By Steve Irvine
November 7, 2026 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
UAB basketball coach Andy Kennedy was more pleased with his surroundings on Friday night inside the refurbished Bartow Arena than he was with what actually happened on the floor in the Blazers 70-63 victory over Nicholls.
“What did you think about Bartow Arena?,” Kennedy said in his postgame press conference. “I thought it came out great, don’t you? I’d obviously seen the plans and was really, really excited about it coming to fruition. But I hadn’t been in here much because I’d been fairly busy and I don’t do construction sites. Congratulations to everybody involved. I hope our fans appreciate it as much as we do.”
The game wasn’t quite as aesthetically pleasing on a night when the Blazers turned the ball over 17 times, never really got into an offensive rhythm and couldn’t string together enough positive possessions to pull away. But it still was a special night for the program.
“I thought the atmosphere was pretty good,” Kennedy said. “I don’t know what the crowd was – 3,419. That’s what you’re going to get on a Friday night. State high school football playoffs, Nicholls State, we played bad in our opener. I get it. We played bad tonight, fortunate to win. We got to earn their trust and we will.”
As ragged as it seemed at times, there were some things to build upon, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.
“Defensively, I thought we were really tenacious,” Kennedy said. “Because offensively we were so bad, it puts a lot of pressure on your defense. But we held them to 28 percent in the second half, they shoot under 32 percent for the game, we’re plus-12 on the glass, points in the paint we were improved. Those are the positives. Our issue against McNeese was (defense). We were decent (on offense). Our problems were defensively. I thought we were much better tonight.”
Jeremy Elyzee, a transfer from Southeastern Louisiana, who was playing against a former Southland Conference foe, had a big hand in the win. The 6-foot-8 Elyzee had 10 points, 14 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, and a blocked shot in 19 minutes. He ended up as one of four UAB players to reach double figures with Justyn Fernandez and Deuce Jones tying for team-high honors with 14 points each. TJ Caldwell added 12 points.
But the final result in the grinding way that UAB needed to win the game can’t totally erase the difficulty in finding the offensive rhythm.
“Our inability to make a shot is alarming,” Kennedy said. “I thought we had three or four of the guys, that we’re trying to get shots, had clean looks in the second half. It could have busted it wide open. Our inability to make it put us in a grind. These guys honestly are not good for my blood pressure but they’re good for toughening your team.”
Another positive on Friday was the response from the backcourt to Kennedy’s challenge for them to rebound better. Salim London had seven rebounds, Fernandez and Jones each had six rebounds and Elijah Duval had four rebounds.
UAB has a quick turnaround before welcoming Florida A&M to Bartow Arena on Monday night at 6:30.