RUSTON, La. – After defeating regular season league champion North Texas 42-36 Friday afternoon, Louisiana Tech came up short in the title game falling 82-73 to UAB Saturday night at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco.
With the loss, the Bulldogs season came to an end as they didn’t receive a bid to the 32-team National Invitation Tournament revealed Sunday night. Tech advanced to the Final Four of the 2021 NIT.
The Bulldogs (24-11) exerted a lot of energy in Friday’s quarterfinal win over North Texas, the lowest scoring game in Division I basketball this year. Whether that physical game and playing its fourth game in four days was a deciding factor, no one will know for sure.
However, a normally good perimeter shooting Tech team hit just 4-of-28 three-point field goals in the loss.
“UAB is a really good team and spotting them points early, we knew it was going to be a tough hole to dig ourselves out of,” said Tech head coach Eric Konkol. “I give our guys a lot of credit. I am proud of the fight they showed and the resiliency to keep plugging away. We made it a one-possession game coming down to the last few minutes, but we just were not able to make the plays to get over the hump.”
Tech got into early foul trouble and a 14-0 run by UAB gave the Blazers a 43-24 lead with just minutes left before the half. However, Tech ended the half on a 9-0 run culminated with a thunderous dunk by all-tournament team selection Kenneth Lofton, Jr., right before the halftime buzzer sounded.
The Bulldogs proceeded to turn things up a notch defensively, applying full court pressure for much of the second half. And it worked. They ended up forcing 16 turnovers, making it a one-possession game after a three-point play by Lofton made the score 73-70 with 2:07 remaining.
It was part of a stretch where LA Tech made nine straight field goals. And the defense held UAB to just one made field goal in the final four-plus minutes. However, the Blazers cashed in at the free throw line as they did the whole game, making seven down the stretch and ultimately going 25-of-31 from the charity stripe.
Amorie Archibald and Exavian Christon played in their final ball game for the Bulldogs.
