Kennedy Breaks Down State of UAB Team Heading Into 2025-26 Season
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 30, 2025
It’s a busy time of the year for Andy Kennedy and his UAB men’s basketball team as they continue to prepare for the regular season opener against Mississippi Valley State at Bartow Arena on Nov. 3. Before that, the Blazers will play exhibition games at Bartow Arena against Vanderbilt on Oct. 23 and Western Kentucky on Oct. 29.
Kennedy and his staff put together a team that returns no scholarship players from last year’s NIT quarterfinalists. Kennedy has been working with his team since early June but two key players – point guard Ahmad Robinson and August signee Daniel Rivera – didn’t get on the court for practice until August.
“It's just so much, man, when you're dealing with a brand-new team, not one returning minute, not one returning player,” Kennedy said. “It's a problem to get to know one another and also as the coach, I can't come in with any preset notion as to how we're going to play. My job is to put these kids in a position to be successful and I've got to figure out what that is.”
The team’s schedule was finalized with last week’s release of the American Conference slate. UAB has home-and-home conference games with Memphis, South Florida, East Carolina, Tulane, Tulsa and North Texas. For the complete schedule, visit uabsports.com.
The other bit of recent news was third stage approval by the UA System Board of Trustees on the $14.6 million Bartow Arena renovation and season ticket pricing and seat allocation beginning with 2026-27 season. Work on the renovation is expected to begin after the spring undergraduate commencement on May 2.
Kennedy stopped by before practice late last week to talk about what’s going on with the program.
THIS YEAR’S TEAM
On his thoughts about his team early in official practice: “I like this group. I've got a group that's been very competitive, workers, great energy. It's just a matter of now figuring out an identity, who we're gonna be. We've got to develop some competitive stamina as well. It's just so much, man, when you're dealing with a brand new team, not one returning minute, not one returning player. It's a problem to get to know one another and also as the coach, I can't come in with any preset notion as to how we're going to play. My job is to put these kids in a position to be successful and I've got to figure out what that is. We've been together eight weeks in the summer, now four weeks in the pre-practice. Those three months have been very, very educational for me and my staff, so that now we can start developing a plan to put these guys in the right spots.”
On what he learned during those three months: “Overall, it's just that, again, we've got a competitive group. We've got a group that wants to be coached and got great enthusiasm. We've got a good mix. We've got six kids out of the transfer portal that all played Division I basketball. We've got four junior college kids and we've got two high school kids, so it's a good mix. I think they get along. I think they support one another, all of the things that you need in order to give yourself a chance.”
On what’s ahead for the program: “There’s a lot. We've had some success. We're coming off 125 wins in our five-year period. We've been to four straight conference tournament championship games. We were able to win two and unfortunately lost the other two. But in the two that we came up short we had big runs in the NIT. So, we're proud of the foundation now it's just about building and when you don't have any of the returning blocks so to speak you know it makes building pretty interesting.”
On priorities used in recruiting a new roster: “They're all pieces to the puzzle. And we're just trying to make sure that we're putting guys in a position where they can complement one another. You know, you hear the term all the time, especially now, let's play complementary football. We've got to play complementary basketball as well. You've got to have guys that can all do different things and they need to do them well so that the pieces of the puzzle fit.”
On what excites him about this team: “The most exciting thing is I think their willingness to compete there. I think they're all excited about being here. They're excited about starting this journey together. We've got a good group. We've got a competitive group and we've got a group that wants to be coached, which as their coach, it's something that I'm excited about. It'll be a process, you know. We're about a month away from playing Vanderbilt in the exhibition game So we're about 5 ½-6 weeks away from starting this thing. We've got a lot of work to do but I'm really pleased in the way that they're approaching this.”
On Ahmad Robinson: “We didn’t have him or Daniel (Rivera) until right at the bitter end. Obviously, he was coming off the labrum surgery so he couldn't do any contact work. He's been a little frustrated early because he didn't play basketball in five months and we're throwing him right in the middle of something that he didn't get to participate in for eight weeks. With that, he was a little frustrated just based on his timing, his conditioning, all of the things that he's didn’t deal with because of the fact that he'd been out for the five months. But I think over the last couple of weeks, man, he's been tremendous. Like he started to get his legs back, started to get his conditioning back, started getting his confidence back because he's playing at the level (he’s capable of). It's the reason we brought him here. We feel like he's a guy that has a chance to come in and make an immediate impact and he's certainly showing that as he gets in better shape and more comfortable.”
