Weekend Roundup: Monday, January 6th
Major football recruiting news, the men's basketball team crushes Tulsa, and the women's basketball team drops its third consecutive game.
TODAY IN UAB HISTORY
1990: UAB storms back against conference favorite Old Dominion
The 1989-1990 UAB men’s basketball team is notable for a number of reasons. It was one of Gene Bartow’s last great squads; it took down Auburn, Oregon, and Penn State; most notably, it brought home the program’s second and final Sun Belt regular season title. The team’s 12-2 conference record far outstripped all of its peers and secured the Green and Gold an NCAA Tournament bid.
However, the Blazers weren’t the presumptive league favorites at the beginning of the season — that honor belonged to the Old Dominion Monarchs. ODU boasted NBA prospect Chris Gatling, a 6’9” junior center who had scored 36 in a game against UAB the year prior. By early 1990, the soon-to-be-named Sun Belt Player of the Year was averaging 20.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, and over 1 block per game.
To insert themselves into conference contender discussions, the Blazers had to take down the top dogs, an opportunity they were afforded in January. Riding a five-game winning streak, Bartow led his troops into Norfolk with the hope that hulking senior big man Alan Ogg would slow down Gatling.
That strategy did not pan out. UAB opened the night with an abhorrent display of shooting, starting out 4 of 18 from the floor and going a whopping 9.5 minutes without a field goal. ODU’s indomitable star, whose final statline would read 27 points and 14 rebounds, was undeterred by Ogg. Gatling’s performance propelled the Monarchs to a massive first half lead — by the 3:40 mark, the home team had built a 32-15 advantage.
But everything changed in the blink of an eye. UAB guard Barry Bearden nailed a three-pointer, then another, then another; his backcourt partner George Wilkerson began to snatch steal after steal. ODU’s stable of capable scorers had unraveled. In fewer than three minutes, the Blazers had roared back into the game, turning a 32-15 deficit into a 32-30 deficit.
The matchup remained hotly-contested deep into the second half, when a three-pointer from the Monarchs’ Darrin McDonald tied the score at 60. UAB’s Jack Kramer responded by setting up his teammate Larry Rembert for a wide-open layup — ODU coach Tom Young would later express immense frustration at the ease with which UAB scored this bucket — and it was up to Gatling to keep his team in the game.
With 24 seconds remaining, the forward was fouled in the paint but missed the back end of a one-and-one. Kramer was subsequently hacked; unlike his counterpart, he sunk both free throws. Defended by Andy Kennedy, ODU’s Keith Johnson couldn’t hit a last-second triple, and the Blazers took home a statement 64-61 victory.
As previously mentioned, UAB would go on to win the Sun Belt with a record of 12-2, losing only to Jacksonville and Charlotte. They’d beat Old Dominion again in February, although the now-.500 Monarchs were no longer among the conference’s elite. In Bartow’s first and only reunion with his former employer, the Blazers lost their opening-round NCAA Tournament game to UCLA.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Saturday afternoon: Beat Tulsa 83-51 at Bartow
The men’s basketball team (8-7, 1-1) dominated Tulsa over the weekend to improve to 123rd in KenPom — check out the game recap. They return to Bartow on Tuesday to take on the KenPom #169 Tulane Green Wave (8-7, 2-0).
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Saturday afternoon: Lost to Wichita State 82-70 at Bartow
The women’s basketball team (9-6, 0-3) continued its frustrating start to conference play on Saturday, letting a winnable game against Wichita State slip through its hands down the stretch. The Blazers jumped on the Shockers in the first quarter, leading by as much as 12, but the visitors ever-so-slowly clawed back.
Randy Norton’s squad would allow the Shockers to score 46 of their 82 points after the break, with WSU guard Salese Blow putting up 19 alone. Wichita cut its deficit to 4 by halftime and catapulted ahead at the halfway mark of third quarter; the Blazers would never again get within 3 points of their opponents.
Only three Blazers scored more than 6 points: guard Maddie Walsh, who made 3 of her 11 three-point attempts, guard Journey Armstead, who made up for a rough night from the field with a stellar performance at the charity stripe, and forward Sara Bershers, who went 5-14 from beyond the arc. Forward Molly Moffitt finished with a career-high 13 rebounds, while forward Rayne Tucker poured in 4 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
UAB is now 9-6 overall but 0-3 in conference play, having been blown out by Temple at home and having dropped a close one to UTSA on the road. The Blazers are tied for last in the American with East Carolina and Charlotte.
UAB’s analytical ranking has slowly decreased since the end of December — by Barttorvik’s metrics, they entered league play as the nation’s 158th-best team and now stand as the nation’s 172nd-best team. The Blazers sport one of the conference’s best offenses, but they continue to be hampered by their defense, particularly on the interior.
The Green and Gold now look ahead to perhaps the most winnable game on their schedule: a home clash with Memphis on Wednesday. The Tigers, plagued by an even more extreme gap between offense and defense, are one of just two AAC teams ranked lower in Torvik than the Blazers.
FOOTBALL
It was a busy recruiting weekend for the Blazers, who doled out offers to a host of mid-year transfers last week. UAB welcomed a significant number of these prospects to campus over the past several days, and their visits will continue en masse until Sunday the 12th.
Although no complete list of confirmed visitors exists, several announced their intentions to be in Birmingham over the weekend, including:
Alabama State defensive lineman Jakeem Fletcher
Stony Brook wide receiver Jayce Freeman
Alabama State safety Dasheen Jackson
Old Dominion edge rusher Amorie Morrison
According to Trent Dilfer’s Twitter feed, the Blazers have secured at least five commitments in the last several days; at the time of writing, the only one that’s been made public is safety Josh Baka.
6’1”, 195 lbs — two years of eligibility remaining
Baka, a former Kent State Golden Flash, announced his decision to transfer to UAB in a Sunday afternoon social media post. The Ontario, Canada native, who graduated from Connecticut’s St. Thomas More School in 2022, has two years of eligibility remaining.
The safety spent three years at Kent, playing under now-UAB safeties coach C.J. Cox in 2022 and 2023. His breakout season came in 2024, when he racked up a team-leading 90 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 5 pass breakups, and 1 fumble recovery. For this effort, he was named to College Football Network's Third-Team All-MAC.
Baka signed with Arkansas State earlier in the offseason but recently reopened his recruitment.
Baka is the sixth publicly announced member of UAB’s incoming transfer class, joining Kaleb Brown, Evan McCray, Antonio Ferguson, Jamichael Rogers, and Peyton Floyd. Along with Rogers, he’s one of just two defenders on that list.
In other UAB football news:
Confirmed upcoming visits include:
Western Kentucky linebacker Kylan Guidry (1/7-1/8)
Washington State safety Jackson Lataimua (1/8)
Nicholls State linebacker Eli Ennis (exact date unknown)
Former West Alabama tackle and UAB target Allen Jones, who at one point seemingly attempted to recruit Jayce Freeman to Birmingham, committed to Akron after taking an official visit there on Sunday.
Brief Blazer Var’Keyes Gumms committed to UNLV on Saturday.
Former UAB safety Adrian Maddox committed to Florida last night.