UAB Basketball cookin, Andy Kennedy 1 on 1 with White’s World

There is a a resurgence on the Southside at Bartow Arena. UAB basketball has put itself back on the national map and the orchestrator of UAB’s reemergence is first year coach Andy Kennedy, a very familiar face on the Southside as he was one of the best shooters of all time for the Blazers. After successful stints at Cincinnati for a season and at Ole Miss for 12 years, Kennedy worked at the SEC Network and ESPN for 2 years and got a unique perspective of the game. He went from watching one team every day and his opponents, when his teams played them, to watching hundreds of games with almost every team in the country competing. He’s taken that experience along with his coaching acumen and talent and has the Blazers at 16-2 and leading the C-USA standings overall at 9-1. The Blazers are projected to be in the field of 68 come March as a 13 seed according to the great Joe Lunardi. “Brackets” has the Blazers squaring off with No. 4 seed Iowa in Indianapolis. All tournament games will be played in Indy this season, a bubble-like environment to protect the players against the virus. The Final Four will be April 3rd-5th at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy. Alabama is currently a 2 seed by Lunardi and is scheduled to face Northeastern, a 15 seed. The Crimson Tide has played good basketball this season though they’ve struggled somewhat lately. They are leading the SEC at 11-1 and are 16-5 overall and ranked 11th in the country. They defeated South Carolina at Columbia last night, 81-78. The Auburn Tigers have a lot of work to do. They did defeat Vanderbilt last night on the road, 73-67, to move to 11-10, and 5-7 in conference, but there is an NCAA investigation still hanging over the program and the program self-imposed a ban from the NCAA tournament this season, so the Tigers look like they’re playing for pride.

But the Blazers have been very consistent this season. They’re a pretty solid offensive team and an exceptional defensive team. The Blazers are scoring 74 points per game and only giving up 58. They shoot 46% from the field and 31% from trifecta, and their opponents are only shooting 39% from the field and 30% from triple. The Blazers shoot 70% from the line, out-rebound opponents 37-35 per game and average 8 steals per game. They only give up 10 turnovers per game and get 16 per game themselves.

It’s a collective effort on both ends of the floor. Guard Michael Ertel leads the team in scoring at 13.. Tavin Lovan, a guard, averages 12.4, guard Jalen Benjamin adds 11.6. Guard Quan Jackson averages 10.6 per game, guard Tyreek Scott-Grayson averages 8.6 per game, and 7’0”, 260 pound center Trey Jemison, a Clemson transfer and a junior, averages 8.1 ppg, 7.4 rebounds and has swatted away 43 shots.

So “AK” has developed the chemistry in this group, they’re playing with a lot of confidence, and know how to win games. The Blazers have a key 2 game set at Louisiana Tech this Friday and Saturday. LA. Tech is in third place in the West at 8-4, 2 games back of the Blazers overall, but 3 in the loss column. They are 15-6 overall. Friday’s game tips off at 6:30 PM CT with Stadium Network broadcasting. Stadium is an online network. Saturday’s game is at 3 PM CT and Stadium will also carry the game. Stadium will have UAB’s following 2 games vs Old Dominion at Bartow on Friday, Feb. 19th at 6:30 PM CT and Saturday, Feb.20th at 3 PM CT. The Blazers’ final 2 regular season games will be on ESPN+. The team will be at UTSA (Texas-San Antonio) Friday Feb,. 26th, at 6 PM CT, and Saturday, Feb 27th, at 3 PM CT. Conference USA is doing this doubleheader-like system to protect the players and coaches as much as they can. The Conference USA Tournament is Wednesday, March 10th-Saturday March 13th at Frisco, Texas. The championship game will most likely be broadcast by CBS. Will have more details on that later this month.

I got a chance to speak with the architect of the Blazers’ resurgence. AK is trying to get this program back to the glory days under the late, great Gene Bartow, where the NCAA Tournament was an annual event, and Sweet 16’s, and an Elite 8, and a shot at Final Fours were very legitimate. AK has the passion and the drive to return this program to elite status in the near future. This season has been a building block for that goal of renewed greatness. And this season has been very promising. You get to the tournament and you never know.

Here’s my conversation with AK.

DW: How’s life treating you right now?

AK: Just grinding right now. I’m in the middle of my grind. Just day to day you know.

DW: You had a nice career at Ole Miss and before that a year at Cincinnati. How did those 2 jobs shape you to become the coach at UAB?

AK: I was real fortunate. A lot of times we’ve got these grand plans and life takes us on a little detour. I’m here working as an assistant for Murry (Bartow), and then went to work as an assistant for Bob Huggins at Cincinnati. I had the opportunity to sit at the right hand of a guy who I consider a future Hall of Famer. We were in the top 20 every year. Then Bob was unceremoniously let go early in the fall before we started fall workouts and I had my first job. It was the first time I had been a head coach at any level. That led me to 12 years in my home state (at Ole Miss). Was blessed to lead a program in the SEC for 12 seasons. When that ended, my family and I could have moved anywhere in the country, but we decided to move to Birmingham. I had a daughter who graduated from Samford and my younger daughter went to Auburn. So we did the ESPN thing and the SEC Network, which was really good for me as it allowed me to really exhale a little bit and see things from a different perspective. And when this opportunity came about, it’s my alma mater, and Birmingham has always been my home away from home, and I was excited about having the opportunity.

