University of Memphis Athletics
Saturday, February 4
Orlando, Fla.
4 PM
University of Memphis
at
UCF
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Joe Murphy
Tigers Prepare for Second Leg of Two-Game Florida Trip
Feb 03, 2017 | Men's Basketball
ORLANDO - The Memphis Tigers close out its two-game Florida road swing on Saturday afternoon, when the squad faces off against the UCF Knights in a 4 p.m. (CT) tip-off.
GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (17-6, 7-3Â American Athletic Conference) vs. UCF (14-8, 5-5 American Athletic Conference)
When: Saturday, February 4, 2017
Tip-Off: 4:00 p.m. (CT)
Location: Orlando, Florida
Arena: CFE Arena
TV: ESPNews
  Alex Faust, play-by-play
  Mark Wise, analyst
Radio:Â Memphis Radio Network / 600 WRECÂ / Rock 103
  Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
  Matt Dillon, analyst
  Forrest Goodman, pregame / postgame host
Live Stats: UCF Sidearm Live Stats
Â
UCF is riding a four-game losing skid, started by Memphis on January 22, and includes a home loss to SMU, and road losses at Tulsa and Houston.
   In the most recent game, an 82-64 loss at Houston, Matt Williams made 9-of-15 field goals, and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc for a team-high 26 points, while B.J. Taylor scored 19. The pair combined to score 45 of the team's 64 points in the 18-point defeat.
   Chad Brown pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, while Taylor added seven, with the Knights out-rebounding Houston despite the lopsided loss. Taylor also dished out four assists for the high mark on the team.
   Taylor leads the team in scoring, averaging 17.1 points per game, while Williams is close behind, averaging 16.1. Tacko Fall, UCF's 7-foot, 6-inch center averages 12.2 points, while Tank Efianayi is five points off of the double-figure pace, averaging 9.8 points per contest.
   Fall pulls down 9.9 rebounds per game, second-most in the American Athletic Conference, while A.J. Davis averages 7.7 while scoring 7.4 points per game. Taylor, despite missing seven games earlier this season, has the team lead in assists with 62, averaging just over four per game, while also leading the team with 19 steals. Fall has 51 blocked shots, the high-water mark for the team.
Â
Tubby Smith and Johnny Dawkins have met four times as coaches on the hardwood, twice when each were head coaches, and twice when Dawkins was an assistant coach. Earlier this season, Smith's Memphis team topped Dawkins' UCF team 70-65, and on November 24, 2012, Smith's Minnesota team topped Dawkins' Stanford squad 66-63 in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Smith's Kentucky squads twice faced Dawkins as an assistant coach, and both times each squad was ranked inside of the top-10, with Duke winning the two meetings, the first in December, 1998, and the second in December, 2001; both times coming in East Rutherford, N.J.
Â
Memphis' Dedric Lawson on Thursday, February 2, was named as one of ten finalists for the Karl Malone Award, given annually to the top power forward in the country. Lawson is joined in the top-10 by Arizona's Lauri Markkanen, Baylor's Johnathan Motley, Cal's Ivan Rabb, Michigan State's Miles Bridges, Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson, Pittsburgh's Michael Young, Purdue's Caleb Swanigan, UCLA's T.J. Leaf, and Valparaiso's Alec Peters.
Â
UCF, which has the tallest player in NCAA Division I on its team in 7-foot, 6-inch Tacko Fall, has the tallest average height of players in the NCAA this season. UCF's average height is 79.3 inches (6-feet, 7.3-inches). Below is a list of the top-10 in the country in average height, as compiled by the website KenPom.com, and has three teams from the American Athletic Conference in the top-10. In these instances from the website, overall average height is computed by taking the average listed height of every player on the team, weighted by minutes played. Players that have played less than 10% of their team's minutes are not included
Â
UCF brings one of the nation's top defenses into the second meeting between the teams on Saturday. UCF ranks first in the country in field goal percentage defense (35.8 percent) and second in defensive rebounds per game (31.86), rebound margin (+11.4), and total rebounds per game (43.32), and seventh in scoring defense (61.3)
Â
The coming game features the top three rebounders in the American Athletic Conference. Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson currently leads the league in rebounds, averaging 10.1 boards per game, while UCF sophomore Tacko Fall averages 9.9. Standing third in the league in rebounding is Memphis redshirt freshman K.J. Lawson, who averages 8.6 boards per game.
