Thanks for joining me today!!!
Congrats to the UAB Blazers!!! They will play the winner of UCLA/SMU!!!
Iowa State really struggled shooting the ball going 34.8 percent from the field. UAB shot only 36.9 percent from the field but they outrebounded the Cyclones 52-to-37. They also crashed the offensive glass better grabbing 19 as opposed to only 9 by Iowa State.
UAB's Robert Brown led the way with 21 points. William Lee had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Tyler Madison came off the bench with 9 points and 11 rebounds, 9 of which were offensive rebounds.
Iowa State's Georges Niang really struggled as he scored only 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Monte Morris scored 15 points. Jameel McKay had a double-double with 10 points, 12 points, and 6 blocks.
Brackets Busted!!!!
The final score UAB 60 Iowa State 59
14th seeded UAB defeats 3rd seeded Iowa State!!!
It's happened!!! The madness has begun!!!
UAB 60 Iowa State 59
Iowa State Timeout
2nd half (0:03) Naz Long misses the jumper. Monte Morris gets the tip in with only seven-tenths of a second left. UAB up one!!!
2nd half (0:12) William Lee fouled. Makes both free throws
2nd half (0:17) Georges Niang gets his shot blocked. UAB ball
UAB 58 Iowa State 57
Iowa State Timeout
2nd half (0:24) William Lee answers with a jumper to give the lead back to UAB!!!
2nd half (0:38) Monte Morris makes the jumper. Cyclones up one!!!
UAB 56 Iowa State 55
Iowa State Timeout
2nd half (0:50) Robert Brown hits a three-pointer off the inbounds play!!! UAB takes the 1-point lead!!! What a game!!!
Iowa State 55 UAB 53
UAB Timeout (0:53 seconds left in second half)
2nd half (1:00) Shot clock violation on Iowa State. UAB ball with under a minute. Jameel McKay gets the block on the other end.
2nd half (1:36) William Lee gets the offensive rebound and then converts the strong putback, plus the foul. Missed the free throw
2nd half (3:13) Georges Niang gets fouled. Makes both free throws
Georges Niang has struggled tonight with only 9 points on 4-of-12 shooting
Official TV Timeout (3:22 remaining in second half)
After just one possession a break in the action happens.
Iowa State 53 UAB 51
UAB Timeout (3:47 remaining in second half)
2nd half (3:50) Naz Long gets the steal, Monte Morris converts the layup.
2nd half (4:23) Abdel Nader makes the tough transition layup
2nd half (5:15) Robert Brown gets the offensive rebound tip in.
Iowa State 49 UAB 49
Official TV Timeout (6:32 remaining in second half)
2nd half (7:05) Naz Long quickly ties the game with a three-pointer
2nd (7:14) Monte Morris turns the ball over again, Denzell Watts with the steal and gets the assist on the Hakeem Baxter layup
2nd half (7:29) Denzell Watts comes off the bench and makes the jumper
Iowa State 46 UAB 45
UAB Timeout (8:08 remaining in second half)
2nd half (8:20) Monte Morris gets the steal. Jameel McKay gets another offensive rebound and converts the tip in.
2nd half (8:47) Jameel McKay gets the offensive rebound. Abdel Nader gets the layup.
2nd half (8:59) Robert Brown makes another layup. Has 16 points on the day
2nd half (9:32) Robert Brown continues to attack the paint. Draws the foul. Makes both free throws
2nd half (10:39) Iowa State gets the block which leads to an easy transition layup by Monte Morris
UAB 41 Iowa State 40
Official TV Timeout (10:46) remaining in second half)
2nd half (11:06) Georges Niang comes out of the timeout and knocks down the mid range jumper
UAB 41 Iowa State 38
Iowa State Timeout (11:15 remaining in second half)
2nd half (11:18) UAB continues to crash the offensive boards and Tyler Madison finally converts after a couple rebounds on the offensive side of the ball.
2nd half (11:49) Chris Cokley grabs the offensive miss and slams it home!!!
2nd half (12:11) Jameel McKay grabs his own miss and lays it in.
2nd half (12:37) Chris Cokley comes off the bench for UAB and makes the baseline layup
2nd half (13:34) Jameel McKay grabs the offensive rebound and gets the putback layup
2nd half (13:42) Robert Brown takes the inbounds pass and draws the foul as he drove to the basket. Makes both free throws
Iowa State 34 UAB 33
Official TV Timeout (13:44 remaining in second half)
2nd half (14:19) Tyler Madison stops the UAB drought with short range shot in the lane
Through the first five plus mintues the game has been sloppy with several turnovers by both teams. Neither team is making open shots.
