No. 7 UAB Blazers (22-11, 11-5 C-USA) at No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (18-14, 8-10 BE)

NIT—First Round
Tuesday, Mar. 17—9:00 PM EST

Preview

To say that both of these teams are disappointed to be in the NIT and not in the NCAA's is an understatement.

UAB was a popular early-season sleeper pick within Conference USA. Many people believed that they had the talent to derail Memphis, but their season started to go off-track during their tough non-conference schedule.

At the start of conference play, the Blazers had amassed five losses, but they were all against respectable teams—Oklahoma, BC, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Butler. They finished in third in Conference USA, but they were five games behind C-USA perfect Memphis.

Notre Dame was picked in early Big East polls to finish among the best of the Big East. Unfortunately they found themselves grouped with Providence and Cincinnati after losing seven straight games in January and February.

It became clear towards the end of the season that the only way for them to dance was to win the Big East Tournament, a dream that was promptly crushed by West Virginia.

Both of these teams have very talented players on their squads who should match up very well. Both are going to be frustrated with how their seasons turned out, so look for a great dogfight of a game.

 

By The Numbers

  Record Conf ATS RPI SOS PF PA
UAB 22-11 11-5 14-16-1 46 73 72.6 65.9
Notre Dame 18-14 8-10 9-16 77 43 76.6 71.2

 

  FG% D. FG% 3P% D. 3P% FT% RPG SPG APG TPG BPG
UAB 45.6 42.7 33.7 32.3 71.3 37.2 6.6 12.8 11.4 2.0
Notre Dame 43.7 42.8 40.2 33.6 69.5 42.6 5.3 17.2 9.6 2.6

 

Stat Leaders

  UAB Notre Dame
PPG R. Vaden - 17.5 L. Harangody - 23.2
  P. Delaney III - 16.0 K. McAlarney - 15.4
  L. Kinnard - 14.2 R. Ayers - 11.4
RPG L. Kinnard - 9.0 L. Harangody - 12.0
APG A. Johnson - 3.6 T. Jackson - 5.0
SPG P. Delaney III - 2.1 T. Jackson - 1.2
BPG L. Kinnard - 0.6 L. Harangody - 1.0

 

Prediction

 

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