UAB heads To Charlotte In Hopes Of KEeping Road Streak Alive

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 3, 2026

Winning the final two games of the regular season wraps up a top four seed for UAB in the American Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament. Win the first step of that quest, which comes on Wednesday night at Charlotte, and the Blazers secure a spot in history.

UAB enters Wednesday’s game at Charlotte, which tips off at 6 p.m. CT, in a fourth-place tie with the 49ers. Both teams are 9-7 in conference play and carry a one-game lead in the loss column over FAU and Tulane in the final week of the regular season. If UAB wins on Wednesday and FAU loses at second place Wichita State on Sunday then the Blazers essentially wrap up the bye into the quarterfinals that goes with the No. 4 seed. Mathematically, UAB could still get the No. 4 seed if the Blazers lose at Charlotte but a win would make it less suspenseful.

The first task is making history with yet another road win. Only one team from the American Conference has finished unbeaten in conference games on the road. The Houston Cougars not only won all nine conference games, in what was then called the American Athletic Conference, in 2022-23 but was 11-0 overall on the road that season. Houston’s lone conference loss was a 56-55 setback to Temple in Houston and the Cougars earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Andy Kennedy’s teams generally play well on the road during his time as the head coach at his alma mater. The Blazers have never finished less than .500 in true road games in Kennedy’s tenure and are 43-26 in his six seasons at UAB. As a program, UAB is 253-304 in true road games, which is a winning percentage of 45.4 percent. A win on Wednesday would give UAB 10 road wins, which would match the program high set under Jerod Haase in 2015-16.

UAB’s trip to the doorstep of becoming the second American Conference team to go unblemished on the road in conference play also comes with the perplexing stat of the Blazers sitting at 1-7 in conference games at Bartow Arena. The Blazers will try to end with a home conference win on Sunday with East Carolina in town but extending the road winning streak to 10 games overall, counting the non-conference win at Drake on Dec. 5, is the goal right now.

Charlotte plays well at home, building a 11-5 record at Halton Arena with three of the losses coming in conference play. Ben Bradford, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, is the team leader in points with 13 points per game. Point guard Dezayne Mingo controls things for the 49ers and 7-foot-2, 260-pound center Anton Bonke is a tough matchup for UAB. Mingo, who is a 6-foot-4 transfer from Marshall, averages 11.8 points and 4.5 assists per game while Bonke averages 10.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

The 49ers are fourth in the American Conference in 3-pointers per game (8.5) and third in 3-point percentage (35.2) and field goal percentage (46.1). UAB needs to win the turnover battle on Wednesday with Charlotte coming in last in the conference in turnover margin (minus-2.7).