Jordan “Jelly” Walker already set the tone in the first half of a win-or-go semifinal matchup, scoring 21 points in the opening stanza, but plopped the cherry on top of another jaw-dropping performance with a backward assist to teammate KJ Buffen.

On the crux of building another double-digit lead to open the second half, Buffen intercepted a Rubin Jones pass to the inside lane and tossed it ahead to Walker along the wing.

Buffen never lost momentum heading to the basket and Walker bounced-passed the ball backward to the charging forward for an easy slam over two defenders.

“That’s my boy (Buffen),” Walker said. “If you watch his play, I know where he is at all times. He’s like a steam engine at all times. He finds me more times than not so I knew they were going to come up to me down the chute, no matter what everyone does, and I see it right away. So, I thought, I got to get that done.”

The Blazers exploded out of the gates but had to fend off two fierce rallies in earning a 76-69 semifinal victory over North Texas in the 2023 Conference USA basketball tournament, Friday, March 10, at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

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UAB entered the game at 57 in the NCAA NET and improves to 25-8 overall — winning eight straight and 12 of its last 13 games – after earning a Quad-1 win over the Mean Green.

“Proud of my guys, our approach out of the gate was picture perfect,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said. “For the first time in my coaching career, I wish the game was six minutes long. We were good for six minutes and then we realized that North Texas has a good basketball team. We knew they were going to fight and claw and scratch, and that’s exactly what they did.”

The Blazers finished shooting 41.5 percent overall and 33.3 percent (7-for-21) from beyond the arc — going 25-for-32 at the charity stripe — and held the advantage in the rebounding battle with a plus-3 edge on the glass. North Texas shot 40 percent from the field and 15-for-19 on free-throw attempts but allowed UAB to score 21 points above the average of its top-ranked scoring defense (55.4 ppg).

Walker, the nation’s third-leading scorer (23.3 ppg) and C-USA first-team selection, finished with a game-high 32 points, shooting 8-of-18 overall and 6-of-15 from beyond the arc, and had a 10-for-11 showing at the foul line. He tied a season-high in rebounds with six boards and added six assists with only a single turnover.

“I love bright lights, I truly do,” he said. “Since day one, he (Kennedy) put the ball in my hands and rocks with me good or bad. I love being on a big stage and showing people how good I am because I’ve always been underestimated. I feel like I was not appreciated enough my entire college career until I came here and play for this man here. So I would just say I really do love these bright lights. The bigger the game, the better I play.”

Walker was vocal before the end of the regular season about his desire to repeat as C-USA Player of the Year but was humble and respectful in victory despite keeping a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

“If I’m being honest, it was a little disappointing,” Walker said. “No disrespect to him (Perry), he’s a great player and I told him that after the game. He’s the best player that I’ve played against in my entire college career and I love matching up with them. It’s fun because he’s hard to guard and I’m hard to guard. He makes extremely tough shots and I make extremely tough shots. He leads his team to victories and I do too. I definitely took this one personally because I was a little upset about it, but the biggest goal is to get the championship and get dancing.”

Both teams failed to score in the first three minutes and Walker broke the lid with a layup at the 16:46 mark of the first half. The Blazers led 4-0 before North Texas scored its first points and then proceeded to take control on an 18-0 run powered by two consecutive 3-pointers and 12 total points from Walker, who capped the run with an old-fashioned 4-point play.

The Blazers held a 22-4 lead well into the twelfth minute of the first half but eventually allowed North Texas to close out the final five minutes on a 16-5 run — cutting the UAB lead to 35-28 at the halftime break.

“We were not happy in the locker room because we didn’t feel like we finished defensively as good as we should have,” Kennedy said. “We came out (in the second half) and took a couple of punches and threw a couple of punches. We’re going to keep it entertaining for our viewers on CBS. We appreciate them for being here. Good solid effort to sit down and lead for 37 minutes against one of the best defensive teams in all of college basketball.”

KJ Buffen and Javian Davis kept the Mean Green out of striking distance early in the second half, combing for 16 points as UAB rebuilt a 16-point lead midway through the frame. Buffen finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Davis had 11 points, five boards and two steals.

North Texas managed to dwindle the lead down 11 points with a little more than five minutes remaining and took control on a 12-3 run — following Walker’s final 3-pointer of the game – to trim the advantage down to 71-69 with 42 seconds left in the game.

The Mean Green’s Tylor Perry, the 2023 C-USA Player of the Year, fouled out on the ensuing UAB possession – finishing with 17 points — and Tavin Lovan iced the game by bookending a final 5-0 run on free throws.

Lovan finished with nine points, three rebounds and two steals, followed by Eric Gaines with seven points and three rebounds. Trey Jemison and Ty Brewer scored two points each and combined for 10 rebounds.

The Blazers advance to face top-seeded FAU in the C-USA tournament championship, Saturday, March 11, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.