Tigers travel to USF to battle the Bulls

Wednesday, January 31

Tampa, Fla.

7:30 PM

University of Memphis

USF

Tiger coach Tubby Smith's team ranks fourth in The American in blocked shots.

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Jan 30, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Game Notes (vs. USF)USF Game Notes (vs. Memphis)

By: Phil Stukenborg

MEMPHIS – Maybe the sunny skies and the warmer temperatures will be the ideal environment for the University of Memphis men's basketball team.

The Tigers (13-8) will look to break a two-game losing streak Wednesday night in Tampa where they'll play USF in an American Athletic Conference game. Memphis, 4-4 in league play, has lost consecutive games to Tulsa and Cincinnati.

USF (8-14, 1-8 American) has dropped eight of its past 10 games, but had an impressive 80-75 win at Tulane a week ago. The Bulls ended a seven-game losing streak with the victory at Tulane.

For the Tigers, USF's performance in the win at Tulane has captured the attention of coach Tubby Smith and his players. In USF's victory, the Bulls led by as many as 23 points late in the second half before Tulane mounted a closing rally.

"South Florida is playing everyone well," Smith said. "I've been impressed with what they are doing."

USF also played a formidable UCF team close before dropping a 71-69 decision at home Jan. 20. UCF (13-7, 4-4 American) has league wins this season over Temple and Memphis.

Smith said although the Tigers lost, 62-48, to No. 8 Cincinnati last weekend at home, "the effort was good for the most part, Cincinnati was just very physical and took us out of the game some."

Memphis played a strong second half holding the Bearcats to 28 points and outrebounding one of the league's best teams on the boards, 17-15. Ranked fourth in the conference in blocked shots per game (4.2), the Tigers rank second in offensive rebounding percentage (35.7) behind Cincinnati.

Smith is hoping to get more production from his bench, which recovered from being held scoreless in the loss at Tulsa to contributing 14 points against Cincinnati, including 10 from Kareem Brewton.

"Kareem gave us some good minutes off the bench and Jimario Rivers did a good job," Smith said. "But we need to get more input from our guys coming in off the bench. They are giving effort, we just need to get more production."

Smith indicated after the Cincinnati game that Brewton's play may earn him a return to the starting lineup. Brewton started the U of M's first seven games.

USF, which lost, 63-40, Sunday to Houston, is in its first season with Brian Gregory as head coach. Gregory is former head coach at Dayton (2003-11) and Georgia Tech (2011-16).

QUOTABLE
"We've got to get back to rebounding the ball, playing better. We know (USF) is getting better and that's something we have to be conscious of." -- Tigers coach Tubby Smith.

NOTABLE
* Tigers point guard Jeremiah Martin has scored 388 points through 21 games, or 60 more than he did last season. Martin entered the 2017-18 season with 407 career points.
* The Tigers are 7-0 when they record 15 or more assists in a game. The Tigers finished with four assists in last weekend's 62-48 loss to Cincinnati.
* USF guard Stephan Jiggetts, a graduate transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson, has played 40 or more minutes in a game twice this season. In those 81 minutes he did not commit a turnover.