Under the Radar Game of the Day – Sunday, January 3: Middle Tennessee at UAB

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Middle Tennessee at UAB, 3:00 PM Eastern, ASN

The UTR Game of the Day heads to Birmingham, Alabama this afternoon for a matchup between two of the top teams in Conference USA.  The UAB Blazers enter today’s first league game of the season with a record of 10-3 overall.  The Blazers suffered a season-opening loss at Auburn and then had a rough trip a few weeks later to Niceville, Florida for the Emerald Coast Classic, getting blown out by Illinois and losing in overtime to Virginia Tech.  However, they have not lost since that trip, rolling out a perfect 7-0 month of December that ended with a solid ten-point win over Stephen F. Austin.  Chris Cokley has stood out so far this season, topping the 20 point mark five times already.  Senior Robert Brown has topped 20 in two of his last three games as well, while William Lee may be starting to turn his season around, having scored in double-digits in five of his last 6 games, including an 11 point, 10 rebound and 5 assist effort against South Carolina Upstate.  If UAB can continue to build on the momentum the team built last month, there is no reason why they will not be able to return to our preseason expectations and become a serious contender in CUSA.

Today’s opponent for the Blazers is a team that has been playing as well this season as anyone in the conference, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.  The Blue Raiders started the season 7-2 winning the Great Alaska Shootout in the process and picking up a very nice win in Nashville over Auburn as well as a home win over Belmont.  However, things turned sour after that, as Kermit Davis’ squad fell at Georgia State and in Sioux Falls to South Dakota State.  A win over non-D1 Trevecca Nazarene boosted their non-conference record to 8-4.  The talent is certainly here on this team to win the conference, led by Reggie Upshaw and Darnell Harris.  Upshaw scored a career high 32 points against Trevecca Nazarene, while Harris was among the best players on the court in both the Georgia State and South Dakota State losses.  If the two of them can continue to improve, the Blue Raiders could be poised to pull off the road upset today and send notice that they will be a major player in CUSA all season.

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