Â
In addition to being one of the top defensive teams in the country, the team is also strong at long-range shooting. Individually, Matt Williams ranks fourth in the country in three-point field goal made, averaging 3.77 per contest, and seventh in total three-point field goals made with 83.
Â
When K.J. Lawson pulled down 19 rebounds against East Carolina, it put him into a tie for the second-most rebounds in program history by a freshman. Below are the top-five single-game rebound totals by a freshman in program history.                                             Â
Â
As many will say, a win, is a win, is a win. No matter how many shots are missed, the only thing that matters is who ends the game with more points than the opponent. Against East Carolina, Memphis hit just 30.3 percent of its shots, which is tied for the ninth-lowest field goal percentage in Division I this season in a winning effort.
Â
Over the past seven games, in which Memphis is 5-2, the Tigers have had five different players lead the team in the scoring column. On January 11 at Tulsa, it was Dedric Lawson's 26 points that led the Tigers. Three days later on January 14 at home against USF, Markel Crawford erupted for a career-high 30 points. In the team's January 19 overtime win at Houston, K.J. Lawson led the scoring brigade with 28 points, while the redshirt freshman also led the team in scoring a game later with 16 points against UCF. Against Temple on January 25 it was Jeremiah Martin's turn to lead the team in scoring with 16 points, while junior Jimario Rivers' 15 points against East Carolina on January 28 was the highest on the squad. Dedric Lawson re-took the team lead in scoring in the team's most recent game, a 10-point win at USF.
Â
University of Memphis sophomore guard Jeremiah Martin has become one of the country's leaders in steals, and has pilfered 51 total steals this season, and averages 2.22 steals per game, which ranks 17th in the country.
Â
New University of Memphis head coach Tubby Smith has opened his Memphis career with a 17-6 overall record, which stands as the fourth-best record among coaches in their first year at the current school. Below is a list of the top 15 such coaches, ranked by winning percentage.
Â
Â
GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (17-6, 7-3Â American Athletic Conference) vs. UCF (14-8, 5-5 American Athletic Conference)
When: Saturday, February 4, 2017
Tip-Off: 4:00 p.m. (CT)
Location: Orlando, Florida
Arena: CFE Arena
TV: ESPNews
  Alex Faust, play-by-play
  Mark Wise, analyst
Radio:Â Memphis Radio Network / 600 WRECÂ / Rock 103
  Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
  Matt Dillon, analyst
  Forrest Goodman, pregame / postgame host
Live Stats: UCF Sidearm Live Stats
Â
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
UCF is riding a four-game losing skid, started by Memphis on January 22, and includes a home loss to SMU, and road losses at Tulsa and Houston.
   In the most recent game, an 82-64 loss at Houston, Matt Williams made 9-of-15 field goals, and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc for a team-high 26 points, while B.J. Taylor scored 19. The pair combined to score 45 of the team's 64 points in the 18-point defeat.
   Chad Brown pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, while Taylor added seven, with the Knights out-rebounding Houston despite the lopsided loss. Taylor also dished out four assists for the high mark on the team.
   Taylor leads the team in scoring, averaging 17.1 points per game, while Williams is close behind, averaging 16.1. Tacko Fall, UCF's 7-foot, 6-inch center averages 12.2 points, while Tank Efianayi is five points off of the double-figure pace, averaging 9.8 points per contest.
   Fall pulls down 9.9 rebounds per game, second-most in the American Athletic Conference, while A.J. Davis averages 7.7 while scoring 7.4 points per game. Taylor, despite missing seven games earlier this season, has the team lead in assists with 62, averaging just over four per game, while also leading the team with 19 steals. Fall has 51 blocked shots, the high-water mark for the team.
Â
TUBBY SMITH vs. JOHNNY DAWKINS
Tubby Smith and Johnny Dawkins have met four times as coaches on the hardwood, twice when each were head coaches, and twice when Dawkins was an assistant coach. Earlier this season, Smith's Memphis team topped Dawkins' UCF team 70-65, and on November 24, 2012, Smith's Minnesota team topped Dawkins' Stanford squad 66-63 in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Smith's Kentucky squads twice faced Dawkins as an assistant coach, and both times each squad was ranked inside of the top-10, with Duke winning the two meetings, the first in December, 1998, and the second in December, 2001; both times coming in East Rutherford, N.J.
