Tigers Look to Win Second Straight of 2017

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis Tigers will look to win their second straight game of the 2017 calendar year on Sunday afternoon, when the squad travels to New Orleans to take on the Tulane Green Wave in a 2 p.m. tip-off.

GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (11-4, 1-1 American Athletic Conference) vs. Tulane (3-11, 0-2 American Athletic Conference)
When: Sunday, January 8
Tip-Off: 2 p.m. (CT)
Location: New Orleans, La.
Arena: Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse
TV: American Sports Network / ESPN3
Brett Dolan, play-by-play
Chris Walker, analyst
Radio: Memphis Radio Network / 600 WREC / Rock 103
Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
Matt Dillon, analyst
Forrest Goodman, pregame / postgame host
Live Stats: Tulane Sidearm Live Stats

SCOUTING THE GREEN WAVE

Tulane comes into the game looking to snap out of its current four-game losing skid with losses to McNeese State, Texas State, UCF, and Cincinnati.
    In the team's last game, a 92-56 loss at Cincinnati, Cameron Reynolds scored a team-high 17 points, hitting 5-of-14 shots from the field. Ray Ona Embo scored 11 points, seven coming from the charity stripe, while Kain Harris scored 10 points off of the bench.
    Sammis Reyes pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds, as Melvin Frazier grabbed nine to go with his nine points. Five different players had two assists to lead the team, as Harris also had a team-best two steals.
    This season the Green Wave have four players averaging double-figure points, led by Reynolds' 15.9 point per game average. Three players, Harris (10.8), Frazier (10.2), and Malik Morgan (10.1) each average just over the double-figure mark, with Ryan Smith at 8.5 points per game just below the plateau.
    Morgan narrowly edges out Reynolds 6.3-to-6.1 for the team rebounding lead, as the Green Wave get out-rebounded by three and a half rebounds per game. Morgan also leads the team with 50 assists, while Smith has a team-best 23 blocked shots in 14 games this year. Frazier has 21 steals, as the Green Wave average 14 forced turnovers per contest.

HIGH ESPN PLAYER RANKING

On January 5, ESPN came out with its updated college basketball player ranking, and No. 23 on that list is Memphis' own Dedric Lawson. He is the only member of an American Athletic Conference squad on the list. The list is led by Villanova's Josh Hart.

FIRST TIME IN COLLEGE

Despite having spent 18 seasons as head coach, 2016-17 is the first season where current Tulane head coach Mike Dunleavy has been the head coach at the collegiate level. He has been a part of 1,266 wins as an NBA assistant coach, head coach, general manager, player, and collegiate student-athlete.

1973 REVISITED

During Memphis' run to the 1973 NCAA Championship Game, the squad beat two teams along their run whose players ended up having a big impact on the collegiate game. In the first game of the tournament, the Tigers faced off and defeated South Carolina 90-76. A member of that team, along with future NBA star Alex English was Mike Dunleavy Sr., who scored 12 points while picking up three fouls in the losing effort. Two days later the team topped Kansas State 92-72, and the second-leading scorer for the Wildcats was Lon Kruger, current head coach at Oklahoma.

FIRST-TIME COACHES IN THE LEAGUE

Both Memphis head coach Tubby Smith and Tulane head coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. are two of the four coaches that are in their first year at their respective school. Smith and Dunleavy Sr. are joined by UCF's Johnny Dawkins, and SMU's Tim Jankovic.

THREE "POWER FIVE" WINS

Since the 1996-97 season - when the Big 12 came into existence - there have been five primary "Power Five" conferences in college athletics - Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 10, Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big 12, and Pac 12. In those subsequent 21 seasons, the Tigers have beaten teams in the regular season from three different "Power Five" conferences twice - in the 2005-06 season (SEC, Pac 12, and Big 10), and this season (Big Ten, Big 12, SEC). The 2007-08 team, through its NCAA Tournament run beat schools from four different "Power Five" conferences; however, two of those came during the tournament.

BROTHERLY MARK TO HIT

The table above also reveals another mark that the Lawson brothers are aiming to hit. The Memphis brother duo has the second-highest mark among teammates who are brothers, trailing just Oklahoma's Blake (14.4 rebounds per game) and Taylor (5.8) Griffin for the highest combined rebounding total for brothers.

ONE OF A KIND

This season, Dedric Lawson is averaging 20.2 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. Since 1993-94, there has been no other player in NCAA Division I to put up those numbers.

TWO IN NBA CITIES

The American Athletic Conference has over half of its schools - six total - that have NBA teams in their cities. Two of those teams, Memphis and Tulane, face off on Sunday. The remaining four schools are Temple, UCF, SMU, and Houston.

