UAB’s Cross Perfect As ‘Substitute Teacher’

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 13, 2026

UAB associate head coach Ryan Cross jokingly called himself a “substitute teacher” when he filled in for Blazers head coach Andy Kennedy on Wednesday night in an American Conference road triumph at Tulsa.

On Friday, with Kennedy back at work after missing several days with an illness, Cross was able to add “retired” in front of that substitute teacher moniker. This means Cross will be back in his regular seat on the bench when the Blazers play host to conference foe Tulane on Sunday afternoon in the Bartow Classic at Bartow Arena.

“I just got done meeting with Coach Kennedy and he's coughing a bit, but I think he'll be back in the fold on Sunday,” Cross said before the team began its Friday afternoon practice.

Officially, at least for now, Cross is 1-0 record as the UAB head coach after the 68-63 victory at Tulsa. But he has a heckuva story to tell about that win.

Even though Kennedy was too sick to travel with the team on Tuesday, Cross was not certain he would take over the head coaching role until the following morning.

“There are no more nerves (than a regular game),” Cross said of his initial response to the news. “First of all, I tried to organize the staff. I met with Coach (Rob) Williams, Coach (Carter) Heston, Coach (Chris) Shumate. I asked Coach Shumate and Coach Heston (to) help me with the play calls. And then Rob kind of focused on the defense for the game. They did a great job. Throughout the game, Carter and Coach Shumate were giving me suggestions of what to run offensively and then Rob was helping me as we changed defenses through the game.”

At the same time that Cross was finalizing that plan, the UAB players were adjusting to the news that they would play without their head coach.

“It was kind of surprising because I couldn't tell (Kennedy) was sick before that,” said forward Evan Chatman. “It's like, oh, wow, (that’s) the head coach. But I know Cross is a great coach, great substitute teacher. I knew we were going to be all right.”

It wasn’t the first time Cross coached a college game as the head coach. He was a successful junior college head coach, compiling  a record of 115-45 in five junior college seasons. He followed with assistant coaching stops at Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Monroe before coming to UAB to serve on Kennedy’s first staff.

“Well, I think this is about the third or fourth time I've had to do this as an assistant coach,” Cross said. “It's different because you're coaching somebody else's team. You've got to think about it from their standpoint. You obviously got to do the things that we do. You’re like a substitute teacher. You're trying to teach their lesson plan.”

This lesson plan came with his fingerprints on the defensive end of the floor. Cross, who generally concentrates on the defensive end of the floor, said on his postgame radio appearance on Blazer Sports Network from Learfield that he had spent most of the day with the other assistant coaches discussing whether to use zone defense as their primary approach.   

“I think when you stand up and coach the game, sometimes you just got to go with your gut,” Cross said. “And, you know, I thought this after we lost at home to Memphis. I thought, next time we play, we might need to do this or this or this. I just had it in my mind that maybe (the zone defense) will work in this game against Tulsa. I just wanted to start out in zone on makes and misses just to see how they did and then we could always adjust in the first media timeout. So it was just kind of a gut feel.”

It was also a bit of a risk against a team that not only leads The American in 3-point shooting percentage but also has a variety of reliable options while shooting from long range. They met little resistance from the UAB defense earlier this season when putting together a 99-77 win over the Blazers at Bartow Arena early in the season. But the plan worked to perfection from the outset in the rematch. Clean looks weren’t easy to come by for the Golden Hurricane and the tone was set in a first half that ended with the teams tied at 29.

By that time, the players had already made the adjustment to 40 minutes on the clock without Kennedy.

“I never played without my head coach,” said Chance Westry. “It was kind of different not having his energy over there. We just had to get it done, play hard and make sure we all stayed together. It’s just a different voice. Cross also came in there with great energy.”

The other major adjustment was playing with a roster shortened by the absence of KyeRon Lindsay-Martin and Jacob Meyer because of injuries and the loss of Ahmad Robinson to a hand injury midway through the first half. That left four players in uniform on the bench, including true freshman Lance Carr and walk-on forward Justin Holloway. Tally up Carr’s floor time this season and it totals 16 minutes over six games. Holloway has yet to play a minute at UAB.

“Once you notice we're kind of thin on the bench, it's like, okay, we got to be smarter, I can't foul,” Chatman said. “It's a little surprising seeing the bench be so thin, though. I came to the bench and there's nobody there, it's like three people around me. I was like, okay, we just got to have some guys step up and they did it.”

One of those guys was Dayjaun Anderson, a junior college transfer, who had stretches this season where he played very little but has started the past five games. Through all the pregame turmoil and unknown, Anderson had a feeling a special night was ahead.

“Prior to the game and even in the hotel, I was just excited,” Anderson said. “Like, I was talking to my family and everything, (telling them) I feel good about this game. I think we're going to pull this one out. My dad called me and asked me how I was feeling. I just told him, like, the day before the game, ‘Man, I'm going for 20. We’re about to get this Dub.’ I was excited.”

Surprisingly, it was Anderson who carried the scoring load in the first 20 minutes, hitting three 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 11 first half points.

“It was huge because if you notice in the first half of the game that I've been starting, I haven't played great in the first half,” said Anderson, who finished with 20 points and hit a key 3-pointer late in the game. “It's always the second half where I come out and go for double digits. And it's like, what's going to happen when I have that first half good game? Like, when I play good in the first half and also bring that to the second half. It just happened to be that game, which I hope going forward happens all the rest of the games that we play.”

His performance helped the Blazers stay in the game during the first half and they came out of the locker room with 11 consecutive points. What happened after that is something the Blazers can build on moving forward.

“I felt that after the Tulsa would go on a run, we would stay calm and just answer back,” Chatman said. “Instead of panicking or missing shots at the rim, like we were early, we didn't change anything, we just kept going. We were able to think about the next play, that's when I realized, yeah, we can get them.”

When it was done, Cross got an idea of what was ahead when he saw Westry looking his way while walking into the locker room. Cross got someone to get his traveling bag to a safe spot so he would have dry clothes to wear on the plane trip home.

“I had the (television) interview afterwards,” Anderson said. “I came in the locker room and Cross was all wet, they soaked him with water. Then  they were spraying the water on me. We were just enjoying the moment.”

Other than the wet clothes, Cross said it wasn’t that much different than the other wins this season.

“I just wanted to win the game,” Cross said. “I mean, it was no different than any game, whether I come into Bartow Arena or if I go to a road game. I'll be honest with you, I was just relieved that we won. You know, that's my objective every game is I want the Blazers to come out on top. I was happy for the players, I was happy for our staff. And that's my objective every day. Every day I put a UAB shirt on. I want the Blazers to win”