Â
KARL MALONE AWARD FINALIST
Memphis' Dedric Lawson on Thursday, February 2, was named as one of ten finalists for the Karl Malone Award, given annually to the top power forward in the country. Lawson is joined in the top-10 by Arizona's Lauri Markkanen, Baylor's Johnathan Motley, Cal's Ivan Rabb, Michigan State's Miles Bridges, Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson, Pittsburgh's Michael Young, Purdue's Caleb Swanigan, UCLA's T.J. Leaf, and Valparaiso's Alec Peters.
Â
TALL TEAM
UCF, which has the tallest player in NCAA Division I on its team in 7-foot, 6-inch Tacko Fall, has the tallest average height of players in the NCAA this season. UCF's average height is 79.3 inches (6-feet, 7.3-inches). Below is a list of the top-10 in the country in average height, as compiled by the website KenPom.com, and has three teams from the American Athletic Conference in the top-10. In these instances from the website, overall average height is computed by taking the average listed height of every player on the team, weighted by minutes played. Players that have played less than 10% of their team's minutes are not included
| Rk. | School | Avg. Ht. (inches) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | UCF | 79.3 |
| 2. | Florida State | 79.2 |
| 3. | Arizona | 79.0 |
| 4. | Pittsburgh | 79.0 |
| 5. | Texas A&M | 78.9 |
| 6. | Syracuse | 78.7 |
| 7. | East Carolina | 78.7 |
| 8. | Duke | 78.6 |
| 9. | Xavier | 78.5 |
| 10. | SMU | 78.5 |
GETTING DEFENSIVE
UCF brings one of the nation's top defenses into the second meeting between the teams on Saturday. UCF ranks first in the country in field goal percentage defense (35.8 percent) and second in defensive rebounds per game (31.86), rebound margin (+11.4), and total rebounds per game (43.32), and seventh in scoring defense (61.3)
he's a big man
UCF sophomore Tacko Fall is 7-foot, 6-inches tall, and as such is one of the 40 largest human beings on the planet. The Dakar, Senegal native ranks second in the country in field goal percentage, making 79.4 percent of his shots (100-of-126), including a 10-for-10 game against AP top ranked Villanova.Â
TOP THREE REBOUNDERS IN THE LEAGUE
The coming game features the top three rebounders in the American Athletic Conference. Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson currently leads the league in rebounds, averaging 10.1 boards per game, while UCF sophomore Tacko Fall averages 9.9. Standing third in the league in rebounding is Memphis redshirt freshman K.J. Lawson, who averages 8.6 boards per game.
Â
TOSSING THEM UP FROM DISTANCE
In addition to being one of the top defensive teams in the country, the team is also strong at long-range shooting. Individually, Matt Williams ranks fourth in the country in three-point field goal made, averaging 3.77 per contest, and seventh in total three-point field goals made with 83.
Â
YOUNG REBOUNDERS
When K.J. Lawson pulled down 19 rebounds against East Carolina, it put him into a tie for the second-most rebounds in program history by a freshman. Below are the top-five single-game rebound totals by a freshman in program history.                                             Â
| Rk. | Rebs | Student-Athlete | School | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 20 | Lorenzen Wright | Southern Miss | Jan. 17, 1995 |
| 2. | 19 | K.J. Lawson | East Carolina | Jan. 28, 2017 |
| 19 | Earl Barron | Grambling | Dec. 23, 1999 | |
| 19 | Lorenzen Wright | Florida A&M | Dec. 19, 1994 | |
| 5. | 18 | Joey Dorsey | Austin Peay | Dec. 18, 2004 |
| 18 | Lorenzen Wright | Nicholls State | Dec. 21, 1994 | |
| 18 | Keith Lee | Ball State | Feb. 8, 1982 |
POOR-SHOOTING WIN
As many will say, a win, is a win, is a win. No matter how many shots are missed, the only thing that matters is who ends the game with more points than the opponent. Against East Carolina, Memphis hit just 30.3 percent of its shots, which is tied for the ninth-lowest field goal percentage in Division I this season in a winning effort.
