Tigers Basketball Preview: Little Rock

Tuesday, November 14

Memphis, Tenn.

7 PM

University of Memphis

Little Rock

Tickets

Photo by: Phil Hoffmann

Nov 13, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Game Notes (Vs. Little Rock)Little Rock Game Notes (Vs. Memphis)

Memphis to host Trojans in 2017-18 home opener Tuesday.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – When the University of Memphis basketball team takes the floor Tuesday, it may seem as if it is looking in a mirror.

The Tigers host Little Rock in their 2017-18 home opener, and the game may go down as the match-up with the most scholarship newcomers on the two rosters combined. Memphis is sixth in NCAA Division I basketball with eight scholarship newcomers this season. But, Little Rock is higher on that list, coming in second with 10 total scholarship newcomers.

On another "young" national list in 2017-18, Memphis is first in the country in fewest number of returning letterwinners with two. Little Rock is tied sixth nationally on that chart with four returning lettermen.

Game Quick Facts

Opponent	Little Rock
Day/Date	Tuesday, Nov. 14
Time	7 p.m. (CT)
Site	Memphis, Tenn./FedExForum
Television	None (Web: ESPN3.com)
Radio (Flagship)	600 WREC AM/Rock 103 (102.7 FM)

Head coach Tubby Smith
"Against Alabama last week, we played terrible defensively and shot the ball poorly. Hopefully, we'll correct that tomorrow night versus Little Rock. We've had a chance to work on things in practice. We didn't play together defensively, and then we lost our composure. After watching the tape from the Alabama game, I was really disappointed in our defensive performance and shot selection. We did rebound the ball ok. But, we shot poorly from the outside and didn't attack their zone. I need to do a better job as a coach in getting our guys prepared for that because we're going to see a lot of it."

Tigers Tidbits/Five Notes To Know

Tuesday's match-up is the sixth all-time between the two programs. Memphis holds a 5-0 series lead, including a 4-0 mark when the two play in the Bluff City. The Tigers won the last meeting, a 73-59 victory at FedExForum in the 2013-14 season. The last four times the Tigers played Little Rock – all Memphis wins – they earned postseason berths (3 NCAA/1 NIT).
Memphis has won its last 14 home openers, with 13 coming at FedExForum and the final season at The Pyramid in 2003-04. The last time the Tigers lost a home opener was the 2002-03 campaign. Memphis dropped an 81-80 overtime decision to Austin Peay.
To take Tuesday's youthful match-up further, Memphis returns only 28.3 percent of minutes played, 22.4 percent of points scored, 17.9 percent of rebounds and 33.7 percent of assists from the 2016-17 season. On the other side, Little Rock returns only 18.3 percent of minutes played, 14.1 percent of points scored, 18.8 percent of rebounds and 11.1 percent of assists from last year.
Tuesday's game is the first time Memphis' Tubby Smith and Little Rock's Wes Flanigan face off as head coaches, but the two have been on opposing benches in previous years. The two split meetings when Smith was the Georgia head coach and Flanigan was the Auburn starting guard in 1995-96 and 1996-97. The two met three other times with Smith as head coach at Minnesota and Texas Tech and Flanigan an assistant at Nebraska and Little Rock. Smith's teams won all three of those encounters.
Tuesday's game is a Tulsa Golden Hurricane reunion with Memphis head coach Tubby Smith and assistant coach Pooh Williamson and Little Rock assistant coach Kwanza Johnson all in FedExForum Tuesday. All three were part of Tulsa's magical back-to-back seasons in 1993-94 and 1994-95. Smith was the Golden Hurricane's head coach, and Williamson and Johnson played for Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane won back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championships and advanced to consecutive NCAA Tournament Sweet 16s.