Four for 20 on the road against a team that is gonna pack it in. You've got to take what the defense gives you and we have not shot it well all year. We've got to address that immediately in this transfer portal.”
Still the Blazers found a way to lead until midway through the second half. Turnovers, offensive inconsistency and some defensive lapses by UAB led to UC Irvine (31-6) taking a lead for the first time since early in the game. The teams traded the lead several times in the final nine minutes. UAB’s Butta Johnson hit a 3-pointer to give the Blazers a 67-64 lead with 1:11 remaining. But the Blazers allowed an open shooter and Che Myles drained a game-tying 3-pointer 12 seconds later. Two Lendeborg free throws were countered by a Tillis layup with 17 seconds remaining. UAB had a chance to win it in regulation but Lendeborg drove in the lane, picked up his dribble and was called for walking.
It was a one-possession game in overtime until the final seconds. UAB was leading 77-74 after a bucket by Ja’Borri McGhee with 1:33 on the clock. Once again, though, UAB allowed an open shooter and Tillis quickly tied the game on a 3-pointer. Leuchten’s short jumper with 31 seconds left gave UC Irvine a 79-77 lead. Johnson badly missed a 3-pointer but the Blazers got the ball back quickly after a UC Irvine turnover. That set up the final sequence, which began with 15 seconds left. Lendeborg took the ball from the top of the key and drove for a contested layup. He got the offensive rebound and went back with Leuchten in front of him. Lendeborg was unable to convert and Tillis was fouled while grabbing the rebound. Tillis then iced the game with two free throws.
Afterward, Kennedy was asked about his thoughts of the season as a whole.
“I don't really have any thoughts yet,” Kennedy said. “I would say this, it was a solid year for UAB basketball. Anytime you can win 24, get to the conference tournament finals and win two games on the road in the NIT. Is it where we want it to be, of course not. But it's a solid year. That's how I would term it. We've got some guys that, that'll be the last time they wear the Green and Gold. I really appreciate their efforts. It's a good group. And we'll be with them and help them find what's next in their basketball future.”