| School | Opponent | Result | FGM | FGA | FG% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Santa Barbara | CSU Bakersfield | W, 62-60 (ot) | 16 | 64 | .250 |
| 2. | UCF | East Carolina | W, 48-45 | 12 | 46 | .261 |
| 3. | St. Francis (N.Y.) | Mt. St. Vincent | W, 69-51 | 18 | 68 | .265 |
| 4. | Old Dominion | North Texas | W, 55-48 | 18 | 64 | .281 |
| 5. | Lamar | Oregon State | W, 63-60 | 20 | 71 | .282 |
| 6. | Old Dominion | Dartmouth | W, 59-47 | 17 | 59 | .288 |
| 7. | South Carolina | Florida | W, 57-53 | 15 | 51 | .294 |
| 8. | Louisville | Old Dominion | W, 68-62 (ot) | 19 | 64 | .297 |
| 9. | Memphis | East Carolina | W, 57-50 | 20 | 66 | .303 |
| Old Dominion | St. John's | W, 63-55 | 20 | 66 | .303 |
SCORE DISTRIBUTION
Over the past seven games, in which Memphis is 5-2, the Tigers have had five different players lead the team in the scoring column. On January 11 at Tulsa, it was Dedric Lawson's 26 points that led the Tigers. Three days later on January 14 at home against USF, Markel Crawford erupted for a career-high 30 points. In the team's January 19 overtime win at Houston, K.J. Lawson led the scoring brigade with 28 points, while the redshirt freshman also led the team in scoring a game later with 16 points against UCF. Against Temple on January 25 it was Jeremiah Martin's turn to lead the team in scoring with 16 points, while junior Jimario Rivers' 15 points against East Carolina on January 28 was the highest on the squad. Dedric Lawson re-took the team lead in scoring in the team's most recent game, a 10-point win at USF.
Â
STOP, THIEF
University of Memphis sophomore guard Jeremiah Martin has become one of the country's leaders in steals, and has pilfered 51 total steals this season, and averages 2.22 steals per game, which ranks 17th in the country.
| Rk. | Student-Athlete | Cl. | School | SPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Joseph Chartouny | So. | Fordham | 3.48 |
| ... | ||||
| 15. | Tim Bond | Jr. | Eastern Mich. | 2.27 |
| 16. | Matt Mooney | So. | South Dakota | 2.24 |
| 17. | Jeremiah Martin | So. | Memphis | 2.22 |
| Paris Lee | Sr. | Illinois State | 2.22 | |
| Luwane Pipkins | Fr. | UMass | 2.22 | |
| 20. | Sindarius Thornwell | Sr. | South Carolina | 2.18 |
| 21. | Dennis Smith Jr. | Fr. | NC State | 2.17 |
| Jahvaughn Powell | Jr. | Nicholls | 2.17 |
FIRST-YEAR SUCCESS
New University of Memphis head coach Tubby Smith has opened his Memphis career with a 17-6 overall record, which stands as the fourth-best record among coaches in their first year at the current school. Below is a list of the top 15 such coaches, ranked by winning percentage.
| Rk. | Coach | School | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Paul Weir * | New Mexico St. | 21-2 |
| 2. | Tim Jankovich | SMU | 19-4 |
| 3. | Matt Lottich * | Valparaiso | 19-4 |
| 4. | Tubby Smith | Memphis | 17-6 |
| 5. | Grant McCasland * | Arkansas State | 16-6 |
| 6. | Chris Beard | Texas Tech | 15-7 |
| 7. | Jamie Dixon | TCU | 15-7 |
| Ryan Odom * | UMBC | 15-7 | |
| 9. | Kyle Smith | San Francisco | 16-8 |
| 10. | Scott Nagy | Wright State | 15-8 |
| 11. | Johnny Dawkins | UCF | 14-8 |
| Brad Underwood | Oklahoma State | 14-8 | |
| 13. | Allen Edwards * | Wyoming | 14-9 |
| 14. | Josh Pastner | Georgia Tech | 13-9 |
| 15. | Reggie Witherspoon | Canisius | 13-10 |
| * First Time Head Coaches | As of games on 1/29/2017 | |||
Â
Men's Basketball: Penny Hardaway Press Conference-November 5, 2025
Wednesday, November 05
Men's Basketball: Curtis Givens III and Quante Berry Press Conference- November 5, 2025
Wednesday, November 05
Men's Basketball: Penny Hardaway, Dug McDaniel & Curtis Givens III Press Conference-October 27, 2025
Tuesday, October 28
Football: Ryan Silverfield Press Conference-October 27, 2025
Monday, October 27