University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis Basketball/NIT Notes
Mar 16, 2010 | Men's Basketball
March 16, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Tigers On TV/Radio/Web
Television: ESPN2/Comcast channel 25 and digital channel 24 (John Saunders, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, color analyst)
Radio: WREC 600 AM (Dave Woloshin, play-by-play; Matt Dillon, color analyst; Forrest Goodman, studio host)
Web: ESPN360.com
TIGERS OPEN NIT PLAY VERSUS ST. JOHN'S AT FEDEXFORUM ON WEDNESDAY
The University of Memphis squad (23-9, 13-3 C-USA) begins play in the 2010 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) on Wednesday, Mar. 17 and hosts St. John's (17-15, 6-12 Big East) at FedExForum. The NIT opening round contest, to be televised by ESPN2, is slated for an 8 p.m. (CT) start.
The Tigers enter NIT action after a narrow 66-65 quarterfinal loss to Houston in the 2010 GMC Sierra Conference USA Tournament Mar. 11.
Memphis wrapped up its 2009-10 regular season winning seven of its last eight. In that stretch, the Tigers posted wins over UCF 76-70 Feb. 10, Tulsa 93-86 Feb. 13, Tulane 77-64 Feb. 17, SMU 76-63 Feb. 20, Southern Miss 76-69 Feb. 27, UAB 70-65 Mar. 3 and Tulsa 75-53 Mar. 6. The lone loss was a 92-75 setback at Houston Feb. 24.
After having their 64-game Conference USA win streak snapped Jan. 20 with a 72-67 loss to UTEP, the Tigers responded with back-to-back league wins over Houston 92-77 Jan. 23 and Marshall 75-72 Jan. 27. Prior to the Jan. 20 UTEP loss, Memphis opened Conference USA play with three-straight league victories over Southern Miss 59-57, East Carolina 77-57 and Rice 80-68.
St. John's went 1-1 in the Big East Tournament in New York City last week. The Red Storm posted a 73-51 win over Connecticut in the opening round, but suffered a 57-55 setback to Marquette in the tournament's second round. St. John's closed regular season play dropping three of its final four contests.
SCOUTING THE RED STORM
St. John's brings a 17-15 overall record into Wednesday's National Invitation Tournament (NIT) opening round game. The Red Storm posted a 6-12 mark in Big East Conference action and finished in 13th place in the league standings.
St. John's went 1-1 in the Big East Tournament in New York City last week. The Red Storm posted a 73-51 win over Connecticut in the opening round, but suffered a 57-55 setback to Marquette in the tournament's second round. St. John's closed regular season play dropping three of its final four contests.
Junior D.J. Kennedy leads the Red Storm offense with a 15.0 scoring average and also tops the squad with a 6.1 rebounding average. Junior Dwight Hardy is the team's second-leading scorer at 10.5 ppg, but has missed the last three games after suffering a sprained left knee versus Syracuse on Mar. 2.
Paris Horne adds 9.2 ppg off the bench, while Sean Evans is the Red Storm's second-leading rebounder at 5.9 rpg. Kennedy leads St. John's with 98 assists (3.1 apg). Horne (38.1 percent) and Kennedy (37.9 percent) are the team's top threats from the three-point line.
St. John's is shooting 42.5 percent from the field, 33 percent from the three-point arc and 65 percent from the charity stripe. The Red Storm are out-rebounding their opponents by an average margin of +2.4 boards per game (37.0-34.6).
PASTNER IN FIRST YEAR AT HELM OF TIGER PROGRAM
Josh Pastner (Arizona, 1998) is in his first season as the head coach of the University of Memphis basketball program. The Kingwood, Texas, native was hired Apr. 7, 2009, after serving the 2008-09 season as an assistant on the Tiger staff.
Pastner has a 23-9 record (.719 winning percentage) at Memphis. He won his head coaching debut Nov. 13 with an 82-53 victory. He suffered his first coaching loss in a narrow 57-55 setback to No. 1/1 Kansas Nov. 17.
Pastner posted wins in his Conference USA and C-USA home debuts. He led the Tigers to a 59-57 C-USA win in his league debut, and then followed with a 77-57 victory over East Carolina in his conference home debut.
