UAB basketball opens 2026-27 tonight at Vanderbilt

Andy Kennedy spent his offseason rebuilding UAB basketball from scratch — again. Tonight he gets to see how it looks in an SEC environment against a Vanderbilt squad that won 27 games last season.

The Blazers open the 2026-27 season with an exhibition at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville (6 p.m. CT). The game will not be available on stream or radio. Kennedy enters his seventh season at his alma mater with a 145-62 record, six straight 20-win seasons and 11 newcomers on a 13-man roster.

The Commodores made the NCAA Tournament last season, went 11-7 in SEC play and lost to No. 4 seed Nebraska by two points. They return three players and added five transfers and seven freshmen.

The rebuild

UAB went 20-12 in 2025-26, its sixth consecutive 20-win season and the longest streak in program history. But the Blazers went 11-7 in AAC play, lost to Charlotte in the conference tournament quarterfinals and missed the postseason for the first time since Kennedy's first year. The 2025-26 team was one of the smallest in the country and spent the season getting outmuscled on the interior after losing Joao Das Chagas to an early-season injury. Kennedy then lost his top scorer (Chance Westry, 15.5 PPG, to Xavier), his top rebounder (Evan Chatman, 8.8 RPG, to Baylor) and several more to the portal.

The response: six Division I transfers, three JUCO transfers and two freshmen.

The backcourt

Salim London is the only returning scholarship player. The 6-4 guard averaged 4.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists as a freshman last season and shot 84.4% from the line.

Around London, Kennedy loaded the backcourt with proven scoring at the Division I level. Justyn Fernandez, a fifth-year guard from Delaware, averaged 16.6 points per game and shot 40.3% from three and 87.8% from the line — the most efficient perimeter shooter Kennedy has recruited at UAB. He is a former four-star recruit who played at George Mason and Providence before his breakout at Delaware with 10 games of 20-plus points. Deuce Jones was the A-10 Freshman of the Year at La Salle in 2024-25 (12.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.8 APG) before transferring to St. Joseph's, where he averaged 15.8 points in 10 games. Elijah Duval was the WAC Freshman of the Year at Southern Utah (15.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.6 APG). T.J. Caldwell is a fifth-year senior who started his career at Ole Miss and averaged 9.4 points at Arkansas State. Tim Holliday, a JUCO guard from Itawamba CC, shot 38.7% from three and scored a season-high 44 points. The smallest guard on the roster is 6-2.

Kennedy compared this group to the backcourt from the 29-win team in 2022-23 — Jelly Walker, Eric Gaines, Tavin Lovan, Ledarrius Brewer and Tony Toney — and said from a talent and versatility standpoint, "it could be the best."

The frontcourt

UAB's lack of interior size was the biggest problem in 2025-26. Kennedy addressed it with three players at 6-10 or taller.

Matt Mbole, a 6-11, 275-pound center with a 7-4 wingspan, led his conference in rebounding at South Georgia Tech with 12.2 boards per game and blocked 2.6 shots per game while shooting 60.5% from the field — 14 double-doubles. Kennedy won a recruiting battle against Memphis to land him. Aleks Alston, a 6-10 forward from Maryland with a seven-foot wingspan, was the No. 1 player in Illinois out of high school. His freshman stats were minimal, but Kennedy sees a player who can play the three, four or five. Jeremy Elyzee, a 6-7 forward from Southeastern Louisiana, was the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year in 2024-25 (11.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG). Antallah Sandlin'El, a 6-9 forward from South Plains, shot 42.6% from three and was ranked among the top-10 JUCO prospects nationally. Kaleb Davis, a 6-11 center from Houston High School in Memphis, adds another rim protector.

With a potential KyeRon Lindsay-Martin return, Kennedy said this would be the tallest team in UAB history.

Lindsay-Martin's eligibility

The biggest variable heading into the season remains unresolved. Lindsay-Martin, a 6-8 forward who averaged 10.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last season while shooting 53.6% from the field, is awaiting an NCAA ruling on a medical hardship appeal involving his freshman year at Georgia. The case is separate from the broader five-for-five eligibility legislation making headlines nationally.

Kennedy has held a roster spot for Lindsay-Martin rather than filling it through the portal. If the ruling goes against him, UAB cannot add a replacement this semester — the academic deadline has passed. Lindsay-Martin has stayed at UAB all summer and fall despite the uncertainty and turned down professional opportunities abroad.

"We're one team with him," Kennedy said in September. "Without him, we would honestly schematically have to do a number of different things."

What's next

After tonight's exhibition at Vanderbilt, UAB has a second exhibition at Ole Miss on Oct. 27 before the regular season opens Nov. 2 against McNeese State in Rock Hill, S.C. Conference play begins Dec. 30 at home against Tulane. The full schedule:

2026-27 schedule

Exhibition

Oct. 19 — at Vanderbilt — 6 p.m. — Nashville, Tenn.

Oct. 27 — at Ole Miss — 7:30 p.m. — Oxford, Miss.

Non-conference

Nov. 2 — McNeese State (neutral) — 4 p.m. — Rock Hill, S.C.

Nov. 6 — Nicholls — Bartow Arena

Nov. 9 — Florida A&M — Bartow Arena

Nov. 14 — at Jacksonville State — 6 p.m. — Jacksonville, Ala.

Nov. 17 — FIU — Bartow Arena

Nov. 20 — George Washington (neutral) — 1 p.m. — White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Nov. 22 — Rhode Island (neutral) — 6 p.m. — White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Nov. 27 — Auburn Montgomery — Bartow Arena

Dec. 2 — Samford — Bartow Arena

Dec. 5 — at Troy — 4:15 p.m. — Troy, Ala.

Dec. 8 — Belmont — Bartow Arena

Dec. 12 — at Western Kentucky — 4 p.m. — Bowling Green, Ky.

Dec. 17 — Middle Tennessee — Bartow Arena

Dec. 21 — UNC Asheville — Bartow Arena

American Athletic Conference

Dec. 30 — Tulane — Bartow Arena

Jan. 2 — East Carolina — Bartow Arena

Jan. 5 — at Temple — Philadelphia, Pa.

Jan. 8 — at Wichita State — Wichita, Kan.

Jan. 14 — Florida Atlantic — Bartow Arena

Jan. 17 — Memphis — Bartow Arena

Jan. 23 — at East Carolina — Greenville, N.C.

Jan. 26 — at Charlotte — Charlotte, N.C.

Jan. 31 — Temple — Bartow Arena

Feb. 4 — at Tulsa — Tulsa, Okla.

Feb. 7 — at Memphis — Memphis, Tenn.

Feb. 11 — North Texas — Bartow Arena

Feb. 14 — Charlotte — Bartow Arena

Feb. 21 — at South Florida — Tampa, Fla.

Feb. 25 — at Rice — Houston, Texas

Feb. 28 — Tulsa — Bartow Arena

Mar. 4 — UTSA — Bartow Arena

Mar. 7 — at Florida Atlantic — Boca Raton, Fla.