Strong Second Half Pushes Toledo Past Conference USA Favorite UAB, 93-85

Friday, November 11

Philadelphia, Pa.

5:00 p.m.

University of Toledo

2-0,0-0MAC

UAB

-11,00 CUSA

UAB

Toledo

Senior Setric Millner Jr. had 21 points in Toledo's 93-85 win over UAB.

Photo by: Evan Yu

Strong Second Half Pushes Toledo Past Conference USA Favorite UAB, 93-85

11/11/2022 10:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team registered a statement win on Friday night with a 93-85 victory over Conference USA favorite UAB in the Barstool Sports Invitational. The contest was played at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers.

"That was a heck of a win against a really, really good team and a tremendously coached team," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "I said from the beginning that this game could have March ramifications. We hope we have a season like that. We hope UAB has a season like that. I don't think it's a negative for the loser, but certainly the winner can build off this."

The Rockets' veteran trio of junior RayJ Dennis, senior Setric Millner Jr. and senior JT Shumate combined for 64 points in the victory. Dennis tied his career high for a second-straight game with 23 points and dished out a team-high seven assists, while Millner and Shumate tallied 21 and 20 points, respectively. Shumate was named Barstool's Pizza Hut Game MVP.

"That was a great atmosphere," Dennis said. "Coach mentioned to us at halftime that this is what it's like in March when we go to Cleveland and play in an NBA arena. It was a big game."

Junior Tyler Cochran also scored in double digits, finishing with 13 points along with a team-high seven rebounds.

Cochran also grabbed a team-high four steals to spearhead a Rockets' defensive effort that forced UAB into 22 turnovers and limited the Blazers to a 35.3 shooting mark in the second half.

"Tyler just makes big plays," Kowalczyk said. "When things got tight a little bit I just thought he got baskets. He had four steals and all of them felt like they were in the middle of a UAB run. Those were four-point swings."

Toledo trailed by a 46-39 margin at halftime after falling behind by as many as 11 points less than seven minutes into the contest.

Jordan 'Jelly' Walker paced UAB offensively with 25 points but was 9-of-23 from the field.

Toledo is back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 16 when it hosts Horizon League foe Oakland (1-1). Tip-off time in Savage Arena is set for 7:00 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

UAB took an early 19-8 lead with 13:43 remaining in the first half.
The Rockets answered with baskets from Tyler Cochran, AJ Edu and RayJ Dennis to make it a five-point game.
Toledo kept pushing and Setric Millner Jr.'s three-pointer capped off an 11-2 spurt that tied the score at 25-25 with 8:24 left in the first half.
Dante Maddox's two free throws put UT ahead, 33-32, at the 4:07 mark, but UAB ended the half with a 9-3 run to take a 46-39 lead to the locker room.
Millner and Dennis led Toledo in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
UAB shot 52.8 percent in the first half with the Rockets posting a 46.9 mark. Both teams committed 10 turnovers.

SECOND HALF

Toledo clamped down on the Blazers early in the second half and limited UAB to just three free throws in a 6:35 span as part of a 15-3 run to take a 59-55 lead.
The Rockets tied the game at 52-52 during that spurt on Ra'Heim Moss' layup and Maddox's layup gave UT the lead for good with 14:32 to play.
Millner's layup with 5:23 left gave Toledo its first double-digit advantage, 77-66, with 5:23 left.
The closest the Blazers came down the stretch was 87-83 with 19 seconds remaining. The Rockets answered with two free throws from Dennis, a Moss dunk and two more free throws from Maddox.
JT Shumate paced the Rockets in the second half with 17 points. Dennis also scored in double digits with 13.