On Daniel Rivera: “Daniel, not only do we pick him up later than I've ever picked up a transfer before but he's also coming off an arthoscopic knee procedure. He had not played either, so it was a timing, it was a conditioning and he's just now figuring out where he is and what we're doing and how we operate. But he gives us a physical presence. He's a terrific shot blocker. He's got great length, great physicality inside and he's got some playmaking skills. I can foresee us using him a little bit in some in some initiation of offense like we did Yax last year because he does have the ability to dribble the ball and play at the 4-5.”
On changing lineups throughout the season: “It's so different. It reminds me a little bit of a couple of years ago. Last year, because we had so many starters returning off that team that had won the American in the first year, we kind of had an understanding. I think we all realized Yax is going to be a starter. AJ Vasquez, Butta Johnson and Chris Coleman, they're all gonna play. We know what we got in Tony Toney. This year is completely different. We'll continue to work towards putting a team out. The great thing about having a team the caliber of Vanderbilt, coming off an NCAA tournament, an SEC team (and) then you turn around you play Western Kentucky, another really, really good program. You're going to have the opportunity to work through some things in front of fans, competitive basketball without it quote-unquote counting, to put yourself in position so that when you open up on Nov. 3rd you'll have a better understanding of really who you are and rotationally what you need to do to have the best chance to be successful.”
BARTOW ARENA RENOVATIONS
On Bartow Arena renovations: “Bartow Arena, ironically enough, the first game ever in Bartow was my first game as a UAB Blazer back in December of 1988. That structure has gotten a lot of great memories and it's been a lot of big moments in the history of UAB athletics. And it stood the test of time. The bones are pretty good but now it's time for a little bit of a facelift. I think I need one as well frankly. But now it's time for a facelift and to give our fans a great game day experience, something that they deserve and hopefully we can continue to create memories.”
On moving some of the students behind the bench in Bartow Arena renovation: “Yeah, you know, I think it can be really disruptive. You know, the students set the tone. They are the ones, you need great energy out of that group. Everybody has a role from your season ticket holders to your pillars as it relates to funding for your athletic department. But your students are the ones that come in and you really need that passion that they can bring, the energy that they bring. So when you put them behind the opposing team's bench, I would assume it's going to be something that could be problematic as it relates to communication. That's what you're hoping for. You're just trying to bring great energy on that end of the floor.
On student sections that have been problematic during his time in basketball: “I think they changed the rule. When I was in the SEC, originally the students were right behind you. It was so problematic, I think, they changed that and they moved them where they couldn't be the section behind you, they almost had to be in the next curve over. I remember vividly some moments in the O'Connell Center, where Florida is, prior to their renovation when you sat down, you had the bench that the coaches and players sat on, you had your support people right behind you and the students their knees were in the back of the support people. That’s how close they were. So yeah I think they've changed some of that. I think there's teams in our league, obviously our conference doesn't have this rule, that you really feel it. North Texas comes to mind where the students are right behind you. It's a bit of a bowl, though, so there is some space. I think Charlotte is pretty close to it. So yeah man, it's something that administration wanted to do and I'm so completely supportive.”
THIS SEASON’S SCHEDULE
On conference schedule: “You know the first thing that I noticed, I don't really get caught up in ‘Oh man, this is unfair.’ You're gonna play who you’re gonna play. Everybody's gonna play 18 games. We knew who we were going to play and based on when (the preseason poll) comes out, I guess, in a few weeks, just me trying to do the math, it looks like we're gonna be picked in that top five, somewhere. I don't know if that's justified or not, I think it's just a sign of respect for what we've accomplished in the past. The one thing that I did notice is last year we opened up league play on the road and we finished the season on the road. Well, this year it's the exact opposite. We open up at home and finish at home, which is really the one thing that stood out to me. Our conference opener is Wichita State, one of the most storied programs, not only in The American, but also in all of college basketball. And we play them on December 31st, now we don't know tip times yet, TV now comes in and tells you what they want. That'll be an interesting way to bring in the new year.”
On putting the non-conference schedule together: “I’ve said this publicly, it's always been challenging. Again and I understand people that aren't in this realm will come up with a lot of different scenarios, but the reality is it's challenging to put together a non-conference schedule. This time probably more so than any in my career, simply because you don't even know your own team. Typically, people put together their non-conference schedule and by the time you get to the summer, you're (roster is)pretty complete. Now, a lot of programs, like us, we were recruiting through July. You know, we brought Daniel Rivera in here at the end of July, early August, quite frankly. So a lot of other teams are dealing with those issues as well, which means they push back the non-con scheduling aspect of it until they know what they're dealing with. When you do that, when people are waiting later and later and later, it obviously eliminates some of the possibilities that you were hopeful for.
