2016–17 UAB Blazers men's basketball team

The 2016–17 UAB Blazers basketball team represented the University of Alabama at Birmingham during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Blazers, led by first-year head coach Robert Ehsan, played their home games at the Bartow Arena as members of Conference USA. They finished the season 17–16, 9–9 in C-USA play to finish in a tie for seventh place. They defeated Charlotte in the first round of the C-USA Tournament before losing to Louisiana Tech.

2016–17 UAB Blazers men's basketball
Conference	Conference USA
2016–17 record	17–16 (9–9 C-USA)
Head coach	Robert Ehsan (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Turner Battle Dannton Jackson Kevin Devitt
Home arena	Bartow Arena

2016–17 Conference USA men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Middle Tennessee †	17	–	1		.944			31	–	5		.861
Louisiana Tech	14	–	4		.778			23	–	10		.697
Old Dominion	12	–	6		.667			19	–	12		.613
UTEP	12	–	6		.667			15	–	17		.469
Rice	11	–	7		.611			23	–	12		.657
Marshall	10	–	8		.556			20	–	15		.571
UAB	9	–	9		.500			17	–	16		.515
Western Kentucky	9	–	9		.500			15	–	17		.469
UTSA	8	–	10		.444			14	–	19		.424
Charlotte	7	–	11		.389			13	–	17		.433
Florida Atlantic	6	–	12		.333			10	–	20		.333
Southern Miss	6	–	12		.333			9	–	22		.290
FIU	3	–	15		.167			7	–	24		.226
North Texas	2	–	16		.111			8	–	22		.267
† 2017 C-USA Tournament winner

Previous season

The Blazers finished the 2015–16 season 26–7, 16–2 in C-USA play to win the regular season championship. They lost in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Tournament to WKU. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to BYU.

Following the season, head coach Jerod Haase left UAB to accept the head coaching position at Stanford.[1] On April 4, 2016, the school hired Robert Ehsan, who had been an assistant under Haase at UAB, as head coach .[2]

Preseason

The Blazers were picked to finish in first place in the preseason Conference USA poll.[3] Chris Cokley and William Lee were selected to the preseason All-Conference USA team.[3]

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Robert Brown	4	G	6'5"	195	Senior	Clermont, FL	Graduated
Lionel Love	45	G	6'3"	165	Sophomore	Huntsville, AL	Walk-on; left the team due to personal reasons

Incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Nate Darling SG	Hyattsville, Maryland	DeMatha Catholic HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 65
Javien Williams SG	Birmingham, Alabama	Woodlawn HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	175 lb (79 kg)
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

