1985-1986 UAB Blazers Men's Basketball team
The 1985-1986 UAB Blazers men's basketball team represented UAB as a member of the Sun Belt Conference during the 1985-86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.
The Blazers were coached by Gene Bartow and played their home games at Birmingham Coliseum in the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
Entering the 1985-86 season there were high expectations for a UAB program that was ranked in the Associated Press pre-season poll for the first time in program history, coming in at #16.
UAB's season began where the previous season ended, in Houston, Texas participating in the Big Apple NIT Tournament. The Blazers opened the season with an impressive 71-68 win over Texas A&M of the Southwest Conference, setting up a showdown with the 6th-ranked Duke Blue Devils of the ACC. UAB led 31-29 at the half, but Duke was too much to handle down the stretch defeating the Blazers 66-54.
During the pre-conference portion of the schedule, the Blazers streaked out to a 12-2 record with the two losses away from home to ranked opponents Duke (#6) & UNLV (#12).
UAB managed a third place finish with 9-5 conference record against stiff competition.
UAB once again hosted the Sun Belt Conference tournament at the BJCC, entering the tournament as the #3 seed. The Blazers defeated 6th-seed South Alabama (64-51) in the quarter-finals and dispatched the #2-seed Western Kentucky in the Semis (57-45). The championship matchup up was against the 4-seed Jacksonville Dolphins who had upset the top-seeded Old Dominion Monarchs the previous day. The Championship proved to me a nip and tuck, back and forth affair. In the closing seconds of the game, UAB had just missed a game tying free throw with Jacksonville making both ends of a subsequent one and one to stretch their lead to 3. With only seconds remaining, Tracy Foster caught the inbounds pass, took two steps and heaved a 60 foot shot from the backcourt, hitting nothing but net, making the final score: Jacksonville 70, UAB 69. Ironically, The Sun Belt Conference which had experimented with a 3-point line during regular season, chose not to use the rule during the tournament costing the Blazers an overtime period.
The Blazers received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament marking their sixth consecutive appearance in the tournament. UAB was seeded 6th in the West Region matched up with the 11 seed Missouri Tigers to be played in Ogden, Utah. The Blazers defeated the Tigers (66-64) in the first round before losing to the 3 seed North Carolina Tar Heels (72-84) two days later.
UAB completed the season with a school record tying 25 victories (11 loses) against perhaps the school's most challenging schedule ever. The Blazers played 15 games againet opponents that eventually made the NCAA tournament.
Schedule/Results
| Date | Rank | Opponent | Score | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 21 | #16 | vs. Texas A&M | 71-68 | Houston, TX | Big Apple NIT |
| November 24 | #16 | vs. #6 Duke | 54-66 | Houston, TX | Big Apple NIT |
| November 26 | #20 | Missouri Baptist | 94-52 | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| December 4 | #17 | at East Tennessee State | 63-44 | Johnson City, TN | |
| December 6 | #17 | vs. Lehigh | 71-61 | Iowa City, IA | Amana-Hawkeye Classic |
| December 7 | #17 | vs. Arkansas State | 78-59 | Iowa City, IA | Amana-Hawkeye Classic |
| December 10 | #16 | Auburn | 62-56 | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| December 13 | #16 | at Hawaii-Pacific | 69-59 | Honolulu, HI | Hawaii Tip-Off Tournament |
| December 14 | #16 | vs. West Texas State | 65-56 | Honolulu, HI | Hawaii Tip-Off Tournament |
| December 17 | #14 | Cincinnati | 69-53 | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| December 20 | #14 | Campbell | 86-46 | Birmingham Coliseum | UAB Classic |
| December 21 | #14 | Tennessee-Chattanooga | 76-60 | Birmingham Coliseum | UAB Classic |
| December 27 | #14 | vs. Texas Christian | 69-62 | Las Vegas, NV | UNLV Bud Light Classic |