But we feel good about our non-conference schedule. You know, the names may not be as sexy as some would like as it relates to the Alabama's, the Auburn's, the North Carolina's, the Duke's. But we feel like we put our team in a position where it's going to challenge itself and numerically because that's the game that we play, numerically. If we can win basketball games in the non-con, it will certainly prepare us for league play. But it also put us in a position where numerically we'll have a chance going into conference play.
Again, I think it's just a mentality shift that that fandom, I don't really anticipate understanding. It’s a mentality shift. You don't know who's going to be good. Fans want to play teams that have a big name as it relates to basketball lineage. It doesn't necessarily mean that that team is going to be good or bad. It's just, it's one that is recognizable, I should say. It's a recognizable name. It's difficult for us now because of the power leagues. The power leagues have hurt the non-Power Four, because of the super leagues creating more games, more revenue, less opportunities for us to get some of that revenue. Football's about to go through it, I suppose, with the SEC going to nine (conference games). It just eliminates one other opportunity and we deal with that at the same pace, unfortunately. And now because of the Net system, when I was in college, it was the RPI and there were ways in which you could kind of game the RPI and put yourself in a position of a really strong strength of schedule.
Now with the Net, it's all about Quad one, Quad two opportunities and unfortunately for us, I think it's a sign of respect. I think people see our program, the fact that we have had success, but numerically, we're right around, I think we were 99 last year. So that's a Quad three opportunity for them. So it comes down to risk and reward as well. We also had a situation where we had a couple of things that I thought people would be super excited about and couldn't work out the logistics. Literally, it was a day. I'll say this now, we're playing Vanderbilt in an exhibition, but we had them scheduled for a game, but they couldn't move (another game). They were playing the night before and couldn't move that game. They obviously weren't going to play back-to-back. There's a lot of aspects to it. It's certainly not from lack of trying and we're not trying to duck any smoke.
I get it, we try to play the best teams that we possibly can, but you also got to win the games. Think about this. Last year, in our 13 non-conference games, we went 7-6. I proposed this to a scheduling guru and I just flipped 3 games. The 20-something point second half debacle that we lost to Arkansas State. We went on the road and we lost two out of three in the Paradise Jam. So we go to the Paradise Jam with the hopes of getting to the Liberty’s, the Kansas State’s, the McNeese’s of the world. But we didn't because we lost to Longwood in the opener. So we didn't even get the opportunities that we went over there to get. If we would have flipped that game, and I picked one more, it changes our numbers by about 30-35 points. So sometimes it's not just about, okay, who you're scheduling, you've got to win the game. And that's been a situation that we have not taken care of our business, which has put us in a position where, quite frankly, the last two years, we were 8-5 in the non-league two years ago, which was the worst in our five years and then last year we were 7-6, which is the worst. So what's that do? It puts you in a position where you've got to get the automatic (bid) in order to get to the NCAA tournament. This team, the challenges are there, I think numerically it's there. We've got to go out and win games.”
On securing the spot in a multi-team tournament (MTE) in Jacksonville, Fla.: “We went through a couple of different scenarios because those things are changing too. You know, it used to be everybody had these (but) a lot of them were shutting down. We were involved with a couple of things that never happened, that never got off the ground because of the rule change. It used to be okay you can play X number of games and you can play X number in the MTE. If you choose not to do that (with the MTE), then you're limited. Now it doesn't matter. They're giving you a set number. You don't have to be in an MTE to get to that number. And as a result, a lot because of the things that are happening like in Vegas, all based around Rev share (and) NIL, it's eliminating opportunities against (non-Power 4s) because the (Power 4 teams) are all going to that to get paid. And it's shutting down a lot of these tournaments. So, yeah, we were really, really late in the game. Then initially we thought that it was going to be a typical format of you're going to play two games, three games, whatever, in a traditional tournament format. Then it went down to you're only going to play (two games) and it’s going to be preset. We're going to tell you who you're going to play. It's not going to be a winners play, losers play. So then that changes the dynamic as well. You've got to try to get somebody that you're excited about. We are excited about Southern Illinois from the (Missouri Valley), a conference that quite frankly finished higher than the American last year. And then UTEP, an old storied rival from back in the C-USA days. So we're excited about the two opponents we got.”