Jan. 21, 2012

Game Notes | GameTracker

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Conference USA's best scoring defense plays host to the league's top offense Sunday at 7:30 p.m. CT when UAB hosts Memphis in a nationally televised contest on Fox Sports Net (SportSouth in Birmingham).

The Blazers (13-4, 4-1 C-USA), allowing just 47.4 points per game, are looking to bounce back from a road loss Thursday at Tulane that snapped a four-game winning streak. The Tigers (13-4, 3-1 C-USA), scoring 73.2 points per game, defeated Southern Miss in their most recent outing.

Game Information
UAB vs. Memphis
Sunday, Jan. 22 @ 7:30 p.m. CT
Birmingham, Ala. (Bartow Arena)

Live Coverage
TV: Fox Sports Net (SportSouth in Birmingham): Ron Thulin play-by-play; Van Chancellor color
Gametracker: uabsports.com

Series Information    
• UAB trails 27-21 in the all-time series with Memphis. The 48 previous meetings with the Tigers are the second-most in UAB history behind only the 50 games between the Blazers and Southern Miss.

• The Blazers have held the upper hand recently, winning 10 of the past 12 meetings with Memphis.

• UAB is 12-8 all-time against Memphis in Birmingham.

• The Blazers swept both meetings between the teams last year, posting a 65-58 victory in Birmingham (1/16/11) and a 59-45 victory at Memphis (2/27/11).

About the Blazers    
UAB lost for just the second time in its past 14 games when the Blazers suffered their first C-USA defeat Thursday by a 52-41 score at Tulane. The team enters Sunday's matchup against rival Memphis with a 13-4 overall record and a 4-1 conference mark, one game behind UTEP for first place in the league standings.

Karisma Chapman (13.9 points per game) and Amber Jones (13.8) lead the Blazers in scoring, while LaShaunda Pratt adds 11.5 points per night. Meagan Brown is the team's top rebounder at 6.6 boards per game, and Jones leads the squad with 3.0 assists per game.

The Blazers continue to hang their hat on defense, ranking third in the nation in scoring defense (47.4 ppg), 22nd in blocks per game (5.4) and 24th in field goal percentage defense (34.4 percent). The Blazers have allowed only five opponents all season to score more than 47 points.

Scouting Memphis
Memphis comes to Birmingham with a record of 13-4 and 3-1 in conference play. The Tigers, whose only C-USA loss came against league-leading UTEP, dominated Southern Miss, 85-44, Thursday in their most recent outing.

Three Memphis players average at least 13 points, led by Brittany Carter at 15.9. Jasmine Lee averages 15.2 points per game to go along with 9.0 rebounds, while Nicole Dickson adds 13.7 points and 8.8 boards. Tigers' guard Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir leads C-USA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.2 to 1.

Memphis is the highest scoring team in C-USA at 73.2 points per game and the league's best shooting team at 42.7 percent (33.3 percent from 3-point range).

Getting Started    
• UAB had a four-game winning streak snapped Thursday with a 52-41 road loss at Tulane. It was just the Blazers' 12th loss in their past 14 contests.

• The Blazers enter Sunday's game second in the Conference USA standings at 4-1, a game behind UTEP and half a game ahead of Memphis and Marshall.

• At 13-4, the Blazers are off to the fourth-best start through 17 games in program history. Only the 1981-82, 1991-92 and 1994-95 squads started better. All three opened the season at 14-3.

• Dating back to last season, UAB has won 17 of its past 21 games and 24 of its past 32 contests.

• Amber Jones is closing in on the 1,000-point mark for her career. She surpassed 900 points Dec. 30 at Clemson and now sits at 977.

• UAB is the top team in Conference USA and third nationally in scoring defense, surrendering just 47.4 points per game for the season. The Blazers also rank 22nd in the country in blocks per game (5.4) and 24th in field goal percentage defense (34.4 percent).

• Over its past three games, UAB has logged a combined 46 steals (15.3 per game) and forced a total of  74 turnovers (24.7 per game).

