As college basketball’s 2020-2021 regular season comes to a close, teams across the country are participating in their conference tournaments. 

For UAB last season, they won their first matchup in the Conference USA tournament against UTSA but had to cancel their next game against Western Kentucky due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only was that game cancelled, but all other games in every other conference were also cancelled. The tournaments across the country stopped including March Madness which is a huge event in college basketball history. 

However, UAB managed to complete the full 2020-2021 season with a few exceptions of some rescheduling and cancelled games. The Blazers ended their regular season with a record of 21-6 overall and 13-5 in conference. For first year head coach Andy Kennedy to get over 20 wins in a season at a new program is an accomplishment itself. 

After the Blazers’ last series and sweep over North Texas, they won the #2 west seed in the 2021 Air Force Reserve C-USA Men’s Championship. This gives UAB a first-round bye into the quarterfinals. With Rice beating both Southern Miss (61-52) and Marshall (72-68), UAB will play their first game of the conference tournament against #6 west seed Rice.

UAB Players to Watch 

Tavin Lovan was named second-team All-Conference USA. The junior guard started 25 out of 27 games and scored 12.2 points per game, shooting 54.2% from the floor. He also had a career-high 32 points and season-high 11 rebounds in the matchup against Rice on Jan. 23, naming him co-conference player of the week. 

Quan Jackson and Trey Jemison were all named to the conference all-defensive team. Despite Jackson missing 34 days due to a knee injury, he is ranked in the top 25 in Division 1 with 51 steals. Jemison ranks in the top 20 in the NCAA with 59 total blocks and his 2.2 blocks per game is also among the nation’s best. Jemison was the only Blazer that started in all 27 games.  

The duo made UAB one of the toughest defenses in the country. UAB has the seventh-best scoring defense in the NCAA, allowing only 60.1 points per game. The Blazers are fourth in the country in turnover margin (5.4) and eleventh in total steals (218). 

The Details

All quarterfinal games in the men’s bracket will air on Stadium. CBS Sports Network will broadcast the semifinal and final matchups. UAB’s quarterfinal game against Rice will tip off at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 11.