I really like UAB here. Butler is off two really close wins and now they have to travel down to Birmingham to get another one and I don't think they have it in them against a UAB team that continues to fly under the radar despite huge wins at home against Georgia by 16 and a good Cincinnati team out of the Big East. They have gotten it done with defense something that lacked last year in this match up where they led by 11 at half time @ Butler and Butler started to hit threes and outscored UAB 45-30 in the 2nd half for a 4 point win. Butler shot 50% from the perimeter, but with some new faces UAB is playing some solid basketball and are giving up 28.6% from three this year. At home they are even better defending 24.6% from three at home. I mentioned they had two big wins at home to Cincinnati and Georgia. While they are not ranked as high in the RPI's as Butler they are still pretty close. UAB has played much better defense than a year ago and it's probably because of the new faces. I believe Gordan Hayword who has been carrying this Butler team and giving them some balance gets shut down here like he did a year ago when he had just 8 points. Look for Elijah Milsap from UAB to have a big game and possibly his 4th straight double double. Last year UAB was also rebounded and Milsap has been doing a great job crashing the boards with 15 rebound in each of his last 3 games. Add in that and the fact that UAB is getting to the FT line more than its opponents something they did not do in this game last year I believe we have UAB as a strong play.
