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UAB (136) hosts Tulane (286) Saturday evening. Tulane is 13-12 and 5-5. They lost this evening at MTSU 71-44. Yes, 44.

Pomeroy has UAB favored 76-63.

Tulane's best win was a home victory over Charlotte (156), 64-63. Their worst loss was at home in overtime to Northern Kentucky (318), 91-86.

Less than two weeks ago, Tulane lost at Southern Miss, 78-47.

In four of Tulane's losses, they scored 41, 45, 47, and 44 points.

We Cannot get complacent. Treat each game as a war and put the hammer down when we can, play intense physical defense, and dont get lazy with the ball.

Game kinda scares me. They will play better than they did tonight. We will play worse (because I am unsure we are capable of playing better).

Hopefully our worst is better than their better.

In conference games only, Tulane is last in offensive efficiency, effective FG%, and 2-point %. They are second to last in turnover% and offensive rebound %.

Yet, they still won road games at North Texas and at East Carolina. Two teams UAB has lost to already.

(02-14-2014 12:29 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Game kinda scares me. They will play better than they did tonight. We will play worse (because I am unsure we are capable of playing better).

Hopefully our worst is better than their better.

I'm quite convinced UAB played its best game tonight.

(02-14-2014 12:34 AM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  

(02-14-2014 12:29 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Game kinda scares me. They will play better than they did tonight. We will play worse (because I am unsure we are capable of playing better).

Hopefully our worst is better than their better.

I'm quite convinced UAB played its best game tonight.

That's what he was saying. Not sure if UAB can play better than they did tonight.

Our free throws were turrrrable. We still had 11 turnovers. USM out rebounded us. Our guys only shot 53%. There are a lot of things we can do better. We hit a lot of 3 point shots. Made 3s will cover up a lot of ugly.

(02-14-2014 01:01 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  Our free throws were turrrrable. We still had 11 turnovers. USM out rebounded us. Our guys only shot 53%. There are a lot of things we can do better. We hit a lot of 3 point shots. Made 3s will cover up a lot of ugly.

I hope you realize that for a fast paced team, 11 turnovers is very good. So is 53%.

(02-14-2014 01:07 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(02-14-2014 01:01 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  Our free throws were turrrrable. We still had 11 turnovers. USM out rebounded us. Our guys only shot 53%. There are a lot of things we can do better. We hit a lot of 3 point shots. Made 3s will cover up a lot of ugly.

I hope you realize that for a fast paced team, 11 turnovers is very good. So is 53%.

Yep. The only thing that bothers me is the missed FT's, and that has become an ongoing issue. We started out so well from the line this season, and things have gone downhill since then.

UAB won the game from the 3 point line. That hasn't happened too often for this team. This squad is too dependant on the 3 point shot for success, considering their aptitude in shooting it. Frazier did an excellent job at the point last night. I only recall one turnover. Yep, 1 TO versus 10 assists.

Turnovers I remember:

Chad's 1 turnover was carrying
Think we had (at least) 2 offensive fouls
In the first half, Rucker was inbounding, and he threw it away twice on consecutive plays due to (in my opinion) poor communication. (This was when Chad was on the bench for a very very brief time in the first half).

So that's 5 turnovers that are either unforced or calls-based. Can't remember the other 6, but 11 turnovers is not terrible, even for a non-fast-pace team. For us the way we've turned it over this season, even though I dispute how uptempo we truly are, it's a phenomenal number.

(02-14-2014 12:40 AM)Marathon Blazer Wrote:  

(02-14-2014 12:34 AM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  

(02-14-2014 12:29 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Game kinda scares me. They will play better than they did tonight. We will play worse (because I am unsure we are capable of playing better).

Hopefully our worst is better than their better.

I'm quite convinced UAB played its best game tonight.

That's what he was saying. Not sure if UAB can play better than they did tonight.

Oh, I agree with him. I should have stated it better.

