Red Hot Tulsa Defeats UAB 99-77 at Bartow Arena
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - January 18, 2026
The answers that UAB head coach Andy Kennedy searched for on Sunday, particularly in the second half, never surfaced. As a result, the Blazers were on the wrong end of a 99-77 loss to Tulsa in an American Conference game at Bartow Arena.
“I never felt so defeated,” Kennedy said after his team’s Bartow Arena losing streak moved to three games. “In the second half, I didn't think we ever had a chance. You know, you're trying to (cut into the lead), we're at 16, 15 and we just couldn't get a stop. It was a variety of things. Obviously, when we made a mistake and let 14 (Miles Barnstable) catch it, he shot it in. But it was really their interior guys, man. They were just kind of playing behind us. You're looking at it, like, what is going on? We changed our ball screen covers three or four times. None of it was working. So disheartening for me.”
One of the biggest problems was UAB (12-7 overall, 3-3 American Conference) failed to stop Tulsa’s David Green and Barnstable, who combined for 51 points with Green hitting 12 shots from the field and Barnstable draining 6-of-8 3-point attempts. But they also had troubles throughout Tulsa’s lineup, particularly with 6-foot-10 forward Tyler Behrend, who made all eight of his field goal attempts on the way to a season-high 16 points.
The team numbers were also a good indication of the lopsided loss. UAB lost the battle in rebounds (37-28), points in the paint (54-36) and 50-50 balls. Tulsa hit 69 percent from the field in the second half and 60.9 percent overall.
It all added up to a miserable afternoon for the Blazers.
“We get destroyed in areas that we can control,” Kennedy said. “That's the frustrating part. I didn't think our approach was bad. You know, we'd won two in the row, on the road. Tulsa is a good team, and we knew offensively they're probably the best team as it relates to playing through rhythm. So we have to be disruptive and we were not.”
UAB fell behind 20-10 in just over eight minutes in the first half. The Blazers battled back and were trailing by three points after Jacob Meyer’s 17-foot jumper with 1:17 on the clock. But Green hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 46.8 seconds, with the second coming at the buzzer, to give Tulsa a 46-37 lead at halftime.
“Give ourselves a chance because we made a little push at the end of the half, then we let them close it on a (9-2) run, six straight by what I believe is one of, if not the best player in our league,” Kennedy said. “When you let the best player, we talked ad nauseum the last three days about number 23, keep the ball off 23. He's a left-hand dominant player, we need (to shrink) the floor to his left-hand (and) didn't do it. We talked about 14, Barnstable, boy, he snaps that thing off. Guys, that ain't no special thing. He does that every game, if you let him get the ball. And we let him get the ball. The kid really made us pay. It shows me, again, we're not as linked in as we need to be.”
Tulsa (15-3 overall, 3-2 American Conference) dominated the second half, nearly becoming the first visiting team to reach 100 points in Bartow Arena since sixth-ranked Arkansas beat the Blazers, 109-95, on Jan. 27, 1990.
KyeRon Lindsay-Martin and Meyer each reached double figures in scoring for the third consecutive game. Lindsay-Martin had 15 points, six rebounds and an assist and Meyer had 13 points. Chance Westry finished with 14 points and four assists and Ahmad Robinson 13 points and four assists.
UAB lost its third consecutive conference home game for the first time since Rob Ehsan’s team dropped four in a row in 2018-19 and 2019-20. The Blazers will try to avoid a fourth consecutive American Conference loss on Thursday night when South Florida comes to town.