University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Cincinnati
@MemphisWBKB Heading For Rematch at Cincinnati
Jan 27, 2015 | Women's Basketball
The University of Memphis women's basketball team (10-9, 4-4 The American) goes on the road Wednesday looking for a rematch with Cincinnati (5-14, 2-5). Memphis has not won at Cincinnati since the 2003-04 season, falling to the Bearcats in Cincinnati last year. Wednesday's game will air on the American Digital Network.
Series History --Tigers vs Cincinnati
This is the 47th meeting between Memphis and Cincinnati. The Tigers won the first meeting in a defense-dominated game to improve to 32-14 overall against the Bearcats.
In the last meeting, junior guard Ariel Hearn was held to a career-low four points in 27 minutes of play.
It was junior post Brianna Wright who went on a personal 6-0 run in the second half that finally gave Memphis a little separation between themselves and the Bearcats in the 41-38 win. Wright finished with a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds, the lone Tiger to score double digits in the game.
Memphis is 10-8 all-time in games played in Cincinnati. The home team won in the two meetings between the two schools last year. Cincinnati won the first meeting, 65-49, in Cincinnati, while Memphis won the game in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, 53-47.
urnovers Theme in Last Meeting
In the last meeting, both teams struggled to score in the early going. Memphis led at the half, 17-14. The Tigers struggled to handle the switching Bearcats defenses, committing 21 turnovers, which Cincinnati turned in to 16 points, over 40 percent (42.1) of their team's final point total (38).
Speaking of Turnovers
Memphis has committed 20 or more turnovers in three straight games heading in to the rematch with Cincinnati.
The Tiger offense got going again in the win over Houston, but turned the ball over a season-high 26 times in the process.
Hearn Powers Offense Against Houston
The Tigers went three games in the conference schedule without starting point guard Breigha Wilder-Cochran. While that hurt the Tigers' defense (Wilder-Cochran is the primary ball-handler defender), Memphis may have found some pace with Ariel Hearn taking over the point guard duties.
Against Houston, Hearn turned up the offensive speed and finished with 21 points and seven assists. The seven assists was the most for a Tiger player this season (Hearn also had 7 assists in the loss at Tulsa, a game Wilder-Cochran missed due to injury).
Wilder-Cochran responded in her return to the lineup with a 10 point effort in the loss at East Carolina, but then was 4-for-5 from the floor in the win over Houston, her best shooting percentage this season.
Leaning on the Defense
While the Tiger offense bogged down as the team approached the mid-point of the conference schedule, the defense has held the Tigers in games, allowing Memphis to pick up low-scoring wins against East Carolina (60-57) and Cincinnati (41-38).
Memphis is holding opponents to 59.7 points per game and to a 37.6 percent clip from field goal range.
Rowser Thawing Out
Redshirt sophomore Mooriah Rowser may have benefitted more from the Tigers' mid-week bye last week than anyone. Rowser was coming in to the Saturday match-up against Houston having gone scoreless from the field in two straight games for the first time in her 50+ plus game college career.
After going a combined 0-for-11 against Cincinnati and East Carolina, Rowser started the Houston game 0-for-2, but kept at it and finally broke through, shooting 5-for-11 in her next attempts from the field and finishing with 14 points, her first double-digit scoring night in six games. Her 53.8 percent shooting clip on Saturday was the second-best of the season for the sophomore.
Rowser is now back on track to push toward her 500th career point this year. She comes in to Wednesday night's game at Cincinnati with 469 points -- 31 shy of the 500 point mark.
Williams Working in Starting Lineup
Sophomore Taylor Williams made her first career start last year as a freshman against Connecticut, so not much fazes her as she as now played in 50 career college games.
Williams, who played high school ball on a team coached by her dad, has been a part of the Tigers' starting lineup in eight games, including the last six straight.
Memphis is 6-2 with Williams in the starting lineup and the sophomore has been on the verge of becoming a double-digit scorer the Tiger offense needs for more balance. In the last six games, she has hit the nine point plateau twice.
Her six rebounds in the Houston win were the second-highest mark of the season. The five defensive boards she grabbed was a season-best.
Beyond the arc
In the Tigers' first two games of the season, five different players (Hearn, Rowser, Williams, Creighton and Wilder-Cochran) landed a three-point field goal. So imagine the Tiger coaching staff's surprise when at game #18 on the season (the loss at ECU), just one player had double-digit three-point field goals made (Hearn with 38).
In the last meeting with Cincinnati, the Tigers did not hit a single field goal attempt (of five tries). The Tigers are hoping that Brea Elmore or Taylor Williams, who both landed triples in the win over Houston, can help take some of the defense out to the perimeter for the posts inside.
Memphis was also a woeful 5-for-13 from the free-throw line in the last meeting with Cincinnati (38.5 percent).
