UAB Blazers

UAB Blazers Highlights

General Team Information:

NCAA Division: Division I

Conference: Conference USA (1995-present)

Past Conferences: Sun Belt, Great Midwest

City: Birmingham, Ala.

Stadium: Bartow Arena

NCAA Tournaments: 16 (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2015, 2022)

Championships:

National Championships: None

Conference Tournament Titles: 6 (1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 2015, 2022)

Conference Regular Season Titles: 6 (1981, 1982, 1990, 2004, 2011, 2016)

Team History

The UAB Blazers are a Division I program located in Alabama. UAB — also known as the University of Alabama at Birmingham — currently competes in Conference USA and is coached by Andy Kennedy, a star forward for the program in the 1980s. Kennedy, a former Parade All-American, played for UAB from 1988-91 after transferring from NC State. He scored 1,787 points — second in school history to Steve Mitchell, with 1,868 — and set several program records, including career 3-pointers (318,) 3-point percentage (.437,) free throw percentage (.872) and highest single-season scoring average (21.8 points per game in 1990-91.) He also was a two-time All-Sun Belt selection. In 2022, Kennedy was inducted into the UAB Sports Hall of Fame.

That success has carried over to coaching. Kennedy entered 2022-23 61-19 over three seasons at his alma mater, with one C-USA Tournament title. That came in 2022, when the Blazers won a program-record 27 games behind C-USA Player of the Year Jordan Walker and also made the NCAA Tournament. They wound up losing in the first round to No. 5 seed Houston.

It was the Blazers’ second straight 20-win season and the 14th since the turn of the century. Kennedy’s predecessor, Rob Ehsan, was responsible for two of those, including an appearance in the College Basketball Invitational, before he was fired in 2020. Ehsan had succeeded Jerod Haase.

In 2015, the Haase-led Blazers scored one of the NCAA Tournament’s greatest upsets when they beat Iowa State 60-59 in a No. 3-14 matchup. It marked the program’s first victory in the Big Dance in 10 years.

UAB was particularly strong in the 1980s. It made the NCAA Tournament seven times during the decade, with appearances in the Sweet 16 in 1981 and the Elite Eight in 1982. In 1989, the Blazers reached the National Invitational semifinals.

The Blazers advanced to the Sweet 16 again in 2004, overcoming big odds to beat No. 1 Kentucky along the way.

UAB entered 2022-23 with big expectations, as it was ranked first in the C-USA preseason poll. Walker was named the league’s preseason Player of the Year.