OH BROTHER

University of Memphis' Dedric Lawson and K.J. Lawson are one of 17 sets of brothers currently playing together in the NCAA. Of those 17 pairs, the Lawsons have the highest combined scoring average, rebounding average (the highest tandem rebounding average in the country), and assist average. Below is the complete list of brothers playing in NCAA Division I basketball, and their three primary stat totals.

School	Student-Athletes	PPG	RPG	APG
Memphis	Dedric Lawson	20.2	11.1	4.0
	K.J. Lawson	13.1	8.1	3.1
Miami (Ohio)	Michael Weathers	18.6	4.7	5.1
	Marcus Weathers	8.5	5.1	0.6
Northern Colo.	Jordan Davis	20.6	4.9	5.8
	Gerad Davis	4.4	2.8	0.8
Marshall	Jon Elmore	20.6	4.1	6.3
	Ot Elmore	0.0	0.0	0.0
Old Dominion	Brandan Stith	10.5	8.2	1.3
	B.J. Stith	8.3	3.3	0.9
McNeese	Kalob Ledoux	10.1	2.9	0.9
	Jacob Ledoux	4.3	1.8	0.6
Winthrop	Anders Broman	6.9	1.8	1.2
	Bjorn Broman	6.4	1.6	2.4
Idaho	Nate Sherwood	5.5	4.3	1.2
	Chad Sherwood	4.8	1.5	1.2
Incarnate Word	Jorden Kite	7.4	1.1	0.7
	Jerred Kite	1.1	1.2	0.3
TCU	Brandon Parrish	7.1	3.4	0.6
	Josh Parrish	1.6	1.0	0.4
Denver	Thomas Neff	7.6	2.2	1.4
	Luke Neff	0.7	0.3	0.0
Milwaukee	Brett Prahl	4.8	2.8	0.3
	Alex Prahl	2.0	0.0	0.6
Alabama State	Steve Rogers	5.2	1.9	1.3
	Austin Rogers	1.1	1.1	0.7
Army	Scott Mammel	3.6	0.7	0.7
	Ben Mammel	2.0	1.0	1.0
Stanford	Marcus Allen	4.5	2.5	1.5
	Malcolm Allen	0.9	0.3	0.1
Liberty	Ezra Talbert	2.1	1.2	0.1
	Josiah Talbert	1.6	1.2	0.0
UCLA	Isaac Wulff	1.3	0.5	0.0
	Alec Wulff	1.0	0.2	0.2

TWO DOUBLE-DOUBLES NEAR THE TOP

This season, Memphis sophomore forward Dedric Lawson has 12 double-doubles, which is tied for second-most in the NCAA. Additionally, with K.J. Lawson's six double-doubles, the Tigers are one of three teams (along with LIU Brooklyn and UCLA) with two players on the squad with 6+ double-doubles on the year.

ALL-TIME SERIES vs TULANE

Memphis and Tulane have met 58 times on the basketball court, with the Tigers holding a 45-11 all-time lead (not counting two Memphis wins vacated during the 2008-09 season). The two teams split the season series, with each team winning on its home court. Below is the breakdown of the all-time series between the two programs.

Series Statistics

Overall Series: Memphis leads 46-11 *
Games in Memphis: Memphis leads 27-3 *
Games at New Orleans: Memphis leads 16-8
Games at Neutral Site: Memphis leads 3-0
Current Series Win Streak: Memphis 1 win
Longest Memphis Win Streak: 22 wins
Longest Tulane Win Streak: 2 wins
Largest Memphis Victory: 40, February 18, 2006
Largest Tulane Victory: 16, February 7, 1991
Most Memphis Points: 105, February 18, 2006
Fewest Memphis Points: 51, March 12, 2009
Most Tulane Points: 97, February 13, 2016
Fewest Tulane Points: 41, March 12, 2009

