Grab your popcorn. Memphis basketball, UAB get testy on social media

And you thought there was no intrigue left for Memphis basketball in the American Conference.

A couple of recent recruiting head-to-heads between the Tigers and UAB Blazers, followed by a volley of late-evening subtweets on X between members of the respective coaching staffs on May 4, may have dashed that notion.

Memphis and UAB — two programs forever intertwined thanks to several notable figures, including coach Gene Bartow, and whose first meeting took place on Feb. 4, 1984 — are not unfamiliar with drama when it comes to one another.

But the latest chapter was apparently set in motion April 30. That's when South Georgia Technical College 6-foot-11 center Matt Mbole took an official visit to Memphis. He posted photos of himself in a Tigers jersey on social media.

Mbole, the 11th-ranked junior college recruit in the country, according to jucorecruiting.com, then took an official visit to UAB on May 1. He signed with the Blazers on May 3.

In a subsequent interview with The Banner, Mbole directed a bit of shade the Tigers' way.

"I don't think I was going to develop my game and a professional career in Memphis," he said. "Coach AK intends to develop my game over the long term so that I will be able of playing at the professional level after college."

UAB basketball signee Matt Mbole to @bhambanner on his choice: "I don't think I was going to develop my game and a professional career in Memphis. Coach AK intends to develop my game over the long term so that I will be able of playing at the professional level after college."— Steve Irvine (@SteveIrvine04) May 4, 2026

Less than an hour after Mbole's quote appeared on X, Memphis assistant Trevor DeLoach made the following post.

"You can’t believe everything you see on here," the first-year Tigers staffer noted.

Two hours later, first-year Blazers assistant Jesse Bopp seemed to clap back with a cryptic post of his own.

"Relationships still matter," he wrote, punctuating it with a dragon emoji.

Thirty minutes later, UAB head coach Andy Kennedy quote-tweeted his assistant's post with a message of his own.

"Buying Vs Developing #ExceedingExpectations," he wrote.