UAB Routs Mississippi Valley State 106-55 In Opener

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 4, 2025

Obviously, the scoreboard was a good place to start when assessing the thoroughness of UAB’s 106-55 victory over Mississippi Valley State in the regular season men’s basketball opener at Bartow Arena on Monday night.

The stat sheet helped show exactly how impressive the Blazers played on a night when they needed something good to happen. UAB won the turnover battle (26-8), points off turnovers (40-12), points in the paint (48-18), second chance points (22-6), fast break points (28-12) and bench points (29-9). UAB outrebounded Mississippi Valley State, 49-34, limited the Delta Devils to 29.1 percent shooting from the field and had five players finish in double figures.

And it all started with a considerable dose of apprehension from UAB head coach Andy Kennedy, whose team dropped exhibition games to Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky.

“I’m too old to have any nerves, but I had a lot of apprehension because I just, I didn't know,” Kennedy said. “I knew Mississippi Valley had their struggles last year, but they only returned a couple of players. I've seen our struggles. So I just wanted us to play good.”

He got his wish. UAB opened the game with a 16-4 run, which was sparked by seven points by Jacob Meyer, and had a 20-3 run midway through the half. By halftime, UAB led 59-22, Meyer had 16 points, the Delta Devils had 17 turnovers and the Blazers had a 27-0 advantage in points off turnovers.

The defense obviously played a big role in the good start.

“You know, we talk daily about being disciplined while being disruptive,” Kennedy said. “But it's not easy to do both. Sometimes we play undisciplined while trying to be disruptive and we create opportunities that give our opponents too many open lanes at the basket. So we want to be disruptive, but at the same time be disciplined, finish possessions, do a good job off our defensive glass, not foul unnecessarily, all of those things. And I thought before viewing the tape, I thought in a 40-minute game, about 75% of the time we were pretty locked in.”

On the offensive end, it was an outstanding night for Westry, who struggled at times in the exhibition games. Westry had a team-high 23 points in a little less than 23 minutes. He was 8-of-12 from the field, 3-of-5 on 3-pointers and 4-of-8 from the free throw line while adding five rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“Chance Westry was masterful tonight,” Kennedy said.

Westry was joined in double figures by Meyer (22 points), Ahmad Robinson (14 points), Salim London (11 points) and Daniel Rivera (10 points). Robinson filled out his stat line with a pair of 3-pointers, five rebounds, seven assists, three steals and no turnovers. The Blazers starting backcourt of Robinson, Meyer and Westry did not commit a turnover. KyeRon Lindsay had eight points and six rebounds and Evan Chatman ended with seven points and eight rebounds.

Perhaps the only negative was UAB’s free throw performance. The Blazers continued to leave too many points at the line, hitting 23-of-37 free throws.

“We need to make free throws at a much more efficient rate,” Kennedy said. “We end up at 62 percent on the game and that's not to our standard. We'll continue to focus on it and continue to get the reps necessary to get these guys comfortable.”

UAB has a short time to work on that before visiting North Carolina State on Friday night.