Andy Kennedy Goes Berserk, Gets Tossed After UAB Allows 20-0 Run To Memphis
College basketball is a game of runs. Teams go up big only to blow leads. Andy Kennedy, a longtime college hoops coach, knows this very well. His UAB Blazers completely dominated the Memphis Tigers in the first half on Sunday night.
The Blazers entered the game as seven-point underdogs, but came out firing on the road against the Tigers. Memphis is fighting for its NCAA Tournament life as a team currently on the outside looking on.
But for the first 18 minutes and 55ish seconds, UAB looked like the team battling for its season.
It got out to a 22-point lead, at one point shooting over 70% from the field late in the first half.
However, things started to turn at the end of the first half. Memphis went on a 7-0 run over the final 1:05 of the first half, aided by a buzzer-beating 3-point heave from Jahvon Quinerly. Quinerly, by the way, scored all seven of those points during the run.
Still, UAB entered the halftime break up by 15 points. Memphis came out of the locker room a completely different team than the one that started the game, though.
The Tigers started the second half on a 13-0 scoring run in the first 2:30, which put them on a 20-0 run in just over 3:30 of game time.
UAB head coach Andy Kennedy lost his mind on officials after his team allowed a 20-0 run to Memphis and blew a huge lead.
(Petre Thomas/USA TODAY Sports)
UAB finally broke the streak thanks to a questionable non-call for a traveling violation on the Blazers. Memphis scored a layup and UAB came back down the floor. In a very similar play, referees this time ruled that UAB traveled with the basketball.
This set Andy Kennedy into an absolute fury. He screamed at officials that his player was fouled prior to the travel. Assistant coaches and UAB players tried to calm down the head coach, but he pushed several of them away as he continued to yell at officials.
Referees assessed a double-technical on Kennedy and ejected him from the game with his team on the brink of blowing a 22-point lead.
Kennedy may have been right that his player was fouled, but this appeared like a makeup call for the clearly missed travel on the possession prior. Plus, it's clear Kennedy is also furious that his team just gave up a 20-0 run and blew a 22-point lead.
To make matters worse, his double-technical foul awarded Memphis four free throws. David Jones made all four to give the Tigers their first lead since they were up 4-3 just 90 seconds into the contest.
That capped a 26-2 run, turning a crazy basketball game completely on its head.
March Madness is here, baby!