Jan. 10, 1977	Memphis 78, Tualne 64	Memphis, Tenn.
Mar. 3, 1977	Memphis 94, Tulane 80	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 28, 1978	Memphis 86, Tulane 78	New Orleans, La.
Feb. 4, 1978	Memphis 101, Tulane 91	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 20, 1979	Memphis 87, Tulane 81 (ot)	New Orleans, La.
Feb. 3, 1979	Memphis 89, Tulane 82 (ot)	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 12, 1980	Memphis 82, Tulane 79	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 23, 1980	Tulane 86, Memphis 74	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 9, 1981	Memphis 67, Tulane 55	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 19, 1981	Memphis 91, Tulane 79	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 21, 1982	Tulane 58, Memphis 54 (ot)	New Orleans, La.
Feb. 25, 1982	Memphis 62, Tulane 60	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 8, 1983	Tulane 58, Memphis 56	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 12, 1983	Tulane 59, Memphis 57	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 7, 1984	Memphis 67, Tulane 65	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 23, 1984	Memphis 57, Tulane 50	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 14, 1985	Memphis 56, Tulane 52	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 20, 1985	Memphis 60, Tulane 49	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 11, 1990	Tulane 81, Memphis 80	New Orleans, La.
Feb. 8, 1990	Memphis 85, Tulane 74	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 12, 1991	Memphis 66, Tulane 64	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 7, 1991	Tulane 85, Memphis 69	New Orleans, La.
Mar. 7, 1991	Memphis 84, Tulane 77	Roanoke, Va.
Mar. 4, 1992	Memphis 68, Tulane 67	New Orleans, La.
Dec. 9, 1992	Tulane 86, Memphis 85	Memphis, Tenn.
Mar. 2, 1996	Memphis 86, Tulane 75	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 16, 1997	Memphis 62, Tulane 56	New Orleans, La.
Dec. 27, 1997	Memphis 64, Tulane 59	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 18, 1998	Memphis 83, Tulane 77	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 14, 1999	Memphis 83, Tulane 68	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 24, 1999	Tulane 85, Memphis 79	New Orleans, La.
Feb. 9, 2000	Tulane 64, Memphis 63	New Orleans, La.
Mar. 1, 2000	Memphis 77, Tulane 49	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 24, 2001	Memphis 91, Tulane 69	New Orleans, La.
Feb. 10, 2001	Memphis 91, Tulane 64	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 12, 2002	Memphis 78, Tulane 72	New Orleans, La.
Feb. 4, 2002	Memphis 78, Tulane 72	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 7, 2003	Memphis 85, Tulane 73	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 13, 2003	Memphis 58, Tulane 57	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 20, 2004	Memphis 85, Tulane 71	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 12, 2005	Memphis 103, Tulane 71	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 18, 2006	Memphis 105, Tulane 65	New Orleans, La.
Mar. 9, 2006	Memphis 75, Tulane 56	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 20, 2008	Memphis 97, Tulane 71	New Orleans, La.
Mar. 13, 2008	Memphis 75, Tulane 56	Memphis, Tenn.
Mar. 7, 2009	Memphis 74, Tulane 47	Memphis, Tenn.
Mar. 12, 2009	Memphis 51, Tulane 41	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 17, 2010	Memphis 77, Tulane 64	New Orleans, La.
Mar. 5, 2011	Memphis 66, Tulane 61	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 15, 2011	Memphis 66, Tulane 61	New Orleans, La.
Jan. 22, 2013	Memphis 71, Tulane 60	Memphis, Tenn.
Mar. 14, 2013	Memphis 81, Tulane 68	Tulsa, Okla.
Jan. 3, 2015	Tulane 74, Memphis 66	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 24, 2015	Memphis 57, Tulane 55	New Orleans, La.
Dec. 30, 2015	Memphis 77, Tulane 65	Memphis, Tenn.
Feb. 13, 2016	Tulane 97, Memphis 87 (ot)	New Orleans, La.
Mar. 12, 2016	Memphis 74, Tulane 54	Orlando, Fla.

* Does not include a Memphis win from 2007-08 that was later vacated by the NCAA.

HIGH UP IN THE CONFERENCE

University of Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson is one of 11 players in NCAA Division I, and the only one in the American Athletic Conference, to rank inside of the top-10 in their league standings in points, rebounds, and assists. Lawson is joined by UMass-Lowell's Jahad Thomas, New Hampshire's Jaleen Smith, Richmond's T.J. Cline, Villanova's Josh Hart, Brown's Steven Spieth, North Carolina Central's Patrick Cole, Northern Iowa's Jeremy Morgan, Stephen F. Austin's Thomas Walkup, Fort Wayne's John Konchar, and Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss. Additionally, Lawson, Smith, and Morgan are part of an even more prestigious list, as those three rank in the top-10 in the aforementioned stats, and also blocked shots.

TEAMING UP ON THE BOARDS

This season Memphis' Lawson duo of Dedric and K.J. combine to average 19.5 rebounds per game. That is the highest teammate average in the country. Dedric Lawson ranks 10th, while K.J. Lawson ranks 76th. Below are the top six teammate rebounding totals in the NCAA this season.

