UAB grabs 78-68 win over Rice
Updated Jan 22, 2021;
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Mike Ertel drives the lane during UAB s 62-58 win over Southern Miss, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Ala. (Jimmy Mitchell/UAB Athletics)
Facebook Share
It’s Mike Ertel’s birthday and the now 22-year-old member of the UAB basketball team decided to treat himself and his team to a game-high scoring performance and a half-game division lead.
The Blazers (11-2, 4-1 C-USA) pulled ahead early but had to fight off multiple rallies in a 78-68 win over the Rice Owls, Friday, Jan. 22, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham.
UAB is now in sole possession of first place in the C-USA western division.
• It will spend the next two weeks based out of St. George, Utah.
• It will add a rare January non-conference game there Wednesday against the Dixie State University Trailblazers, a first-year Division I member of the WAC which, ironically, had its WAC-opening series this past weekend against New Mexico State University postponed due to a positive COVID-19 case on the Aggies roster.
• It will make the 2-hour bus ride from St. George to Las Vegas, Nev., this weekend, where the Lobos are scheduled to play UNLV on Saturday and Monday, before returning to Utah.
• In lieu of payment for traveling to play at DSU’s Burns Arena, per a contract reviewed by the Journal, the Lobos get to practice at DSU and “host” their Jan. 21 and 23 Mountain West Conference games against San Jose State. The Spartans, coincidentally, are staying at the same Phoenix-based hotel as NMSU because a county health order forced their relocation out of state.
‘We didn’t deviate’: How UAB persevered through 42-day layoff
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
Posted Dec 18, 2020
The UAB football team withstood a 42-day layoff before winning its third straight division title. (UAB Athletics)
Facebook Share
42.
It’s also the number of days the UAB football team went between consecutive losses and a division-clinching win over the Rice Owls with a depleted roster, due to COVID-19 tests and subsequent contact tracing.
The Blazers (5-3, 3-1 C-USA) had the longest layoff of any team to play this fall but stuck to their weekly routine though the cancellation of four straight games and now have a chance to win its second league title against Marshall in the 2020 Ryan Conference USA Championship Game, Friday, Dec. 18, at Joan. C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
UNM Lobo forward Rod Brown grabs a rebound early in Sunday’s game against the Rice Owls at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston. (Photo courtesy Maria Lysaker for UNM Athletics)
Here are some extra notes, quotes, tweets, stats and whatever else I could find in the old notebook that didn’t fit in print after Tuesday’s 104-65 Lobos win over NAIA school Our Lady of the Lake in Houston, Texas:
Bully ball
OK, so the opponents haven’t been the type of physical team that the Lobos will see soon in Mountain West play. Certainly not in the paint.
But the schedule is what it is and at this point UNM’s three newcomer forwards have been nothing short of dominant down low. Rod Brown (6-foot-7, 218-pounds), Bayron Matos (6-9, 215) and Valdir Manuel (6-10, 225) have done everything asked of them to help carry over the Lobo coaching staff’s primary point of emphasis from the unique offseason in which U