Three months after its football program was disbanded, fans of UAB had a reason to smile on Saturday. The fourth-seeded Blazers used a strong 22-point effort from junior guard Robert Brown to top Middle Tennessee and clinch their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2011.
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Brown, one of three upperclassmen on the team, put up his second-highest point total of the season by hitting 4-of-8 three-pointers and knocking down all six of his free throws. The Blazers also added 13 points and six boards from freshman forward William Lee and seven points and four boards off the bench from Chris Cokley, another freshman forward.
The Blazers are an extremely young team, but are also very balanced. Brown leads the way by averaging 12.8 points per game. In addition to Brown, six other UAB players average over seven points per game.
UAB will make its first appearance in the tournament since 2011, when it lost to Clemson 70-52 in the first round. The program’s last win in the tournament came in 2005, when the Blazers, a No. 11 seed, upset LSU. That upset came a year after the Blazers made a run to the Sweet 16 as a No. 9 seed with wins over Washington and Kentucky.
Head coach Jerod Haase, in his third season at UAB, has plenty of experience in the NCAA tournament from his time as an assistant at Kansas and North Carolina. He also reached the big dance as a player at Cal and Kansas.
Overall, this the UAB’s 15th trip to the NCAAs.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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