UAB MBB Wins its Sixth Straight Road Conference Game
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 12, 2026
UAB men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy was at home fighting a flu-like illness. Two of the Blazers top players – KyeRon Lindsay-Martin and Jacob Meyer – were wearing sweats while nursing injuries on the bench. Another key player – Ahmad Robinson – injured his left hand just over eight minutes into the game and was done for the night.
To make it even more difficult, Tulsa entered Wednesday night’s game with a 10-1 record at the Reynolds Center and shared the American Conference lead with USF.
Apparently, it takes more roadblocks than that to end the Blazers magic on the road.
Somehow, some way, associate head coach Ryan Cross and the Blazers found a way to put together a 68-63 American Conference victory over Tulsa to extend UAB’s conference road winning streak to six games.
“If I had one word to describe these guys today, I would say gutsy,” said Cross during his postgame chat on Blazer Sports Network from Learfield. “We went into the game and we talked about being disruptive, changing defenses, and keeping them out of rhythm. And I thought it worked. You know, they had 14 turnovers. They were 7-for-26 from 3, but they didn't have a whole lot of clean looks, and they were all out of rhythm shots.”
The Blazers (16-9 overall, 7-5 American Conference) even endured when it didn’t go exactly to the way it was planned.
“Ironically, the three areas that I told our guys we had to win, we only won one of them,” Cross said. “I didn't know we'd come in here and make nine (3-pointers). But, you know, I told them before the game, we've got to win points in the paint. We lost those 36-30. We got to win the rebounding battle. We lost that 41-36, but we did have 12 offensive rebounds. I thought Evan Chatman, wow, what an effort by him. Eight offensive rebounds, 13 points, 13 rebounds, made critical free throws down the stretch.”
It also helped that Dayjaun Anderson was the best offensive player on the court on Wednesday night in a game that featured Tulsa’s David Green, who some consider the conference’s top offensive player. Anderson got in a rhythm early, hitting 3 of his first four 3-pointers, and finished with a game-high 20 points.
“So proud of the way he stepped up,” Cross said. “He made some shots. He made a huge three there late. You know, we just did a lot of good things.”
Perhaps the best things were done on the defensive end against a team that scored 99 points and shot 61 percent from the field in a 22-point win at Bartow Arena on Jan. 18. UAB’s zone defense kept the Golden Hurricane (20-5 overall, 8-4 American Conference) from getting comfortable. Tulsa shot 43.3 percent from the field but never looked in sync. UAB forced 14 Tulsa turnovers and turned those turnovers into 24 points, winning that category by 15 points.
UAB was particularly effective on Green, who entered averaging 16.6 points per game, and was shooting 52 percent from the field. On Wednesday night, Green managed just nine points on 4-for-12 shooting from the field and 1-for-5 on 3-pointers. Tulsa was minus-10 when Green was on the floor and only two of his points came after halftime.
That played a big part of the game-altering start to the second half for UAB. The teams went into halftime tied at 29, which was bothersome to Cross.
“I told the guys at halftime, I thought we missed so many plays around the rim, man,” Cross said. “It was a tie game at halftime, I felt like we could have been up 10. We left so many plays on the floor.”
The lead was 11 before six minutes had elapsed in the second half. The Blazers 11-0 run began with a Salim London layup and concluded with a London 3-pointer. In between, the Blazers got three points each from Chance Westry and Daniel Rivera, who had struggled to convert good opportunities in the first 20 minutes. Tulsa didn’t score until hitting a pair of free throws with 14:18 remaining and the Golden Hurricane’s first field goal didn’t come until the 12:15 mark.
Tulsa didn’t go away quietly – cutting the deficit to one possession four separate times – but UAB answered every challenge. When Miles Barnstable hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 59-57 with five minutes left, Chatman answered with a 3-pointer at the other end. When another Barnstable 3-pointer cut the UAB lead to 57-54 with 2:25 left, Rivera answered with a layup off a nice dish by Westry. When a three-point play by Tyler Behrend cut the lead to 59-57 with 1:26 left, Anderson followed with a fastbreak dunk and fastbreak layup.
“Our guys did an outstanding job,” said Cross of the Blazers, who had 16 assists and six turnovers. “I mean, all the credit goes to those guys, man. They played their hearts out. They stayed together. It wasn't picture perfect. Chance had a tough day offensively but other guys stepped up, man. What a win for this group. Really, really proud of our team.”
Chatman not only had the double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds but also added three assists, three blocked shots and a steal. Rivera didn’t shoot well, hitting 4-of-13 from the field, but he had nine points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. London finished with nine points, three assists and two steals and the Blazers were plus-11 with him on the floor. Westry also struggled shooting the ball but he finished with seven points, five assists, three rebounds and a steal.
But the win was also a credit to Cross, who called himself a “retired substitute teacher” afterward while urging Kennedy to get better so he will be on the bench for Sunday afternoon’s Bartow Classic matchup with Tulane.