Kennedy Anxious to See Improvement between Exhibition games

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 29, 2025

A frustrated Andy Kennedy revealed part of the plan for his UAB basketball team’s growth following last week’s exhibition game struggle against Vanderbilt.

“You have time, we don't play again for six days,” Kennedy said just after Vanderbilt beat UAB, 89-67. “So yeah, we will spend an inordinate amount of time just learning and hopefully adjusting. It will also allow me to adjust. My job is to see what our guys can do and then try to help put them in those positions where they can be successful.”

On Wednesday, Kennedy, as well as UAB fans, will see how much progress was made over the past six days. The progress report will come as UAB plays Western Kentucky in an exhibition game that tips off at 6:30 p.m. at Bartow Arena.

It will be interesting to see what the starting lineup, as well as the rotation, looks like in UAB’s second exhibition game. Kennedy started Ahmad Robinson, Jacob Meyer, Chance Westry, Daniel Rivera and KyeRon Lindsay-Martin against Vanderbilt. Kennedy was asked afterward if that starting lineup was set moving forward.

“No, no, this is just game one,” Kennedy said. “Those are the guys that had earned it based on what you haven't seen (during practice). Based on the performance tonight, that will change moving forward.”

Western Kentucky is a week removed from a 82-43 exhibition game victory over Kentucky Wesleyan. Western Kentucky head coach Hank Plona said afterward that the game against UAB is “kind of a real, fake test.”

“We'll treat this one, as far as preparation goes, as approaching it just like we would a true road game,” Plona added. “UAB has played one exhibition game as well. We have a little bit of information on UAB, but we'll stay more focused on ourselves. We'll do everything we can to treat it like a test run for a road game this week and hopefully feel good about how we play on Wednesday."

Western Kentucky returns seven players – which is seven more than UAB – from last year’s team that finished 17-15 overall and 8-10 in Conference USA. However, only a few of the returnees played a role last season. Guard Teagan Moore was on the C-USA All-Freshman team in 2023-24 but missed last season with a hip injury. Moore had a team-best 11 points in the exhibition win over Kentucky Wesleyan.

Once again, most of the ticket proceeds from tonight’s exhibition game will go toward UAB’s revenue sharing initiative for men’s basketball.