Tigers Host Monmouth In Key Non-Conference Battle

Tuesday, December 13

Memphis, Tenn.

8 PM

University of Memphis

Monmouth

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Dec 12, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Game Notes (.pdf)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis hosts a key non-conference battle on Tuesday night at FedExForum, as the Tigers (7-2) take on the Monmouth Hawks (8-2).

GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (7-2) vs. Monmouth (8-2, 2-0 MAAC)
When: Tuesday, December 13
Tip-Off: 8 p.m. (CT)
Location: Memphis, Tenn.
Arena: FedExForum
TV: CW-30 / ESPN3
Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
Jon Albright, analyst
Radio: Memphis Radio Network / 600 WREC / Rock 103
Jeff Brightwell, play-by-play
Matt Dillon, analyst
Forrest Goodman, pregame / postgame host
Live Stats: Memphis Sidearm Live Stats

SCOUTING THE HAWKS

Monmouth heads to Memphis riding a seven-game winning streak and an 8-2 overall record, with the team's only two losses this season coming to South Carolina (in overtime) and Syracuse.
In the team's last game, an 81-71 win over Army West Point, Micah Seaborn scored 20 points, while Chris Brady and Je'lon Hornbeak each scored 19. The Hawks never trailed in the game, scoring first 19 seconds into the contest. Brady pulled down seven rebounds to lead the team, while Justin Robinson dished out five assists while scoring nine times.
The Hawks have four players averaging double-figures, led by Robinson's 16.2 point per game average. Seaborn averages 15.6 points, while Brady and Hornbeak pour in 11.5 and 11.0 boards per game, each. Robinson has dished out 51 assists, while Seaborn has nabbed 18 steals.

I AM THIRD, THREE TIMES OVER

University of Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson's eight blocked shots against UAB has him third in a trio of different rankings and lists. His total is the third-highest single-game total in school history.

	S-A	Blk.	Opponent	Date
1.	Keith Lee	9	Brown	Dec. 22, 1981
	David Vaughn	9	Georgia State	Dec. 11, 1993
3.	Dedric Lawson	8	UAB	Dec. 10, 2016
	Six Others

The mark is also the third-highest in American Athletic Conference history.

	S-A	Blk.	Opponent	Date
1.	Yanick Moreira (SMU)	9	Midwestern State	Dec. 29, 2014
	Amida Brimah (UConn)	9	Maine	Nov. 13, 2015
3.	Dedric Lawson (Memphis)	8	UAB	Dec. 10, 2016
	Three others

Finally, it is the third-highest single-game total in the NCAA this season.

	S-A	Blk.	Opponent	Date
1.	Reggie Lynch (Minnesota)	9	St. John's (N.Y.)	Nov. 18, 2016
	Ben Lammers (Georgia Tech)	9	Southern	Nov. 14, 2016
3.	Dedric Lawson (Memphis)	8	UAB	Dec. 10, 2016
	Three others

MID-MAJOR RANKING

As of Monday, December 5, the Monmouth men's basketball team was ranked 10th in the country in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll. The Mid-Major Poll is made up of teams from the following conferences: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast, Western Athletic.

POSITIVE RATIO

This season the Memphis Tigers are setting new standards for assists, while also cutting down on the assists. As such, the Tigers rank fifth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio. Mempis has dished out 184 assists this season against just 103 turnovers.

Rk.	School	Ast.	TO	Ratio
1.	Notre Dame	187	82	2.28
2.	UCLA	239	123	1.94
3.	St. Mary's	131	70	1.87
4.	Virginia	148	81	1.83
5.	Memphis	184	103	1.79
6.	West Virginia	174	100	1.74
7.	Texas A&M	162	97	1.67

ABOUT THE MAAC

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference was founded in 1980, and has 11 full-time members, and 20 associate members in men's lacrosse, men's rowing, women's water polo, women's rowing, women's golf, field hockey, and men's swimming and diving.

STRONG RUN

The University of Memphis is currently on an 10-game stretch in which 10 of the Tigers' opponents have an even record or better. Providence (8-2) started the streak which also includes Iowa, Ole Miss, UAB, Monmouth, Oklahoma, Incarnate Word, SMU, while South Carolina (8-0) is the tail end of the stretch.

WINNING THROUGH 10 GAMES

University of Memphis head men's basketball coach Tubby Smith has a 7-2 record through his first nine games as head coach of the program. With a win against Monmouth, he will join six others with an 8-2 record through 10 games, which stands as the second-best first 10-games coaching start in program history.

Rk.	Coach	Rec.	Year
1.	Bob Vanatta	9-1	1956-57
2.	Frederick Grantham	8-2	1920-21
	Moe Iba	8-2	1966-67
	Gene Bartow	8-2	1970-71
	Wayne Yates	8-2	1974-75
	Dana Kirk	8-2	1979-80
	Josh Pastner	8-2	2009-10
8.	Dean Ehlers	7-3	1962-63
9.	Lester Barnard	6-4	1922-23
	McCoy Tarry	6-4	1948-49
	Larry Finch	6-4	1986-87
	Tic Price	6-4	1997-98

ONE OF TWO IN THE NCAA

Dedric Lawson ranks 19th in the country in rebounds per game, and 41st in the country in points per game. With that, he is currently the one of two players in NCAA Division I to average 20+ points and 10+ rebounds per game, joining Lehigh's Tim Kempton (23.0 points / 10.3 rebounds).

TEAMING UP ON THE BOARDS

This season Memphis' Lawson duo of Dedric and K.J. combine to average 19.2 rebounds per game. That is the second-highest teammate average in the country. Below are the top five teammate rebounding totals in the NCAA this season.

Rk.	School	Student-Athletes	Rebs.
1.	UCF	Tacko Fall (12.6)	19.5
		Nick Banyard (6.9)
2.	Memphis	Dedric Lawson (10.8)	19.2
		K.J. Lawson (8.4)
3.	UCLA	Thomas Welsh (9.6)	18.9
		TJ Leaf (9.3)
4.	Hofstra	Rokas Gustys (13.5)	18.8
		Ty Greer (5.3)
5.	Georgia Tech	Ben Lammers (10.8)	18.4
		Quinton Stephens (7.6)

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE

Memphis currently ranks fourth in the country in assists per game, at 20.4 per contest, and are one of six schools to average at least 20 assists per game. The team had spent some time at the top spot, but has dropped to fourth.

Rk.	School	Ast.	Ast./G
1.	UCLA	239	23.9
2.	The Citadel	233	21.2
3.	Oakland	187	20.8
4.	Memphis	184	20.4
5.	Purdue	202	20.2
6.	Kentucky	180	20.0
7.	Michigan State	213	19.4
8.	West Virginia	174	19.3
9.	Savannah State	192	19.2
10.	Creighton	189	18.9