The Date
Only three games have ever been played by the Blazers on this date. UAB has come close, but has never won a game on March 8. Two of the three losses were in the CUSA tournament and the last game played on this date was against Memphis in 2003.
UAB vs. Cincinnati – March 8, 2001 – CUSA Tournament, Louisville, KY
On this date in 2001, UAB was playing in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky. They were the 8th seed and had advanced by beating Louisville on their home court in Denny Crum’s last game as head coach of the Cardinals. Next up was the Cincinnati Bearcats, who was the regular season champion of CUSA and the #1 seed in the tournament.
UAB kept the game close in the first half and trailed by one point 39-38 at the half. However, the Blazers started the second half cold, and missed seven of their first 10 second half shots. With 14:59 to go in the game, the Bearcats went on a 7-0 run, which gave the Cincinnati a 53-46 lead. The Bearcats pushed the lead out to 58-50, but then went cold and went almost five minutes without a field goal. PJ Arnold sank two 3 pointers during a 16-3 run that gave UAB a 66-61 lead. However, the Bearcats were not finished. Donald Little for Cincinnati converted a three point play with 5:43 left to pull the Bearcats within two points. Leandrew Bass gave the Blazers a 67-64 lead when he hit a free throw a minute later.
With 2:38 left in the game, Kenny Satterfield tied the game for Cincinnati and then drove in for a lay up with 1:28 left to give the Bearcats their first lead in seven minutes. Will Campbell tied the game at 60 on a jumper with 1:02 left. Kenny Satterfield put another dagger in the Blazers’ heart when he hit another shot with 44 seconds left to put the Bearcats on top again. Bass brought the Blazers within one by hitting a free throw with 29 seconds left. UAB immediately fouled the Bearcats. They hit one of two free throws to give them a two point lead. On UAB’s last possession, Will Campbell got the ball underneath, but was called for traveling with 8.2 seconds left. Cincinnati added a free throw to make the final score 73-70. It was the seventh straight loss to Cincinnati for the Blazers.
Satterfield led the Bearcats with 17 points, several of them at the end of the game when his team needed them the most. PJ Arnold scored 21 points for the Blazers and Leandrew Bass added 15. Bass, who also playing in his last game as a Blazer, got most of his points at the free throw line where he went 11 of 15. Unfortunately, he was two of twelve from the field. Igor Nikolic, also in his last game as a Blazer, had a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes in his last game as a Blazer. UAB finished the season 17-14.
UAB vs. Memphis – March 8, 2003
The last game played on this date was played in Birmingham against today’s opponent, the Memphis Tigers in 2003. Prior to this year, this game was the last time that the UAB-Memphis game was played on a Saturday. The Tigers brought anywhere from 800 – 1200 fans to the game. It has been said by some Tiger fans that the number was higher, but the official attendance was listed at 5498, so it seemed like there were more than there actually were. It was probably the largest contingency of Memphis fans ever to travel to Birmingham for a game, including the game earlier this year. Most fans believed that Memphis brought such a large contingency because the team was 22-5 and ranked #18 in the latest AP poll, however, some UAB fans are convinced that the reason for the huge turnout was for one reason, and one reason only: they wanted our Bobbleheads.
UAB fans were excited following the announcement that the first UAB bobblehead would be given out to the first 1000 fans as they came through the door. The Blaze mascot was to be the first bobblehead. Unfortunately, for UAB fans, Memphis fans had arrived several hours before 1:00pm tip off and were the first to line up to enter the Arena. Tiger fans were given most of the Blaze bobbleheads that should have gone to UAB fans. Although some Tiger fans graciously gave their bobbleheads to younger Blazer fans, many took them back to Memphis and sold them on ebay.
The 21-5 Tigers were 12-3 in CUSA play and clinched the National Division title and were playing for possibly a share of the CUSA overall title. The Blazers were 16-10 overall and 8-7 in conference. This game was Senior Day for the Blazers, and the fans honored Eric Bush and Cedric Davis as the departing seniors.
The game itself started out with Memphis shooting 73% from the field in the first half. The Tigers led by 14 at halftime, and by as much as 23 points with 4 minutes to go in the game. The Blazers, playing their first game without Jeffrey Collins, who was kicked off the team following a marijuana possession charge, would storm back to make the game a more respectable 11 point loss, 90-79. The Tigers had two players with double-doubles: Chris Massie had 27 points and 11 rebounds and Antonio Burks had 11 points and 12 assists. The Blazers were led by freshman Demario Eddins with 18 points. Mo Finley’s 15 points made him the 15th player in UAB history to pass the 1000 point milestone. Eric Bush also had 15 points, all of which came in the second half. The Tigers ended up shooting 64% from the field and was 9 of 17 from three point range. They had 22 assists on 32 baskets. The Blazers would receive a #9 seed in the CUSA tournament, but would make plenty of noise as they defeated the #8 team in the country in Marquette, and take Louisville to the wire before losing in the finals of the CUSA tournament.
The Opponent
Memphis has won 25 games against the Blazers, compared to ten wins for the Blazers. Against the Tigers in Memphis, the Blazers are a pitiful 2-15. The two wins occurred in 1993 and 1999. The Blazers have lost the last eight games to the Tigers in Memphis.
UAB vs. Memphis – February 4, 1984
Today, we are going to look at the very first game played between UAB and Memphis, back when UAB was a young program and the Tigers, called Memphis State at the time was a year away from the Final Four. The date was February 4, 1984 and Gene Bartow was returning to Memphis for the first time since leaving the Tiger coaching job in 1974.
