Small Frontcourt Putting Up Large Rebound Totals for Blazers
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - December 12, 2025
If bigger makes better when it comes to rebounding the basketball then the UAB men’s basketball team should struggle in that area.
Just check out the pure numbers.
UAB has the 322nd smallest Division I roster in the country, according to KenPom. Take away, Jaoa Das Chagas, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound junior college transfer, who played in just two games and is out indefinitely following surgery on his wrist, and the ranking, according to UAB head coach Andy Kennedy, drops to 351st out of 361 Division I teams. The frontcourt without Das Chagas available to play consists of Evan Chatman (6-foot-8, 220 pounds), KyeRon Lindsay-Martin (6-8, 222) and Daniel Rivera (6-7, 215).
The lack of size certainly caused some anxious moments for Kennedy when he brought his team to campus in the summer.
“Well, I knew we were super small, but we were certainly not planning on losing our tallest guy a month into the season, even really before he had a chance to be the player that we need him to be,” said Kennedy, whose team plays host to Troy on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Bartow Arena. “(It) was one of my biggest fears after having a summer of practice. Now, you have to understand in the summer, we didn't get Daniel Rivera here until school started in August. And he wasn't even playing full speed until about the second or third week in September because he was coming off an arthroscopic knee surgery.”
In this case, one of his biggest fears from the summer has turned into one of his most comforting security blankets now that the weather is turning cold. Led by the frontcourt, UAB has not only become a good rebounding team but they are among the tops in the category in the country.
Again, look at pure numbers.
Heading into Friday’s games, UAB is tied for third nationally in offensive rebounds per game (15.6), eighth in total rebounds per game (44.30), 17th in rebound margin (plus-10.9) and tied for 35th in defensive rebounds per game (28.70). The Blazers have been outrebounded just once in 10 regular season games and had a double-digit rebound advantage over five opponents. Take away the win over High Point, when UAB had a plus-two rebound advantage, and the three losses have been the Blazers closest margins of the season.
It all starts with a frontcourt that plays taller than what is listed on the roster.
“If you're playing a taller guy and you're out rebounding, that feels good, you know,” Lindsay-Martin said. “Like just to dominate any part of the game, especially a part of the game that's helping us win and contributing big, is a good feeling. We're not probably the best shooting team that AK has had so far. But we’re just trying to be dogs out there. We don't care about your height, your weight, we still gonna come at you. If at least two of us don't have 10 rebounds, at the end of the night, we didn't do our job.”
A night when UAB assistant coach Ryan Cross felt the frontcourt didn’t do their job was the inspiration for the season, according to Lindsay-Martin. It came in the team’s second exhibition game – a 78-76 loss to Western Kentucky - when the Blazers were outrebounded, 52-49, and the Hilltoppers won second chance points, 16-9.
“Coach Cross, he got onto us afterward,” Lindsay-Martin said. “You know, three of the tallest guys on the team not rebounding as well as we can. Ever since that day, you know, we just made it a big statement to rebound, and that's what's been winning this game, so we're trying to continue on with that.”
Chatman is the team’s top rebounder at 9.6 per game, which is 23rd in the country and he’s 12 in the country in defensive rebounds per game (7.10). He’s had double digit rebounds in four games, including 15 in the Blazers’ win at Drake.
“I think it’s effort honestly,” Chatman said on what makes a good rebounding team. “It’s not about being bigger because we’re a pretty small team. It’s just effort, wanting it more, that’s all it is. I guess you could say it’s a skill but to me it’s a want.”
Kennedy said there is a key to Chatman’s rebounding success.
“His defensive rebounding, he does a great job, number one because how he works, number two because of high pointing the ball,” Kennedy said. “Like you hear that in football - high point the ball. He's the best on our team at high pointing the ball and he's done it again and again. Fifteen rebounds on the road at Drake, that's in that (Yaxel Lendeborg) category.”
Lindsay-Martin averages 7.4 rebounds per game and is tied for 12th in the country in offensive rebounds per game (4.0). Rivera averages 7.3 total rebounds and 3 per game of the offensive glass, which is tied for 63rd in the country.
“We all make it easier on each other,” Chatman said. “A lot of the rebounds we get is because the others are boxing out one of the big guys. So when KyeRon or Daniel's boxing out, I'm going to get the rebound.”
While he’s pleased with his team’s effort on the boards thus far, Kennedy thinks they can improve in that area as a team, beginning on Sunday against Troy.
“Our guards need to rebound it better,” Kennedy said. “Chance (Westry) and Jacob (Meyer) are right around four (per game) but I think they're capable of more. Ahmad (Robinson) was a better rebounder at his last stop than he's been here. That's something we've challenged him to do. So we've got a rebound better from the guards, but our front court's been outstanding. Physicality, work, determination, that's what it is. And, you know, an understanding that because of our shooting deficiencies, there's opportunities that we've got to go get off the glass.”