Blazers’ Bartow Frustrations Continue In Loss To NOrth Texas
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 1, 2026
Guessing Andy Kennedy’s mood wasn’t necessary in the aftermath of his UAB men’s basketball team’s latest disappointment at Bartow Arena. The veteran head coach made it clear after the Blazers lost the physical battle in a 62-58 American Conference setback to North Texas on Sunday afternoon.
Not only did the Blazers lose a game that they desperately needed while jockeying for a top four spot in the upcoming American Conference Tournament at the BJCC but they also have no chance to finish with a winning record at Bartow Arena this season. UAB is 7-9 at home this season with just one game remaining in Bartow Arena. The closest UAB came to finish with a losing home record came in Mike Davis’ last season when the 2011-12 team finished 8-7 at Bartow Arena.
“In 48 years, UAB’s never had a home losing record,” Kennedy said in his postgame press conference. “This team's going to have one. Crazy, right? What bothers me, coming into the season, I think we'd won over 82 percent of our home games. 82 percent level. What? What? So disappointing, very disappointing, agitated, angry, frustrated, all of the above.”
Most of the frustration was printed on a paper filled with stats sitting in front of Kennedy after the game.
“Obviously, I'm trying to figure out a formula,” Kennedy said. “We put them in a hotel last night. Discouraging, very discouraging. You know, we chart a bunch of different stuff, guys. We got it all here. There's some toughness categories with second chance points, points off turnovers, 50-50 balls, sacks, which is three consecutive defensive stops, and they won them all. They didn't win one or two, they won them all. And that's why they deserve to win.”
UAB lost 50-50 balls (9-3), second chance points (15-2) and points off turnovers (12-2). The Blazers were also ineffective at finishing through contact, making just 11 of 20 layups with several of the misses coming at critical times.
“Nobody likes to have their toughness challenged but when you lose every toughness category, what else could it be?” Kennedy said. “I thought they dug into us. You got to drive through contact. We got to the foul line 20 times, they got to the foul line 10 times. We’re even on the glass. We just had three or four layups. Evan Chatman layup, Salim London, Jacob Meyer. I could go on and on (where) we don’t make them. In the games that we’ve won, we’ve made not all of the plays but enough to win the game. And that’s what they did.”
UAB was in control for much of the first half and carried a 28-21 lead into halftime. But North Texas flipped the switch and halftime and came out more physical. Reece Robinson, a 6-foot-8, 227-pound sophomore, was scoreless in the first half but he muscled his way to 10 points in the first five minutes of the second half to help close the gap. The Blazers regained the momentum just before the midway point when Dayjaun Anderson scored eight consecutive UAB points and Chance Westry closed the 10-3 run with a reverse layup to give his team a 51-46 lead with 7:31 left.
“I remember vividly, it’s a five-point game, ball’s on the floor, they get it, throw it out and hit a three,” Kennedy said.
It was Je’Shawn Stevenson who dove on the floor and pushed the loose ball to an open David Terrell Jr. on the left wing. Terrell hit the 3-pointer and then tied the game on the next possession by driving to the bucket and converting a layup. That was a prime example of winning plays made by the Mean Green down the stretch.
The final dagger came with 20 seconds left when Cole Franklin hit a 3-pointer to give North Texas the four-point lead.
Westry finished with 17 points and four assists but also did not have a defensive rebound and turned the ball over four times. Chatman had 15 rebounds and Anderson finished with 14 points. But the Blazers failed in taking an important step toward securing the fourth seed, which would give them a berth into the conference tournament quarterfinals. They can still do that by winning on Wednesday at Charlotte and closing the year with a home win against East Carolina. But Kennedy said his focus is no longer on tournament seeding.
“It's been hard all year,” Kennedy said. “I mean, we win a couple, people get kidded. I don't. Trust me, I've seen all I need to see. We're going to load back up and try to win our ninth straight in the conference play on the road, and we're going to load back and try to win one in Bartow. And then we know we're in the tournament. We're going to ride that thing as hard as we can. And (then) we're going to get to work (on rebuilding the roster).”