Prior to joining the Memphis basketball family for the 2008-09 season, Pastner spent the previous 12 years of his college basketball life at Arizona as a player, staff member and assistant coach. While in Tucson, Pastner was a member of Wildcat squads that made 12-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and posted a 290-103 record (1997-2008). Pastner was a player on the 1996-97 Arizona team that won the NCAA title.
MEMPHIS IN NIT
The Tigers are making their 17th National Invitation Tournament appearance in 2010. Memphis has an overall NIT record of 19-15 (.559 winning percentage).
Memphis' previous NIT appearance came in 2005, and the Tigers advanced to the semifinal round at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Memphis fell to St. Joseph's 70-58 in the semifinals.
The Tigers' 2002 NIT showing resulted in the program winning the NIT title with a 72-62 win over South Carolina in the championship game. The NIT crown was Memphis' first postseason national championship.
In its history, the Tigers have advanced to at least the semifinal round four times in 1957, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Memphis was the NIT runner-up in 1957 and placed third in 2001. The Tigers have a 12-2 record in their last 14 NIT games.
MEMPHIS IN NIT GAMES IN THE BLUFF CITY
The Tigers have had some success in the past in playing National Invitation Tournament (NIT) games at home. Memphis has an all-time NIT record of 10-2 (.833 winning percentage) in games played in the Bluff City.
Memphis has won its last nine NIT games at home, dating back to the 1998 postseason classic. The last time the Tigers suffered an NIT setback at home was in 1991. Memphis dropped a narrow 58-57 decision to Arkansas State on Mar. 18, 1991. The other home NIT loss was to Tennessee (73-71) in 1990.
The Tigers are 3-0 in NIT games played at FedExForum. Memphis played Northeastern (90-65), Virginia Tech (83-62) and Vanderbilt (81-68) at FedExForum in the 2005 NIT.
TIGERS IN OPENING NIT GAMES
Memphis has a so-so record in opening National Invitation Tournament (NIT) games in its history. The Tigers are 8-8 in first games in their NIT history (.500 winning percentage).
Memphis won its last four opening-round NIT games (2005, 2002, 2001, 1998). The last time the Tigers dropped a first-round NIT game was in 1997, a 66-62 setback at UNLV.
THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
The Tigers host St. John's in a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) contest at FedExForum on Wednesday. It is the first time Memphis will play a Big East Conference foe in NIT action since the league formed in 1979-80.
MEMPHIS VS. THE BIG EAST
The Tigers are 126-139 all-time versus current members of the Big East Conference. Memphis has played Cincinnati (31-36), Connecticut (1-0), DePaul (14-12), Georgetown (2-7), Louisville (34-51), Marquette (14-12), Pittsburgh (1-1), Providence (2-3), St. John's (0-1), Seton Hall (3-1), Syracuse (1-3), USF (18-3), Villanova (4-8) and West Virginia (1-1).
Memphis has played 14 of the 16 Big East schools, leaving Notre Dame and Rutgers as the only two league programs the Tigers have not faced. Most of the contests versus Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and USF were league games (Missouri Valley, Metro, Great Midwest, Conference USA).
Since the start of the 2005-06 campaign (when the Big East realigned), Memphis is 8-3 against teams from the Big East. The last time the Tigers played a Big East opponent was earlier this season. Memphis dropped a 74-57 decision to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome.
TIGERS VS. BIG EAST IN POSTSEASON
Memphis has a 4-6 record versus Big East Conference foes in postseason play (NCAA/NIT). The following shows those results:
Year Opponent/Tour. Result
1960 Providence/NIT 70-71, L
1967 Providence/NIT 68-77, L
1973 Providence/NCAA 98-85, W
1974 Seton Hall/NIT 73-72, W
1982 Villanova/NCAA (ot) 66-70, L
1983 Georgetown/NCAA 66-57, W
1985 Villanova/NCAA 45-52, L
1989 DePaul/NCAA 63-66, L
1992 Cincinnati/NCAA 57-88, L
1995 Louisville/NCAA 77-56, W
TIGERS LOVE TO PLAY ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY
St. Patrick's Day is Mar. 17, and with that date usually falling during the postseason, most teams are looking for a little luck if they play on that day. Well, Memphis has had quite a bit of luck on St. Patrick's Day in its history with a perfect 7-0 record on Mar. 17.
