University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis Basketball Notes
Jan 08, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
TIGERS TO OPEN C-USA PLAY WEDNESDAY VERSUS EAST CAROLINA; ALSO TO CLOSE FIVE-GAME HOMESTAND
The University of Memphis squad (13-0, 0-0 C-USA), ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press poll and No. 2 in ESPN/USA Today poll, hosts East Carolina (6-7, 0-0 C-USA) Wednesday, Jan. 9 in the Conference USA opener for both schools. The game, to be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS; Memphis cable channel 6), is slated for a 7:00 p.m. (CT) start.
The Tigers also are closing out their five-game homestand Wednesday against the Pirates. Memphis opened this current five-game homestand with an 85-71 victory over No. 5/4 Georgetown Dec. 22 and followed with a 76-63 win over No. 17/18 Arizona Dec. 29. In their last two outings, the Tigers defeated Siena 102-58 on Jan. 3 and Pepperdine 9-53 on Jan. 5. Prior to the Dec. 22 home game, Memphis had played away from FedExForum for 24 days. During its time on the road, Memphis defeated Southern Cal in New York City Dec. 4, Middle Tennessee at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 15 and the Bearcats in Cincinnati Dec. 19.
The Pirates bring a two-game win streak into Wednesday's contest. East Carolina defeated North Carolina Central and Coastal Carolina in its last two games. The Pirates also have key victories over George Mason, a 2006 NCAA Final Four participant, and N.C. State.
SCOUTING THE PIRATES
East Carolina enters Wednesday's game with a 6-7 overall record. The Pirates bring a two-game win streak into the contest with victories over North Carolina Central and Coastal Carolina. East Carolina also has key wins over George Mason, a 2006 NCAA Final Four participant, and N.C. State.
Sam Hinnant is the team's lone double-figure scorer with an 11.8 average. John Fields is the squad's second-leading scorer at 9.3 ppg and the team's top shot blocker with 28 swats. Gabe Blair leads the Pirates on the glass with an 8.0 rebounding average. Hinnant is the top three-point threat, hitting 41.9 percent from the arc,
The Pirates are shooting 43.3 percent from the floor, 38.2 percent from the arc and 68.4 percent from the charity stripe. Opponents are out-rebounding East Carolina by an average margin of +1.5 boards per game (35.3-36.8).
MEMPHIS IN CONFERENCE USA OPENERS
The Tigers have an 8-4 record in their previous 12 Conference USA openers. Memphis has won its league opener the last three years, including a 78-59 victory over Marshall at FedExForum on Dec. 4, 2006. It was the earliest league opener played in Conference USA history.
Memphis won its first three Conference USA openers from 1996-98, and then dropped its next three league openers from 1999-2001. The Tigers then won its next two C-USA openers (2002, 2003) before dropping its 2003-04 league opener at Southern Miss.
Wednesday's game is the 11th time in the 13-year history of C-USA that the Tigers open league play at home. Memphis played its C-USA opener at home eight-straight years from 1996-2003, and also played at home in 2005 and 2007. The only two times Memphis' C-USA opener was on the road were 2004 and 2006.
Under head coach John Calipari, Memphis is 5-2 in Conference USA openers.
TIGERS IN C-USA HOME OPENERS
Memphis has a 9-3 record in Conference USA home openers. The Tigers have won their last six league home openers, defeating Marshall 77-59 in 2006-07, SMU 73-53 in 2005-06, Southern Miss 60-46 in 2004-05, Charlotte 91-69 in 2003-04, Tulane 85-73 in 2002-03 and Southern Miss 75-53 in 2001-02. The last time Memphis dropped a C-USA home opener was the 2000-01 campaign, a 75-67 setback to Southern Miss.
MEMPHIS IN CONFERENCE USA
The Tigers have an all-time record of 131-55 (.704 winning percentage) in Conference USA play, and have won an average of 10.9 league games per season. Memphis has posted double-digit league wins in nine of its previous 12 seasons in Conference USA, including a school-record and league-record tying 16 games in 2006-07.
