Blazers Fall to Memphis, 90-80, on Thursday Night

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 6, 2026

Getting to the free throw line wasn’t a problem for UAB on Thursday night in the latest renewal of the men’s basketball rivalry. Making them, however, was a problem.

But on a night when UAB missed 14 free throws, that wasn’t the biggest issue for the Blazers. The biggest issue was defending Memphis’ Sincere Parker, who scored 40 points in the Tigers 90-80 victory over UAB in front of a Bartow Arena crowd of 5,819.

Parker hit 14-of-20 shots from the field, including 6-for-8 3-pointers, and made all six free throws in 26 minutes. He also added six rebounds, two assists and a steal.

“Sincere Parker just put on a show and made some really, really difficult shots,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said afterward. “I think he had two, maybe three, nine or 10-point runs by himself. Pretty impressive.”

The first scoring burst by Parker set the tone on a night when UAB (14-9 overall, 5-5 American Conference) was trying to avoid a fifth consecutive loss in a conference home game, which had never been done in the program’s history. About seven minutes into the game, Parker started a 14-2 Memphis run with a 3-pointer from the right corner. He added seven more points over in the run and chipped in another 3-pointer not longer afterward to give the Tigers a 29-13 lead.

Add up his totals in his first four minutes on the floor and Parker had 16 points. Kennedy was asked afterward if he had seen that before.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Kennedy said. “I don’t remember that, though. That’s a lot. And he made it in a variety of ways. He’s kind of got an old school game. He’s the kind of dude that 20 years from now, he’ll still be able to make those shots because it’s not base off athleticism. It’s just based on game. He’s got game.”

UAB would have put themselves in better position to match Parker’s output if the Blazers shot the ball better – both from the field and free throw line.

“You’re not really giving yourself a chance against a team as talented as Memphis when you miss 14 free throws,” said Kennedy, whose team was 21-of-35 from the free throw line overall and 11-for-21 in the first half. “We go 9-for-37 from 3 and we’re a team that really lives off two-point percentage. We haven’t taken 37 3s all season in a game. I thought their length early, even though they only blocked one shot, I think had us intimidiated. I think we were playing from the perimeter too much.”

UAB trailed, 44-35, at halftime and Memphis extended the lead to 13 points early in the second half. The lead was 12 points – at 59-47 – when Aaron Bradshaw tipped in his own miss with 13:20 on the clock. UAB followed with a 11-0 run that began with Jacob Meyer’s 3-pointer  ended with back-to-back buckets by KyeRon Lindsay-Martin. The teams then traded three-point plays before Parker once again changed the complexion of the game.

“I thought that was our chance,” Kennedy said. “That was our moment of truth as I like to refer to it.”

Parker ended the moment with a 3-pointer from the corner, a contested 15-footer and a long 3-pointer from the wing. UAB kept fighting but never got closer than seven points after that.

Chance Westry led UAB with 15 points and six assists but was 4-for-11 from the field, 1-for-7 from 3-point range and 6-for-12 from the free throw line. Jacob Meyer had 13 points, all in the second half, Salim London had 14 points and Daniel Rivera had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

UAB returns to Bartow Arena on Sunday with an American Conference game against Rice.