PREVIEW: Mountaineers Head to Birmingham as Road Dogs
The West Virginia Mountaineers are on the road as underdogs (+3.5) in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Basketball Classic at Legacy Arena against the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers Saturday at 5:00 pm with the game televised on CBS Sports Network.
Blazers head coach Andy Kennedy is in his second year at the helm after guiding Ole Miss to nine 20-win seasons in 12 years. Prior to Kennedy's arrival, the Rebels only had seven 20-win seasons in program history. In his first season at UAB, the Blazers went 22-7, including 13 conference wins, ranking second in program history and the most since the 2015-16 season (16). His 31-9 mark in his first 40 games at UAB is a program best.
Andy is a great offensive mind, and he was a great player," said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.
UAB is currently sitting at 9-2 on the year with notable a win over Saint Louis, which is ranked 68th in the NET rankings, and a two-point loss to 26th San Francisco in the Las Vegas Invitational.
The Blazers sit 20th nationally in scoring, averaging 82.7 ppg and first in the NCAA in steals at 13.1 per game. Senior guard Quan Jackson is sixth nationally in steals, averaging 2.8 per game.
"They force turnovers," said Huggins. They continuously switch defenses, which I think throws people off guard."
Dec 12, 2021; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers players celebrate after defeating the Kent State Golden Flashes at WVU Coliseum.
Guard Jordan "Jelly" Walker leads UAB in scoring at 16.4 points per game while averaging a team-leading 4.6 assists per game. He spent his first season at Seton Hall before transferring to Tulane, where he averaged 8.0 ppg as a sophomore and 13.0 ppg last season. The Port Washington, NY native, hit a career-high 26 points in the 86-73 win over New Mexico in the semifinals of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Quan Jackson is entering his second season with the Blazers after spending his first three years at Georgia Southern, where he scored 1,141 career points, averaging 11.8 ppg. Jackson averaged 14.8 ppg in the first five games, but his production has dipped the last six outings, hitting double figures in just two of the appearances and averaging 9.0 ppg.
Senior guard Michael Ertel led UAB in scoring last season with 13.2 ppg but has only hit double figures once in the previous five games and is averaging 10.0 ppg on the season.
In the middle is 7'0" center Trey Jemison is averaging 8.0 rebounds per game to go with 7.4 points per game. He's notched two double doubles on the year and earned a spot on the Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament Team after producing 22 points and 19 rebounds in the two games.
"Well, obviously, we got to block him out. We may have to send a couple of guys at him," said Huggins. "We'll have to see how it goes, but (forward) Pauly (Paulicap) has done a pretty good job on big kids, and (forward) Isaiah (Cottrell) is six-foot-11."
Junior forward KJ Buffen has had a strong showing in the last four games, averaging a double double 14.0 points and 10.0 rebounds.
The Mountaineers enter the game with a 9-1 record, including knocking off No. 17 Connecticut and Kent State last week.
Senior guard Taz Sherman is sixth nationally and second in the Big 12 Conference, scoring at 21.8 points per game, while his counterpart Sean McNeil has averaged 16.3 ppg in the last three outings.
West Virginia has had a week to prepare during final exams. However, Huggins commented that it had not hampered the Mountaineers' ability to run scheduled practices, but the jury is still out whether the extra time will be beneficial.
This is the first meeting between the two programs since the 1991-92 season. West Virginia is 1-2 all-time versus UAB.
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