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The Memphis game: Coaches, players, even fans had Bluff City roots in MSU-UAB game

By , Daily Memphian Updated: March 14, 2025 9:56 AM CT | Published: March 02, 2025 4:00 AM CT

As the Memphis and UAB basketball programs prepared to renew their long-running series a season ago following a 10-year hiatus and former Tigers and Blazers recalled glory days gone by, one game kept coming up:

March 17, 1985.

A Sunday.

Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston.

It was the Tigers’ second game in that year’s NCAA Tournament, one that helped then-Memphis State get to the Final Four for the first time since Larry Kenon, Larry Finch and coach Gene Bartow lost to Bill Walton-led and John Wooden-coached UCLA in the 1973 national championship game.

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Memphis Tigers Basketball Steve Mitchell Andre Turner Subscriber Only Memphis vs. UAB

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Tim Buckley

Tim Buckley

Tim is a veteran sportswriter who graduated from CBHS in Memphis and the University of Missouri. He previously covered LSU sports in Baton Rouge, and the University of Louisiana football and basketball for The Daily Advertiser/USA TODAY Network in Lafayette, the NBA’s Utah Jazz for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, and West Texas State basketball for the Amarillo Globe News in Texas.


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