Rk.	School	Student-Athletes	Rebs.
1.	Memphis	Dedric Lawson (11.1)	19.2
		K.J. Lawson (8.1)
	UCF	Tacko Fall (11.2)	19.2
		A.J. Davis (8.0)
3.	Seton Hall	Angel Delgado (11.6)	18.9
		Ismael Sanogo (7.3)
4.	Hofstra	Rokas Gustys (13.1)	18.6
		Ty Greer (5.5)
5.	Purdue	Caleb Swanigan (12.9)	18.4
		Isaac Haas (5.5)
6.	Toledo	Steve Taylor Jr. (11.8)	18.1
		Jordan Lauf (6.3)
7.	UCLA	Thomas Welsh (9.1)	18.0
		TJ Leaf (8.9)
8.	Georgia Tech	Ben Lammers (9.9)	17.9
		Quinton Stephens (8.0)
	California	Ivan Rabb (11.0)	17.9
		Kingsley Okoroh (6.9)

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. He is one of three active players to have won two Player of the Week honors in their career.

CAREER AVERAGE AMONG NCAA BEST

In addition to ranking eighth in the country in rebounding, Dedric Lawson has the fifth-highest career rebounding average in the country at 9.9 rebounds per game. Texas Southern's Derrick Griffin has the highest active rebounding average for a career at 11.0 rebounds per game. Below are the five highest current career rebounding averages in the country.

Rk.	Student-Athlete	Cl.	School	Reb.
1.	Derrick Griffin	So.	Texas Southern	11.0
2.	James Thompson IV	So.	Eastern Mich.	10.7
3.	Rokas Gustys	Jr.	Hofstra	10.5
4.	Angel Delgado	Jr.	Seton Hall	9.9
5.	Dedric Lawson	So.	Memphis	9.9

ONE OF THREE IN THE NCAA

Dedric Lawson ranks eighth in the country in rebounds per game, and 42nd 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 (20.7 points / 10.4 rebounds) and Valparaiso's Alec Peters (25.0 points / 10.4 rebounds).

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 fifth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio. Memphis has dished out 272 assists this season against just 163 turnovers. Of the four teams immediately ahead of the Tigers, all are nationally ranked including three inside of the top-10. Below are the top eight in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio, with their national ranking noted as well.

Rk.	School	Ast.	TO	Ratio
1.	#23 Notre Dame	267	141	1.89
2.	#4 UCLA	365	194	1.88
3.	#6 Kentucky	269	155	1.74
4.	#7 West Virginia	261	151	1.73
5.	Memphis	272	163	1.67
6.	#11 Virginia	218	132	1.65
7.	RV Iowa State	207	126	1.64
8.	#19 Saint Mary's	251	153	1.64

HISTORIC TEAMMATE REBOUNDING

Since 2001-02 (16 seasons), there have been 14 tandems in the NCAA that have ended the season with a higher combined rebounding total than the number that Dedric and K.J. Lawson have put up this season (19.2). Below are the top-15 single-season rebounding pair totals in NCAA Division I since 2001-02.

Rk.	School	Student-Athletes	Rebs.	Season
1.	Radford	Artisiom Parakhouski (13.4)	21.5	2009-10
		Lazar Trifunovic (8.1)
2.	UNLV	Roscoe Smith (10.9)	21.1	2013-14
		Khem Birch (10.2)
3.	Quinnipiac	Ousmane Drame (10.5)	20.7	2013-14
		Ike Azotam (10.2)
	UConn	Hasheem Thabeet (10.8)	20.7	2008-09
		Jeff Adrien (9.9)
5.	Oklahoma	Blake Griffin (14.4)	20.2	2008-09
		Taylor Griffin (5.8)
	St. Mary's (Calif.)	Diamon Simpson (10.8)	20.2	2008-09
		Omar Samhan (9.4)
7.	Siena	Ryan Rossiter (13.2)	20.0	2010-11
		O.D. Anosike (6.8)
8.	Kansas	Drew Gooden (11.4)	19.7	2001-02
		Nick Collison (8.3)
9.	Stony Brook	Jameel Warney (11.7)	19.6	2014-15
		Rayshaun McGrew (7.9)
10.	North Carolina	John Henson (9.9)	19.5	2011-12
		Tyler Zeller (9.6)
	USC	Nikola Vucevic (10.3)	19.5	2010-11
		Alex Stephenson (9.2)
	Morehead State	Kenneth Faried (14.5)	19.5	2010-11
		Demonte Harper (5.0)
13.	Arizona	Ryan Anderson (10.1)	19.4	2015-16
		Kaleb Tarczewski (9.3)
14.	Morehead State	Kenneth Faried (13.0)	19.3	2008-09
		Leon Buchanan (6.3)
15.	Memphis	Dedric Lawson (11.1)	19.2	2016-17
		K.J. Lawson (8.1)

PUSHING TOWARDS A RECORD

Memphis head basketball coach Tubby Smith is tied for the NCAA all-time record, having taken five schools (Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas Tech) to the NCAA Tournament. He is tied with Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger.

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Players Mentioned

Dedric Lawson

K.J. Lawson

University of Memphis Athletics