Last year's 16 C-USA victories were the most by a Tiger team in school history. Prior to that, Memphis' most C-USA wins were 13 on two occasions in 2002-03 (13-3) and 2005-06 (13-1).
Memphis won its first out-right C-USA regular season title in 2005-06, and followed that with another out-right regular season crown in 2006-07. The Tigers also tied for the C-USA regular season crown in 2003-04 (12-4 record) and 1995-96 (11-3). Memphis also won three National Division titles in 1997-98, 2001-02 and 2002-03, and captured two league White Division championships in 1995-96 and 1996-97.
CALIPARI IN CONFERENCE USA
Head coach John Calipari has an 85-25 (.773 winning percentage) in Conference USA play. Calipari's teams have posted double-digit C-USA win seasons in six of his previous seven years, and have averaged 12.1 C-USA victories per season.
Calipari has guided Memphis to three C-USA regular season titles in 2003-04, 2005-06 and 2006-07 and two league National Division championships in 2001-02 and 2002-03.
STREAKING IN C-USA
The Tigers have their current 13-game win streak, and most everyone in the nation knows about the 40-game homecourt win streak. However, Memphis has another two streaks going in Conference USA play.
The Tigers have won 17-straight regular season Conference USA games and 23-straight C-USA overall contests, including the league's postseason tournaments. The last time Memphis suffered a setback to a C-USA foe was Mar. 2, 2006, when the Tigers fell at UAB 80-74.
The 23-game win streak (includes C-USA Tournaments) is the longest in C-USA history. The 17-game regular-season win streak is second to Cincinnati's 21-game regular season win streak from 1998-99 through 2000-01.
TIGERS GETTING CLOSE
With its 13-0 start to 2007-08, Memphis is closing in on the best start by a Conference USA school in the league's history. Entering Wednesday's game versus East Carolina, the Tigers are tied for the second-best start in C-USA history. The 1998-99 Cincinnati has the best start in C-USA history at 15-0.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Tigers and Pirates played the first-ever league game in the newly-aligned Conference USA in 2005-06. Memphis posted a hard-fought 77-67 victory over East Carolina on Jan. 11, 2006.
All 12 C-USA schools played on Jan. 11, but the Memphis-East Carolina was the first game to tip off that night. The contest was also first C-USA game televised by CSTV.
DORSEY GOING FOR WINS RECORD
While many Tiger fans know Joey Dorsey's climb up the career rebounding chart, there is another career list the 6-foot-9 forward is moving up. With Memphis' win over Siena Jan. 3, Dorsey won his 100th game as a Tiger, and his record now stands at 101-24 (22-16 in 2004-05; 33-4 in 2005-06 and 2006-07; 13-0 in 2007-08).
The most wins by a four-year class is the 1986-87 seniors that won 111 games. Clyde Wade, who finished up his career in 2006-07, also won 111 games in his four years.
TIGERS STREAKING AT HOME
Don't look now, but the Tigers have put together another homecourt winning streak. Memphis finished the 2006-07 campaign with a 32-game homecourt winning streak, and the Tigers added to that total with eight wins in 2007-08 to extend the nation's longest homecourt win streak to 40. BYU is second with 39-straight wins at home.
40-0 IS THE RECORD!!!
Memphis' current 40-game homecourt win streak is the longest in the nation, and it is now the longest in Tiger basketball history. The current streak of 40 broke the previous one of 39 straight that spanned from the end of the 1983-84 season through the 1986-87 campaign.
The previous long home win streak in the John Calipari era was 24 straight that stretched from the middle of the 2002-03 season through the start of the 2004-05 year.
FIRST TIME SINCE, PART I...
Memphis jumped up to the No. 2 spot in both national polls on Dec. 3 and have stayed there the past six weeks. The last time the Tigers earned a No. 2 ranking was 22 years ago in the 1985-86 campaign. Memphis was ranked No. 2 for one week in early February 1986.
