University of Alabama at Birmingham issued the following announcement on March 19.
UAB's record-breaking season came to an end Friday night as the Blazers fell to Houston 82-68 in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Championship.
Jordan Walker led the Blazers (27-8) with 17 points. Tavin Lovan (14), Michael Ertel (13) and KJ Buffen finished with a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Kyler Edwards led all scorers with 25 points, which included six 3-pointers. Fabian White, Jr. scored 14, Josh Carlton and Jamal Shead each had 12 points for the Cougars (30-5), who advanced to the second round against fourth-seeded Illinois.
Houston, who led from wire-to-wire, took its first double-digit lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Edwards at the 13:13 mark of the first half and increased its lead to 18 on Edwards' fourth 3-pointer of the contest at 9:01. The Blazers answered with a 7-0 run over the next 1:13 with Walker's layup cutting the Cougars' lead to 34-23 at 7:18.
The Blazers cut the deficit to nine points after hitting eight of nine shots capped by a 3-pointer by Jackson with 45 seconds remaining to make the score 46-37 heading into halftime.
UAB shot 61% from the field in the first half and outscored Houston in the paint 20-14. The Cougars, however, took advantage of eight Blazers' turnovers, which were converted into 14 points.
UAB would get within seven points of tying Friday night's game after a pair of Buffen free throws made the score 48-41 early in the second half. Houston would go on a 17-10 run to increase its lead to 65-51 at the midway point of the half.
Houston would maintain a double-digit the rest of the contest.
For the game, Houston hit 48% of their 3-point attempts and 53% overall. The Blazers finished the game shooting 46%.
UAB finished the 2021-22 season with a program record 27 victories. Walker's 17 points helped him move into second place in UAB history for points in a single season, finishing his historic 2021-22 campaign with 690 points. His 690 points finished just five points shy of tying Robert Vaden's program record.
Ertel, Jackson and Justin Brown played their final games for the Green and Gold on Friday. Jackson and Ertel, Kennedy's first two transfers who joined him at his alma mater, finish their career with a conference championship and a trip to the Big Dance.
"I will always be indebted to Mike and Quan," head coach Andy Kennedy said. "I get the job, the world goes into a global pandemic. Go figure.
"So, we were doing everything virtually. I'd never even met these kids when they signed. And then the only positive from COVID was the fact they got an extra year, and so they were able to cut down nets and be part of a championship team and then live their ultimate childhood dreams of playing in the NCAA Tournament."
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