By Drew Champlin, AL.com

UAB’s students showed out in full force in the Blazers’ 82-70 win over Rice Thursday, but Bartow Arena was far from a sellout.

The win gave the University of Alabama at Birmingham 20 straight at home, a school record, and improved UAB’s record this season to 16-3, 6-0. The team is in first place team in Conference USA.

Head coach Jerod Haase, a graduate of South Tahoe High School, has started to fulfill most of the goals he set out when he took the job in the spring of 2012. UAB’s roster is arguably the best and deepest in Conference USA. It won an NCAA Tournament game ahead of schedule with a lineup of mostly freshmen and sophomores last season. UAB’s academics are atop Conference USA and the Blazers are among the top teams in the country in community service hours.

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