Tigers Open Conference Play on Tuesday Evening Against Mustangs

Tuesday, December 27

Memphis, Tenn.

8 PM

University of Memphis

SMU

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Tigers Open Conference Play on Tuesday Evening Against Mustangs

Dec 26, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Notes (.pdf)SMU Notes (.pdf)American Conference Notes (.pdf)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - After a 9-3 non-conference mark with an out-of-conference game to play, the Memphis Tigers step into American Athletic Conference action on Tuesday, December 27 when the squad hosts the Mustangs of SMU.

GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (9-3) vs. SMU (10-3)
When: Tuesday, December 27
Tip-Off: 8 p.m. (CT)
Location: Memphis, Tenn.
Arena: FedExForum
TV: ESPNU
Alex Faust, play-by-play
Mark Wise, analyst
Radio: Memphis Radio Network / 600 WREC / Rock 103
Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
Matt Dillon, analyst
Forrest Goodman, pregame / postgame host
Live Stats: Memphis Sidearm Live Stats

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS

SMU comes into Memphis riding a six-game win streak, as Tuesday marks the first time the Mustangs have played away from home since November 30. SMU is a perfect 9-0 at home; however, are 0-2 in true road games with losses at USC and Boise State.
    In the team's last game, a 71-53 home win over Albany on December 20, Semi Ojeleye scored a game-high 28 points, hitting 9-of-15 shots from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Sterling Brown scored a dozen points, while Shake Milton and Jarrey Foster each scored 10. Foster narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds, while Ben Moore scored five points with seven rebounds and a team-best four assists.
    This season the team has four players averaging in double-figure scoring, led by Ojeleye, who pours in 18.1 points per game, shooting 48 percent from the field and 45 percent (27-of-60) from beyond the arc. Milton averages 11.9 points, as Moore (11.2) and Brown (10.8) are both above the double-figure plateau. Moore leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 7.7 boards per game with Ojeleye close behind with a rebounding average of 7.2. Overall, the Mustangs out-rebound their opponents by 11.1 rebounds per game - holding opponents to just 28.6 rebounds per contest.
    Milton has a team-best 52 assists and 19 steals, while Ben Moore has blocked a team-best 14 shots over the squads' 13 games this year.

SIX TIMES 20

If the match of the headline gives you 120, you are correct. What the headline also gives you something that only one other team in the NCAA has done this season, and something that has been tied eight times since 1994-95. That is to have six different players score at least 20 points in a game during a season. Dedric Lawson has seven 20+ point games, while K.J. Lawson has 2. Keon Clergeot, Markel Crawford, Jeremiah Martin, and Craig Randall II each have one. The high-water mark for the Tigers was in 1994-95 when nine players (David Vaughn, Cedric Henderson, Deuce Ford, Chris Garner, Lorenzen Wright, Mingo Johnson, Rodey Newsom, Justin Wimmer, and Michael Wilson) each had at least one game of 20+ points.

CONFERENCE OPENERS

When Memphis joined the American Athletic Conference prior to the 2013-14 season, it was the sixth conference the Tigers had been a part of, joining the Mississippi Valley Conference, Missouri Valley Conference, Metro Conference, Great Midwest Conference, Conference USA, and now the American Athletic Conference. In 53 years of being a part of a conference, Memphis is 36-17 in the opening game of play each season, including a stretch of 12 straight conference-opening wins dating back to the 2004 season in Conference USA.

BROTHERLY GAME

The Memphis brother combination of Dedric and K.J. Lawson are having a fantastic season, but are not the only other brother combinations to play at Memphis at the same time. There are five other sets of brothers who played together, and two others that played at different times. The four other sets of brothers to play together include the Arnold's (Forest and Orby), Barton's (Will and Antonio), McMahan's (Jamie and Larry), and Smith's (Bob and Ed). Four other sets of brothers, Mundt's (Bret and Todd), Price's (George and Paul), Schwaiger's (John and Francis), and Wilfong's (Win and Gene) narrowly missed playing together.

CLEANING UP AFTER YOURSELF

Of the SMU misses this season, 384 field goals and 93 free throws, the Mustangs has nabbed 170 of their own misses, a percentage of 40.3. That percentage is the seventh-highest in the country. Rutgers, and its offensive rebound percentage of 42.9 is tops in the country, with Kent State and West Virginia have the second and third best offensive rebounding percentages in the country. Memphis hauls in 36.3 percent of its misses, which is the 29th-best total in NCAA Division I.

