Tigers, No. 22 Wichita State prepare for FedExForum battle

Tuesday, February 6

Memphis, Tenn.

8 PM

University of Memphis

Wichita State

Tickets

Tigers' guard Jeremiah Martin leads The American in scoring at 19.4 points per game.

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Tigers, No. 22 Wichita State prepare for FedExForum battle

Feb 05, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Game Notes (vs. Wichita State)Wichita State Game Notes (vs. Memphis)

By: Phil Stukenborg

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For the first time in 35 years – almost to the day – the University of Memphis men's basketball team will welcome a once-familiar, and now powerful, foe to FedExForum.

Wichita State, a former rival of the Tigers in the Missouri Valley Conference in the 1970s, will play the U of M at 8 p.m. Tuesday in an American Athletic Conference game. It will be carried by CBS Sports Network.

Memphis (14-9, 5-5 American) is coming off an 88-85 loss, in overtime, to East Carolina Saturday in Greenville, N.C.

In that game, Tiger guard Jeremiah Martin scored a career-high 33 points and forward Kyvon Davenport finished with a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds). It was his third double-double in the past four games.

No. 22 Wichita State (17-5, 7-3 American) will be the fourth ranked team the Tigers have faced and the second at FedExForum. The Shockers, in their first season as an American Athletic Conference member, are a much stronger and higher-profile version of the program that used to visit the Mid-South Coliseum.

The Shockers have developed into a perennial national power and spent several weeks earlier this season ranked in the Top 10. Last year during their final Missouri Valley Conference season, Wichita State finished 31-5, including 17-1 in league play.

The Shockers were picked to finish second in the preseason league coaches' poll and are currently tied for second behind Cincinnati, which is unbeaten (at 10-0) in league games.

Wichita State has dropped three of its last five, including a loss in overtime at Temple during their last outing Feb. 1. Still, they remain a dangerous opponent.

Redshirt sophomore Landry Shamet, a preseason first-team all-league selection, leads the Shockers with a 14.5 scoring average. Four Shockers shoot better than 40 percent from 3-point range, led by sophomore Austin Reaves (46.8).

"They have some of the top players in the league," said Tiger coach Tubby Smith. "We're going to need everybody ready to play. They go very deep on their bench. They can go inside or outside and they are very physical and very athletic."

The Tigers continue to be led by Martin, who leads the American in scoring (19.4 average) and has had two 30-point games since league play began.

Davenport has had three double-doubles in his past four games and was named the American's Weekly Honor Roll on Monday.

QUOTABLE
"To me physicality means setting a good, solid, hard screen. It's fighting through the screen and not allowing yourself to be screened. It's taking the charge. It's boxing out hard." – Tiger coach Tubby Smith on how he instructs his team to play physical.

NOTABLE

* Wichita State is the fourth ranked team the Tigers have played this season. Memphis lost to Alabama to start the season and has dropped two games to Cincinnati.
* Wichita State returns 91.9 percent of scoring from last season. Memphis returns 22.4 percent.
* The Tigers are 12-2 at home. Their only losses have come to LSU (71-61 on Dec. 28) and Cincinnati (62-48 on Jan. 27).
* Wichita State will be playing at FedExForum for the first time. The Shockers narrowly missed earning a trip last spring to the NCAA South Region, which was held at FedExForum. The Shockers lost, 65-62, to Kentucky in the second round, one win shy of advancing to Memphis.