An extremely disappointing collapse by TU down the stretch turned a winnable game into a forgettable ending.
Tulsa played well for much of the game, but UAB took care of business, defeating Tulsa 70-63 Sunday afternoon in front of 3,124 fans at the Reynolds Center.
P.J. Haggerty had 21 points and 9 rebounds to lead a Tulsa team that played extremely hard, and outrebounded the Blazers 41-39.
Tulsa (12-11, 3-8 AAC) avoided what had been some recent poor starts, getting out to a 32-30 halftime lead. Several lead changes in the first and second halves resulted in a game that looked like it would go down to the last shot.
A put-back by Carlous Williams gave Tulsa its last lead at 55-54 with 5:24 remaining. But Tulsa left 6-foot-9 Yaxel Lendeborg wide open with 4:41 left, and Alabama-Birmingham led the rest of the way.
A tough inside bucket with 3:16 remaining by Matt Reed, who had 8 points, got Tulsa back to within 2 points at 59-57. But the Golden Hurricane didn't score another field goal until Haggerty converted with 23.6 seconds left to narrow the margin to 64-61 after trailing by as many as 6 points.
UAB (16-8, 8-3), a team that advanced to the NIT championship game last year, hit most of its free throws down the stretch, including 4 of 4 by Eric Gaines in the ensuing 4 seconds after Haggerty's last bucket to put the game away.
The Blazers, coached by longtime successful coach Andy Kennedy (Cincinnati, Ole Miss), confused Tulsa by switching defenses, from a 1-3-1 zone, to a 1-2-2 to 2-3 zone down the stretch, and back to man-to-man defense in a short period of time. Tulsa didn't adjust well to those defensive switches.
"We needed to be able to find some better shots," said Tulsa coach Eric Konkol. "Being able to dribble it and just try to create something at the end was just playing into their hands."
Tulsa's best offense came in the first 35 minutes when it took advantage of several transition opportunities, either off steals, or off missed UAB baskets.
"We felt like that the way they crashed the glass, they send so many bodies in there, we talked about, let's get the basketball out there and see what openings are there," Konkol said. "Because there ought to be an open floor with all of their guys that crash the glass."
Jared Garcia had only 4 points, but grabbed 10 rebounds and was a defensive presence for much of the game.
On offense, besides Haggerty's normally strong game, Isaiah Barnes' 12 points made him the only other Golden Hurricane in double digits. Outside of those two and Reed, there wasn't anywhere near enough offense for TU, with the game on the line at the end.
Having Cobe Williams play perhaps his worst game of the season didn't help. The explosive Williams was 2 of 10 from the floor and finished with 7 points. But he had only 4 assists to go with 6 turnovers.
Lendeborg had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead UAB. Gaines also had 17 points, and added 7 assists and only had 3 turnovers. Javian Davis was tough inside for the Blazers with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
UAB's starters all average in double figures in points, and Lendeborg averages a double-double (12.3 points, 10 rebounds).
Overall, Tulsa did a lot of good things in the game against a strong team, but didn't come through with the plays in the end.
"I thought our guys were ready to go today and gave a great effort," Konkol said. "Now it's, how can we get better, execution wise."
Tulsa next plays at league-leading South Florida (17-5, 10-1) on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in Tampa. The Golden Hurricane's next home game is against Rice (9-15, 3-8) next Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