FAMILY TIES

SMU senior guard Jonathan Wilfong comes into the game with a strong tie to the University of Memphis men's basketball program. His father, John Wilfong is a former Tiger basketball letterwinner (1983-87), while his grandfather, Gene, and uncle Win (the pair mentioned in the note above) were also former Tiger players.

TWO-TIME PLAYER OF THE WEEK

After setting an American Athletic Conference record last season by being named the Conference Rookie of the Week six times, two more than the previous high mark, Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson has earned back-to-back Conference Player of the Week honors, the first two of his collegiate career.

GETTING OFFENSIVE WITH THE REBOUNDS

Tuesday's game features the top two offensive rebounding teams in the American Athletic Conference, Memphis and SMU. Memphis ranks 32nd nationally in offensive rebounds per game, pulling down 13.4 per contest, which also leads schools in the American Athletic Conference. SMU ranks 42nd in the country, and second in the Conference, averaging 13.1. As a frame of reference to how much further ahead these two teams are from their league foes, Cincinnati and Houston stand tied for third in the category in the Conference, averaging 12.3 offensive rebounds per game.

POSITIVE RATIO

This season the Memphis Tigers are setting new standards for assists, while also cutting down on the turnovers. As such, the Tigers rank seventh in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio. Memphis has dished out 233 assists this season against just 137 turnovers. Of the six teams immediately ahead of the Tigers, five are nationally ranked including four inside of the top-15. Below are the top seven in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio, with their national ranking noted as well.

Rk.	School	Ast.	TO	Ratio
1.	#24 Notre Dame	228	106	2.15
2.	#2 UCLA	307	161	1.91
3.	#10 Virginia	183	99	1.85
4.	#13 Saint Mary's	184	103	1.79
5.	#12 West Virginia	209	117	1.79
6.	Northwestern	223	131	1.70
7.	Memphis	223	137	1.70

TWO OF A KIND IN THE CONFERENCE

Dedric Lawson is currently the only player in the American Athletic Conference to rank inside of the top-10 in the individual standings in points, rebounds, and assists. There is just one other player in the league to rank inside of the top-15 in those same categories - and that is his brother, K.J. Lawson.

ONE OF TWO IN THE NCAA

Dedric Lawson ranks 12th in the country in rebounds per game, and 43rd in the country in points per game. With that, he is currently the one of two players in NCAA Division I to average 20+ points and 10+ rebounds per game, joining Lehigh's Tim Kempton (22.8 points / 10.4 rebounds). Belmont's Evan Bradds (20.9 ppg / 9.9 rpg) is one rebound shy of joining the small list.

TEAMING UP ON THE BOARDS

This season Memphis' Lawson duo of Dedric and K.J. combine to average 20.2 rebounds per game. That is the highest teammate average in the country. Dedric Lawson ranks 11th, while K.J. Lawson ranks 59th. Below are the top five teammate rebounding totals in the NCAA this season.

Rk.	School	Student-Athletes	Rebs.
1.	Memphis	Dedric Lawson (11.3)	20.2
		K.J. Lawson (8.9)
2.	Hofstra	Rokas Gustys (13.4)	19.2
		Ty Greer (5.8)
3.	UCF	Tacko Fall (12.3)	18.9
		A.J. Davis (6.6)
4.	UCLA	Thomas Welsh (9.6)	18.8
		TJ Leaf (9.2)
5.	Georgia Tech	Ben Lammers (10.7)	18.3
		Quinton Stephens (7.6)

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE

Memphis currently ranks fourth in the country in assists per game, at 19.4 per contest, and are one of nine schools to average at least 19 assists per game. The team had spent some time at the top spot, but has dropped to its current position.

Rk.	School	Ast.	Ast./G
1.	UCLA	307	23.6
2.	The Citadel	268	20.6
3.	Purdue	261	20.1
4.	Memphis	233	19.4
5.	Kentucky	229	19.1
6.	Notre Dame	228	19.0
	Savannah State	228	19.0
	Creighton	228	19.0
	West Virginia	209	19.0
10.	Michigan State	245	18.8