chris cokley

Chris Cokley scored 16 for UAB (courtesy Jimmy Mitchell / UAB athletics communications)

(Jimmy Mitchell)

UAB made history on Saturday night at Bartow Arena, winning its 14th straight game.

The 78-57 win over North Texas broke the record of 13, which had stood since 1992.

But there wasn't any locker room talk after the game. Not after Thursday's win over Rice, when UAB coach Jerod Haase told his team to be happy about setting a new Bartow Arena win streak record (then at 20), but more important things lie ahead.

"(He said) this was going to be the last time we talk about it," sophomore forward Chris Cokley said. "We've got to move forward and we've got other teams to worry about. Nothing tonight."

Cokley and Robert Brown scored 16 each as UAB improved to 17-3, 7-0 in Conference USA. This is UAB's first 7-0 Conference USA start in school history.

UAB trailed 35-33 at halftime, but absolutely dominated in the second half, outscoring the Mean Green 45-22. UAB held North Texas to just 27.2 percent shooting in the second half.

"I think we did a good job finally locking into the scouting report and defending," Brown said. "With a team that plays so fast and gets so many shots, we were able to slow them down a little bit and not letting them run as much as they usually do and frustrating them."

Haase said that he didn't think the first half was as bad or the second half was as good as he felt. North Texas did outrebound UAB 40-31. UAB outshot North Texas 50 percent to 37.

At the end of the day, I think we improved throughout the game and put ourselves in good position.

"I like the way we went back and forth from man to zone," Haase said. "Both were effective in different ways. Overall, I didn't like the way we rebounded throughout the game. Part of it was awkward bounces. Most of it, we need to be more physical in the box, pursue the ball better and be stronger when we get our hands on it."

Denzell Watts scored 11 off the bench for UAB, which won its 21st straight home game.

UAB won in front of an announced crowd of 6,835, a season-high. This came a day after Haase made a plea for the city of Birmingham to come out and support the Blazers.

"The crowd was phenomenal," Haase said. "The numbers were great. They were engaged in the basketball game."

Jeremy Combs led North Texas (7-13, 2-5) with 19 points with 12 rebounds.. Deckie Johnson double-doubled with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Eric Katenda scored 12.

UAB is at Western Kentucky on Thursday night. The game tips off at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised by Fox Sports 1.