Iowa State 34 UAB 31
UAB Timeout (14:45 remaining in second half)
2nd half (15:35) Iowa State grabbed a couple offensive rebounds and then Georges Niang found Matt Thomas in the corner for a three-pointer
2nd half (16:57) Iowa State forces the turnover and Monte Morris executes the uncontested layup.
2nd half (17:43) After a Jameel McKay block, Monte Morris drives to the hoop and draws the foul. Makes 1 of 2 free throws.
Both teams turn the ball over on their first possession of the half
The second half is getting ready to start!!!
UAB stat leaders: Robert Brown 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting. William Lee 8 points and 4 rebounds. Tyler Madison 5 points and 5 offensive rebounds off the bench.
Iowa State stat leaders: Georges Niang 7 points on 3-of-4 shooting, also 2 fouls. Matt Thomas 8 points off the bench including 2-of-2 from three. Jameel McKay 4 points and 7 rebounds.
Blazers shoot 37.1 percent from the field and 20 percent from three. They grabbed 23 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive glass. Turned the ball over six times.
Cyclones shoot 42.3 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three. They also grabbed only 15 rebounds and turned the ball over nine times.
Neither team has shot the ball well, but UAB has pounded the offensive glass and forced more turnovers than Iowa State
UAB 31 Iowa State 28
HALFTIME
1st half (0:00) UAB did a nice job using their remaining fouls to give, causing Iowa State to take a tough shot with 3 seconds left. They couldn't convert before the half.
Iowa State Timeout
Both teams trade turnovers. There is 9.6 seconds left in the half.
1st half (1:18) Denzell Watts responds with a short jumper
1st half (1:36) Monte Morris makes up for his turnover and gets the steal. Morris sets up Abdel Nader for the layup plus the foul. Nader missed the free throw
UAB 29 Iowas State 26
Official TV Timeout (1:56 remaining in first half)
Monte Morris turned the ball over again
1st half (2:14) William Lee hits the step back baseline jumper
1st half (2:58) Hakeem Baxter knocks down a jumper to give UAB the lead
1st half (3:25) Denzell Watts makes a nice move to the basket and finishes with the layup
Iowa State 26 UAB 23
UAB Timeout (3:56 remaining in first half)
1st half (4:00) Naz Long gets the steal on the inbounds pass and sets up Matt Thomas for the easy layup. Iowa State on 8-2 run, all scored by Matt Thomas
1st half (4:37) Matt Thomas drills another three-pointer for the Cyclones.
1st half (4:48) William Lee makes a nice post move and finishes with the hook shot
1st half (6:31) Matt Thomas ties the game at 21 with a three-pointer
1st half (7:10) UAB forces another Iowa State turnover. Robert Brown sets up William Lee for the alley oop layup
1st half (7:45) Tyler Madison was fouled before the timeout. He makes 1 of 2 free throws
Iowa State 18 UAB 18
Official TV Timeout (7:45 remaining in first half)
1st half (8:28) Robert Brown responds with a jumper. Brown is on a 7-0 run by himself
1st half (8:52) Monte Morris guves the Cyclones the lead with a short range jumper
Georges Niang picked up his second foul of the half and will sit on the bench. The Cyclones already have six team fouls putting UAB in the bonus
1st (9:45) Robert Brown ties the game at 16 with a layup. Brown has eight points.
1st half (10:27) UAB responds with another three-pointer by Robert Brown
1st half (10:56) Georges Niang hits another jump shot. Niang has seven points in the first half
1st half (11:09) Tyler Madison grabs another offensive rebound off an airball three-pointer, and gets the tip in.
Iowa State 14 UAB 9
Official TV Timeout (11:15 remaining in first half)
1st half (11:45) Jameel McKay quickly respondes with a dunk after a nice interior pass by Dustin Hogue
UAB on a 7-0 run!
1st half (12:07) After another Cyclone turnover, Robert Brown knocked down a three-pointer after some nice ball movement.
1st half (12:37) Tyler Madison is fouled by Naz Long after grabbing the offensive rebound. Makes both free throws
Monte Morris of Iowa State turned the ball over for the first time in his last 143 minutes played! Incredible streak!
1st half (14:24) Hakeem Baxter stops a UAB drought of over four minutes with a made layup
1st half (15:24) Jameel McKay gets fouled. Makes both free throws
Iowa State 10 UAB 2
Official TV Timeout (15:33 remaining in 1st half)
1st half (16:23) Georges Niang drains his first three-pointer as Iowa State moves the ball around inside and out
1st half (17:47) Monte Morris gets the steal and converts the transition layup
1st half (18:07) Georges Niang attacks the basket and gets his first bucket
1st half (19:09) William Lee responds with a mid range jumper
1st half (19:42) Naz Long knockd down a three-pointer for Cyclones to start the game
We are ready to go!!! UAB us. Iowa State!!!
