Men's Basketball Suffers Disappointing Loss To UAB
January 07, 2004 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) _ Gabe Kennedy led four players in double-digit shooting with 14 points to lift Alabama-Birmingham to a 71-68 win over East Carolina Wednesday night.
Kennedy made 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line for the Blazers (8-4, 1-0).
Carldell Johnson and Ronell Taylor each scored 12 points for UAB. Mo Finley posted 10 points in the Conference USA contest.
Japhnet McNeil and Gabriel Mikulas led five players in double-digit scoring for the Pirates (8-3, 0-1). McNeil and Mikulas each posted 12 points, Derrick Wiley and Erroyl Bing netted 11 apiece, and Mike Cook chipped in with 10 for the Pirates.
McNeil added seven assists.
Wiley also grabbed 11 rebounds and Bing had 10.
East Carolina vs. UAB
Jan. 7, 2004
Postgame Quotes
East Carolina Head Coach Bill Herrion
"You expend so much energy trying to guard when you have to play catch up the entire game and you have nothing left in the tank at the end, and that's what happened tonight. It's just really disappointing."
"UAB is a good basketball team. We lost to a very good basketball team, but in this league if you don't win your home games you're in for a very long year."
"We can't turn the ball over 22 times and expect to win, not in the league."
"Give our young guys credit. Japhet McNeil made a few mistakes there at the end of the game, but he also made some big plays. Mike Cook and those guys had guts enough to try to be aggressive and make plays."
UAB Head Coach Mike Anderson
"You can see why they are tough at home. Bill does a tremendous job and their kids work so hard."
"They just dominated the boards. I thought they would beat us, just not that bad. The bottom line is we just have to find a way to win.."
"I am proud of our guys. The five that came in and the five that came of the bench gave us some tremendous minutes. It takes a whole lot of effort and a lot of emotion to play on the road."
"Carldell Johnson is a leader out there on the floor and a guy that can slow our basketball team down. He made big play after big play. Right now he is playing some pretty good basketball and I think our guys feed off of him."
East Carolina vs. UAB
Jan. 7, 2004
Postgame Notes