I would call this a "trap game," but that would insinuate we are a big time team sandwiching a poor opponent between better opponents. We could very easily lose this game. We will have to see if the USM game was a one-time explosion, or a sign of sustainable success to end the season.

(02-14-2014 10:36 AM)seasonticket Wrote:  Turnovers I remember:

Chad's 1 turnover was carrying
Think we had (at least) 2 offensive fouls
In the first half, Rucker was inbounding, and he threw it away twice on consecutive plays due to (in my opinion) poor communication. (This was when Chad was on the bench for a very very brief time in the first half).

So that's 5 turnovers that are either unforced or calls-based. Can't remember the other 6, but 11 turnovers is not terrible, even for a non-fast-pace team. For us the way we've turned it over this season, even though I dispute how uptempo we truly are, it's a phenomenal number.

Rucker was mad, and I don't blame him. Nobody came back towards him to receive the inbound passes.

Based on their last five games, here is Tulane's most frequently used lineup.

PG Jonathan Stark 6-0 160 Fr. He is 75% from the foul line and 40.5% from downtown.

SG Louis Dabney 6-3 210 So. 72% from the foul line and 30% from downtown. Has the most free throws and 2-pointers made on the team.

SF Jay Hook 6-3 178 Jr. Hook is 83% from the foul line and very dangerous from behind the 3-pt arc, hitting 46% (50-108). He is their premier 3-pt shooter and best free throw shooter.

PF Trevante Drye 6-6 218 Jr. Is only 51% from the chairity stripe, but a good rebounder.

C Kevin Thomas 6-9 225 Sr. Not a significant scorer, at least not so far this season.

(02-14-2014 01:01 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  Our free throws were turrrrable. We still had 11 turnovers. USM out rebounded us. Our guys only shot 53%. There are a lot of things we can do better. We hit a lot of 3 point shots. Made 3s will cover up a lot of ugly.

5 of those turnovers were in the first 10 minutes, and we were down 16-17 at that point. only 6 turnovers in the final 30 minutes, which led to the big lead.

i think turnovers are the most important stat for this team. sure, the boys shot really well, but i think a lot of that has to do with getting into an offensive rhythm by not turning the ball over ever other possession

(02-15-2014 02:41 PM)LairDweller Wrote:  

(02-14-2014 01:01 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  Our free throws were turrrrable. We still had 11 turnovers. USM out rebounded us. Our guys only shot 53%. There are a lot of things we can do better. We hit a lot of 3 point shots. Made 3s will cover up a lot of ugly.

5 of those turnovers were in the first 10 minutes, and we were down 16-17 at that point. only 6 turnovers in the final 30 minutes, which led to the big lead.

i think turnovers are the most important stat for this team. sure, the boys shot really well, but i think a lot of that has to do with getting into an offensive rhythm by not turning the ball over ever other possession

+1

T-15 and Bartow is looking pretty empty...

(02-15-2014 02:41 PM)LairDweller Wrote:  

(02-14-2014 01:01 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  Our free throws were turrrrable. We still had 11 turnovers. USM out rebounded us. Our guys only shot 53%. There are a lot of things we can do better. We hit a lot of 3 point shots. Made 3s will cover up a lot of ugly.

5 of those turnovers were in the first 10 minutes, and we were down 16-17 at that point. only 6 turnovers in the final 30 minutes, which led to the big lead.

i think turnovers are the most important stat for this team. sure, the boys shot really well, but i think a lot of that has to do with getting into an offensive rhythm by not turning the ball over ever other possession

I don't know. We won the turnover battle in 2 of the 3 games against FAU, FIU, and ECU and we were practically even in TOs in the other game. Our problem is 3 point shooting on both sides of the court. Four out of five teams in the last 5 games (including Tulane right now) have shot over 40% from the 3. The only team that didn't was USM.

We averaged close to 21% from the 3 point line in the FAU, FIU, and ECU games.

And unfortunately what it comes down to is that our defense just isn't very good either :/.