Marshall vs UAB Basketball Recap

Memphis 70, UAB 65

It happened again.

In the year when Memphis fell from its usual place of prominence, in the year when the Tigers no longer owned Conference USA or dominated the college basketball scene, the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers still couldn't overcome their most persistent and omnipresent adversary.

There's no time for Coach Mike Davis's UAB team to sulk or moan, because a season-shaping showdown awaits this Saturday at UTEP. If the Blazers can't go into the West Texas town and pull out a victory against the Miners, they'll once again be in big trouble as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned. Yet, UAB finds itself in such a predicament because the boys from Birmingham once again failed to win at home against the men from Memphis.

The focus in the UAB locker room must be entirely fixed on UTEP at the moment, but for fans and writers and other people who can afford to talk about such matters, this missed opportunity against Memphis represents a big psychic blow for Blazer basketball. Given the fact that Memphis no longer towered over the rest of C-USA with coach John Calipari and the stud recruits he regularly brought to the state of Tennessee, UAB needed to register a breakthrough against a foremost rival. If UAB was to become "The Next Big Thing" in C-USA, it needed to beat the league's signature program at a time when Memphis and new bench boss Josh Pastner were in the midst of a rebuilding phase.

But after Wednesday night's game at Bartow Arena, the same old song and dance - Memphis and its Beale Street basketball blues - continues to haunt the UAB program.

Memphis came into Birmingham and once again lowered the boom against the Blazers. Despite failing to score for a stretch of five minutes and 52 seconds midway through the second half, the visiting Tigers reprised their role as Lucy to UAB's Charlie Brown. In a mixed but meaningful sports metaphor, the Tigers once again pulled away the football at the last instant, leaving a fooled kicker crestfallen and more than a little humiliated.

It was not supposed to be this way for Alabama-Birmingham's ballclub. The Blazers beat Butler and Cincinnati to establish themselves as a prime at-large candidate for the NCAA Tournament, but as is the case with any team that excels in non-conference play, the conference season must witness a reasonable continuation of the quality that emerged in November and December. This loss to Memphis - a result of horrible field goal shooting (21 of 65, or 32 percent) and even worse 3-point shooting (just 3 of 24) - means that UAB is now 0-3 against the top two teams in Conference USA, the second-place Tigers and the champion Miners.

A series split with Memphis would have put UAB over the top in the eyes of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, but a loss now means that if UAB can't win Saturday's aforementioned encounter with UTEP, the Blazers will be 0-4 against the league's former standard bearer (Memphis) and its current one in 2010 (UTEP). It's not too much to ask that UAB win at least one game against C-USA's standout squads. Saturday does offer the promise of redemption, and that's what must fuel Mike Davis and Co. as they move forward.

However, with that having been acknowledged, this loss to Memphis will cause some scars. UAB did not lose this game for lack of effort, but because nobody in a white jersey was able to convert putbacks or hit open perimeter jumpers with any degree of regularity. The Blazers had ample chances in this contest, but simply couldn't convert. That's a sign that Davis's X-and-O maneuverings are not at fault for this loss; it's more a matter of players pressing and pushing far too much in the heat of the moment. UAB needs to become a more relaxed team that doesn't carry the weight of both history and expectations on its thin and frail shoulders.

The bottom line on a gutting loss is this: UAB might have dropped one decision to Memphis, but the Blazers must now make sure that this loss doesn't defeat them again on Saturday. Grumbling and complaining won't take away the sting of this setback... unless this weekend's journey to El Paso proves to be successful.