Coach Bartow and the Blazers traveled to Memphis to play this non-conference game for CBS national television. Memphis State coach Dana Kirk said that CBS gave him several choices for a television game and he chose UAB because of Bartow’s Memphis connection. Bartow was quoted as saying that he would rather not have played Memphis State because of the great feelings and friends he has in the Memphis area. However, the deal was too attractive for Bartow. UAB was to share in the TV money from the game and CBS promised UAB a national game the next year.
Going into the game, UAB was 17-5, and 5-2 to lead the Sun Belt. The Tigers were ranked ninth in the country and had a record of 15-3. Amazingly, when the game began, the national TV audience saw a total of eight starters from the city of Memphis for both teams gather around the mid court for the jump ball. Memphian natives McKinley Singleton, Steve Mitchell, Jerome Mincy, Archie Johnson and Jack Gordon played for UAB. Memphis had Phillip Haynes, Andre Turner and William Bedford. Keith Lee and Bobby Parks were from schools located near Memphis. The Commercial Appeal reported that of 24 players that dressed for the game, 12 of them were Memphians. Archie Johnson was quoted as saying “There’s nothing we didn’t know about each other’s games that we hadn’t seen in high school.” The Memphis newspapers said of the UAB players:
Quote:“It would be easy to say that this is a game where five guys snubbed by the home team are looking for revenge, like a street gang that has lost it’s turf and wants it back. It isn’t that simple. Mitchell decided early for UAB. Mincy was just looking ‘to get away for awhile and be on my own’. Singleton also decided quickly in UAB’s direction. Still, he said ‘there’s pride, sure. In a way, we’d like to show that maybe the better Memphis team was the one that left Memphis.’”
As the game began, Gene Bartow was sitting on win #400, having just reached the milestone 2 days earlier in a game at Jacksonville. A crowd of 11,200 gathered at the MidSouth Coliseum for the “high school reunion game”. A handmade banner at the end of the court welcomed Bartow, reading “Clean Gene. We still Love You. Go Tigers”.
The game that ensued was a classic. The score was tied 13 times, including a 27-27 deadlock. UAB led by seven twice in the first half, but the Tigers kept coming back. In the second half, Memphis State went ahead 51-43 with 5:53 left. However, the Tigers went cold and would not score for another 10:46. In fact, the Tigers only managed three shots after that, but UAB stormed back on three long jumpers by Luellen Foster. The Tigers missed a chance to win the game in regulation when Andre Turner lost the ball out of bounds just before the horn sounded. The game was tied at the end of regulation 51-51.
In those days before the shot clock, overtimes were often a very boring affair in which one team passed the ball until time to take the last shot. This is what happened in this game. In the five minute overtime, neither team was bold enough to attempt to score. There were only four shots taken, one by Memphis State and three by the Blazers. With 3:23 left, UAB decided to kill the clock, with Steve Mitchell controlling the ball by dribbling around the middle of the court until around 2:30 left in the game. At that point, Bobby Parks caught Mitchell unaware and stole the ball from him. The Tigers then held the ball until they called timeout with under a minute to go. Memphis State then threw the ball inside to the All American Keith Lee who went up for the basket, but was fouled by McKinley Singleton with six seconds on the clock. Keith Lee hit both free throws to go ahead 53-51. It was the first time Memphis had scored in 10 minutes and 46 seconds. Steve Mitchell’s desperation 18 footer rimmed the bucket with one second left, and the Tigers won.
McKinley Singleton led all scorers with 14 points, with Anthony Gordon and Luellen Foster contributing 10 apiece. Keith Lee led Tiger scoring with 13 points.
After the game, Bartow said, “Give credit where credit is due. We played a Top 10 team on their home floor and they’re a good team indeed…. We battled and we feel like we played with a lot of class and dignity. But we never like to lose.”
UAB vs. Memphis – February 11, 1999
Another exciting game between the Blazers and Tigers was played on February 11, 1999 in Birmingham. Memphis was the preseason favorite to win the National Division, but had faltered in Tic Price’s last year as the Tiger head coach. Things were so bad for Memphis that Houston had broken a 20 game losing streak on the road in their previous game at Memphis. Memphis was 10-11 overall and 3-7 in Conference USA. UAB was 17-7 overall and 8-3 in conference. The Blazers had a 3 ½ game lead in the National Division. UAB entered the game without Myron Ransom. He had been suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules and had not played in two games. This game was played in front of 5833 Blazer fans at Bartow Arena.
The Blazers played well in the first half. They jumped out to a 16 point first half lead, but the Tigers had cut the deficit to seven points and UAB led 43-36 at halftime. In the second half, the Tigers made their comeback, led by Jimmy “Snap” Hunter, who took 24 points and made 13 of them, on his way to scoring 29 points in the game. With two minutes to go in the game, the Blazers were down by six points. Torrey Ward had a stole the ball and had a breakaway dunk to cut the score to 76-72. The Blazers called timeout with 1:13 left in the game. During the Memphis inbounds play, Damon Cobb stole the ball and Willie Mitchell hit a three point shot. Memphis led by only one point with 1:05 left in the game. Memphis guard Dino Daniels then lost the ball while driving, and UAB’s Antonio Jackson recovered. UAB got the ball to Damon Cobb. Although only down by one point, Cobb attempted a three point shot and missed. The rebound went to Memphis and the Blazers were forced to foul Marcus Moody for the Tigers with only 17 seconds left in the game. Moody hit both of his free throws and the Blazers had one last shot to tie the game. They had two chances at it, but Fred Williams and Willie Mitchell both missed three pointers and Memphis escaped with a 78-75 win. The Blazers were led by Antonio Jackson with 17 points and Fred Williams had 16 points.
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Today in Blazer History - 3/8/2008 - Memphis
