Kennedy on UAB’s 99-78 loss to McNeese State: ‘Embarrassing on many, many fronts’

Andy Kennedy has rebuilt UAB's roster through the transfer portal every offseason, and the results have always followed. Six straight 20-win seasons. An unbeaten road record in American Conference play last year.

This year's turnover is the most extensive of Kennedy's seven seasons — 11 newcomers, zero returning starters, one returning rotation player in sophomore guard Salim London. Exhibition losses at Vanderbilt and Ole Miss signaled the adjustment would take time. Kennedy said he expected those lessons to carry into the regular season.

McNeese State beat UAB 99-78 at the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon in Rock Hill, S.C., on Monday.

"Well I hate the way that we played," Kennedy said on his postgame radio show. "Really disappointing, really disappointing, embarrassing on many, many fronts."

A strong start, and then it stopped

The Blazers came out with energy. UAB opened on an 11-4 run behind two Justyn Fernandez three-pointers, both assisted by Elijah Duval. McNeese State answered with a 19-2 run over the next eight minutes as UAB committed four turnovers.

"They were up 21-2 on points off turnovers and second-chance points in the first half and we were down by nine," Kennedy said.

UAB trailed 44-35 at halftime. The Blazers cut the deficit to seven early in the second half but could not get closer. McNeese State responded with a run that put the game away.

"Starting the second half, we had the thing down to 7 multiple times," Kennedy said. "Open looks here don't connect, then all of a sudden it just gets away from you."

Without Lindsay-Martin

The Blazers played without KyeRon Lindsay-Martin, their top returning post player. Lindsay-Martin averaged 10.8 points and 6.4 rebounds last season and has 23 career double-doubles, but he has not been cleared to play. The work toward his eligibility continues.

Kennedy identified the frontcourt as his biggest concern before the season.

"We're not finishing well at the basket with our frontcourt and we're not defending well at the basket with our frontcourt," Kennedy said after UAB's exhibition loss at Ole Miss. "To me that is the biggest concern as we head into this thing."

The challenges Monday ran deeper than missing one player. McNeese State out-rebounded UAB 33-26 with a 14-8 advantage on the offensive glass and blocked eight shots.

The numbers

McNeese State (1-0) shot 55% from the field and 44% from three-point range on 12-of-27 shooting. The Cowboys recorded 20 assists — nine from point guard Dellquan Warren — and committed eight turnovers. UAB committed 14.

Larry Johnson, a sophomore guard who broke Joe Dumars' 44-year-old McNeese freshman scoring record last season, finished with 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting, five rebounds and four assists. Jaylon Dean-Vines, a Vanderbilt transfer, added 17 points off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting in 18 minutes. Elijah Moore hit five three-pointers for 15 points.

"They're not a prolific three-point shooting team," Kennedy said. "They made 12 tonight."

McNeese has made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Kennedy said before the game that the Cowboys represented one of UAB's best non-conference opportunities for the NET, projecting them as a potential top-50 team.

"Give McNeese State credit," Kennedy said. "They're a good basketball team and I thought they played well today."

Duval led UAB with 15 points and five assists. Deuce Jones scored 12 and went 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. Salim London and T.J. Caldwell each scored 10 off the bench. UAB went 26-of-30 from the line as a team.

'We didn't do any of them'

Kennedy wears a wristband that reads "FAR" — force, authority, respond.

"I tell my team every day, 'Man, I want us to play with force. I want us to do everything with authority, and I want us to respond. FAR,'" Kennedy said. "If you do those three things, I think this team can go far. We didn't do any of them tonight."

"We got beat in the force area," he said. "They were playing with more authority than we were: more sure getting to their spots, making plays, more of a voice, more energy. We certainly didn't respond when we were still in the game."

McNeese State head coach Bill Armstrong, a UAB alum who played under Kennedy when Kennedy was an assistant with the Blazers and later coached on his staff for several years at Ole Miss, put it simply.

"We talk about being the toughest team for 40 minutes," Armstrong said. "There were some stretches where we weren't, but for the most part we were, and we ended up on top."

'We look a step slow'

Kennedy said his biggest frustration was not the margin but the disconnect.

"My biggest frustration is just our lack of awareness, man," Kennedy said. "This group was crazy lacking awareness. I look back, and it's something that we're not doing as a staff. It's just not connecting. We look a step slow. We look confused. We don't really have much of a voice on the court. We've got to get back and get that corrected immediately."

The pattern repeated from both exhibition games.

"It's happened to us in our two exhibition games against Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, and we think, 'Okay, we're going to learn the lesson,'" Kennedy said. "That's why you play those games, so that you hope that when you get into the real thing, you respond to it the exact same thing. I know you guys haven't seen the exhibitions, but they were very similar games right there, and all of a sudden, boom, spurt, we can't get up off the mat. It's a combination of poor offense, missed open shots, allowing them to play in the open floor. When you do get a first shot stop, they hurt you off the offensive glass. We don't play through 50/50 balls."

Kennedy said he had attributed the exhibition issues to the level of competition.

"All of the things that I have seen, and I was thinking to myself, 'Well, it's SEC competition. When we get back to our weight class,'" Kennedy said, "but I saw the exact same things today, and we've got to get them corrected immediately."

Changes necessary

Kennedy said the Blazers need to be player-led, and they are not there yet.

"I think this group has got to take more personal ownership of possessions that happen on the floor," Kennedy said. "I know the best teams are player-led, and right now we just don't have much of a voice. We've got some bad habits that we think we can just manufacture and play through. We've got to be really open about making the changes that are necessary."

UAB hosts Nicholls State on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT at Bartow Arena on ESPN+. It will be the Blazers' first home game in the newly renovated arena.