Memphis to Host Savannah State Saturday Morning

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis Tigers will face on in their third game of a four-game-in-eight-day span on Saturday morning, when the squad hosts the Savannah State Tigers at FedExForum.

GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (2-0) vs. Savannah State (1-2)
When: Saturday, November 19
Tip-Off: 11 a.m. (CT)
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Arena: FedExForum
TV: ESPN3
Greg Gaston, play-by-play
Jon Albright, analyst
Radio: Memphis Radio Network / 600 WREC / Rock 103
Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
Matt Dillon, analyst
Forrest Goodman, pregame / postgame host
Live Stats: Memphis Sidearm Live Stats

SCOUTING THE TIGERS (SAVANNAH STATE)

Running a brand of offense that they label "Tiger Tempo", Savannah State has put up eye-popping numbers this season, averaging 85.33 points per game, as 10 players average six or more points per contest.

In the team's last game, a 101-93 win over NAIA's Middle Georgia, the Tigers had 24 of their 30 baskets in the game come from long range, as Savannah State made 46.2 percent of their attempts (24-of-52). Austin Dasent scored 21 points including hitting six three-pointers, while Joshua Floyd scored 17, Isaiah Felder 16, and Jahir Cabeza and Zach Seller 11 apiece. Cabeza pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, while adding five blocked shots.

This season the squad is led by Joshua Floyd who averaged 12 points per game, while Dasent averaging 10.3. Troyce Manassa averages a team-best 5.7 rebounds per game, while Zach Sellers dishes out 4.3 assists to lead the team. Cabeza has the team-high in both steals (6) and blocked shots (10) through three games of the season.

BROADNAX VS. THE TIGERS

As a freshman at Georgetown in 1983, current Savannah State head coach Horace Broadnax faced off against the Tigers, coming off the bench to score eight points for the Patrick Ewing-led Hoya squad. Memphis won the game 66-57 to advance on to face off against eventual NCAA Tournament Runner-up Houston in the NCAA Tournament.

MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, also known as the MEAC, is in its 47th year of intercollegiate competition. The conference is made up of 13 outstanding historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Bethune-Cookman University, Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, Savannah State University and South Carolina State University

QUICK TEMPO SAVANNAH STATE

Savannah State plays at an extremely high-tempo, and have the second-shortest possession length in the country behind just Lipscomb, averaging 12.4 seconds per possession. As such the Tigers average 77.5 points per game, while forcing an average of 21 turnovers per game.

DOUBLE UP ON THE TIGERS

In non-conference play, the University of Memphis twice face off against teams with the same nickname as themselves, and the first chance of that happening is on Saturday, with Savannah State. The only other time it happens is on November 30 when the Tigers host Jackson State. In face, of Memphis' 14 non-conference and potential non-conference opponents, Tigers is the only nickname to appear more than once.

REBOUNDS THROUGH TWO GAMES

Behind games of 15 and 10 rebounds, University of Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson has the sixth-highest rebounding total through the first two games of a season in Tiger history since 1975-76. Below are the top seven players and their first two games' rebounding total.

Rk.	Student-Athlete	Rebs.	Year
1.	Keith Lee	33	1982-83
2.	William Bedford	30	1985-86
3.	Lorenzen Wright	29	1995-96
4.	Joey Dorsey	28	2004-05
5.	John Gunn	27	1976-77
6.	Dedric Lawson	25	2016-17
	David Vaughn	25	1993-94

FAMILIAR WITH SAVANNAH STATE

University of Memphis graduate transfer Christian Kessee played his first three seasons of NCAA Division I basketball at Coppin State, within the same conference as Savannah State. In his one game against the Tigers last season, Kessee scored 18 points on 5-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-9 from long range and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.

DIALING UP THE LONG RANGE

This season Savannah State has seen 46.5 percent of its points coming from long range, which is the sixth-highest total in Division I this season. Among the teams ahead of Savannah State include Stetson, New Hampshire, and Memphis' most recent opponent Milwaukee, which has 44.4 percent of its points coming from beyond the arc.

Additionally, on Thursday night, Savannah State hit 24 of its 52 three-point attempts. It is not only the most in the NCAA this season (the next closest is Troy with 19), but it is tied as the fourth-most in a game in NCAA Division I history.

FAST-PACE PROBLEMS

Through two games this season, the Savannah State Tigers have played at a very high tempo; however, the downside to an up-tempo game is the probability to give up a lot of points. The Tigers rank 351st of 351 teams in NCAA Division I in giving up 107.3 points per game. The next closest to Savannah State is Iona, which gives up an average of 99 points per game.

MEMPHIS VS. THE MEAC

In seven all-time meetings between Memphis and schools from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, the Memphis Tigers hold a 7-0 mark. New Memphis head coach Tubby Smith also has an unblemished record against teams from the conference, with a 5-0 overall record.

SCHOOL	Memphis	Smith
Bethune-Cookman	0-0	0-0
Coppin State	0-0	1-0
Delaware State	0-0	0-0
Florida A&M	2-0	1-0
Hampton	0-0	0-0
Howard	1-0	0-0
Maryland Eastern Shore	0-0	0-0
Morgan State	0-0	1-0
Norfolk State	0-0	0-0
North Carolina A&T	0-0	0-0
North Carolina Central	1-0	0-0
Savannah State	1-0	0-0
South Carolina State	2-0	2-0
Totals	7-0	5-0

SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME

University of Memphis sophomore forward Dedric Lawson probably has a lot in common with Rockwell after his collaboration with Michael Jackson in his 1984 hit. Lawson has been named to three watch lists for this coming season: the Karl Malone Power Foward of the Year Watch List, the Lute Olson Player of the Year Award Watch List, and the Naismith Player of the Year Watch List.

PRESEASON AWARD HISTORY

For the first time since 2007-08, the Memphis Tigers have had a preseason Conference Player of the Year, when Dedric Lawson was given the preseason honor at the conference media day. The last time that a Memphis student-athlete was named preseason Player of the Year in 2007-08 when Chris Douglas-Roberts earned the honor from Conference USA.

OLDER, YOUNGER BROTHER SWITCH

Memphis has brothers on the team - K.J. and Dedric Lawson. In a strange twist of irony, the elder of the two brothers, K.J., is a freshman, where the younger of the brothers, Dedric, is a year ahead of his brother academically. Out of high school, Dedric, who is a year younger than K.J., reclassified so each would play at Memphis the same season. However, K.J. got hurt after playing just 10 games, and got a redshirt for the season, thus, K.J. the elder brother is still a freshman, where Dedric, the younger brother, is a sophomore.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Christian Kessee

Dedric Lawson

University of Memphis Athletics