The Tigers are 1-0 in National Inivtation Tournament (NIT) games played on Mar. 17. Memphis defeated Seton Hall 73-72 in the 1974 NIT (Mar. 17, 1974).
Memphis is 6-0 in NCAA Tournament contests on Mar. 17. The last time the Tigers played an NCAA Tournament game on St. Patrick's Day was in 2006, and Memphis, a No. 1 seed, posted a 94-78 victory over No. 16 seed Oral Roberts.
NIT NEWBIES
For most of Tiger coaches and players, they are entering unchartered territory when Memphis opens National Invitation Tournament (NIT) play Wednesday. All of the Memphis veteran players have played in the NCAA Tournament, while head coach Josh Pastner and assistant coach Jack Murphy only have NCAA Tournaments on their resumes.
Assistant coaches Glynn Cyprien and Willis Wilson are the only two that have NIT experience. Cyprien went to the NIT with Kentucky in 2009 and UNLV in 1997 and 1999. Wilson guided Rice to NIT play in 1991, 1993, 2004 and 2005.
PASTNER VS. ROBERTS
Of course, Wednesday's National Invitation Tournament (NIT) contest is the first in which Memphis' Josh Pastner and St. John's Norm Roberts will match wits as head coaches. However, Pastner and Roberts faced off as assistants at Arizona and Illinois, respectively, in the 2001 NCAA Tournament and in the 2001-02 regular season.
For that 2001 NCAA Tournament meeting, Pastner was an undergraduate assistant coach for the Wildcats, while Roberts was an assistant coach on Bill Self's staff. The Wildcats won that NCAA Elite Eight game 87-81 and advanced to the Final Four.
The following year, Arizona posted an 87-82 win over Illinois in Phoenix in an early December top-10 match-up. For that game, Pastner was the video and recruiting coordinator on the Wildcats' staff.
SAME PLAYER, DIFFERENT TEAM
When St. John's takes the floor Wednesday, it will see a familiar face wearing a different shade of blue. Last season, Tiger sophomore Elliot Williams played at Duke, and the Blue Devils posted a 76-69 win over the Red Storm in mid-February. In that game, Williams, then a freshman, got the starting nod versus St. John's and played 31 minutes. He scored 11 points and pulled down two boards.
A CCSF REUNION
Although they did not play together, Memphis' Roburt Sallie and the Red Storm's Justin Brownlee will have a City College of San Francisco (CCSF) reunion on Wednesday. Sallie played his one year at CCSF in 2007-08 and was named the 2008 California Junior College Player of the Year.
Brownlee starred for the CCSF Rams in the 2006-07 campaign. He averaged over 20 points and was a California junior college all-state selection.
TIGER FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACHES IN THE POSTSEASON
Memphis first-year head coaches have a good track record in reaching the postseason, and that continued under Josh Pastner in 2009-10. In only his first year as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level, Pastner guided the Tigers to a berth in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
The following shows what the first-year head coaches in Memphis history did in getting the Tigers to the postseason since the NCAA and NIT began in the late 1930s:
Year/Head Coach Tournament Result
2009-10/Josh Pastner NIT --
2000-01/John Calipari NIT 4-1/3rd
1999-2000/Johnny Jones* None
1997-98/Tic Price NIT 1-1
1986-87/Larry Finch Team banned
from postseason
1979-80/Dana Kirk None
1974-75/Wayne Yates NIT 0-1
1970-71/Gene Bartow None
1966-67/Moe Iba NIT 0-1
1962-63/Dean Ehlers NIT 1-1
1956-57/Bob Vanatta NIT 3-1/2nd
1951-52/Eugene Lambert None
1948-49/McCoy Tarry None
*interim head coach
For more notes on the Memphis-St. John's NIT first round game, click on pdf link at the top of the page.
