1980-1981 UAB Blazers Men's Basketball team

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The 1980-1981 UAB Blazers men's basketball team represented UAB as a member of the Sun Belt Conference during the 1980-81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.

The Blazers were coached by Gene Bartow and played their home games at BJCC Coliseum in the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.

The Blazers finished the regular season with a 19-7 overall and finished in a three way tie for 1st place in the Sun Belt with a 9-3 in conference play. At the conference tournament in Jacksonville, Florida 3rd seeded UAB defeated 6th seed UNCC (80-64) & 2nd seed South Alabama (86-59) to advance to the Championship against top seed VCU for the second year in a row. In a thrilling game, the once again fell to the Rams (61-62).

UAB was awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, receiving the 7th seed in the Mideast Region. The Blazers first two ever NCAA games took place at Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, AL. In the first round, UAB was matched up with 10 seed Western Kentucky. The Blazers cruised by the Hilltoppers 93-68 to setup a rematch with 2 seed Kentucky, who had defeated UAB 61-53 in a December game played in Lexington, KY. The Blazers exacted revenge for the regular season loss, defeating the Wildcats 69-62. The victory propelled UAB to its first Sweet Sixteen, an amazing accomplishment for a third year program.

The Mideast Regional was played in Bloomington, Indiana. UAB squared off with the host and 3rd seed Indiana Hoosiers in the regional semi-finals. The Hoosiers and the highly partisan crowd proved too much to overcome and the Blazers season ended with a hard fought 87-72 loss to the eventual national champions. After the game, Indiana Coach Bob Knight praised the Blazers in an interview with Sports Illustrated: "Those UAB kids will have my undying respect for how hard they played the game."

The Blazers Sweet Sixteen appearance and its final 23-9 record put UAB basketball on the national basketball map.

Schedule/Results

Date Rank Opponent Score Location Notes
November 29 MacMurray 96-56 Birmingham Coliseum
December 3 Butler 87-58 Birmingham Coliseum
December 6 at Mississippi 72-83 Oxford, MS
December 8 Texas-Arlington 67-54 Birmingham Coliseum
December 11 Roosevelt 112-55 Birmingham Coliseum
December 13 at Pittsburgh 70-58 Pittsburgh, PA
December 16 Missouri Western 107-54 Birmingham Coliseum
December 19 vs. Idaho State 68-55 Lexington, KY UK Invitational
December 20 at #2 Kentucky 53-61 Lexington, KY UK Invitational
December 23 at Iowa State 70-71 Ames, IA
December 29 Rice 78-60 Birmingham Coliseum UAB Classic
December 30 Southern Mississippi 60-55 Birmingham Coliseum UAB Classic
January 3 Jacksonville 73-55 Birmingham Coliseum
January 10 Virginia Commonwealth 67-65 Birmingham Coliseum
January 17 at South Florida 77-79 Tampa, FL
January 24 at Jacksonville 76-64 Jacksonville, FL
January 29 South Florida 70-53 Birmingham Coliseum
January 31 #16 South Alabama 73-70 Birmingham Coliseum * Sun Belt Conference record crowd of 16,131.
February 2 at Georgia State 85-67 Atlanta, GA
February 5 Georgia State 89-64 Birmingham Coliseum
February 7 at #3 DePaul 66-77 Rosemont, IL
February 12 at North Carolina-Charlotte 73-57 Charlotte, NC
February 15 at Virginia Commonwealth 69-79 Richmond, VA
February 18 at South Alabama 57-77 Mobile, AL
February 22 North Carolina-Charlotte 80-64 Birmingham Coliseum
February 24 Samford 92-67 Birmingham Coliseum
February 27 vs. North Carolina-Charlotte 80-64 Jacksonville, FL Sun Belt Quarter-Finals
February 28 vs. South Alabama 86-59 Jacksonville, FL Sun Belt Semi-Finals
March 1 vs. Virginia Commonwealth 61-62 Jacksonville, FL Sun Belt Championship
March 13 vs. Western Kentucky 93-86 Tuscaloosa, AL NCAA Mideast Regional - First Round
March 15 vs. #7 Kentucky 69-62 Tuscaloosa, AL NCAA Mideast Regional - Second Round
March 20 at #14 Indiana 72-87 Bloomington, IN NCAA Mideast Regional Semi-Finals
*Rankings - Associated Press

Coaching Staff

Name Position Seasons at UAB
Gene Bartow Head coach 3rd
Lee Hunt Associate coach 3rd
Oscar Catlin Assistant coach 2nd
Robert Corn Graduate Assistant coach 2nd

Players/Stats

# Player Games Field Goals FG% Free Throws FT% Rebounds Assists Turnovers Blocks Steals Points Pts/G
20 Oliver Robinson 32 200-418 .478 109-140 .779 126 105 58 18 58 509 15.9
40 Chris Giles 32 154-316 .487 65-92 .707 250 63 43 10 28 373 11.7
52 Donnie Speer 32 129-255 .506 46-69 .667 160 2 41 36 25 304 9.5
44 Craig Lane 32 112-213 .526 64-119 .538 134 14 55 1 32 288 9.0
34 Glenn Marcus 32 97-186 .522 78-107 .729 63 131 64 2 61 272 8.5
14 Jonath Nicholas 32 69-132 .523 80-98 .816 36 72 40 2 32 218 6.8
55 Norman Anchrum 30 75-159 .472 42-59 .712 131 10 38 51 10 189 6.3
33 Leon Morris 31 44-91 .484 34-49 .694 92 28 28 5 26 122 3.9
21 Scott Simcik 14 7-17 .412 14-19 .737 6 5 5 0 0 28 2.0
15 Luellen Foster 15 10-22 .455 11-15 .733 18 2 9 0 5 31 2.1
32 Tim Almquist 24 19-38 .500 2-10 .200 35 6 4 12 8 40 1.7
11 Murry Bartow 11 1-3 .333 3-6 .500 4 4 4 0 1 5 0.5
12 Bill McCammon 13 11-25 .440 0-4 .2000 4 4 10 1 1 22 1.7
45 Tim Richards 12 7-15 .467 8-12 .667 11 2 3 2 6 22 1.8
Others 12 10-32 .313 1-2 .500 9 7 5 1 4 25 2.1
Team Totals 32 947-1932 .490 560-808 .693 1162 456 405 133 260 2454 76.7

External links

Preceded by:
1979-1980
UAB Men’s Basketball Teams
19801981
Succeeded by:
1981-1982