UAB BLAZER BASKETBALL | 2017-18 GAME 8 | MEMPHIS | NOVEMBER 30, 2017 2017-18 UAB MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES Jay D’Abramo | Associate Athletics Communications Director | Cell: (205) 234-9422 | Office: (205) 934-0722 [email protected] | www.UABSports.com | Twitter: @UAB_MBB | Instagram: @UAB_MBB | Snapchat: UAB_MBB 2017-18 SCHEDULE GAME 8 NOVEMBER 11.10 JACKSONVILLE W, 96-67 11.13 CHATTANOOGA W, 89-47 11.16 LeMOYNE-OWEN COLLEGE W, 81-57 UAB 11.20 vs. Richmond^ L, 63-50 11.21 vs. Buffalo^ L, 96-91 (OT) BLAZERS (4-3) 11.22 vs. Iowa^ L, 95-85 Head Coach: Robert Ehsan | 21-19 (2nd year) | 21-19 (2nd year) 11.26 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE W, 90-53 11.30 MEMPHIS! 7 p.m. VS. DECEMBER 12.5 at Troy 7 p.m. 12.9 at Auburn 3:30 p.m. MEMPHIS 12.16 ALABAMA A&M% 2:15 p.m. TIGERS (3-1) 12.20 NEW ORLEANS 7 p.m. Head Coach: Tubby Smith | 579-290 (27th year) | 22-14 (2nd year) 12.23 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 2 p.m. 12.30 MIDDLE TENNESSEE* 4 p.m. Thursday, November 30, 2017 | 7 p.m. CST JANUARY Birmingham, Ala. | Bartow Arena 1.4 at Florida Atlantic* 6 p.m. Television: Stadium | Radio: WJQX-FM 100.5 1.6 at FIU* 6 p.m. Live Stats: www.UABSports.com 1.11 SOUTHERN MISS* 7 p.m. @UAB_MBB | @UAB_MBB | UAB_MBB 1.13 LOUISIANA TECH* 4 p.m. Twitter: Instagram: Snapchat: 1.18 at WKU* 8 p.m. OPENING TIP 1.20 at Marshall* 6 p.m. • UAB and Memphis meet on the hardwood for the 48th time in history on Thursday. 1.25 UTEP* 7 p.m. • UAB is 36-6 at home against non-conference competition since the start of the 2012-13 season. 1.27 UTSA* 7 p.m. • UAB forward William Lee is only 27 blocks shy of becoming the school’s all-time leader. • Chris Cokley ranks fourth in Conference USA in scoring (18.1 ppg) and second in rebounding (10.3 rpg). FEBRUARY • UAB ranks first in Conference USA and 10th in the NCAA with a .806 free throw percentage. 2.1 at Charlotte* 6 p.m. • Chris Cokley was selected as the Conference USA Player of the Week on Monday. • UAB ranks first in Conference USA and seventh in the NCAA with a +12.9 rebounding margin. 2.3 at Old Dominion* 6 p.m. • Chris Cokley has double-doubles in four of UAB’s first seven games and is ninth in the NCAA in double-doubes. 2.8 NORTH TEXAS* 7 p.m. • UAB has the best winning percentage (.584) of any school in the state of Alabama during the last six seasons. 2.10 RICE* 7 p.m. • UAB forward William Lee ranks eighth all-time in Conference USA history with 240 career blocked shots. 2.15 at Louisiana Tech* 8 p.m. • UAB forward William Lee has 240 career blocks and has the second-most of any current player in the NCAA. 2.17 at Southern Miss* 4 p.m. 2.24 at Middle Tennessee* 6 p.m. UAB PROBABLE STARTERS MARCH 3.1 MARSHALL* 7 p.m. 3.3 WKU* 7 p.m. 3.7-10 at C-USA Tournament TBA ^ — Cayman Islands Classic (Grand Cayman Island) ! — Gene Bartow Classic NICK ZACK NATE CHRIS WILLIAM NORTON BRYANT DARLING COKLEY LEE % — Legacy Arena (Brimingham, Ala.) G | Jr. | 5-10 | 166 G | Fr. | 6-2 | 180 G | So. | 6-5 | 190 F | Sr. | 6-8 | 238 F | Sr. | 6-9 | 206 * — Conference USA Game PPG............ 6.7 PPG.......... 14.9 PPG............ 8.6 PPG.......... 18.1 PPG.......... 11.0 Home games in ALL CAPS RPG ........... 2.8 RPG ........... 2.3 RPG ........... 3.0 RPG ......... 10.3 RPG ........... 5.9 AST ............ 5.0 AST ............ 3.7 AST ............ 2.4 AST ............ 1.4 AST ............ 0.4 All times Central and subject to change STL ............. 0.8 STL ............. 1.4 STL ............. 0.7 STL ............. 0.7 STL ............. 0.9 BLK ............ 0.0 BLK ............ 0.1 BLK ............ 0.1 BLK ............ 0.3 BLK ............ 2.0 MIN ......... 27.5 MIN ......... 28.9 MIN ......... 24.3 MIN ......... 28.1 MIN ......... 24.0 2017-18 UAB MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES 1 UAB BLAZER BASKETBALL | 2017-18 GAME 8 | MEMPHIS | NOVEMBER 30, 2017 HEAD COACH ROBERT EHSAN obert Ehsan begins his second season as head coach of the UAB men’s bas- THE ROBERT EHSAN FILE ketball program and his fifth season on the staff after serving as associate CAREER RECORD AS A HEAD COACH head coach under former Blazer head coach Jerod Haase. 