• The Blazers have held an opponent to fewer than 40 points in a game 12 times in program history, and four of those instances -- more than any other season -- have occurred through just 17 games this year.

• UAB held Rice to 11 first-half points in the Jan. 5 victory over the Owls, matching the fewest points ever surrendered by the Blazers in one half.

• UAB's trio of sophomore forward Karisma Chapman (13.9 ppg), junior guard Amber Jones (13.8 ppg) and senior guard LaShaunda Pratt (11.5 ppg) have accounted for 67.2 percent of the Blazers' scoring with 652 of the team's 970 points on the year.

• The Blazers placed four scorers in double figures Jan. 15 at Houston for the first time this season with Karisma Chapman scoring 19, LaShaunda Pratt 14, Michaelea Kleist 11 and Amber Jones 10. Kelsie Weynand nearly gave UAB a fifth double-digit scorer but finished with nine.

• UAB put an eight-game winning streak together from Nov. 25-Dec. 30. It was UAB's longest winning streak in 17 years and just the sixth streak of at least eight games in program history. UAB held opponents to an average of 41.4 points and 31.4 percent shooting during the streak.

Fast Start
With a 13-4 record so far, UAB is off to the fourth-best start in program history through 17 games and its best start in 17 years. Three previous UAB teams have started a season at 14-3 through 17 games -- the 1981-82, 1991-92 and 1994-95 squads.
At 4-1 in league play, UAB has also tied its best-ever start in Conference USA. The 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2009-10 teams also got off to 4-1 starts in league play. Each of those team's was also directed by coach Audra Smith.

Dominating Defense
Coming off one of the best defensive seasons in Conference USA history, UAB has been even stingier so far this year. The Blazers have surrendered just 47.41 points per contest and rank third in the nation in scoring defense in the latest NCAA statistics (1/20).

UAB has held 12 of its 17 opponents to 47 points or fewer and kept four -- Western Kentucky, Hampton, Clemson and East Carolina -- below 40 points. The 36 points scored Nov. 26 by Western Kentucky and Dec. 30 by Clemson matched the fewest allowed by the Blazers since the 1994-95 season.

Historic Numbers
UAB is on pace to break its own Conference USA record for scoring defense by a large margin. Last season, the Blazers set a school and league record by allowing just 55.3 points per game, good for 25th-best in the nation. Their 56.1 points allowed per game in conference play also set a league record.

This year, UAB is allowing only 47.4 points per game (third in the nation), and the Blazers have allowed their five conference opponents an average of just 46.6 points per contest.

Chasing 1,000
With 17 points in the Dec. 30 win at Clemson, junior guard Amber Jones surpassed the 900-point mark for her career.

Jones has added 74 more points over the past six contests and now has 977 points, closing in on the 1,000-point milestone. She is seeking to become the 25th 1,000-point scorer in program history and the 13th to accomplish the feat before her senior season.

Former Blazer Amanda Peterson was the most recent UAB player to reach 1,000 points, surpassing the mark last season in her senior campaign.

SWAT Team
UAB set a single-game school record with 12 blocked shots in the Jan. 12 win over UCF. The Blazers topped the previous best mark of 11, set in last season's home victory over Tulsa (2/10/11).

Meagan Brown had four of those blocks, including the record breaker with 1:50 to play. Karisma Chapman and LaShaunda Pratt had three each, while Michaelea Kleist and TaRonda Randall added one apiece.

Block Party
The top shot-blocking team in Conference USA, the Blazers are swatting 5.4 shots per game (ranked 22nd in the nation) and 6.6 per game through five conference contests. UAB is two blocks per game ahead of school record pace (3.4 per game in 1998-99). Last year's team is second in school annals with 3.3 blocks per contest.

Three Blazers this season are averaging more than one block per game, led by Michaelea Kleist at 1.4. Meagan Brown is averaging 1.3, and TaRonda Randall checks in at 1.2.