2016–17 UAB Blazers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Hakeem Baxter 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 186 lb (84 kg) Sr Maryland Eastern Shore Philadelphia, Pennsylvania G 1 Denzell Watts 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Sr Carman-Ainsworth High School Flint, Michigan G 2 Nick Norton 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 168 lb (76 kg) Jr Central Catholic High School Bloomington, Illinois F 3 Chris Cokley 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 229 lb (104 kg) Jr Savannah High School Savannah, Georgia G 5 Deion Lavender 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 192 lb (87 kg) RS So Southern Illinois Alton, Illinois G 10 Javien Williams 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr Woodlawn High School Birmingham, Alabama G 11 Dirk Williams 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 178 lb (81 kg) Sr Tallahassee Community College Homewood, Alabama G 13 Nate Darling 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr DeMatha Catholic High School Halifax, Nova Scotia F 21 Tosin Mehinti 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 244 lb (111 kg) Sr Greenforest McCalep Christian Academy Lagos, Nigeria G 22 Tyler Madison 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 222 lb (101 kg) Sr Shelby County High School Columbiana, Alabama F 33 Thomas Smallwood 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) So Lycée Général Saint John Perse Bordeaux, France F 34 William Lee 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 209 lb (95 kg) Jr Dallas County High School Plantersville, Alabama F 35 Lewis Sullivan 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 222 lb (101 kg) Jr Hazel Green High School Hazel Green, Alabama	Head coach Robert Ehsan (UC Davis) Assistant coach(es) Turner Battle (Buffalo) Dannton Jackson (Xavier) Kevin Devitt (DePaul) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 3* 7:30 PM		Lindenwood	W 92–69		Bartow Arena  Birmingham, AL
Non-conference regular season
November 11* 7:00 PM		Arkansas–Pine Bluff CBE Hall of Fame Classic	W 86–66	1–0	Bartow Arena (4,289) Birmingham, AL
November 14* 7:00 PM		Furman CBE Hall of Fame Classic	L 74–84	1–1	Bartow Arena (3,682) Birmingham, AL
November 17* 7:00 PM		Troy	W 74–51	2–1	Bartow Arena (4,656) Birmingham, AL
November 21* 8:30 PM, ESPN2		vs. No. 5 Kansas CBE Hall of Fame Classic semifinals	L 63–83	2–2	Sprint Center (10,071) Kansas City, MO
November 22* 6:30 PM, ESPN3		vs. George Washington CBE Hall of Fame Classic 3rd place game	W 81–74	3–2	Sprint Center (3,527) Kansas City, MO
November 27* 4:00 PM		vs. No. 15 Saint Mary's	L 63–76	3–3	Orleans Arena (862) Las Vegas, NV
November 29* 7:00 PM		Alabama A&M	W 75–45	4–3	Bartow Arena (3,719) Birmingham, AL
December 3* 7:30 PM, beIN		Auburn Rivalry	L 70–74	4–4	Bartow Arena (8,728) Birmingham, AL
December 7* 7:00 PM, ESPN3		at Stephen F. Austin	W 84–73	5–4	William R. Johnson Coliseum (3,650) Nacogdoches, TX
December 10* 12:00 PM, ESPN3		at Memphis	L 55–62	5–5	FedEx Forum (9,424) Memphis, TN
December 18* 4:00 PM		Southern	W 75–74 ^OT	6–5	Bartow Arena (3,436) Birmingham, AL
December 21* 7:00 PM, LHN		at Texas	L 60–96	6–6	Frank Erwin Center (9,106) Austin, TX
December 28* 5:00 PM		Miles College	W 98–66	7–6	Bartow Arena (3,572) Birmingham, AL
Conference USA regular season
January 1 3:00 PM, CI		at Middle Tennessee	L 49–60	7–7 (0–1)	Murphy Center (4,227) Murfreesboro, TN
January 5 7:00 PM, ESPN3		at North Texas	W 54–52	8–7 (1–1)	The Super Pit (1,603) Denton, TX
January 7 7:00 PM		at Rice	W 88–81 ^OT	9–7 (2–1)	Tudor Fieldhouse (2,001) Houston, TX
January 12 7:00 PM, CI		WKU	W 72–54	10–7 (3–1)	Bartow Arena (3,745) Birmingham, AL
January 14 1:00 PM		Marshall	W 94–78	11–7 (4–1)	Bartow Arena (3,275) Birmingham, AL
January 19 7:00 PM, beIN		at Florida Atlantic	W 80–78	12–7 (5–1)	FAU Arena (1,706) Boca Raton, FL
January 19 6:00 PM		at FIU	L 85–94	12–8 (5–2)	FIU Arena (1,263) Miami, FL
January 26 8:00 PM, ASN		Louisiana Tech	W 79–70	13–8 (6–2)	Bartow Arena (3,642) Birmingham, AL
January 28 7:00 PM		Southern Miss	W 87–43	14–8 (7–2)	Bartow Arena (4,915) Birmingham, AL
February 2 9:00 PM, CBSSN		at UTEP	L 59–63	14–9 (7–3)	Don Haskins Center (6,248) El Paso, TX
February 4 3:00 PM		at UTSA	L 67–82	14–10 (7–4)	Convocation Center (1,145) San Antonio, TX
February 9 7:00 PM, CI		Charlotte	W 82–69	15–10 (8–4)	Bartow Arena (3,841) Birmingham, AL
February 11 7:00 PM, ASN		Old Dominion Bartow Classic	L 62–83	15–11 (8–5)	Bartow Arena (4,185) Birmingham, AL
February 16 6:00 PM, CBSSN		at Marshall	L 59–74	15–12 (8–6)	Cam Henderson Center (5,637) Huntington, WV
February 18 1:00 PM, CBSSN		at WKU	L 64–76	15–13 (8–7)	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,553) Bowling Green, KY
February 26 12:00 PM, CBSSN		Middle Tennessee	L 64–66	15–14 (8–8)	Bartow Arena (3,371) Birmingham, AL
March 2 7:00 PM		Florida Atlantic	W 79–59	16–14 (9–8)	Bartow Arena (3,209) Birmingham, AL
March 4 7:00 PM		FIU	L 56–68	16–15 (9–9)	Bartow Arena (3,881) Birmingham, AL
Conference USA Tournament
March 8 5:30 PM, CI	(7)	vs. (10) Charlotte First round	W 74–73	17–15	Legacy Arena (6,410) Birmingham, AL
March 9 5:30 PM, ASN	(7)	(2) Louisiana Tech Quarterfinals	L 57–69	17–16	Legacy Arena (4,005) Birmingham, AL
*Non-conference game. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

References

1. "Jerod Haase leaves UAB after four seasons, heading to Stanford". AL.com. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
2. "UAB promotes assistant Ehsan to head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
3. "MBK: UAB Voted C-USA Preseason Favorite". Conference USA. Retrieved 2017-01-25.