UAB men’s basketball moved to a program record 7-0 start to the season after a dominating 88-46 victory over the Southern Jaguars in Bartow Arena Wednesday night.
The Blazers took control of the game with around 12:54 left in the first half when they broke a 10-10 tie and began the first of multiple minutes-long droughts for the Jaguars. UAB led by as much as 51 points in the game. The margin narrowed late in the second half as Southern scored the final nine points of the game against the UAB bench.
The Blazer defense was suffocating in its victory. The Jaguars shot only shot 30.2% on the night. The physical presence of their Blazer team was especially felt at the rim where Southern failed to connect many shots.
Offensively, the UAB team was given a chance to show out with seven players scoring in the double digits led by 15 points from Jalen Benjamin and a double-double for Kassim Nicholson.
Bigger tests lie ahead for UAB over the next two weeks. Saturday’s matchup with Chattanooga will feature two of the three 7-0 programs in the nation (Xavier is the third). And next week’s matchup against Georgia Tech will see the Blazers hosting a power program with wins over Kentucky and Nebraska.
Saturday’s game against Chattanooga is set to tip at 2 p.m. at Bartow Arena. It will be available to stream at CUSA.tv and to listen to on WJOX 100.5 in Birmingham.