***Note***AK was the head coach at Cincy for the 2005-06 season and finished 21-13 and 8-8 in the Big East Conference which Cincinnati was a part of in those years. At Ole Miss from 2006-18, he went 245-156, 61%, and 102-98 in the SEC, 51%. He won 20 games in 10 different seasons at Ole Miss. His final year was a tough one and people have short memories and he was unfairly let go. But the 52 year old Louisville, Mississippi native did spectacular work for the SEC Network and SEC. His commentary was always interesting and entertaining. Then he was called home to UAB.

DW: Did the SEC Network experience help you for coaching?

AK: It helped from a perspective standpoint. You’ve got to understand, David, as a coach, you are so focused on your team and building with your team literally 24/7, 365, and even when you watch basketball you’ve viewing the game from a critical lens of a coach, what kind of action can I run with this. So when I got to TV, I didn’t have a team. I was just observing the game differently. I also had great exposure to coaches who gave me access to their teams’ practices and to their film sessions. So I learned some things and saw how other people did it and continued to shape my perspective on what I wanted to do moving forward. And now, given the opportunity, I have the ability to implement those things that I learned.

DW: Was it fun at the SEC Network?

AK: it was good. I actually had no idea what I was doing initially going into the TV world. Somebody said to me, you don’t ever lose a game when you’re doing TV. And I said, you don’t win one either. You’ve got to take the good and the bad sometimes. I could see myself down the road venturing into that full time and i did enjoy it. Great people at the SEC Network and great people at ESPN that gave me a tremendous platform.

DW: Coach, you came home in a way to UAB. You had a great playing career at UAB, your stats as a player were phenomenal. Tell me what it’s like to come home and coach at your alma mater?

AK: Well, it’s obviously special. I had the opportunity to play for the founding father, the late great Gene Bartow. I experienced what UAB basketball can be and what it means to this city and this community. And I’m on a mission to get it back to that Gene Bartow standard. It’s been so bizarre this year. I get the job and I think 2 or 3 days later the pandemic hits. And here we are 10, 11 months later still fighting the fight. All the things that I wanted to do, engage the community, engage the student body, create the excitement, build momentum, spread the word in recruiting, you can’t do any of those things. The only thing I can do is work daily to make sure our kids are protected and safe and try to continue to improve. Through 18 games. we’re 16-2, 9-1 in the league, best start since the 80’s in this program. I’m pleased with where we are, but we have a lot of work to do moving forward.

DW: How have you guys navigated through the pandemic?

AK: I’ve got good guys and they’ve been really disciplined for the most part. Just kind of staying to yourself. Kids are kids, so it’s got to be driving them crazy because college is about social interaction, developing ideas and who you’re going to be as a person. This is just odd. We’ve got to continually preach COVID discipline day in and day out. As a coach, the first thing I think about when I get to the office and the last thing I think about at night is, man, I hope those tests come back clear and I don’t lose anybody, I hope everybody is good, I wonder what our opponent is dealing with, will they show up, are they going to show up. It’s what we’re all going through. It’s not ideal, but we’re still blessed to have the opportunity to play.

DW: Sounds harder than ever to try and navigate through this.

AK: I’ve been a coach for 24 years and this is my 14th as a head coach and I was an assistant for 10 years and I’ve never been through anything like this. None of us have any experience in this and you just deal with it day by day.

DW: Are you getting fans in the stands?

AK: Bartow Arena has a 15% capacity, so around 1,200 fans and we’ve been getting around 1,200 every game as of late. We’ve got a great fan base, and many of our fans with season tickets are choosing not to come for health reasons and I understand that. What you’ve got to realize as a first year coach and trying to come in and change the way things are done, you’ve got to be careful not to keep the players from enjoying what they’re doing. Typically, you can get the extra motivation from the crowd and their peers. Now we’ve got 1,000-1,200 fans, and on the road sometimes there are no fans. So you’ve got to generate your own motivation. So, it’s a very, very bizarre year.

DW: You know the tradition Gene Bartow started, you played for him, and you know what this program can be. What are your goals for this program at this point?

AK: I graduated here in 1991 and when I left UAB it was literally a commuter college. You wouldn’t know campus from the city unless you were there for a specific reason. Now as I come to work every day, I am simply amazed at the transformation of this campus. It’s now a thriving, vibrant campus in a thriving, vibrant city, and I think our basketball program can chart along that same course. I think it has great potential. I have experienced it first hand, I know what UAB means to Birmingham and I know what Birmingham means to UAB. Once the world gets back on its axis, we can lock arms and move this program forward.

DW: What do you attribute your success to so far. 16-2, 11-1 in conference, that’s impressive.