Jones Picks Up Where She Left Off
Junior guard Amber Jones continues to be one of the top scoring threats for UAB, ranking second on the team with an average of 13.8 points per game. She has led UAB in scoring eight times, including Dec. 6 at UNCG when she erupted for a career-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

Jones is the leading returning scorer for UAB after averaging 12.5 points per game last year as a sophomore. She developed into the Blazers' top scorer down the stretch in 2010-11, raising her average to 15.3 points per game over the final 13 contests and 17.5 over the final six.

Jones Draining 3's At High Rate
Amber Jones has shown vast improvement from 3-point range this season. She entered her junior year with 72 treys over her first two seasons but was just a 27.7 percent shooter from beyond the arc for her career.

This season, Jones' 3-point percentage has jumped all the way to 36.5 (23-for-63), which ranks seventh in Conference USA.

Doing Damage From Downtown
UAB averages 5.7 3-pointers per game as a team to rank first in Conference USA, while senior guard LaShaunda Pratt ranks second in the league individually with 2.2 treys per contest. The Blazers knocked down 13 in a single contest against UNCG (12/6), including six by Pratt.

Last season, UAB topped C-USA in 3-pointers per game, as well. The Blazers averaged a league-leading 6.2 treys per contest, knocking down a total of 216 for the season, the second-most in UAB history and just three shy of the 2006-07 school-record total of 219.

Graduated guard Amanda Peterson set a school and C-USA record with 103 treys a year ago.

Pratt From Long Range
Senior guard LaShaunda Pratt ranks second in Conference USA with 2.2 made 3-pointers per game and is now shooting 33.6 percent (38 of 113) from 3-point range for the year.

Coming into the season, Pratt had never made more than three 3-pointers in a game. Through 17 games this year, she has already surpassed that twice.

Pratt hit five treys on her way to a career-best 24 points earlier this season at McNeese State (11/19) and topped that at UNCG (12/6) when she hit a career-best six 3-pointers in just seven attempts.

Chapman On A Roll
Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman has upped her scoring average over the past nine games. The Calumet City, Ill., product has averaged 15.1 points over that period, led UAB in scoring in six of the nine games and scored at least 19 points in four of them.

Chapman is now averaging 13.9 points per game for the season to lead the Blazers. She has scored in double figures in every game but three, including a career-best 24 points against both Alabama A&M (12/15) and Florida A&M (1/2).

Frosh Sensation Now Super Soph
Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman is continuing to develop after a 2010-11 season in which she was a C-USA All-Freshman Team selection. Chapman is averaging 13.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. She logged her third career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds at UNCG.

Last year, Chapman finished the year with 10 double-digit scoring performances in the last 17 games. She averaged 10.8 points per game over that stretch and closed the year with an average of 8.0 points to go along with a pair of double-doubles in her rookie campaign.

New Mark For Defense In A Half
UAB matched the program record for fewest points allowed in a half Jan. 5 against Rice, limiting the Owls to just 11 points over the opening 20 minutes.

The Blazers also surrendered only 11 points in a half against Cincinnati on March 9, 1995. On four other occasions, UAB has limited an opponent to 12 points in a single half.

Kleist's Contributions
Junior forward Michaelea Kleist, who came off the bench for the first three games, has now started 14 contests in a row.

Kleist, a transfer from Volunteer State CC, has proven to be a defensive presence and one of the team's top rebounders. She leads the team in blocks with 1.4 per game and ranks second in rebounds with 5.6 per outing.

Kleist's five blocked shots against UNCG (12/6) are the most by a UAB player this season.

Brown's Blocks
Meagan Brown is coming off a 2010-11 campaign in which she set the school record for single-season blocked shots with 49. For her career, the senior center owns 96 blocks to rank third on the Blazers' all-time list, trailing only the 125 by Deanna Jackson (1998-2002) and the 108 of Mary Morning (1993-97).

Good Guard Play
UAB's trio of primary ballhandlers -- Khalilah Watson, Amber Jones and LaShaunda Pratt -- has combined for a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (128 assists, 117 turnovers) this year.

Jones (48 assists, 43 turnovers) and Watson (46 assists, 36 turnovers) have both made strides this year after posting more turnovers than assists a season ago. For much of the season, either Watson or Jones has been ranked among the best in Conference USA in assist-to-turnover ratio.