Tigers Look to Get Back to Winning Ways Against Knights

Wednesday, February 17

Memphis, Tenn.

6 pm CT

University of Memphis

UCF

Tickets

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Tigers Look to Get Back to Winning Ways Against Knights

Feb 16, 2016 | Men's Basketball

GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (14-11, 5-7 AAC) vs. UCF (11-12, 5-7 AAC)
When: Wednesday, February 17
Tip-Off: 6 p.m. (CT)
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Arena: FedExForum
TV: ESPNU
Alex Faust, play-by-play
Brooke Weisbrod, analyst
Radio: Memphis Radio Network / 600 WREC
Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
Matt Dillon, analyst
Forrest Goodman, pregame/postgame host
Live Stats: Memphis Stat Broadcasty
Game Notes: Memphis | UCF
Roster: Memphis | UCF
Schedule: Memphis | UCF
Media Guide: Memphis | UCF

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS

Tulane comes into the Wednesday evening game riding a three-game losing skid, with the most recent of those coming from an 82-58 loss at Houston.
In the loss, Matt Williams scored a team-high 13 points, while Chance McSpadden scored 10 off of the bench. Nine of the 10 players that saw action in the game reached the scoring column. Four players - A.J. Davis, Tacko Fall, Daiquan Walker, and Shaheed Davis - each pulled down four rebounds.
Davis leads the team by averaging 12.7 points per game, as Adonys Henriquez averages 10.1. Four others - Williams (8.4), Walker (8.0), Davis (7.7), and Justin McBride (7.4) each average over seven points per game.

BLOCKING OUT

Tuesday's game between Memphis and UCF features the American Athletic Conference's top three leaders in blocked shots per game. UCF freshman Tacko Fall leads the AAC with 49 blocked shots (2.1 per game), with Shaq Goodwin standing second with 49 blocks, at 2.0 per contest. Freshman Dedric Lawson has 44 blocked shots, an average of 1.8 per contest.

MEMPHIS VS SCHOOLS FROM THE SUNSHINE STATE

Of the 13 NCAA Division I schools within the state of Florida, Memphis has a strong 88-34 overall record against teams from the Sunshine State, while Memphis head coach Josh Pastner is 20-2 all-time in such games.

STRONG AGAINST THE KNIGHTS

Heading into the final regular season game of the season against the Knights this season, the Tigers have four players averaging double figures over their careers against UCF, with a fifth standing a points way from a double-figure average. Leading the way for the team against the Knights has been Ricky Tarrant Jr. who scored 18 points in his one meeting, while Dedric Lawson scored 15 in his first meeting. Shaq Goodwin, behind his 35-point effort earlier this season, averages 12.7 points in seven all-time meetings, while Avery Woodson averages 12.7 over three contests.

BIG GROUP

The UCF Knights have an average team height of 6-6.78, the seventh-tallest roster in NCAA Division I. Leading the way for that group is 7-6 Tacko Fall, a native of Senegal. Fall is one of the 40 tallest living human beings in the world, and has a wingspan of 8-feet, 2-inches and wears a size 22 shoe.

SHAQ'S BIG GAME

Earlier this season in Orlando, Memphis' Shaq Goodwin had a career scoring night. Included among his key totals for the game include 35 points - fifth-most in a game in AAC history - of which he hit 15 field goals - a new AAC single-game record. In the game he also flirted with a potential triple-double as he added nine rebounds and six assists - the last of which tied a career-high for assists in a game.

PRIZED ROOKIE

Through the first 14 weeks of the 2015-16 season, Memphis freshman Dedric Lawson has been named American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week six times, the highest single-season total in AAC history.

TRIPLE, DOUBLE-DOUBLES

Earlier this season against UT Martin three Memphis players reached double-figures in the rebounding column, as Shaq Goodwin pulled down 19 rebounds, Trahson Burrell 12, and Dedric Lawson 10; however, against Tulane the same trio each recorded double-doubles, Lawson with 25 points/16 rebounds, Goodwin with 15 points/10 rebounds, and Burrell 12 points/11 rebounds. Each was the first time that a Tiger squad accomplished the feat since March 7, 2009, when Robert Dozier (16 points/12 rebounds), Tyreke Evans (17 points/10 rebounds), and Shawn Taggart (14 points/10 rebounds) all recorded double-doubles in the same game in a 74-47 regular season finale win over Tulane.

BIG DOUBLE-DOUBLES

Memphis freshman Dedric Lawson has been on a tear lately, and has recorded 20+ point, 10+ rebound double-doubles in his last three games, which stands as the fourth-longest such streak in program history.

NATION'S TOP CAROM COMBOS

Later in this notes package, we talk about where Dedric Lawson and Shaq Goodwin rank as a team among the top two rebounders in the American Athletic Conference (spoiler alert - they are the top pair). The duo doesn't stop there, however, as only nine other sets of teammates in NCAA Division I average more rebounds than Lawson and Goodwin.

CLIMBING INTO THE POINTS CLUB

Against Ohio State on November 27, Memphis senior forward Shaq Goodwin became the 50th member of the program's 1,000-point club with an ally-oop dunk with eight minutes remaining in the first half. He now has 1,25 career points, which puts him 16th in the school record book, and stands 57 away from climbing into sole possession of 15th all-time. Below is where Goodwin stands, and the two former standouts ahead of, and the two behind him in the record book.

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST UCF

Memphis and UCF have met 20 times in each program's history, with the Tigers holding a 18-1 record in those games (along with one game vacated from the 2007-08 season). Memphis has won each of the last nine meetings, with the margins in all nine of the recent Tiger wins coming by six points or more.