AK: Our guys have bought in. I’ve been most impressed with our approach. Guys have come in every day with a willingness to work and a willingness to learn. We’re a continual work in progress. Defensively, we’ve been pretty disruptive. I think that’s the nature of defense, be disruptive. We rank at the top of Conference USA in most defensive statistical categories. With our ability to play in the open floor generating offense from our defense has really been our strength. Offensively, we’ve got some work to do. We’ve struggled some with our perimeter shooting, which was unexpected quite frankly. That’s our greatest range of growth, we’ve got to continue to get better offensively and we’ve got to get healthier. We’ve had a number of key injuries, but guys are starting to battle back and get healthy. I’m pleased with their approach and I’m pleased with the way they come in every day willing to work.

DW: Do you feel like that offensive game can come around and be what you want it to be this year?

AK: I think that it can. We’ve got a couple of guys who are struggling to make shots at the range they’ve shown they are usually capable of making. As a coach, you go through a game and you quantify the quality of your shots. Is that the right shot for us? What can we do to help create better shot selection? We’ve got continue to rep and put them in a position to be successful.

DW: You may have been the best shooter in UAB history, so you know what it takes to be a good shooter. Do you do anything technically with the guys?

AK: When guys get to this level, they are usually developed. When they’re younger they’re more apt to change. But they wouldn’t have been able to get to this level to a program such as ours if they’ve never had success. So it’s a work in progress, but we’re constantly trying to tinker with offensive execution so we can get them to be in a place every day where they can be the most proficient.

DW: I’ve been studying the teams in this conference, Western Kentucky, North Texas, LA Tech, you’ve got some good teams in this conference. Talk about the conference.

AK: It’s my first time through the league. Because of COVID, we’re playing opponents on back to back nights at the same venue, which is incredibly difficult from a number of standpoints. So I’m not getting a true feel for the league based on circumstances. But I do know, if you look at numbers, and as Bill Parcells says, you are what your numbers say you are, the league is rated 12th in the country (out of 25 conferences in the country), which is the highest it’s been ranked in 5 years. We’ve got 5 teams currently in the ESPN/BPI top 100. We may have 5 in the NET ratings. The league, despite not having non-conference opportunities, we lost games against Kentucky, Georgia Tech, and those hurt us big picture wise because we didn’t haver the opportunity for quality non conference games. At the same time, I think the league is really good, especially at the top and I think that will be proven in March.

DW: What makes it so difficult to play those back to back games.

AK: First and foremost, you have a week to prepare, I almost feel like a football coach. But the physical grind of playing back to back nights, and I’ve seen it with our team, we just don’t have the same energy in game 2. And it’s difficult to beat somebody 2 times over the course of the year much less two times back to back. It’s demanding physically, it’s challenging mentally. No fans, not much energy in the building, you’ve got to create your own energy. It feels like scrimmages, but you’re just scrimmaging someone else. That’s the mentality that you feel like based on how strange this year is.

DW: I know the goal is to win C-USA, make the tournament and then you never know, once you do that, who knows, you can go on a run. What do you think it’ll take for you all to do that this year?

AK: Right now, we’ve got to continue to grind it out game at a time. I know this sounds like Coachspeak, but we’re just living in the moment now.

DW: Sounds like you’re liking your group though?

AK: I’ve got good kids. They’re trying hard. There are some things that can only be improved through recruiting. This year we had to recruit via Skype, phone calls, and FaceTIme, and lean on people and seeing these kids on video until they’re on our team. I’ve been on the job 11 months and not stepped foot off this campus to recruit. Hopefully, the world will get right and we’ll get back on the road soon.

DW: Talk about your group. It’s older, maybe not playing as much together, but an older group of guys. How much does that help?

AK: We brought back a handful of guys from last year. Tyreek Scott-Grayson is in his third year in the program. Tavin Lovan is in his third year in the program. So they’ve been through some battles and they understand what it takes to be successful, and they’ve given us good guidance and leadership. And we brought in two post grads in Michael Ertel and Quan Jackson who have obviously played a lot of basketball. And young man Trey Jemison, who played 2 years at Clemson. So the combination of those guys, they are more mature and it gives us the leadership that we need to put the work in.

DW: Trey Jemison is a big guy at 7 feet, 260. I know that helps.

AK: He gives us a presence. We are playing him 28-29 minutes in league play and here’s a guy who played 3 or 4 minutes in his previous position at Clemson. He has a high basketball IQ. He plays with a high motor. He’s getting much more comfortable with his role which has allowed him to play longer stretches at a time.

DW: How are your freshmen doing?

AK: We’ve got some guys who’ve done well. Rongie Gordon has played more than the other guys because of the situation, some guys haven’t played as much. But we have guys who we feel like are going to be good players when they get the opportunity to mature and continue to develop and learn.

DW: How’s recruiting going for 2021? What’s going on there?

AK: We’re doing everything we can do. We’re not allowed out, kids can’t come on our campus. We’re waiting to see when those restrictions will be removed in the spring recruiting period. But we’ll be very, very active in the transfer portal and we’ll be very, very active on the recruiting base because at the end of the day, our goal is to get the best player possible and reach our goals.

DW: Andy, finally, once everything clears out and people are safe from COVID, what do you see is the future for your program?

AK: I think we can be as good as we allow ourselves to be. That’s been proven on this campus. I came back here with a mission to make UAB Basketball nationally relevant again and that’s what we’re working towards every day.