21-19 (.525 winning pct. / 2nd season) Ehsan guided UAB to 17 wins in his first season as head coach and directed the Blaz- RECORD AS UAB’S HEAD COACH R ers to their fourth consecutive winning season. Under Ehsan, UAB continued to serve 21-19 (.525 winning pct. / 2nd season) as one of the top defensive teams in the country, ending the year first in Conference USA and 25th in the NCAA with 4.9 blocked shots per game. HONORS • Gordon S. Baranco Award (2005) Junior forward William Lee became the first player in school history to win the Con- • Team Captain (2005) ference USA Defensive Player of the Year award in consecutive seasons, finishing the year first in the league and 20th in the country with 2.4 blocks per game. Lee was also selected to the All-Conference USA Second Team, marking the third straight year in which he was named all-conference. COACHING CAREER Season School Position Record/Postseason Lee is also only the fourth player in league history to be named Conference USA De- 2005-06 Maryland Graduate Assistant 19-13/NIT fensive Player of the Year twice. In addition, Lee earned a spot on the All-Conference USA Second Team. 2006-07 Maryland Graduate Assistant 25-9/NCAA Tournament 2007-08 Maryland Assistant Recruiting Director 19-5/NIT As an assistant coach, Ehsan played a key role in the resurgence of UAB basketball, as 2008-09 Maryland Assistant Coach 21-14/NCAA Tournament he helped the Blazers capture the 2015 Conference USA Tournament championship 2009-10 Maryland Assistant Coach 24-9/NCAA Tournament and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. UAB would go on to make shock- 2010-11 Maryland Assistant Coach 19-14 waves in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, as the 14th-seeded Blaz- ers knocked off No. 3 seed Iowa State, 60-59, to advance to the NCAA Round of 32. 2011-12 Virginia Tech Assistant Coach 16-17 2012-13 UAB Assistant Coach 16-17 Ehsan and UAB enjoyed more success the following season when the Blazers won the 2013-14 UAB Assistant Coach 18-13 2016 Conference USA Championship with a 16-2 record inside the league. Addition- 2014-15 UAB Assistant Coach 20-16/NCAA Tournament ally, UAB set school records for overall wins (26), Conference USA wins, road wins 2015-16 UAB Associate Head Coach 26-7/NIT (10) and consecutive wins (14). 2016-17 UAB Head Coach 17-16 Individually, Robert Brown, Chris Cokley, Lee and Nick Norton were named all-con- 2017-18 UAB Head Coach 4-3 ference, while Lee was tabbed the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year and Dirk Wil- liams the Sixth Man of the Year. UAB ALL-TIME COACHING WINS LIST A second consecutive trip to the postseason capped the year when the Blazers earned Coach (Seasons) Wins Years a berth in the NIT for the 12th time in school history. Gene Bartow (1978-96) ...............365 18 Prior to his time at UAB, Ehsan spent a season as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech Mike Davis (2006-12) ..................122 6 University under Seth Greenberg and six seasons under Gary Williams at the Univer- Murry Bartow (1996-02) ..............103 6 sity of Maryland, where he was heavily involved with many aspects of the program, Mike Anderson (2002-06) .............89 4 including coaching, player development, recruiting, academics, scouting, schedul- Jerod Haase (2012-16).................80 4 ing and fundraising. Robert Ehsan (2016-pres.) ............21 2 At Maryland, Ehsan was instrumental in securing two Top 25 recruiting classes, and developed players like Jordan Williams, All-ACC, and ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez. He was also involved in the recruitment of Brown, who was originally re- cruited by Ehsan at Virginia Tech before transferring to rejoin him at UAB, as well as UAB standout Lee and others. Ehsan played four seasons at UC Davis and started his last two seasons for the Ag- gies, serving as team captain in his senior year. Ehsan finished 23rd in the nation in free-throw percentage as a junior for UC Davis, which was in a transition period while moving from NCAA Division II to Division I. At UC Davis, Ehsan received the Gordon S. Baranco Award, symbolizing exceptional leadership, unselfishness, work ethic and commitment to the team. Ehsan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at UC Davis and completed a Master of Business Administration degree at Maryland. Ehsan is a native of Sacramento, Calif., and is married to the former Lindsey Rattray. They have one daughter, Katelyn, and a son, Davis. 2 2017-18 UAB MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES UAB BLAZER BASKETBALL | 2017-18 GAME 8 | MEMPHIS | NOVEMBER 30, 2017 UAB HOSTS MEMPHIS IN BARTOW CLASSIC GAME PLAYER OF THE WEEK The UAB men’s basketball team renews an old UAB senior forward Chris Cokley was tabbed the UAB QUICK FACTS Conference USA rivalry on Thursday when the Blazers Conference USA Player of the Week on Monday after Name ........................................................UAB host Memphis at 7 p.m.