The Tigers also held the No. 2 ranking in the 1982-83 season for two weeks, before claiming the school's first and only No. 1 national ranking in mid-January 1983. Memphis held that No. 1 spot for one week.
FIRST TIME SINCE, PART II...
The Tigers are off to a 13-0 start this year, and it's been awhile since Memphis began a campaign with 13-straight wins. The last time the Tigers started off 13-0 was the 1985-86 season. That squad began the year with a 20-0 record, the best-ever start in Tiger basketball history. Memphis went 20-0 before losing at Virginia Tech on Feb. 1, 1986.
HE'S IN THE CLUB!
Well, it took a little longer than expected in the Dec. 29 Arizona game, but Chris Douglas-Roberts reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He entered the contest needing only five points to reach the goal, and with 2:07 in the first half, the 6-foot-7 guard scored his 1,000th point on an emphatic dunk off an assist from Derrick Rose.
He now has 1,045 career points and is the 43rd player in Tiger history to accomplish the feat. The Detroit, Mich., is in the No. 36 spot on the Tiger career scoring chart.
THE D-MACK ATTACK IS BACK; TIES SCHOOL MARK FOR THREES
That's what his billboard says, and it's what Tiger Nation has been waiting on all season. And Doneal Mack finally gave the fans what they expected to see.
In the Tiger win over Pepperdine Jan. 5, the 6-foot-5 guard broke out of a season (to date)-long slump with an explosive 23-point performance. The 23 points were a career high to go along with career bests for field goals made (8) and attempted (15) and three-pointers made (7) and attempted (13).
The seven treys made also tied a school record for a single game. Mack shares the record with five other players, including teammate Antonio Anderson.
KEMP THE CONSISTENT
While many Tiger fans point out the play of Chris Douglas-Roberts, Antonio Anderson or Derrick Rose, head coach John Calipari can't stop talking about how Willie Kemp is playing this year. And for good reason.
The 6-foot-2 guard has been the Tigers most consistent player all season, as he has 24 assists compared to only five turnovers in 203 minutes of action. For the record, that's a 4.8:1 assist-to-turnover ratio for the Bolivar, Tenn., native. To take it a little further, the sophomore guard is committing 0.02 turnovers per minute.
Kemp had four assists and one turnover in the Tigers' last win over Pepperdine Jan. 5. The turnover was Kemp's first since the Dec. 4 game versus Southern Cal in New York City.
DRE DRAWING PRAISE
Head coach John Calipari is also pleased to welcome back Andre Allen. Not that Allen left the team or anything like that. It's just that the Allen of the past two seasons had been missing up until the last two contests.
In the two wins over Siena and Pepperdine, Dre was back to his "bulldog" ways -- tenacious on defense and bold on offense. The 5-foot-10 guard combined for nine assists and only two turnovers (4.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio). The Memphis, Tenn., native also netted eight points versus Siena, the most since Dec. 19 when he scored nine in a win over Cincinnati.
TIGERS FOR THREEEEEE!!!
Opponents tend to back off the Tigers when trying to defend the Dribble-Drive Motion offense they employ. But, as head coach John Calipari has said, if Memphis is hitting shots from the perimeter, then it becomes harder to sag back into that zone.
That's what has happened in Memphis' last two wins over Siena and Pepperdine, as the Tigers have lit it up from the arc. Memphis hit 15 three-pointers in each game, which is tied for the second-most treys made in a single contest. The Tigers were 15-of-30 from the arc versus Siena and 15-of-34 against Pepperdine.
PUTTING UP THE POINTS
For the third time this season, Memphis scored over 100 points in a game in its 102-58 victory over Siena Jan. 3. The Tigers also scored 100 points in wins over Tennessee-Martin (102-71) and Austin Peay (104-82).
The last time Memphis scored over 100 points in three games in a single season was John Calipari's second season in the Bluff City in 2001-02. The last time the Tigers netted over 100 points in more than three games was the 1987-88 campaign. That team hit the century mark four times.
For more notes on the Memphis-East Carolina game, click pdf link at top of page.