| December 28 | #14 | at #12 Nevada-Las Vegas | 72-73 | Las Vegas, NV | UNLV Bud Light Classic |
| January 4 | #16 | Old Dominion | 66-51 | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| January 6 | #14 | at South Florida | 57-46 | Tampa, FL | |
| January 9 | #14 | Virginia Commonwealth | 72-70 (OT) | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| January 13 | #12 | South Alabama | 77-64 | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| January 16 | #12 | Western Kentucky | 72-75 (OT) | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| January 18 | #12 | at DePaul | 61-70 | Rosemont, IL | |
| January 21 | #18 | at Jacksonville | 75-67 | Jacksonville, FL | |
| January 23 | #18 | North Carolina-Charlotte | 81-63 | Birmingham Coliseum | |
| January 25 | #18 | at Western Kentucky | 75-81 | Bowling Green, KY | |
| January 27 | South Florida | 80-57 | Birmingham Coliseum | ||
| January 30 | at Old Dominion | 71-58 | Norfolk, VA | ||
| February 1 | Jacksonville | 60-65 | Birmingham Coliseum | ||
| February 6 | at Virginia Commonwealth | 57-63 | Richmond, VA | ||
| February 8 | South Carolina | 83-54 | Birmingham Coliseum | ||
| February 15 | at South Alabama | 46-48 | Mobile, AL | ||
| February 17 | at North Carolina-Charlotte | 70-54 | Charlotte, NC | ||
| February 22 | at #7 Michigan | 54-62 | Ann Arbor, MI | ||
| February 27 | South Alabama | 64-51 | Birmingham Coliseum | Sun Belt Quarter-Finals | |
| February 28 | Western Kentucky | 57-45 | Birmingham Coliseum | Sun Belt Semi-Finals | |
| March 1 | Jacksonville | 69-70 | Birmingham Coliseum | Sun Belt Finals | |
| March 13 | vs. Missouri | 66-64 | Ogden, UT | NCAA West Region 1st Round | |
| March 15 | vs. #4 North Carolina | 59-77 | Ogden, UT | NCAA West Region 2nd Round | |
| *Rankings - Associated Press | |||||
Coaching Staff
| Name | Position | Seasons at UAB |
|---|---|---|
| Gene Bartow | Head coach | 8th |
| Robert Corn | Assistant coach | 7th |
| John Prince | Assistant coach | 4th |
| Chris Giles | Graduate Assistant coach | 2nd |
| Donnie Speer | Graduate Assistant coach | 1st |
Players/Stats
| # | Player | Games | Field Goals | FG% | Free Throws | FT% | Rebounds | Assists | Turnovers | Blocks | Steals | Points | Pts/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Steve Mitchell | 36 | 256-573 | .447 | 94-134 | .701 | 139 | 184 | 86 | 3 | 50 | 606 | 16.8 |
| 40 | Jerome Mincy | 36 | 162-323 | .502 | 163-231 | .706 | 302 | 17 | 76 | 22 | 33 | 487 | 13.5 |
| 32 | James Ponder | 36 | 150-368 | .408 | 92-120 | .767 | 79 | 79 | 49 | 5 | 43 | 392 | 10.9 |
| 24 | Michael Charles | 36 | 94-175 | .531 | 58-100 | .580 | 148 | 120 | 87 | 8 | 57 | 246 | 6.8 |
| 50 | Archie Johnson | 36 | 89-155 | .574 | 57-87 | .655 | 190 | 12 | 33 | 23 | 19 | 235 | 6.5 |
| 44 | Anthony Gordon | 36 | 54-111 | .486 | 33-62 | .532 | 162 | 25 | 32 | 18 | 17 | 141 | 3.9 |
| 55 | Bruce Baker | 27 | 49-97 | .505 | 8-13 | .615 | 40 | 19 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 106 | 3.9 |
| 31 | Eddie Collins | 34 | 42-82 | .512 | 28-40 | .700 | 65 | 1 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 112 | 3.3 |
| 33 | Reginald Turner | 18 | 13-27 | .481 | 8-18 | .444 | 26 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 34 | 1.9 |
| 4 | Tracy Foster | 28 | 18-55 | .327 | 5-9 | .556 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 41 | 1.5 |
| 52 | Cedric Evans | 20 | 11-23 | .478 | 3-6 | .500 | 35 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 25 | 1.2 |
| 34 | Dylan Howard | 18 | 7-25 | .280 | 5-11 | .455 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 1.1 |
| 25 | Chris Thomas | 6 | 6-16 | .375 | 1-3 | .333 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2.2 |
| 21 | Larry Wiksell | 4 | 3-5 | .600 | 0-1 | .000 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1.5 |
| Team | Totals | 36 | 954-2035 | .469 | 555-835 | .665 | 1296 | 489 | 436 | 108 | 243 | 2463 | 68.4 |
External Links
| Preceded by: 1984-1985 |
UAB Men’s Basketball Teams 1985–1986 |
Succeeded by: 1986-1987 |