Tip off starts in about 15-20 minutes!!! The madness is ready to begin!!!
UAB Blazers vs. Iowa State Cyclones will tip off in 1 hour!!!
Iowa State Cyclones starting lineup: G: Monte Morris, G: Naz Long, F: Georges Niang, F: Dustin Hogue, F: Jameel McKay
UAB Blazers starting lineup: G: Nick Norton, G: Hakeem Baxter, G: Robert Brown, F: William Lee, F: Tosin Mehinti
Last season 14th seeded Mercer pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history as they knocked down a powerhouse program in the Duke Blue Devils. Mercer was one of three teams to knock off a three seed in the last 30 meetings, dating back to 2007. It is a tall task for the UAB Blazers as they lack experience and are facing one of the best offensive teams in the country. For their sake, they better hope the Cyclones continue their trend of getting behind early in games.
Iowa State has one of the best offenses in college basketball as they average 78.4 PPG. That has been extremely helpful as they have a habit of getting behind by large deficits in games. Junior forward Georges Niang is the Cyclones leading scorer as he averages 15.5 PPG. He also averages 5.4 REB and 3.5 AST. Junior forward Jameel McKay is a huge part of this Cyclone team as he leads the team in rebounding with 7.4 boards per game. McKay is the anchor defensively on the interior as he brings a ton of energy and averages 2.2 BLK. Sophomore guard Monte Morris is excellent at distributing the ball as he averages 5.2 AST, and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.9.
The Blazers are the third youngest team in Division I, and lack experience heading into the tournament. They have seven players that are either freshman or sophomores. However, they have eight players that average at least six points per game. Junior guard Robert Brown leads the team in scoring with 13.1 PPG. Their leading rebounder comes from freshmen forward William Lee who averages 5.8 REB, to go along with 7.8 PPG. One problem that exists with this young team, like most, is the turnovers. That will be key if they want to have success. On the season they average 68.9 PPG as a team, while giving up on average 67.7 PPG
The Cyclones of Iowa State didn’t make their path through the Big-12 tournament easy. They played from behind and had to make late runs to survive and advance. In their first game they played Texas (20-13) and trailed 67-57 with 3:56 left in regulation. The Cyclones went on a 12-0 run to end the game, including the buzzer-beater by Monte Harris that gave them the victory. The next night against Oklahoma they came out sluggish getting down 11 points early. However, they would scratch and claw their way back and hold off the Sooners as Oklahoma guard Ryan Spangler missed a buzzer-beating shot. In the Big-12 final against Kansas, Iowa State would once again get behind a large deficit. This time it was 17 points against the Big-12 champs. However, Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg would rally his troops as they erased that deficit in the second half and defeated the Jayhawks, 70-66, securing their second consecutive Big-12 Tournament championship.
UAB needed to win their conference tournament to make it, and they had to face the tops teams in Conference USA to do so. They defeated Western Kentucky (20-12) in the first game, 53-52 thanks to Robert Brown’s jumper with 19 seconds left. The next night they beat the top-seeded Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (25-8), 72-62 in overtime. The tournament final came down to UAB and Middle Tennessee (19-16), the Blazers defeated them handedly 73-60.
Iowa State finished second in the Big-12 standings, one game behind the Kansas Jayhawks. This is the Cyclones fourth-straight season where they won over 20 games, fourth-straight season they reached the NCAA Tournament, and the second-straight season they won the Big-12 conference tournament. Iowa State has been in the tournament 16 times previously with an overall record of 16-16. The Cyclones also reached the Final Four back in 1944 where they would lose to Utah in the regional final, 40-31.
UAB finished fifth in the Conference USA standings with a conference record of 12-6. However, they were able to win three-straight games in their conference tournament and receive and automatic big in the NCAA Tournament. This will be the Blazers first tournament appearance since the 2011 season where they lost to Clemson in the opening round, 70-52. UAB had made the tournament 14 previous times with an overall record of 9-14. The longest ride through the tournament for the Blazers was back in 1982 when they reached the Regional Final where they lost to Louisville.
Hello, and welcome to VAVEL USA's live coverage of the NCAA tournament. I'm Parker White, and I'll be your host for this game and two others today. The 14th-seeded UAB Blazers (19-15) and the third seeded Iowa State Cyclones (25-8) will play head-to-head at 12:40 PM EST on Thursday, March 19th in Louisville, Kentucky. This will be the first game played in the South Region, and the victor will face the winner of UCLA vs. SMU.