Breaking down No. 5 Houston vs. No. 12 UAB
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No. 5 Houston vs. No. 12 UAB
9:20 p.m. Friday, PPG Paints Arena
TV: TNT
Winner plays: Winner of No. 4 Illinois/No. 12 Chattanooga in second round Sunday
Series history: UAB leads 18-6
Houston Cougars (28-5, 15-3 American)
Coach: Kelvin Sampson
How they got here: Houston earned an automatic bid after winning the American Conference title.
Last NCAA appearance: 2021, Houston reached the Final Four before losing to Baylor, 78-59
Leading scorer: Kyler Edwards (13.5 ppg)
Probable starting lineup
No., Player, Ht., Pos., Cl., PPG
1, Jamal Shead, 6-1, G, So., 9.4
4, Taze Moore, 6-5, G/F, Gr., 10.3
11, Kyler Edwards, 6-4, G, Sr., 13.6
25, Josh Carlton, 6-10, F/C, Gr., 12.0
35, Fabian White Jr., 6-8, F, Sr., 13.2
Notable: Houston reached the Final Four a year ago and is making its fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. … The Cougars captured their second straight American Athletic Conference Tournament title. … They swept the regular season and conference tournament titles for the fourth time in school history. … They rank fourth in the nation in scoring defense (59.1 ppg). … Houston and UAB are founding members of Conference USA in 1995. Houston is heading to the Big 12 as soon as 2023, and UAB is heading to the American. … Fabian White Jr. was named the AAC’s Most Outstanding Player, and coach Kelvin Sampson was named the conference’s coach of the year. … White Jr. is the program’s winningest player with 117 victories. He also set a record for career games played (144). … Jamal Shead is one of the nation’s leaders in assists (seventh, 6.0 per game). … Sampson has a career record of 696-339 and is in his 33rd year of coaching. … Houston has made 23 trips to the NCAA Tournament (40-41), including six trips to the Final Four.
Quotable: “I would never say it’s easy because it’s different things at each tournament. But we just know what it takes to get to that point, so we’ve got to hold our teammates and hold ourselves accountable.”
— Houston’s Fabian White Jr. on reaching the Final Four last year
UAB (27-7, 14-4 USA)
Coach: Andy Kennedy
How they got here: UAB won the Conference USA Tournament title to earn an automatic bid.
Last NCAA appearance: 2015
Leading scorer: Jordan Walker (20.4 ppg, 4.9 apg)
Probable starting lineup
No., Player, Ht., Pos., Cl., PPG
2, Michael Ertel, 6-2, G, Gr., 10.3
5, KJ Buffen, 6-7, F, Jr., 10.0
10, Jordan Walker, 5-11, G, Jr., 20.4
13, Quan Jackson, 6-4, G, Gr., 12.0
55, Trey Jemison, 7-0, C, Jr., 7.0
Notable: The Blazers have set a program record for single-season victories. … Jordan “Jelly” Walker had 93 points over three games in the Conference USA tournament and is one of the NCAA’s top scoring guards. A transfer who played previously at Seton Hall and Tulane, he averages 20.4 points and was named Conference USA’s player of the year and tournament MVP. He scored 27 points in Saturday’s win over Louisiana Tech. … Michael Ertel is a two-time selection to the Conference USA all-tournament team. … KJ Buffen became the sixth current player on the Blazers to surpass 1,000 career points. … Andy Kennedy has a career coaching record of 315-183 in 15 years. This is his second season with UAB, his alma mater (1991). .. UAB averages 80.7 ppg and has won seven straight games. … The Blazers are in the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time. … This game is the only one in the first round to match teams with 27-plus victories.
Quotable: “Yeah, so I’m part of the Jelly Fam group. We probably blew up, I would probably say I was in high school, around 2015, 2017. Jelly is basically like a fancy lay-up, just like a finger roll lay-up with your own type of flavor on it, and obviously I’m part of the group Jelly Fam. And my name is Jordan and it’s just easy to put J and J, so everybody calls me Jelly.”
— UAB’s Jordan Walker on his nickname